Hey team, just thought I’d pop in with my question. I’m headed to Japan in October on a tourist visa with the intention of seeing how much I like the country for real before deciding on settling down.
Currently, I run a small customs fabrication shop for autos and motorcycles. My work is all handmade, and doesn’t require many heavy machines or industrial equipment.
My basic plan was to find an Akiya house out in the burbs and renovate it into a shop/apartment where I could see out my wish of living in Japan full-time while also self-sustaining and providing a service to the already sizeable automotive community in this country.
Would such a thing be possible? Where would I get started? Thanks for your time.
3 comments
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
—
**Starting a business as a foreigner in Japan?**
Hey team, just thought I’d pop in with my question. I’m headed to Japan in October on a tourist visa with the intention of seeing how much I like the country for real before deciding on settling down.
Currently, I run a small customs fabrication shop for autos and motorcycles. My work is all handmade, and doesn’t require many heavy machines or industrial equipment.
My basic plan was to find an Akiya house out in the burbs and renovate it into a shop/apartment where I could see out my wish of living in Japan full-time while also self-sustaining and providing a service to the already sizeable automotive community in this country.
Would such a thing be possible? Where would I get started? Thanks for your time.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/movingtojapan) if you have any questions or concerns.*
First step is determining what visa you would qualify for? Business manager, which it sounds like is the closest has some requirements that may be an issue? Do you have the cash to meet the requirements, do you have an absolutely solid business plan with years, if not decades of experience and success?
The big question here is “Do you speak Japanese?”
As u/VR-052 mentioned you’re looking at the Business Manager visa. But that comes with a few requirements:
1. A *minimum* of 5 million yen ($50k USD) investment.
2. A functional business plan. This needs to include all the usual business plan things, but it also needs to explain why your company needs to be in Japan, and how you’re going to make the business work in Japan.
Assuming your answer to “why does the company need to be in Japan” is “to serve the Japanese market” you’ll need fairly decent Japanese to communicate with suppliers and customers.
>My basic plan was to find an Akiya house out in the burbs
And here it starts to fall apart.
There are no akiya “in the burbs”. If they were in the suburbs they wouldn’t be abandoned. Akiya are pretty much exclusively located *deep* in the countryside.
Also: Many akiya programs have restrictions that preclude foreigners from buying them. So even getting one of the akiya out in the sticks is an iffy proposition. You can certainly find a house. Even a cheap house. But the much-lauded akiya programs shouldn’t be on your radar.
Also-Also: You’re not going to get a mortgage as a freshly arrived foreigner, so you’ll need to factor buying the house for cash into the equation. And ***not*** as part of the 5 million yen business investment because:
>renovate it into a shop/apartment
This is not allowed under the terms of the business manager visa. You’re required to acquire a place of business that is separate from your place of residence.
>Would such a thing be possible?
Possible? Yes. But you’ll need to do a *lot* more research/planning before it becomes every remotely *probable*.