Japan Data: ‘Startup visa’ to ‘Business Manager visa’ Complete Process

Let’s take a detailed look back at our complete experience with the Japanese Startup visa process, all the way through to receiving the Business Manager visa! I know many of you have been waiting for this for quite some time, so to start, I’d like to to thank you for being patient with me. I really wanted to outline all of the steps, and be as articulate as possible, so this could be considered a valuable resource for others.

It’s important to note that this is our experience.

We are not experts on this subject by any means, as we only have our limited experience to share. We completed this process, received a 6-month Startup visa, incorporated our business into a ‘kabushiki gaisha’, purchased two ‘akiya’ abandoned houses, renovated one house into Benton Guesthouse, received our ‘minpaku’ rental license, met the Startup visa requirements within the timeframe, and successfully received our extension for Business Manager visa.

When we started this journey, I quickly discovered there are limited resources for English-speakers. I was encouraged when connecting with other foreigners living in Japan, who were willing to answer my questions and provide suggestions. However, everybody I spoke with had received their Japanese residency from a different route, so while they didn’t have Startup visa experience, they were happy to point me in the right direction for more information. This is my way of paying forward all the generosity of those friendly strangers, some of whom have since become friends.

I genuinely hope that sharing our experience might help you, and others, to navigate this process also! Honestly, we wouldn’t be writing these blogs or making YouTube videos, if we didn’t think it could help someone else do the same. I’m continually encouraged by all the people who reach out to us, who have questions, and who hope to follow this path, or a similar path, to residency and life in Japan.

If you prefer to listen to your content, we can read through the blog together with our YouTube video ⌄

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Applying for 6-Month ‘Startup Visa’ in Japan » The General Process Overview

• Determine which Startup visa location you want to work with (where you want to live and do business).
• Contact that municipality for their specific requirements, some of which vary slightly.
  • Submit their paperwork and your business plan for approval.
  • Work with the municipality to refine your business plan.
  • Once approved, receive their Letter of Recommendation.

• Apply for your 6-month Startup visa.
  • Go to your local Japan Immigration office, with:
    • Letter of Recommendation.
    • Visa application, and other required documents.
    • Once approved, receive your 6-month residency card.

• During the 6-month timeframe:
  • Work towards opening your business in Japan.
    • Hire either a minimum of 2 employees, or, fund your business account with ¥5,000,000.
    • Rent a physical office space.
    • Note: there are many other steps to opening your business, but these are the two additional requirements as outlined for the Startup visa specifically.
  • After opening your business, apply for the Certificate of Eligibility (COE) for your Business Manager visa.
  • Once approved, you can apply for the Business Manager visa (1-3 years).

Typically, at this point, is when it’s considered standard to physically move to Japan.

However, we completed the entire process from within Japan!

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Hiring Professionals

I can honestly say that we couldn’t have completed this process without the assistance of some Japanese professionals. Initially, we thought we would be able to navigate the process on our own, based on Evan’s Japanese level, and our previous lived experiences. And we did successfully purchase two ‘akiya’ houses without any additional help beyond our local realtor, Shimanami Property. But we quickly realized there is a reason that some Japanese businesspeople have whole careers doing this kind of thing. When in Japan, there are certain ways of doing business that we may not be familiar with.These professionals know what to expect, so they’ve saved us time, expense, headache, and heartache.

To ensure the success of our visa applications, business plan, and continued business success, we’re working with: an immigration lawyer, a local business consultant, a local accountant, and additional judicial scriveners (junior lawyers) as needed for their expertise, such as the ‘minpaku’ rental license, and contracts for the use of farmland. This is our “Team”.

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Timeline of Events

Early 2021 » Research our ideal locations within Japan

When we started this process, the Japanese borders were closed to anyone who wasn’t a citizen or visa holder. So, we were initially trying to obtain a Startup Visa prior to our arrival. We did all of our location research online, during our time as full-time traveling house-sitters in Mexico!

• The first important factor to consider is: the program is not currently offered nationwide. The Startup visa is available in a few select cities and prefectures, based on what Japan considers to be “special economic zones” that would benefit from foreign investment.
• We cross-referenced that list with our ideal climate and tourism requirements. For us, that narrowed it down to only two areas in Japan. At that time, we contacted the Startup visa officials in those two locations, as well as realtors, other foreigners in the area, other farmers, and anyone who may be able to advise or assist in this process.
• We were very strongly drawn to Ōmishima Island in the Seto Sea, which is part of Imabari city, in Ehime prefecture. We first reached out to them in late 2022; the city officials were quick to schedule an online video interview (with 13 attendants!), which made us feel like they were genuinely excited to work with us for the process.
• STEP ONE: Decide on a location within Japan, where the Startup visa is offered ✓

February 2023 » Travel from Mexico to the US to Japan

• After Japan’s borders opened back up to tourists, we started planning our route from Mexico to Japan, despite having not actually started the process. We were advised it could be easier in person. We still had a few months of house-sits scheduled, so we had time to plan. We drove back from Mexico to the US, where we had two fast-paced weeks to complete numerous important stateside tasks, including selling our car, and renewing our drivers licenses.
• February 16: Upon arrival in the Tokyo airport, I was a little worried we wouldn’t get the full 90-day tourist entry, or would be asked to show departure tickets, because we only had accommodations booked for the first few weeks. So I prepared an itinerary in English and Japanese that explained we were going to Ōmishima island to purchase a house. Despite my concerns, the friendly welcoming agent gave us both 90-day tourist stamps in our passports.
• While we were at the airport, we also stopped by the Plant Quarantine Inspections desk. Evan went through the process of importing some seeds for our future farm business, which meant that we had to show them our Phytosanitary Certificate received before departure, and allow their agents to inspect the seeds on arrival. I’ll make a video covering that, if anyone’s interested.
• STEP TWO: Arrive in Japan. Receive 90-day Tourist entry at the airport ✓

March-May 2023 » Visit the Imabari city office to begin the Startup Visa process

• February 17: After one very short night in Tokyo, we caught the ‘shinkansen’ bullet train to Fukuyama, then caught a bus to Ōmishima island. Immediately upon arrival, we were welcomed by everyone we met as new friends and future neighbors. We spent a little over one week on a pseudo-vacation and reconnaissance mission to scope out Ōmishima, make some initial connections, get our bearings, and visit some potential ‘akiya’ abandoned houses to purchase. Then we had to get to work…
• March 1: We rented a room in Imabari for one month, so we could be closer to City Hall for meetings. We spent the first two weeks putting the finishing touches together for our application: printing and completing the documents as outlined on the Imabari city government website, getting resume photos, gathering financial statements, and most importantly, finalizing our business plan.

This is a screenshot of the Imabari city website, outlining their Startup visa application workflow and documents ⌄

• March 13: We submitted the first draft of our completed Startup application to Imabari city. They wrote back to schedule a meeting very quickly, and informed us they would also provide an interpreter.
• March 15: We had the first Startup meeting with Imabari city. My birthday! We sat down in a meeting room across the table from three city employees and a translator. They outlined the process for us, and asked further questions about our business plans and hopes for the future. At this time, they suggested we hire a local business consultant to help us with the revision process, which we were happy to do. They also hired their own business consultant to represent the city, as another pair of eyes, and to provide counter-point.
• March 25: We returned to Ōmishima at this point, renting a room in a friendly older lady’s home. It was an inconvenient location, on the other side of the island, so we had to walk, ride bikes, or bus, every day. But our experience staying with her for a few months was wonderful.
• March 27: We put a deposit on our first ‘akiya’ abandoned house, which would become Benton Guesthouse. This is important to note because the guesthouse was one of our business plan’s three main income streams. We immediately started cleaning, with the approval of the seller.
• At this point, we started assembling our Team of Professionals. We hired Mizobuchi-sensei as our business consultant, who was recommended by Imabari city for being bilingual. He previously lived in Oregon! And we hired Shimizu-san as our immigration lawyer, recommended by the friendly man behind the website Cheap Houses Japan.
• Over the next month, we worked closely with Mizobuchi-sensei to revise our business plan. The document we originally created was very technical, discussing things like crop rotation, land and soil restoration, bio-char, the benefits of horizontal beehives, on and on. The document we ended up submitting was completely transformed, focusing instead on our story, why we want to live in Japan, and financials, backed with market comparison research and price points. I mentioned our business plan had three main income streams: guesthouse, honey/small-scale natural farming, and photography.
• I should note that these revisions and meetings were not as intimidating as I feared they might be. From the moment we sat at the table with Imabari city employees, our business consultant, and their business consultant, to hash out our business plan, we quickly realized that every single person at that table wanted us to succeed… They were providing point/counter-point back and forth, not in hopes of denying our application, but to actually give our application the best possible chance of success! Literally everyone there was rooting for us, and honestly, it was one of the biggest realization moments that we could actually do this.
• April 24: Final revision submitted to Imabari city.
• April 29 to May 7: Golden Week in Japan. This is an extended national holiday where many businesses and government offices are closed. It added some difficulty with the timing of our first 90-day tourist entries coming to an end. We tried very hard to submit and receive approval prior to Golden Week, but as the time drew closer, we determined we would need to create a plan to exit and re-enter Japan, for a second 90-day tourist entry (see below). If we had started working with professionals earlier in the process, and our time window had not included Golden Week, we could’ve completed the process within the 90-days. Please note that I highly suggest this for others! Start working with assistance from the beginning, it is absolutely worth it.
• May 10: We officially purchased our first ‘akiya’ house! Now we could begin real renovations.
• May 12: Received the Letter of Recommendation from Imabari city. This is our golden ticket!
• STEP THREE: Receive a Letter of Recommendation from Imabari City ✓
• IMPORTANT NOTE: The municipality does not actually give you a visa, just a letter of recommendation. Visas are only handled by national immigration.

May-June 2023 » Side-Quest to Korea; Re-Enter Japan; Apply for 6-Month Startup visa

• While we were in the middle of intense planning, intense renovations, and stressing out about everything we needed to accomplish, our tourist entry was soon expiring. We decided the best option for cost and efficiency would be to take the ferry from Fukuoka, Japan to Busan, South Korea. It was a really fun, easy experience, and is highly recommended!
• May 17: We departed Japan on the ‘Queen Beetle’ high-speed ferry to South Korea. It was a great week to try to relax, while enjoying street food and a whole new culture, for Evan’s birthday!
• May 24: We returned to Japan via the ‘Queen Beetle’ sea entry, which was much better than any airport I’ve ever experienced. The entry process was quick and easy. Again, I was a little anxious that we would look suspicious, having only left Japan for one week. We told the entry agent we had just purchased a house on Ōmishima, and all the gate agents cheerfully gave us congratulations! Again, we both received 90-day tourist stamps in our passports. It’s important to note that Japan only allows two 90-day entries per year, so this would be our final entry on tourist status.
• June 7: Electricity and water turned on at our ‘akiya’ house!
• During this time, we worked closely with Shimizu-san to prepare our official visa application. While future applications could be submitted online on our behalf, this application required us to submit the paperwork in person, at the Matsuyama immigration office. After collecting and preparing everything we needed for the application, Shimizu-san mailed us the original documents, for us to submit. We could have hired his service to come to immigration with us, but we opted to go by ourselves.
• June 18: We took the bus, then train, from Ōmishima to Imabari to Matsuyama. We stayed in a hotel the night before, so we could go to the immigration office first thing in the morning.
• June 19: Our processing time at the Matsuyama immigration office could not have been any easier! We entered the office at 9:00 am, and gave our paperwork to the desk clerk. He looked over the papers, and asked us to please take a seat. Within an hour, we walked out of the office with our 6-month Japanese residency cards! Evan’s visa was officially titled “Business Manager” (despite being the 6-month Startup visa). My (Dani’s) visa was “Spouse”, with the additional stamp on back allowing me to work part-time.
• I should note that the application included a form for “Change of Residency Status” from tourist to visa-holder. Many people might tell you this cannot be done from within Japan, and can only be done from outside the country. We changed from our second 90-day tourist entry to resident status, at the immigration office within Japan.
• STEP FOUR: Receive 6-Month Startup visa for Residency in Japan ✓

August 2023 » Formally open our business in Japan

• Opening a business during the 6-month window is one of the mandatory steps for the Startup visa. The process of incorporating our business involved many steps of its own, including: registering a personal ‘inkan’ stamp, receiving a ‘juminhyo’ residency document, opening a Japanese personal bank account, funding your personal account, providing the bank with the paper-trail to prove the funding source belongs to you and was obtained legally, drafting and submitting Articles of Incorporation, registering a business ‘inkan’ stamp, registering a different business ‘inkan’ stamp only for bank use, opening a Japanese business bank account, transferring funds from your personal account to your business account to ‘fund’ the business, and establishing a physical office outside of our home address, among other steps… So I will not be covering all of that here.
• August 1: Benton Homestead officially becomes a ‘kabushiki gaisha’ Japanese “stock corporation”.
• STEP FIVE: Incorporate our Business in Japan ✓

August-December 2023 » Complete remaining Startup visa requirements

• June 25: At this point, our first ‘akiya’ house was renovated enough that we could move in. It was still very much “camping”. With no kitchen, we got by with a single-burner butane cooktop and instant hot water boiler; and with no hot water, we went to the nearby ‘onsen’ for showers and hot soaks. We continued renovation work daily, in order to receive our fire department certificate, ‘minpaku’ rental license, list on AirBnB, and host our first guests, prior to our Business Manager visa extension application. This is in order for us to show immigration that we are in fact making progress on our business, and already generating some income to support ourselves in Japan.
• August 8: Startup visa Progress Meeting with Imabari city (1 of 3). One of Imabari city’s requirements was to meet every two months to monitor progress and submit suggestions.
• August 22: Begin Working with contractor for ‘Minpaku’ Rental License fire alarm requirements.
• October 2: Fire Department Inspection for ‘Minpaku’ Rental License.
• October 17: Startup visa Progress Meeting with Imabari city (2 of 3).
• October 20: Receive Fire Department Certificate for ‘Minpaku’ Rental License.
• November 16: Receive ‘Minpaku’ Rental License.
• November 20: Benton Guesthouse is open for business!
• November 24: Benton Guesthouse hosts our first guests!!! They booked within 6 hours of our listing going up on AirBnB.
• December 8: Startup visa Progress Meeting with Imabari city (3 of 3). We were happy to host our third and final meeting at our very own guesthouse! Everyone who had been involved in the process until that point traveled to Ōmishima for a meeting, followed by lunch featuring Evan’s home-cooked ‘inoshishi’ wild boar chili verde.
• STEP SIX: Complete Startup Visa Requirements ✓

December 2023 » Apply for Business Manager Visa

• During all of this, we were working very, very closely with Shimizu-san for our upcoming visa extension application and Business Manager visa requirement compliance. This included many things, such as: the Certificate of Eligibility, various documents to provide evidence of all of our progress, copies of bank statements, photos of the physical business office location, updated ID photos, contract for leasing farmland, copies of our articles in the Ehime Shimbun newspaper and online interviews, you get the idea. Shimizu-san informed us that he submitted over 20 supporting documents with our application! He is a very thorough and attentive immigration lawyer.
• December 25: Christmas is not a national holiday in Japan, so we were overjoyed to receive an email from immigration on Christmas Day! We received a somewhat vague email that said our application had been processed, and requested our appearance at the Matsuyama immigration office within a certain timeframe, regarding our visas. Shimizu-san assured us it would be good news, but we wouldn’t find out the details until we arrived.
• December 26: We traveled again to the Matsuyama immigration office, and were delighted again that the process took less than an hour, we walked out of the office with our new 1-year Japanese residency cards! Again, Evan’s visa was “Business Manager”, and my (Dani’s) visa was “Spouse”, with the additional stamp on back allowing me to work part-time.
• STEP SEVEN: Receive 1-Year Business Manager Visa ✓

We did it!!!!!

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6-Month ‘Startup Visa’ to 1-Year ‘Business Manager Visa’ in Japan » The Financial Numbers

Here are my numbers broken down into a few categories:

COSTS TO OBTAIN STARTUP VISA:
$80 ($20 each; two entries each) – Japan Tourist Entry Stamps, received at Airport ¥3,000
$1,150 – Immigration Lawyer’s Fee for Startup + Spouse visa applications ¥165,000
$1,015 – Business Consultant’s Fee for Startup Meeting Assistance and Business Application Revisions ¥150,000
$2 – Startup ‘Letter of Recommendation’ from Imabari city ¥300
$54 ($26 each) – Japan ‘Change of Status’ from Tourist to Resident at the immigration office ¥4,000

COSTS TO CHANGE FROM STARTUP VISA TO BUSINESS MANAGER VISA:
$3,600 – Various Professional Expenses for Business Incorporation
$1,400 – Various Professional Expenses for Monthly Progress & Support
$2,050 – Immigration Lawyer’s Fee for Business Manager + Spouse visa extension ¥301,720
$54 ($26 each) – Japan ‘Change of Status/Extension’ at the immigration office ¥4,000

COST FOR ‘MINPAKU’ RENTAL LICENSE
$2,975 – Contractor to meet Fire Department compliance ¥440,000
$2,095 – Judicial Scrivener for ‘Minpaku’ License Application ¥309,800

Notes about Additional Costs:
There are also additional continuing monthly expenses, now that we are a functioning business, including paying the professionals for our Team Progress Meetings, an accountant, taxes, residency costs, and Evan’s salary.

These numbers do not include cost of travel to and from Japan, accommodations, copying and printing countless documents, notarizing and shipping documents, cost of transferring funds online, travel/parking/lodging to and from meetings, purchasing two ‘akiya’ houses, renovations, furnishing the guesthouse, utilities, purchasing a kei truck, or our time. We were fortunate to start this adventure with a decent nest egg from selling our house in 2021, and despite doing everything as frugally as possible, have put almost all of it towards achieving this goal. We have faith that we’ve set ourselves up well enough for success!

BANK & MAIL PREPARATIONS FOR LEAVING THE US:
$0 – Opening two new Bank Accounts, which don’t have international fees
$100 – “Digital Nomad Mailbox” street address / mail forwarding for 1 year www.iPostal1.com
$65 – Verification process for Digital Mailbox (Online Notary and 10 pre-purchased Mail Scans)
$1 – USPS Change of Address to new Digital Mailbox

OTHER NECESSARY DOCUMENTS TO MAKE LIFE EASIER ABROAD:
$275 ($135 each) – US Passport Renewal for 10 years
$70 ($35 each) – Renew our Louisiana Drivers Licenses for 6 years
$40 ($20 each) – Renew our International Drivers Licenses for 1 year

Notes about driving in Japan:
It’s important to note that, while obtaining and renewing your International Drivers License from outside the US is simple and affordable, Japanese residents can only use a non-Japanese driving license for 1 year after obtaining Japanese residency. So while our International Licenses are still valid for some time, and can be renewed indefinitely, as long as our US Drivers License is still valid, we will need to obtain Japanese Drivers Licenses prior to the one year mark of residency.

Notes about Shipping Belongings to Japan:
$8,000-10,000 – New approximate cost to have our pallet of belongings shipped to Japan.
Note that now, over two years later, we’re having a very difficult time actually getting these items shipped. The estimate has increased significantly due to the company’s unforeseen change from ship cargo to airmail. We’re on a very fixed budget while nurturing our fledgling Japanese business, so we have a GoFundMe to try to get our belongings.

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So, of course the natural question at this point is: what happens next…???

This year is a major test of our endurance and ability to nurture our freshly launched business. We will continue to work hard to boost Benton Guesthouse bookings, maintain our 5-star rating on AirBnB, renovate abandoned farmland, start producing and selling honey along with other products, start selling produce at the ‘Michi no Eki’ farmers market, and hopefully have some photography clients as well.

We will start our next visa extension application process a few months prior to our current visa expiration. At that time, we will work with Shimizu-san to prepare our application and supporting documents, to show immigration that we are following our business plan as outlined, establishing our income streams, and generating the income we proposed we would. The extension decision will mostly rely on whether or not we can show evidence that we have been successful during our first year. We hope, next time, to receive a 3-year Business Manager visa, and our immigration lawyer thinks that will be the successful outcome.

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I would be remiss if I didn’t inform you at this point that Japan has announced some changes to the Startup visa in the future. I do not want to make any sort of speculations until I read an official announcement from the Japanese government, but it has been reported that some major changes could be: changing the name to Entrepreneur visa, offering the program nationwide as opposed to certain areas, and extending it from 6-months to 2-years. Again, no formal announcement has yet been made, so please do not take that information as fact until such time. This could happen at some point in 2024 or 2025. Due to the recent announcement about Japan’s new Digital Nomad visa, it does seem pretty likely that these and more changes will be occurring in the somewhat near future.

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Thanks for coming along on this long journey with us. I really hope you’ve found this information helpful for your own journey to Japan, or at least find it entertaining or interesting. Upcoming related blogs/videos will be covering:

• Our ‘akiya’ house purchase process as tourists;
• Our ‘akiya’ house purchase process as residents;
• The ‘Minpaku’ rental license process;
• Opening a Japanese bank account;
• The two best US bank accounts for traveling internationally;
• Japanese ‘kabushiki gaisha’ business incorporation;
• Purchasing and registering a vehicle in Japan;
• Subcontracting with Shimanami Property to offer ‘akiya’ assistance to English-speaking foreign buyers.

Thanks for reading,
ダニとエバン ベントン

P.S. You can check out Benton Guesthouse on AirBnB and Google Maps!

P.P.S. Our Benton Homestead YouTube channel is currently at 83% of our goal to reach 1,000 subscribers, at which point we’ll be able to start earning a small amount of income from the videos we make for y’all. Each time you like, comment, subscribe, and share our videos, you’re helping us reach that goal! All income will go directly towards our small farm business, and will also help us meet our business plan requirements to continue to live and work in Japan. Thank you for helping us to build this little online community!