Japan Adds Two Filing Rules for Foreign Founders and Property Owners as Inward Investment Stock Hits a Record

TOKYO, Japan, October 6, 2026 (EZ Newswire) — Pearce Inagaki Legal Advisory LLC today published its 2026-2027 Japan Market Entry Roadmap, a plain-language guide for foreign founders, investors, and executives who start a business in Japan or acquire Japanese real property, together with the Japan Enterprise GTM Guide.

The publication coincides with two filing rules taking effect within five days. On Oct. 1, 2026, revised Guidelines for Permission for Permanent Residence took effect, hardening the income requirement immediately. On Oct. 5, 2026, a Ministry of Justice ordinance amending the Real Property Registration Rules (promulgated March 31, 2026) takes effect, adding nationality information to the registry search-information record when ownership of real property is newly registered.

A third change took effect Oct. 1, 2026. The fee for permanent-residence permission rose from 10,000 yen to 200,000 yen, and fees for permission to change or extend a status of residence now scale with the period granted, from 33,000 yen for one year to 75,000 yen for five years or longer. The new amounts apply to applications filed on or after Oct. 1, 2026; applications filed on or before Sept. 30, 2026 pay the previous amounts.

Three Changes in Twelve Months

On Oct. 16, 2025, the minimum paid-in capital for the Business Manager visa rose from 5 million yen to 30 million yen, a sixfold increase. The reform added requirements for at least one full-time employee in addition to the applicant, three years of management or executive experience or a relevant advanced degree, Japanese-language ability at CEFR B2 level (JLPT N2 or BJT 400 acceptable, met by the applicant or a full-time employee), and certification of the business plan by a small and medium enterprise management consultant, certified public accountant, or tax accountant. A transition period for existing holders runs to Oct. 16, 2028.

The Oct. 1 Permanent-Residence Revision

The revised guidelines set explicit benchmarks for the first time:

• Household income: In principle, the applicant’s household income must continuously exceed the average income of a Japanese household of the same size.
• Public pension: The applicant’s estimated future pension entitlement is a new consideration.
• Japanese language: B1-equivalent ability under the Framework of Reference for Japanese Language Education, with exemptions that include highly skilled foreign professionals and their family members, applicants with six or more years of primary or secondary education in Japan, and children of permanent residents in defined cases.
• Obligations: Compliance with notification duties and proper payment of taxes, public pension, and public health insurance.
• Residence history: In principle, 10 or more continuous years in Japan, five of them under a work or residence status, and currently holding the maximum period of stay available for that status.

On timing: The revised guideline applies to applications filed on or after April 1, 2027. Its income requirement applies from the revision date to applications filed on or after Oct. 1, 2026. Separately, the guideline for permanent residence for persons recognized as contributing to Japan is abolished March 31, 2027.

These rules govern permanent residence. They do not change the Business Manager visa or the incorporation route a founder uses to enter Japan.

The Oct. 5 Property-Registration Rule

• It applies to natural persons who become the registered owner through a preservation, transfer, or correction registration and who are the applicant — Japanese and non-Japanese alike.
• Nationality is not printed on the registry certificate. It is recorded in a separate internal search-information management file to establish the actual state of foreign-held real property and to support mandatory inheritance registration.
• It creates no general restriction on foreign ownership of real property; sector- and area-specific regimes apply separately.
• Owners already registered have no new obligation; they may file the information voluntarily.
• The former requirement that a filer hold a domestic address has been removed, so owners resident abroad are covered.
• Corporations are outside this rule; they fall under separate regimes such as the Act on Special Measures concerning the Review of the Use of Land and the National Land Use Planning Act.

Incorporation and Entry: The Routes That Remain Open

A Japanese company can be incorporated with as little as 1 yen in capital, and since 2015 the representative director has not been required to reside in Japan. What a founder needs in practice is a registered address, a registry filing, and a bank relationship. Venture-backed startups typically capitalize at 10-50 million yen, and 15 million yen or more is often read by banks and business partners as a credibility signal.

Three routes remain open: registration-only incorporation with no residency at entry; the Startup Visa, granted as “Designated Activities” through participating municipalities, which allows up to two years in Japan to prepare a business before switching to the Business Manager status; and the Business Manager visa under its Oct. 2025 rules. The 30 million yen threshold is a residency threshold, not an incorporation threshold.

Inward Investment

Inward foreign direct investment in Japan reached a record 61.2 trillion yen at the end of 2025, a primary estimate, up 14.8% from 53.3 trillion yen a year earlier. At the end of 2024, the largest investor country was the United States at 10.6 trillion yen, or 20.0% of the total.

What the Guides Cover

The Roadmap sets out five tracks: a comparison of the three entry routes, including the capital, staffing, experience, and language rules that changed in Oct. 2025; an incorporation playbook covering the kabushiki kaisha and godo kaisha, registered-address options, registry filing, and bank preparation; a line-item cost model from the 1 yen statutory minimum to the professional and recurring costs founders face; a real-property track on how non-residents buy, hold, and register Japanese property, including the Oct. 5 disclosure step; and a go-to-market track. The Japan Enterprise GTM Guide covers the commercial side of the same journey for founders and investors who are past the filing stage and focused on customers, partners, and revenue.

The 2026-2027 Japan Market Entry Roadmap and Japan Enterprise GTM Guide are now available on its website.

Firm Comment

“Japan is screening for substance and long-term contribution. That is a different thing from closing the door,” said a spokesperson for Pearce Inagaki Legal Advisory LLC. “The sequencing of entity, capital, banking, and residency now decides who gets in and who stalls.”

About Pearce Inagaki Legal Advisory LLC

Pearce Inagaki provides Japan business, real estate, and market-entry advisory for global leaders, investors, and entrepreneurs seeking to establish or expand operations in Japan. Its services include company incorporation, full business setup, real estate acquisition support, due diligence, title registration, and go-to-market (GTM) advisory, all delivered through a fully bilingual English and Japanese practice. The firm is led by a licensed Japanese judicial scrivener with more than 40 years of corporate and real estate experience, alongside a senior team with backgrounds in global tech, software-as-a-service (SaaS), capital markets, and fund management. Learn more at pearce-inagaki.com.

Media Contact

Shihoko Pearce
Managing Partner, Pearce Inagaki Legal Advisory LLC
info@pearceinagaki.com

SOURCE: Pearce Inagaki Legal Advisory LLC