Kaisha Guide is an independent English-language directory of the firms that help foreign entrepreneurs start and run a company in Japan.
Why this site exists
Starting a company in Japan as a foreigner means assembling a small team of professionals: someone to handle the visa, someone to incorporate the company, someone to file the tax, and somewhere to put the office. Each of those is a separate licensed profession in Japan, with separate firms, and almost none of them explain themselves in English.
So founders end up choosing from whichever three firms happen to rank on Google that week, with no way to tell whether a firm publishes its fees, whether it can actually work with someone who does not read Japanese, or whether it is set up to handle the parts of the process that changed in October 2025.
That is the gap this site fills. Not advice on what you should do — there are licensed professionals for that — but a plain, comparable record of who does what, what they charge if they say, and what they have not said.
What changed in October 2025
On 16 October 2025 the requirements for the Business Manager Visa — the status most foreign founders need — changed substantially. The paid-in capital threshold rose from JPY 5 million to JPY 30 million. Employing at least one full-time worker became mandatory rather than an alternative. New requirements were added for Japanese language ability, for the applicant’s management experience, and for the business plan to be verified by a qualified professional. A genuinely independent office became necessary, which rules out a virtual office address.
Existing visa holders have a transition period running to 16 October 2028. But a great deal of the English-language guidance online was written before the change and still describes the old thresholds. Working from it will cost you a rejected application.
Where this site touches those rules, we say when we last checked them.
How listings are compiled
Every listing is built from the provider’s own published information, shows the date it was verified, and says “Not published” wherever the provider does not state something publicly. We do not rank providers and we do not take referral fees. We do sell advertising: up to two firms per category can pay for a slot at the top of that category, and those are labelled Sponsored wherever they appear. The rest of the directory is alphabetical, and that order is not for sale. The full methodology is on How We List Providers.
Who runs it
Kaisha Guide is published by THRYVE Inc. (株式会社THRYVE), a company registered in Japan.
Editor: Takaya Hamasaki — reachable at hello@kaishaguide.com.
We are not lawyers, tax accountants or immigration specialists, and this site does not pretend otherwise. It exists because there was no straight answer to “who should I actually hire for this”, and building the comparison turned out to be the only way to get one.
What we do instead is research. Every listing is compiled from the firm’s own published material, carries the date it was checked, and is corrected free of charge when a firm tells us something is wrong. Where we could not verify something, the page says so rather than guessing. The full method is on How We List Providers.
We hold ourselves to the same standard we apply to the firms we list. If you think we have failed it somewhere, say so — the editor reads every message.
Kaisha Guide is not owned by, affiliated with, or funded by any of the firms listed on it.
The site is supported by flat monthly advertising from providers who choose to buy it. Advertising never affects how a listing is compiled or where it appears, and every paid placement is labelled. See Advertising for how that works.
An important limit
Kaisha Guide is not a law firm, a tax firm or an immigration agency, and nothing on this site is legal, tax or immigration advice. We can tell you what firms publish about themselves. Decisions about your own application belong with a licensed professional or with the relevant Japanese authority.
Questions, corrections and additions are welcome — get in touch.