Plan, deadline or blocker
Use the Japan Entry Route Check.
CHOOSE YOUR JAPAN ENTRY ROUTE
Your Japanese company can exist before your business is ready to operate.
See what must happen first - banking, licensing, premises, people, cash and sales - before you commit the next yen.
Choose the route that matches where you are now. Neither route provides legal, tax or immigration advice.
CHOOSE YOUR NEXT STEP
Researching and not ready yet
Get the checklist and email guide.
300+subsidy applications supported
30-40corporate bank-account cases handled
Multiplecompanies established, operated and sold
Japan + Dubaia view from both sides of market entry
FREE 7-PAGE CHECKLIST + EMAIL GUIDE
Find the first thing that could delay your Japan entry.
Enter your email to receive Mariko's Japan Entry Readiness Checklist. You will also receive seven short, practical emails on banking, licensing, cash runway, people and local execution. After the guide ends, you will receive the weekly Japan Business with Mariko email.
- Map what must be ready before the first Japanese sale.
- See which evidence a bank or authority may need.
- Separate incorporation from the work required to operate.
After you submit your email, this page will switch directly to the PDF checklist. By signing up, you will also receive seven practical emails from Mariko, followed by the weekly Japan Business with Mariko email. Unsubscribe at any time. See our Privacy Policy.
INSTANT PDF ACCESS
Enter your email. This page will then switch to the PDF.
- 1Enter your email and select Send me the checklist.
- 2This page switches directly to the free 7-page PDF, where you can read or download it.
- 3Your registration also starts Mariko's practical email guide. The first email includes the PDF link for safekeeping.
FIND THE REAL BLOCKER
What is your first Japanese sale waiting for?
Choose the sentence that sounds most like your current situation. It will point you to the field guide that should come next.
Banking
The bank wants evidence the new company does not yet have.
Licensing
The office, qualified person or proof must be ready before trading.
Cash
Rent, advisers and administration begin before dependable revenue.
People
Hiring may be too large a first step, but outsourcing has limits.
Sales
A positive meeting is not an internal approval, contract or payment.
A REAL PLAN OR BLOCKER?
Do not add more steps before you know which one comes first.
Use the Japan Entry Route Check when a banking, licensing, acquisition or Japan-side operating issue is already affecting a decision.
THE SIX-BOOK STARTER LIBRARY
One real problem. One short field guide.
These are not abstract explanations of Japan. Each volume begins with a practical question Mariko encountered while operating companies, supporting applications and moving projects through Japanese institutions.
BOOK 1
The company exists. Why can’t the business start?
The order of operations after incorporation
BOOK 2
Why won’t the bank open the account?
Bank evidence, ownership, contracts and credibility
BOOK 3
Why is the company still not allowed to trade?
Licenses, premises and qualified people
BOOK 4
Why is money leaving before the first sale?
Fixed costs, tax timing and minimum cash runway
BOOK 5
Do you really need a company and employees yet?
Employees, contractors, visas and the Japan Desk option
BOOK 6
The meeting went well. Why did the deal stop?
Approvals, contracts, payment cycles and sales reality
FROM READING TO OPERATING
You do not need every answer today. You need the right next decision.
- 01
Check readiness
Identify the first revenue activity, its dependencies and the cash clock.
- 02
Read the relevant guide
Use the book that matches your actual blocker - not a generic incorporation manual.
- 03
Prepare the right questions
Take a concise business explanation and evidence pack to the right authority, bank or professional.
- 04
Use Japan Desk when local execution is the gap
Test the market and coordinate Japan-side work before taking on unnecessary fixed infrastructure.
THE PRACTITIONER BEHIND THE SERIES
I knew how to establish a company. I learned the rest by operating one.
Mariko began by studying for Japan's judicial scrivener qualification and later established her own administrative scrivener practice. She supported more than 300 government subsidy applications, worked on company formations, established several companies herself and experienced selling companies as well as building them.
After moving to Dubai in 2024, she began looking at Japanese institutions from the perspective of overseas owners. Her role is not to replace the licensed adviser required for an individual case. It is to help business owners see the sequence, prepare the right questions and connect the practical steps.
BEFORE YOU BEGIN
Questions overseas owners ask first
Is this series a beginner’s guide to entrepreneurship?
No. It is written for owners who already understand business but need to see how Japanese banking, licensing, premises, people, tax and sales processes fit together.
Will the checklist tell me which legal structure to choose?
It helps you organize the commercial purpose and dependencies first. Your final structure should be confirmed with the appropriate qualified professional for your facts.
Do I need to establish a Japanese company immediately?
Not always. Book 5 explains why market testing, contractors or a Japan-side operations desk may be a smaller first step. Immigration and regulated activities still require their own professional review.
What can Japan Desk do?
Japan Desk can coordinate agreed Japan-side operations, Japanese communication, vendors, documents and projects. It does not provide address rental, proxy director, bank-account rental or services outside an agreed lawful scope.
START BEFORE INCORPORATION
Do not let your Japanese entity become an expensive waiting room.
Choose the Route Check when a real decision is waiting. Choose the checklist when you are still mapping the terrain.