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Setting up an office / company in Japan

Registering a branch office in Japan

Required documents

  • Affidavit certified by the country's Embassy/Consulate in Japan or a public notary of the country where the foreign company is registered.
  • Seal certificate (inkan shomeisho) or signature attestation of the Representative in Japan (issued within 3 months)
  • Branch office's official seal (to be registered at the registry office)

What is an "Affidavit"?

An Affidavit is a statement of fact signed by the author and certified as to the authenticity of the author's signature by a notary public or a consul.

Usually the person wishing to have an Affidavit notarized prepare its content himself and bring the document to a notary public or a consul.

An Affidavit for registering a branch office contains the details such as the name of the parent company, address of the head office, the company's activities, amount of capital, names of the Directors, the date of establishment of the brance office in Japan, address of the branch office, name and address of the Representative in Japan.

To be able to prepare such Affidavit, the following documents are required.

  • Registry certificate of the parent company overseas
  • Articles of Incorporation of the parent company
  • Japanese translation of the above documents
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Who can become the Representative in Japan?

An individual of any nationality can become the Representative in Japan, although at least one of them needs to be a resident in Japan (having a resident registration in Japan).

A foreign national can become the Representative in Japan by registering oneself as a resident in Japan (even on a tourist visa).

It is required to obtain a seal certificate (inkan shomeisho) at the city hall of the resident registration, which can be replaced by a signature attestation issued by the Embassy/Consulate of the person's country of citizenship in Japan.

Steps and required time for the registration
1 Finding an branch office address and the Representative in Japan
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2 Preparing an Affidavit based on the Registry Certificate and the Articles of Incorporation of the parent company as well as the seal certificate of the Representative in Japan
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3 Notarization of the Affidavit by a notary public or the Embassy/Consulate in Japan
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4 Ordering a branch office's official seal
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5 Application of the branch office registration Registration duties:
90 000 yen
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6 Registration completed
It is now possible to obtain a registry certificate and the branch office's seal certificate that will be required to be able to open a bank account and proceed with the tax and social security related procedures.

It takes about a week to complete the registration once the application is submitted. Considering the time required to gather all the documents, it generally takes about 2-3 weeks altogether.

Costs and services provided

The costs for setting up a branch office in Japan would be the following:

Our fees
 136,500 yen
Registration duties 90,000 yen
Others (company seals, certificates, etc.) 20,000 yen
TOTAL 246,500 yen

The above quotation include the following services:

  • Preparing an Affidavit (in English or French) and its Japanese translation
  • Communicating with the people involved at the parent company and the Japanese branch if necessary (in English, French or Japanese)
  • Ordering the branch office's official seal on your behalf
  • Filing the application of the branch office registration
  • Obtaining the registry certificate and seal certificate once the branch office registration is completed

Our services do not include the tax and social security related procedures, although we will be able to introduce some appropreate specialists who speak English.


We support foreign companies who wish to operate business in Japan.


For more information, click here.




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