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The largest bank in Japan was flabbergasted that I sweet talked them into getting a business bank account for Starfighter. Some things I wouldn't agree with: P
by patio11 9y ago
The largest bank in Japan was flabbergasted that I sweet talked them into getting a business bank account for Starfighter.
Some things I wouldn't agree with: Personal bank accounts aren't challenging given a medium term status of residence. Wire transfers should be trivial for anyone capable of running a business; you just have to ask and not sound like a drug lord while doing so. Credit cards are easily available, including to foreigners (surprisingly so from some issuers), though corporate cards are much harder. Capital requirements functionally don't exist anymore; you can open a 合同会社 with 1 yen and you can convince large banks to open a business bank account with e.g. 10万 as an opening deposit.
(For anyone starting a company in Japan who wants to talk banking stuff I'd be more than happy to; this is very relevant to my professional interests these days.)
- jmadsen 9y agoSorry, Patrick, have to disagree with you on this one: 12 years of residency, started a Godo Gaisha, had to jump hoops even with my bank I'd had a personal account with all those years just to get a standard savings account. Credit card was the same for me, although friends have had easier time. I owned a house, a car, registered a business - could not get a personal cc with company my family had been using for over 10 years without doing major banter and restrictions. I can't imagine a foreigner coming over here with no spousal connections and setting up a company for a year.
- jpatokal 9y agoThere's a great deal of variance among Japanese banks regarding their policies on issuing credit cards to gaijin, all of which are (of course!) undocumented. A random list of cards that are supposedly easier to get: http://wandertokyo.com/japanese-credit-cards/ http://wandertokyo.com/japanese-credit-cards/