Reference

Attorneys-at-law, judicial scriveners and administrative scriveners (gyoseishoshi lawyers) are among the specialists who may be consulted on the establishment of branch offices and companies. These specialists can prepare various documents (e.g., documentation related to the establishment of Japanese branch offices and Japanese corporations, transfers of location, changes of executives, changes of business purposes, increases in capital, organizational changes, mergers, dissolution, etc.) and help with acquiring a visa upon a client’s request. Filing of commercial registration applications for submission to the Legal Affairs Bureau as attorney-in-fact is the exclusive province of judicial scriveners and attorneys-at-law.

You can find experts in establishing business bases, including corporate registration, and opening bank accounts, in the following directories:
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Please refer to the following information for opening a corporate bank account.

When opening a corporate bank account, in addition to the above-mentioned perspective of preventing crimes such as account trading and money laundering, the actual business conditions may also be examined. Accordingly, the company may be required to explain its corporate profile and financial condition, including information on its beneficial owner(s) (see Note below), the purpose of opening the account, and the details of the business (including the license or permit if the business is a licensed or authorized business). Since incomplete submissions or delays in responding to inquiries may be judged unreliable, it is advisable to prepare in advance explanatory materials on such matters (e.g., websites for corporate profiles), certificates, agreements, etc. and respond promptly and reliably.

Representative offices aimed at the collection and provision of information may be freely established without any registration requirements under the Companies Act; no notification need be provided to tax offices, as representative offices do not engage in business operations in Japan and thus are not subject to corporate tax. However, representative offices established by foreign banks, insurance companies, securities companies, or other financial institutions are exceptions; prior notification must be provided to the Financial Services Agency for such representative offices (as stipulated in the Banking Act, the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, and other laws).

As a representative office cannot open a bank account in its own name, the head office of the foreign company or an individual such as a representative of the office opens a bank account in place of the office (see 1.1.1). When a representative of the office opens a bank account on behalf of the office, the name of the bank account usually contains both the name of the representative office and that of the individual representative as in "(name of representative), Japan Representative Office, (name of company)."

In this case, the following documents are generally required: