Helping global companies enter Japan 🇯🇵 Your Japan Desk for market research, strategy, localization & local partner introductions🤝
Joined August 2025
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China's Jan 2026 export controls on dual-use items bound for Japan reach third parties anywhere. If your product carries China-origin NdFeB or SmCo magnets and ships to a Japanese customer, you may be inside the perimeter.
kaizendigital.tech/news/japa…
The sogo shosha is probably not your route into Japan. For a EUR 20-300M supplier the realistic partner is a senmon shosha, a specialised trading house where your line is worth championing rather than filing.
kaizendigital.tech/blog/japa…
Most foreign manufacturers write the same Japan job: fluent in Japanese, fluent in the product, able to quote and report to an HQ that speaks neither. That is three scarce skills in one body, priced accordingly.
kaizendigital.tech/blog/japa…
Your quote was competitive and you still lost. In Japanese supplier evaluation, unit price is one score on a much larger card: delivery reliability, documented evidence, response time, supply risk.
kaizendigital.tech/blog/japa…
ALT KAIZEN Digital OÜ social image: The Price Was Right. You Lost.
The meeting ran in English and went well. The decision did not match the room. For a Japanese buyer working internally in Japanese, the English meeting may be only one layer of the decision.
kaizendigital.tech/blog/japa…
ALT KAIZEN Digital OÜ social image: What You Didn't Hear in the Room
Your Japanese deal went quiet. A document you never see may be moving: the ringisho, the internal proposal that collects every approval a purchase needs. What it is, who writes it, and what makes it easier to approve.
kaizendigital.tech/blog/ring…
ALT KAIZEN Digital OÜ social image: How Your Deal Gets Approved
A weak yen cuts the dollar price of a Japanese company. It does not cut the yen price, and it does not change what the business earns.
The real story is 600,000+ profitable firms with no successor.
kaizendigital.tech/blog/buyi…
ALT 600,000 Japanese businesses face closure without a successor
Hiring in Japan runs through your company, not your hire. The Certificate of Eligibility is filed in Japan by the employing entity, and a new subsidiary is almost always the heaviest sponsor category.
kaizendigital.tech/blog/japa…
ALT Your company files the Japan work visa, not your hire
Your Japanese buyer keeps asking for documents your file already covers. It reads as fussiness. It isn't.
ISO 9001 clause 8.4 puts the supplier-evaluation record on the buyer. Your certificate cannot discharge an obligation that belongs to them.
kaizendigital.tech/blog/japa…
ALT Why your spec sheet is not enough: understanding buyer expectations in Japan
From Nov 1, 2026, Japan's tax-free shopping becomes refund-based: pay the tax at the till, claim it back on departure (within 90 days). What foreign retailers and brands must prepare: kaizendigital.tech/blog/japa…
Japan's FY2026 tax reform (enacted Mar 31, 2026) reshapes corporate tax, transfer pricing, CFC rules and consumption tax for foreign companies operating in Japan. What to act on now: kaizendigital.tech/blog/japa…
Japan's invoice system in 2026: the transitional credit for unregistered suppliers is now 70% from Oct 2026 (not 50%), plus a new ¥100M single-supplier cap. What foreign businesses selling into Japan must do: kaizendigital.tech/blog/japa…
Japan's AI Promotion Act has no fines and no bans — but a "name and shame" enforcement model that can hurt more than a penalty in a reputation-sensitive market. What foreign firms deploying AI in Japan must do: kaizendigital.tech/blog/japa…
Japan's food-service SSW visa hit its 50,000 cap and stopped new applicants on April 13, 2026 (reopening ~2027). Quotas are real ceilings. What foreign employers must know about Japan's Specified Skilled Worker visa: kaizendigital.tech/blog/japa…
Since March 9, 2026, Japan's ISA requires both the EOR and the client company to file a visa pledge for dispatch/EOR hires. An Employer of Record no longer keeps you hands-off on immigration. New guide: kaizendigital.tech/blog/empl…
Japan's Highly Skilled Professional visa fast-tracks permanent residency: 3 years at 70+ points, just 1 year at 80+, versus Japan's standard 10-year wait. No capital or office requirement, unlike the Business Manager visa.
kaizendigital.tech/blog/japa…
Japan just raised its Business Manager Visa capital minimum sixfold to ¥30M on Oct 16, 2025. Only about 4% of current holders clear that bar, and there's a lesser-known on-ramp visa most founders don't know exists.
kaizendigital.tech/blog/japa…
Japan just sextupled its Business Manager visa capital requirement to ¥30 million. That is not even the biggest barrier foreign companies hit when entering the market.
kaizendigital.tech/blog/doin…
Everyone quoting Japan's "15% tariff" is talking about the wrong country. That number is what Japan pays the US on exports. Japan's own import tariff averages 3.8%, and over half of all goods enter duty-free. The real traps: beef, rice, leather.
kaizendigital.tech/news/japa…
Japan's Business Manager Visa applications are down 96% since October 2025. Capital requirement: ¥30M, up sixfold. JLPT N2 now required. Full-time local hire from day one. Existing holders have until October 2028 to comply.
kaizendigital.tech/blog/japa…
