What really happens with offices and housing when a Taiwanese company sets up in Japan

In short: when a Taiwanese company opens a base in Japan, the time is not spent looking for property. Incorporation, obtaining a residence status and hiring staff form a queue of procedures, and the lease sits somewhere inside that queue. The office and the residence have to be chosen by working backwards from that schedule. At Yotsuba, each entity is engaged separately and directly: brokerage and the lease are handled by Yotsuba Real Estate Co., Ltd., and the preparation of documents for submission to public authorities by Yotsuba Administrative Scrivener Office. Registration is for a judicial scrivener, tax for a licensed tax accountant, disputes for an attorney — each engaged by you directly. We neither pay nor accept referral fees. Consultation is also available in Chinese.

On 20 August 2026 I attended the gathering held in Shibadaimon, Tokyo, to mark the relocation of the Startup Island TAIWAN Tokyo Hub. It was a chance to hear, one after another, where Taiwanese startups get stuck when entering the Japanese market. What follows is what stayed with me, seen from the real estate side.

Why decide the schedule before looking at property?

What stayed with me was a remark by a founder who had entered Japan earlier. Settle in for the long haul, he said — sometimes it takes a year and a half from arrival before the business actually starts moving. No one in the room sounded surprised. Several people there had lived through the same stretch of time.

Most of that year and a half is not spent looking at property. You incorporate, obtain a residence status, hire people, file the required notifications, and depending on the industry, obtain licences and permits. Each step has its own application and review period, and the lease falls somewhere in the middle of that queue.

The Business Manager residence status, for one, had its requirements raised by an amendment to the landing permission criteria that took effect on 16 October 2025. What the amendment contains, and which applications it applies to, belongs to the residence status side of the question. What matters on the real estate side is a single point: the residence status review and the lease can each become a precondition for the other. See Housing for foreign residents — multilingual support.

Seen from Taiwan, where administrative procedures move quickly and digitisation is well advanced, Japan may look like a country with many steps and unpredictable timing. That time cannot be cut, but it can be shortened by getting the order right. Locking in a property first and only later discovering it does not match the requirements is the most expensive detour of all.

Depending on the industry, it can happen that a licence cannot be obtained for the office you have already signed for. That topic is covered in Incorporation and choosing an office.

Can a foreign corporation lease an office or a residence in its own name?

Sometimes yes, but the landlord, the management company and the guarantee company each run their own review, and the standards differ from property to property. For a corporation with no track record in Japan yet, the following tend to come under scrutiny.

What gets checked	How it is handled in practice
Substance of the corporation	Certificate of registered matters, financial statements. A newly incorporated company has none, so the business plan or the amount of stated capital may be looked at instead
Residence status of the tenant and occupants	A residence card is usually requested. For some properties the review will not proceed before one is issued
Joint guarantor / guarantee company	Where no joint guarantor can be found in Japan, use of a guarantee company may be made a condition
Method of rent payment	Direct debit from a domestic corporate bank account may be required
Permitted use	Whether a unit leased as residential can be used as an office depends on the lease and the building rules

None of these are certainties. They vary by property and by landlord, so the practical approach is to start with the properties whose conditions are easiest to clear.

Which comes first, the office or the representative's residence?

It depends on the circumstances. The following are useful in deciding.

• Securing business premises is checked in the residence status review in some situations
• On the other hand, for some properties the residential review will not progress without a residence card
• Whether you use short-term accommodation in between, or go straight to a full lease, changes the total initial cost
• Deciding both at the same time means two sets of review documents running in parallel, which is a heavier load

Rather than the order itself, knowing in advance when each review will start is what makes the difference. The answer changes with the circumstances, so please bring us your schedule.

How should company housing be handled when bringing staff to Japan?

When the company provides housing for its staff, the lease and the company housing rules move at the same time. Whether the property allows a corporate lease, whether consent to sublet can be obtained, whether the employee bears part of the rent. If only the property is decided first, parts of it can no longer be adjusted on the rules side. That topic is covered in Introducing leased company housing.

What is similar and what is different between the Taiwanese and Japanese real estate trades?

At the venue, my friend Mr. Cheng, president of Mola Holdings, Ltd., came with his staff. He introduced me to the Taiwanese guests around us, and the conversation opened up at once. I was grateful for it.

Talking with counterparts from Taiwan, I find our instincts sit in much the same place. What to be suspicious of when viewing a property, what to verify before signing, how much distance to keep with a client. The language differs, but those things come across.

The institutions, however, are a different matter. In Japan a licence is required to engage in the real estate brokerage business (Real Estate Brokerage Act, Article 3), and before a contract is concluded, a real estate broker must have a registered real estate transaction specialist explain the important matters in writing (Article 35). The explanation is given not by the company but by a qualified individual. That structure is not obvious at first to someone arriving from Taiwan.

How responsibilities are divided when an overseas real estate company handles Japanese property is set out in For real estate professionals in Greater China.

What can Yotsuba Real Estate take on?

For business premises, see Incorporation and choosing an office; for staff housing, Introducing leased company housing; and for the residence of the representative and their family, Housing for foreign residents — multilingual support. Negotiating terms with landlords and management companies for leases in the name of a foreign corporation, or of a representative who has just arrived in Japan, is included. We can also assist in Chinese. Consultation is free of charge.

Startup Island TAIWAN Tokyo Hub — facility information

Compiled from the facility's official website for Taiwanese companies considering entry into Japan (accessed 20 August 2026).

Item	Details
Name	Startup Island TAIWAN Tokyo Hub
Address	7F, 1-3-4 Shibadaimon, Minato City, Tokyo 105-0012
Official website	https://tokyo.startupisland.tw/
Contact	https://tokyo.startupisland.tw/jp/contact / support@startupisland.tw
Established	Established by Taiwan's National Development Council (NDC). Opened 18 September 2024, announced as the first overseas hub in Asia. Operations are outsourced
Track record	Services provided to a cumulative 200 companies, with 20 companies establishing themselves in Japan (announced by the NDC on 18 May 2026)

A coworking space, meeting rooms, an event space and individual consultations are available. All of them require application and approval; the site states that "The Tokyo Hub team reserves the right to approve or deny the eligibility of applicants." The main target is Taiwanese startups: same-day coworking use requires a Republic of China identity card, health insurance card or passport, and the Japanese side is admitted as invited companions, up to three people. For the event space, applicants must belong to a community, association, foundation, government agency, startup or company in innovation or entrepreneurship, and events on weekends or evenings incur additional staff overtime and cleaning fees. On fees, the site still carries the statement that use is free "during the trial operation period until 30 April 2025"; the current fee structure is not published. Opening hours, telephone number, nearest station and capacity are not stated. As of 20 August 2026 the site says it is in the process of relocating to a new site.

Frequently asked questions

Q. Can we sign an office lease before the company is incorporated?
A. Because a lease cannot be signed in the name of a company that does not yet exist, one approach is to sign in the personal name of an incorporator or the person who will become the representative, and change the name after incorporation. Whether the landlord's consent is required for that change depends on the lease. We recommend confirming, before signing, whether a change of name is possible for that property.

Q. What documents will be requested at signing?
A. For a corporation, typically a certificate of registered matters and financial statements; for the representative and occupants, a residence card, passport, and documents evidencing employment or income. What is required differs by landlord and guarantee company. Documents issued overseas may need a Japanese translation.

Q. Can viewings and the contract explanation be conducted in Chinese?
A. We can guide you in Chinese. The explanation of important matters is given on the basis of Japanese-language documents, and we supplement the content in Chinese as we go so that it is understood.

Q. Is it better to start from short-term accommodation?
A. While waiting for a residence card to be issued, or where the place of work is not yet fixed, short-term accommodation is one option. On the other hand, it means paying initial costs twice. Comparing the expected length of stay against when each review will start is a useful basis for the decision.

Sources (primary)

• e-Gov Law Search, Real Estate Brokerage Act (Act No. 176 of 1952; Article 3 = licence, Article 35 = explanation of important matters, etc.) — accessed 20 August 2026
• Immigration Services Agency of Japan, "Amendment of the ministerial ordinance on landing permission criteria for the Business Manager status of residence" (in force 16 October 2025) — accessed 20 August 2026
• Startup Island TAIWAN Tokyo Hub official website — accessed 20 August 2026
• Opening date and founding body of the Tokyo Hub: press release dated 20 September 2024, issued by Taiwan's National Development Council
• Number of companies supported: announced by the National Development Council on 18 May 2026, reported by Focus Taiwan (Central News Agency), Japanese edition, 19 May 2026

Remarks by speakers at the venue and descriptions of those present are what the author saw and heard on the day; they are not figures published by the organiser. Floor area before and after the relocation is not stated, because no published material could be confirmed.

About the author

Joji Uramatsu — Administrative Scrivener (registration No. 25087022) and Real Estate Transaction Specialist (Tokyo Governor registration No. 293544). Representative Director of Yotsuba Real Estate Co., Ltd. (real estate brokerage licence: Tokyo Governor (1) No. 113304) and head of Yotsuba Administrative Scrivener Office. Former journalist and China Bureau Chief at the Mainichi Shimbun. Kohinata, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo — about five minutes on foot from Myogadani Station.

This article provides general information only and does not decide any individual case. Screening standards for leases differ by landlord and management company, and requirements for residence status and licensing are subject to amendment. Individual tax judgments are for a licensed tax accountant, registration for a judicial scrivener, and disputes for an attorney.