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Useful information on subsidies, visas, company formation, and other legal topics.
Delivered in an easy-to-understand manner from the perspective of an administrative scrivener.
What does it take to obtain a construction business permit? The managing officer, the full-time engineer and the financial basis
Anyone carrying on a construction business needs a permit under Article 3 of the Construction Business Act, unless they only take on minor works. This article organises the line for minor works, the managing officer, the full-time engineer, the financial basis, disqualifications, governor and minister permits, and the split among the administrative scrivener, the labour consultant and the judicial scrivener.
Starting a care taxi (welfare transport): permit, office, garage and Class 2 licence requirements
To start a care taxi (transporting people who need care to hospital and outings for a fee), you need a permit under Article 4 of the Road Transport Act. This article organises the permit types, the office and garage requirements, the Class 2 licence and care qualifications, the cost and time guide, and who to hand the property, licence and labour matters to.
Which licence do you need to sell alcohol? General liquor retail vs. mail-order retail
To sell alcohol continuously, you need a liquor sales business licence from the competent tax office under Article 9 of the Liquor Tax Act, per sales place. This article organises the licence types, the per-sales-place property requirements, the applicant and management-base requirements, the cost and time guide, and who to hand the property, tax and customs matters to.
The flow and documents for medical-corporation establishment approval: from sole practice to incorporation
To incorporate a clinic you run as an individual, you first need establishment approval for a medical corporation. This article organises the approval flow, the prefecture's approval schedule and the required documents, within the scope of an administrative scrivener's document-preparation support.
Confectionery and prepared-food manufacturing permits and premises facility standards: how they differ from restaurant business
To start a confectionery workshop or a prepared-food (sozai) business for takeaway, you need a manufacturing permit separate from a restaurant-business permit. This article organises the differences, the facility standards for the premises and the flow, within the scope of an administrative scrivener's application support.
When an heir in mainland China joins a Japanese inheritance: the kinship notarial certificate and its authentication
Where an heir or the deceased is in mainland China, there is no Japanese-style family register, so you prove who the heirs are with a kinship notarial certificate issued by a Chinese notary office. This article organises how to obtain it, whether consular legalisation or an apostille is needed after China's 7 November 2023 entry into the Hague Convention, how to arrange signatures and powers of attorney from China, and who decides the governing law.
A restaurant-business permit: the public health centre's facility standards and the food-sanitation supervisor
To open a café, izakaya or restaurant that cooks and serves food, you need a restaurant-business permit under the Food Sanitation Act. This article organises the permitted-business types, the facility standards a public health centre reviews, who can be a food-sanitation supervisor, what the 2021 HACCP reform changed, and the flow from application to opening.
How does the designation application for a home-visit nursing station proceed?
To run a home-visit nursing station you need designation as a designated home-visit nursing business. This article organises who to apply to, the staffing standard (full-time equivalent of 2.5 or more), the difference between medical and long-term care insurance, the schedule, and who to ask for labour, registration and premises.
A simple lodging (kan'i shukusho) hotel-business permit: what conditions and what flow?
To run a bare-stay guesthouse in a detached house or vacant building you need a hotel-business permit as a simple-lodging operation (Hotel Business Act, Article 3, paragraph 1). This article organises the structural-facility standards, the use zone and change of use, the fire-law conformity notice, and who to ask for building, fire and premises matters.
What is a voluntary guardianship contract? The transition type, and how it differs from statutory guardianship and a family trust
A voluntary guardianship contract lets you decide, while you still have capacity, who will manage your finances and care if your capacity later declines, and grant them authority. This article organises when it takes effect, the transition type combined with a property-management mandate and a watch-over contract, how it differs from statutory guardianship (Civil Code Articles 7, 11 and 15), and how it compares with a family trust.
Opening a clinic: the notification under Medical Care Act Article 8, and how it differs from a hospital's licence
A clinic with no beds or 19 beds or fewer can start with a notification, not a licence. This article organises who files what, by when and where under Medical Care Act Article 8, how it differs from the hospital licence (Article 7), the insurance-medical-institution designation for insured care, and how the roles divide among the administrative scrivener, real estate, tax accountant and labour and social security attorney.
Setting up the spousal residence right: how to proceed with the estate-division agreement and the registration
The spousal residence right lets the deceased's spouse continue living, free of charge, in the building they lived in at the time of succession (Civil Code Article 1028, effective 1 April 2020). This article organises the requirements, the duration, how to write it in the estate-division agreement, who handles the registration and valuation, and how it differs from the spousal short-term residence right.
Certification for automobile specified maintenance (formerly dismantling maintenance): requirements and how to proceed
To carry out automobile specified maintenance as a business, you need certification from the District Transport Bureau Director under Article 78 of the Road Transport Vehicle Act, for each business site. This article organises the scope of maintenance that requires certification, the personnel and equipment requirements, the 2020 reform, the application flow, and who to hand the property, registration and tax matters to.
Light-vehicle freight transport (black number plates): the notification, versus the general freight permit, and 2025 safety management
Delivery with a single light van (light-vehicle freight transport, the so-called black number plates) can be started by notification, not a permit. This article organises the difference from the general freight permit, the required documents and office/garage conditions, the safety-manager duty that took effect in 2025, and who to hand the property and labour matters to.
Special benefits and contribution shares: adjusting inheritance shares and the 2023 ten-year rule
Special benefits and contribution shares adjust each heir's actual share where applying the statutory shares as-is would be unfair. This article organises the basics of special benefits (Article 903) and contribution shares (Article 904-2), the exemption from bringing gifts into account, and the ten-year rule effective in 2023, and who to hand valuation, tax and disputes to.
General freight transport business permit: what must the office and garage satisfy?
To run a truck transport business (general freight motor vehicle transport), you need a permit under Article 3 of the Motor Truck Transport Business Act. This article organises the office, garage and rest-and-sleep facility requirements, the frontage-road and zoning pitfalls, the standard processing period, and who to hand the property, vehicles and labour matters to.
Who should be the executor of a will? The duties and how appointment works, explained plainly
An executor is the person who carries out the will's contents, with the rights and duties to do everything necessary for the execution (Article 1012, paragraph 1 of the Civil Code). You can name one in the will or the family court can appoint one (Articles 1006 and 1010). This article organises the executor's duties, powers, designation and appointment from an administrative scrivener's view.
What does an administrative scrivener do in a family trust? The division of roles with the notary and the trust registration
A family trust (civil trust) lets a person entrust the management and disposition of assets to a trusted family member for a designated beneficiary. This article explains the mechanism, the scope in which an administrative scrivener can be involved in drafting the trust deed, why a notarial deed is used, who does the trust registration, and how it differs from a will and a voluntary guardianship.
Turning farmland into residential land: the flow of conversion permission under Articles 4 and 5 of the Agricultural Land Act
Converting farmland to residential land, a car park or the like requires permission or notification under the Agricultural Land Act. Self-conversion is Article 4; conversion involving a transfer of rights is Article 5. This article explains the difference, the permission-or-notification split by area, the documents, the timeline and who to refer registration, sale and tax to.
Starting a minpaku: what do you need? The notification vs. the hotel permit
To run a minpaku (residential accommodation business) in your own or an owned home, you file a notification under Article 3, paragraph 1 of the Housing Accommodation Business Act. This article organises the difference from the hotel-business permit, the 180-day cap, the fire-compliance notice, and the management rules and lease you must check.
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