Good luck finding a place to rent.
It's really not hard at all these days, and Tokyo rent is wayyy cheaper than NYC or SF.
Japan eyes startup visa program
31–40 of 224 posts
Re: Japan eyes startup visa program
#32This is quite something because traditionally Japanese culture has been fairly close to foreigners and probably for a good reason. Japanese people are likely the most courteous and honest people in the world. You can leave your luggage in the middle of the road and come back to find it still there. These folks have little experience with foreigners and often even western culture would be too harsh and rowdy for them.…
This is pure exoticization.
Japan is fairly safe in certain ways - you’re not at risk of getting shot like in the US, sure.
But the police and justice system is very dysfunctional, with crime statistics being under reported, and many murder cases being tossed aside as “suicides” or “heart attacks”.
Even without taking this into account, crime rates in Japan are comparable to those of safe European countries.
And this is not even touching the HUGE pervasive problem that Japan has with sexual assault. If you’re a woman living in Tokyo, you most likely have been sexually assaulted in your life, likely more than once, and likely by a coworker or in public transportation.
Japan is great in certain ways, and still very backwards in many others. But it is not some magical country where there is magically no crime and people are the most honest in the world because of some mysterious Japan only gene. On many metrics, Japan is aligned with the most developed Western European countries (including the famously quoted “fertility rate”, which is actually the same as Austria or Germany). If anything, it is the US that is an anomaly in many ways (crime rate, financial inequality, drug use, etc).
Re: Japan eyes startup visa program
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
Silicon valley -> Tokyo expat here. It took me Just like anything, there's right and wrong ways to do it. If you do it the traditional way with a japanese speaking landlord who mistrust foreigners, yes it can be hard. That is a significant portion of the market. One thing I will say, there are real estate companies that actually cater to foreigners. This has been my landlord for a year and I just renewed: http://toky…
I've read getting a place to stay has become easier, but I still hear people complain about getting a bank account without help from an employer.
Shinsei was extremely easy to get a back account with. I applied online and sent in a few documents and was all setup.
Re: Japan eyes startup visa program
#34>Based on the New Business Implementation Plan, Fukuoka City officials will conduct a review on the progress of startup businesses founded by entrepreneurs who utilized this system and received approval for his/her Business Manager residential status. There will be three review sessions during the six-month period, of which at least one session will be held either at the entrepreneur’s place of business or residence.…
Try opening a business bank account in Japan. Or any bank account for that matter. Be prepared to start every handwritten form over if you make even the slightest error, and I hope you’ve been practicing your kanji. No credit cards or foreign transfers until you’ve got a few years in your business. Capital requirements. It’s a whole different ballgame, for better or worse.
> and I hope you’ve been practicing your kanji
Shinsei bank offer applications in English
> or foreign transfers until you’ve got a few years in your business
Fortunately there are options to transfer JPY funds overseas using companies like Transferwise.
Re: Japan eyes startup visa program
#35This is quite something because traditionally Japanese culture has been fairly close to foreigners and probably for a good reason. Japanese people are likely the most courteous and honest people in the world. You can leave your luggage in the middle of the road and come back to find it still there. These folks have little experience with foreigners and often even western culture would be too harsh and rowdy for them.…
That's quite a roundabout way of saying "foreigners are criminals"... Seriously, I'm extremely deferential to the local customs when I'm abroad. But I felt being pushed into a subway car during rush hour to be quite "harsh and rowdy". Not to mentioned the drunk guys who spit in my faced an laughed.
Over the last 15 years I've spent roughly 6 months in Japan, and have never encountered anything other than respect and courtesy, especially if you make an effort to speak the language and respect the cultural customs. I've spent roughly the same amount of time in San Francisco in those years, and I've seen hundreds of cars with shattered windows, dozens of people shitting on the sidewalk, been harassed by crazy people on Market at least 10 times, almost stepped on needles in parks and on sidewalks, etc.
Re: Japan eyes startup visa program
#36This is quite something because traditionally Japanese culture has been fairly close to foreigners and probably for a good reason. Japanese people are likely the most courteous and honest people in the world. You can leave your luggage in the middle of the road and come back to find it still there. These folks have little experience with foreigners and often even western culture would be too harsh and rowdy for them.…
This is pure exoticization. Japan is fairly safe in certain ways - you’re not at risk of getting shot like in the US, sure. But the police and justice system is very dysfunctional, with crime statistics being under reported, and many murder cases being tossed aside as “suicides” or “heart attacks”. Even without taking this into account, crime rates in Japan are comparable to those of safe European countries. And this…
Do you have any references for the above claims?
Re: Japan eyes startup visa program
#37France has the same thing, valid for 4 years. http://visa.lafrenchtech.com/
Yes but why would you ever want to move there to create a startup?
Not only you have to deal with enterprise related problems such as fiscal instability (rules changes almost every years, see for example how the auto-entrepreneur status changed over time), the URSSAF, a bureaucratic and slow administration but you have also to deal with a lot of issues on a personal level such as insecurity, terrorism, frequent riots and strikes, the administration (yes, again), ...
No really, as a French and as someone who tried a minimal thing with the easiest available status, I don’t understand how my country can be attractive. I would rather deal with the Japanese administration, which asks for ridiculous amount of documents but does its job. And a country with working services (transports, post) is also a big plus.
Re: Japan eyes startup visa program
#38>Based on the New Business Implementation Plan, Fukuoka City officials will conduct a review on the progress of startup businesses founded by entrepreneurs who utilized this system and received approval for his/her Business Manager residential status. There will be three review sessions during the six-month period, of which at least one session will be held either at the entrepreneur’s place of business or residence.…
Try opening a business bank account in Japan. Or any bank account for that matter. Be prepared to start every handwritten form over if you make even the slightest error, and I hope you’ve been practicing your kanji. No credit cards or foreign transfers until you’ve got a few years in your business. Capital requirements. It’s a whole different ballgame, for better or worse.
Shinsei was easy to work with (for a business account), have English language online banking and telephone support. Never had an issue with foreign transfers.
Does help to have a Japanese friend who can help when opening the account, etc, and it’s important to find accounting and legal help that speak English.
Re: Japan eyes startup visa program
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've read getting a place to stay has become easier, but I still hear people complain about getting a bank account without help from an employer.
Shinsei was extremely easy to get a back account with. I applied online and sent in a few documents and was all setup.
Great info thanks! My experience comes from MUFG. Other data points are helpful.
Re: Japan eyes startup visa program
#40This is quite something because traditionally Japanese culture has been fairly close to foreigners and probably for a good reason. Japanese people are likely the most courteous and honest people in the world. You can leave your luggage in the middle of the road and come back to find it still there. These folks have little experience with foreigners and often even western culture would be too harsh and rowdy for them.…
This is pure exoticization. Japan is fairly safe in certain ways - you’re not at risk of getting shot like in the US, sure. But the police and justice system is very dysfunctional, with crime statistics being under reported, and many murder cases being tossed aside as “suicides” or “heart attacks”. Even without taking this into account, crime rates in Japan are comparable to those of safe European countries. And this…
There is a grain of truth to the statement though. I’m just leaving Tokyo to come back to the US. I was pretty amazed at many things. People leave their purses on the table as they go to restroom. They leave their bikes parked with no lock. I didn’t see anybody jay walk, even across narrow streets where the crosswalks were spaced several blocks apart. That is not to say there aren’t lots of problems along other dimensions of society. But coming from DC to Tokyo it reminds me a little bit about how I felt coming from South Asia to the US the first time.