Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Japan eyes startup visa program

asia.nikkei.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 224 posts

Re: Japan eyes startup visa program

#131

Post by ThrustVectoring »

patio11 wrote: post #102
laurieg wrote: post #92

Japan's immigration system seems heavily set up to encourage young people to come, work and then leave. This startup visa is good for getting a toe-hold on Japan but only targets people out of country. If you live in Japan already (so you might already speak the language and have helpful local knowledge) there aren't any great paths to starting a business without permanent residency. You can't start a side business o…

You can't start a side business on a regular work visa. You know YC's question "How have you ever hacked a non-technical system?" This is my answer to it. You can start a side business on a regular work visa if the character of your business matches your status of residence and you don't intensify the business to the point where it is undeniable that it is a business as opposed to employment, e.g. by hiring full-time…

wait, as a non-citizen of Japan you are allowed to sponsor yourself for a work visa? That sounds, uhh, strange.

Re: Japan eyes startup visa program

#132

Post by btown »

patio11 wrote: post #102
laurieg wrote: post #92

Japan's immigration system seems heavily set up to encourage young people to come, work and then leave. This startup visa is good for getting a toe-hold on Japan but only targets people out of country. If you live in Japan already (so you might already speak the language and have helpful local knowledge) there aren't any great paths to starting a business without permanent residency. You can't start a side business o…

You can't start a side business on a regular work visa. You know YC's question "How have you ever hacked a non-technical system?" This is my answer to it. You can start a side business on a regular work visa if the character of your business matches your status of residence and you don't intensify the business to the point where it is undeniable that it is a business as opposed to employment, e.g. by hiring full-time…

For those who haven’t read it, Patrick’s article on Doing Business in Japan http://www.kalzumeus.com/2014/11/07/doing-business-in-japan/ is a fascinating read; on immigration, it goes into about as much detail as the above, but providing much more cultural context.

Re: Japan eyes startup visa program

#133

Post by WillPostForFood »

GuiA wrote: post #123
staunch wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In which major European city could you leave your laptop or purse on a table while you use the bathroom? Japan is incredibly different from Europe and America in thousands of important ways. The idea that it's even similar is absurd. There's very few comparisons you can even make, beyond the very superficial. Everything is different, from childbirth, children, school, dating, food, holidays, marriage, death, etc. You…

You seem to be missing the point. I am not saying that food or dating in Japan is the same as Europe (although I am not sure how you think childbirth works, I can assure you that the core of the childbirth experience is quite the same across humanity). What I am saying is that when you compare things that are actually comparable - graduation rates, unemployment, drug abuse, illiteracy, child vaccination, etc - Japan…

The safety (and cleanliness and civility) in Tokyo is especially notable due to its size. Bern is nice, but it's less of a challenge to manage a 500k pop than 13 million. And while I'd consider London or Berlin very safe, they still have a murder rate 4 times or greater than Tokyo. So it isn't fair to call it exoticism, it is just real observation. And as you can attest, it is particularly striking when you go between someplace like San Francisco and Tokyo.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/nov/30/new-yo...

https://www.numbeo.com/crime/rankings.jsp

Re: Japan eyes startup visa program

#134

Post by ArmandGrillet »

titanix2 wrote: post #37
cdancette wrote: post #2

France 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…

Did you ever work in another country? I work in Germany with colleagues from many different countries, and our country does not suck.

The French post is one of the best in the World, train delays are the same in France as in Germany (shall we compare with the situation in the US?), the administration is a PITA but they actually try to help instead of killing you (+ the number of organisms to help startups in France is very high).

Terrorism in France is a minimal cause of deaths compared to what happens in the US due to firearms. The fiscal instability is getting better with our current government (we know what is coming, not like in the US), the number of riots is low but they are highly mediatized.

I am honestly surprised by this comment, would have expected it from someone not living in France. Compared to the UK and USA, France is a safer place to create your startup right now if you are a foreigner.

The language is a pain and there are other alternatives (Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong, Germany) but if you want a country in the Western World that tries to help you instead of making everything possible to have you back at the border, France is attractive.

PS: If you ask « Why is it attractive? »: Paris is full of investors/incubators, young people do speak English, people in the startup environment interact a lot and you will find mates to work and speak about your issues easily. Paris has two major airports (compared to Germany with old airports in Berlin and a too small one in Hamburg) + train stations to go everywhere (i.e. London, Bordeaux, Lyon).

Re: Japan eyes startup visa program

#135

Post by mikekchar »

laurieg wrote: post #101
hardwaresofton wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I absolutely agree with the message you've arrived at and think you're right, along with the fact that they're free to set their own laws/determine their stance about the outside world. One minor correction: I think you can become eligible for permanent residency with consistent 1 year visas -- from what I understand as long as the TYPE of visa is unchanged and you've had the same type of visa for 5-7 years it counts…

Regular working visas and the points system are completely seperate systems. It is true that if you have enough points on the highly skilled professional visa you can get permanent residence (PR) in only one year. On a regular work visa you must have 10 years consecutive residence in Japan and "must hold the longest visa type available to you (for these purposes longest means 3 or 5 years)" (my rough translation). I…

Do you have any idea why they are giving you only 1 year renewals? Previously on an instructor visa I had no trouble getting a 3 year renewal -- even though I only had 1 year contracts at my employer. I wonder if it's because they see your employer as being risky (given that it's a startup). You might consider trying to get a job somewhere bigger (or trying to get a full time position) if you want to stay in Japan forever.

Re: Japan eyes startup visa program

#136

Post by jmadsen »

patio11 wrote: post #98
nihonde wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The largest bank in Japan was flabbergasted that I sweet talked them into getting a business bank account for Starfighter. Some things I wouldn't agree with: Personal bank accounts aren't challenging given a medium term status of residence. Wire transfers should be trivial for anyone capable of running a business; you just have to ask and not sound like a drug lord while doing so. Credit cards are easily available, i…

Sorry, Patrick, have to disagree with you on this one: 12 years of residency, started a Godo Gaisha, had to jump hoops even with my bank I'd had a personal account with all those years just to get a standard savings account.

Credit card was the same for me, although friends have had easier time. I owned a house, a car, registered a business - could not get a personal cc with company my family had been using for over 10 years without doing major banter and restrictions.

I can't imagine a foreigner coming over here with no spousal connections and setting up a company for a year.

Re: Japan eyes startup visa program

#137

Post by jmadsen »

ekianjo wrote: post #55
nihonde wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Can confirm. With local banks it's a major nightmare. Even Japanese startups take MONTHS to have official banks account they can use for charging their clients. If you need anything fast, Rakuten Bank is your (pretty much) only option.

Yuucho, as well, though they are very slow with int'l wire transfers. Almost walked in/walked out to set up, though.

Re: Japan eyes startup visa program

#138

Post by rayiner »

selectodude wrote: post #118
rayiner wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 dimen…

>I didn’t see anybody jay walk, even across narrow streets where the crosswalks were spaced several blocks apart. Well that's just silly.

It helps keep traffic flowing.

Re: Japan eyes startup visa program

#139

Post by mikekchar »

laurieg wrote: post #112
ekianjo wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Japan's immigration system seems heavily set up to encourage young people to come, work and then leave. Indeed, even though you have to pay all taxes like a local when you live in Japan, you can never benefit from stuff like pensions if you ever want to retire there.

This is not true. If you have permanent residence you can retire in Japan and claim the National Pension if you paid in for enough years. In fact, recently the number of years of payment required was reduced from 25 to 10.

There are other categories of visas where you can receive the National Pension as well. I'm on a spousal visa and I'm pretty sure I can receive a pension even if I don't get permanent residence (or at least that's what they told me at the city hall). As glandium says I can also receive what I put in through the pension system in Canada and the UK (the only 2 places I checked). Also, if you don't want to receive a pension, you can also receive most of what you paid into the system when you leave the country. Unless you have only staid for a year or so, though, it's probably better to leave it there, financially. Finally, the city hall also told me that if you have been paying into a compatible pension system in another country, the number of years paying into that system counts for the number of years in the Japanese system (but you have to roll the 2 pensions together).

It's worth checking diligently to make sure that you don't fall through some bureaucratic cracks in the system, but it seems surprisingly robust.

Re: Japan eyes startup visa program

#140

Post by mikekchar »

nihonde wrote: post #26
arvinder wrote: post #9

>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.

Ha ha! And you have to do it yourself! It's the primary reason I made my wife CEO of our company -- although in hindsight it was a brilliant move on my part. She's Japanese and I can't tell you how useful it is to have someone who understands the nuances of Japanese culture managing your company.

But wrt to credit cards and foreign transfers: I remember when we asked the bank manager if we could get a credit card and he actually laughed. At the moment I'm funnelling all of our foreign money through a personal bank account -- which my accountant says is pretty common.

As an aside if anyone needs to receive foreign currency in Japan, take a look at the rates for personal accounts in Shinsei bank. Not connected with them except for being a happy customer. Would be delighted to move the corporate account there, but they said "No" :-)

Post reply on HN