# Starting a business in Japan



## marc.favroo

Hello guys,

I am thinking of starting a company in Japan (currently reside outside japan and own a company in a different country) but need to understand what corporate laws are like: In particular, I have a business partner in Tokyo that I intend to share ownership (or at least my existing company will share ownership with my japanese partner) with but want to make sure that I structure the company in such a way that I have legal defence of my portion in case we decide to split up? 

Can anyone provide any relevant education materal in English please?


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## BBCWatcher

You could do that, but bear in mind that countless "Western" companies with far greater resources than you likely possess have tried to start businesses in Japan and have utterly failed. It's an extremely challenging market unless you really know what you're doing, and even then it's a tough market. Recent examples include eBay, Walmart, and Wendy's. These are gigantic, successful companies with practically unlimited resources to enter new markets, and they completely failed in Japan.

Most "Western" companies that have been successful don't "invade," as it were. They set up simple distributor/franchise/licensing arrangements, typically _without_ foreign ownership, and they let "Japan be Japan." Wendy's, for example, reentered Japan through a simple franchise/licensing arrangement, and the Japanese company that owns and runs Wendy's Japan does things very differently with fewer franchise/licensing restrictions and a unique menu. Dunkin' Brands, to pick another example, acquired Mister Donut several years ago and all but retired the brand...but not in Japan. ミスタードーナツ (Mister Donut Japan) is quite popular and again _very_ local -- the U.S. holding company doesn't own that business (as far as I know) and lets its Japanese owners just send them a bit of licensing revenue for the name.


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