— Guide · Budget
How much does it cost to enter Japan? Three 12-month budgets.
Every foreign CEO asks the same question in the first call, and every answer they have found online is either a list of government fees or a consultancy quote. Here is what a Japan launch actually costs a B2B company over twelve months, in three realistic shapes, line by line.
— Short answer
Roughly $80k–$175k to validate Japan for a year without an entity, $130k–$235k for a lean subsidiary with one local hire, and $440k–$680k for the traditional route of a Japanese KK plus a full-time Country Manager. The gap between the three is not the price of Japan. It is the price of committing before you know whether Japan wants you.
By Yuki Kishi · Updated September 20, 2026 · 9 min read
— Before the numbers
Three things that decide your budget before you spend a yen.
First, whether anyone relocates. If a founder or executive wants to live in Japan on a Business Manager visa, the October 2025 reform sets the floor at ¥30 million in paid-in capital, one full-time employee who is a Japanese national or permanent resident, Japanese at CEFR B2 held by the manager or that employee, and physical premises. If nobody relocates, none of that applies and your entity can wait.
Second, whether you hire or borrow your senior person. A full-time bilingual Country Manager in Tokyo is a $260k–$330k line before search fees and before they have booked a meeting. A fractional Country Manager is $4,800–$9,600 a month for 16–32 hours and starts in one to two weeks. Almost every other line item follows from this choice.
Third, how long you can wait for revenue. Japanese enterprise buyers decide by consensus, fix budgets in October–December for a fiscal year that starts in April, and rotate staff twice a year. A paid pilot in 6–9 months and a first annual contract in 12–18 months is the honest arc. Multiply monthly burn by fifteen, not by six.
¥30M
Capital required for a Business Manager visa since 16 Oct 2025 — only if someone relocates
12–18 mo
Typical time from first outreach to first annual enterprise contract
15–18%
Statutory employer insurance on top of every Japanese salary, before bonus
— Budget A
Validate first: no entity, a fractional Country Manager, twelve months.
This is the shape most of our clients start with, and the one we recommend to any company that has not yet closed a Japanese customer. There is no entity, no office and no payroll. The senior person in the market is a fractional Country Manager working under your email domain and title, and everything else is what it costs to show up.
| Line item | 12-month cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Fractional Country Manager (16–32 h/month at $300/h) | $57,600–$115,200 | Senior, bilingual, embedded under your domain from week one |
| Japanese sales materials, deck localisation, one-pager | $0–$8,000 | Often produced inside the engagement hours |
| Founder travel to Tokyo (2–3 trips) | $12,000–$25,000 | You still have to show up for the meetings that matter |
| Event presence (one Tokyo trade show or speaking slot) | $5,000–$15,000 | Shared booth or sponsored session, not a stand-alone pavilion |
| Legal: Japanese-language NDA / MSA review as needed | $3,000–$10,000 | Bilingual counsel by the hour |
| Entity, office, payroll, recruiting | $0 | None required to sell |
| Year-one total | $80,000–$175,000 | Almost all of it variable and stoppable on 30 days notice |
Tokyo ranges as of 2026, converted at roughly ¥150 to the dollar. Fractional Country Manager pricing is YKBridge's published rate; other lines are what clients typically spend around the engagement.
What you get for it: an ideal customer profile that has been tested against real Japanese accounts, a localised deck, warm introductions to decision-makers and channel partners, first enterprise meetings in month two, and by month three a qualified pipeline with a plain recommendation to scale, hold or exit. If the answer is exit, the total damage is a few months of fees. That is the whole point.
— Budget B
Lean subsidiary: a GK, one local hire, nobody senior in the room.
The second shape is the one that looks cheapest on a spreadsheet and is most often regretted. A godo kaisha is quick and inexpensive to set up, a mid-level bilingual sales hire is findable, and the company can now issue yen invoices. What the budget does not show is that the person on the ground is junior to every buyer they meet, and that their manager is nine time zones away.
| Line item | 12-month cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| GK incorporation (government fees + judicial scrivener) | $1,100–$2,700 | ¥62,000–¥102,000 in fees, ¥100,000–¥300,000 professional |
| Registered address / serviced desk in central Tokyo | $3,200–$12,000 | ¥40,000–¥150,000 a month; avoids the 6–12 month deposit on a lease |
| Accounting, tax filings, payroll outsourcing | $2,000–$5,500 | ¥300,000–¥800,000 a year for a small company |
| First bilingual sales / BD hire, mid-senior | $73,000–$115,000 | ¥9M–¥14M base, plus 15–18% statutory insurance, plus the customary bonus |
| Recruiting fee (30–35% of first-year compensation) | $25,000–$40,000 | Standard agency terms in Japan |
| Marketing, events, translation | $10,000–$30,000 | |
| Founder travel | $12,000–$25,000 | |
| Bank account, company seal, insurance, misc. | $2,000–$5,000 | Bank account opening can take 1–3 months for a new foreign-owned entity |
| Year-one total | $130,000–$235,000 | Plus ¥30M (~$200,000) in paid-in capital if a founder relocates on a Business Manager visa |
Government incorporation fees and the Business Manager visa figures are from the Ministry of Justice and Immigration Services Agency rules in force since October 16, 2025. Salary ranges are 2026 Tokyo market rates for a mid-senior bilingual sales professional.
Where this shape works: as the second step, around month nine to twelve of Budget A, once a partner or customer has asked for a Japanese counterparty and the pipeline pays for the overhead. Where it fails: as the first step, when the entity exists before the demand and the hire is left to find both.
— Budget C
Full commitment: a KK and a full-time Country Manager.
The traditional route, and the right one at the right time. A kabushiki kaisha signals seriousness to conservative buyers. A full-time Country Manager with enterprise relationships compounds trust in a way no other model can. The cost is not the salary. It is the search, the ramp, the support team the Country Manager will reasonably ask for, and the twelve months that pass before any of it produces a meeting.
| Line item | 12-month cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| KK incorporation (fees, notarisation, scrivener) | $1,900–$3,500 | ¥182,000–¥222,000 in fees, plus professional fees |
| Retained executive search for a Country Manager | $40,000–$60,000 | 4–6 months to signature for a bilingual senior profile |
| Country Manager: base, statutory 15–18%, bonus | $260,000–$330,000 | $200k–$250k base is the going rate for a senior bilingual GTM leader in Tokyo |
| One or two support hires (sales, customer success) | $60,000–$120,000 | Plus $20,000–$40,000 in recruiting fees |
| Private serviced office, 3–5 desks | $20,000–$48,000 | ¥250,000–¥600,000 a month |
| Accounting, legal, payroll | $8,000–$20,000 | |
| Marketing, events, PR | $30,000–$60,000 | |
| Year-one total | $440,000–$680,000 | First real meetings arrive in month 8–12 once search and ramp-up are counted |
Retained search fees and bilingual executive compensation reflect 2026 Tokyo market practice; recruiting agencies in Japan commonly charge 30–35% of first-year compensation.
Two timing facts sit underneath this table. A bilingual Country Manager search for a foreign startup routinely runs six months and often fails, because the profile you are describing barely exists. And a new Country Manager needs three to six months to ramp. Signed in January, hired in June, productive in October: the first real meetings land in month ten, on a budget that has been burning since month one.
— What budgets forget
Six line items that never make it into the first spreadsheet.
- 01
The bonus is not optional
Two to four months of salary a year, paid in summer and winter, is what a Japanese professional expects even when the contract calls it discretionary. Budget 1.2× base before statutory costs.
- 02
Hiring is a one-way door
Japanese labour law makes dismissal slow, expensive and reputationally costly. The real price of a full-time hire is the option you give up: you cannot quietly unwind Japan if the market says no.
- 03
Time multiplies everything
Enterprise deals close in 12–18 months. A budget built on six months of burn is not a lean plan, it is a plan to run out of money three months before the first contract.
- 04
Everything is in Japanese
Contracts, security questionnaires (ISO 27001 / ISMS), privacy documentation under the APPI, and the 40%-longer pitch deck. Set aside $5,000–$20,000 in year one, or make sure your operator produces them.
- 05
Deposits on traditional leases
A conventional Tokyo office lease asks for a refundable deposit of 6–12 months of rent, a non-refundable 1–2 months, and one month to the agent. Serviced offices exist precisely to avoid this in year one.
- 06
The ¥30M rule only bites if someone relocates
Since October 2025 a Business Manager visa needs ¥30 million in capital, a qualifying full-time employee, B2-level Japanese and a physical office. Do not relocate a founder in year one and the rule disappears from your budget.
— Which budget is yours
Match the budget to where you actually are.
| Your situation | Budget | Why |
|---|---|---|
| No Japanese customer yet | Validate first (A) | Prove that a Japanese buyer will pay before you buy an entity or a hire |
| 1–2 Japanese customers or a partner asking for a yen invoice | Validate first, add a GK around month 9–12 (A → B) | The entity follows the pipeline, not the other way round |
| A signed anchor customer and $1M+ of Japan revenue in sight | Full commitment (C) | Now a full-time Country Manager inherits a live pipeline instead of a blank map |
The sequence most foreign B2B companies get right is A, then B, then C: validate with a fractional Country Manager, add the entity when a customer asks for one, and hire full-time once there is a pipeline worth handing over. The sequence that ends in a board meeting cancelling Japan is C first — a $500k bet placed before anyone in Tokyo has said yes.
— Questions we get on the fit call
Japan market entry cost, answered.
For a foreign B2B company, plan on roughly $80,000–$175,000 for a 12-month validation with no local entity (a fractional Country Manager plus travel, events and legal), $130,000–$235,000 for a lean subsidiary with one local hire, and $440,000–$680,000 for the traditional route of a Japanese KK plus a full-time Country Manager. Enterprise deals usually take 12–18 months to close, so the honest number is the monthly burn multiplied by 15, not by 6.
— Go deeper
- How Much Does It Cost to Set Up in Japan in 2026? A Line-by-Line Budget After the ¥30M Visa RuleThe subsidiary line items in more detail: entity types, employment multipliers, office deposits, EOR.
- What a Japan Country Manager Really Costs: Why a $250k Salary Becomes $400k+Search fees, statutory costs, ramp time, severance risk and founder time.
- Hire a Japan Country Manager, go fractional, or use an agency?Five routes compared on cost, time to first meeting, accountability and exit cost.
- B2B sales in Japan: how Japanese enterprises actually buyThe buyer unit, ringi, the budget calendar and the six changes that fix a half-size pipeline.
- Japan Market Entry Timeline: What Actually Happens in Months 1–12 (and When Deals Close)Why month six feels like the deal died, and what month nine looks like when it did not.
— Ready when you are
Japan can be your next chapter.
Start with a 30-minute fit call. We'll listen to your Japan ambitions and tell you, honestly, whether we're the right partner — or not.
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