In order to run the business continuously in Japan, the registration as Foreign Company should be made (Article 818, Paragraph 1 of Company Act).

When foreign companies advance into Japan, and choose the Japan branch as the form of company, it needs to appoint a representative in Japan and register the foreign company at Legal Affairs Bureau that has jurisdiction over the address of the representative in Japan (the address of the business office when setting up the business office in Japan).

Since the amount of stated capital should be registered in the corporate registration of foreign company (Article 933, Paragraph 2, etc.), it needs to change the registration of the amount of stated capital when the amount has been changed.

It needs to change the registration not only when the amount of stated capital increased, but also decreased.

When should be the application submitted by?

In cases where the amount of states capital of foreign company has been changed, the representative in Japan of foreign company should submit the application of registration change to Legal Affair Bureau within three (3) weeks after the notification arrived to the representative in Japan (Article 933, Paragraph 4 of Company Act, etc.).

Documents attached to registration application

The documents below are generally attached to the application of registration change of foreign company’s purpose.

1. Affidavit
2. Japanese translation of Affidavit
3. Power of Attorney (when entrusting to a judicial scrivener)

The Affidavit should be certified by the competent government agency or consul in Japan of foreign company’s own state or any other competent authority (Article 130, Paragraph 1 of Commercial Registration Act).

“Article 130　(1)　In filing a written application for a registration of change of representative in Japan or of a change to the registered matters which has arisen in the foreign country, a document evidencing the fact of such change certified by the competent government agency or consul in Japan of the foreign company’s own state or any other competent authority shall be attached thereto.”

Please note that if the content of the affidavit is incomplete or insufficient, you will have to redo the affidavit.

Available languages

The Shiodome Judicial Scrivener Office also provide the services of drafting such affidavits (and their translations) to be used for registration of changes in the amount of capital of foreign companies.

The languages we offer for the affidavit are as following:

• English
• Chinese
• Korean

Registration license tax

The registration license tax for the change registration of foreign company is 9,000 yen per an application.