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AMA: I run a startup company in Tokyo before

Currently, I live in BayArea. But I run a startup company in Tokyo until last year. It's bootstrapped but some friends of mine were invested by VC. I wonder if it's easier to fundraising in Tokyo than BayArea. If you were interested in working or starting a company in Tokyo, ask me anything!

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    I saw the same post at HackerNoon forum ;)

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      Haha, I love both :)

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    How hard is it from a regulatory standpoint? Can you operate under your own name or do you have to incorporate?

    How much does it cost a bootstrapper to get started and legally start selling something on the internet in Japan?

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      Thanks for your questions!

      Regulations are harder. For example, we cannot use UBER. (App exists but it's connected to the taxi drivers, not C2C) Unfortunately, in Japan enterprise companies are treated better than startups so the innovation doesn't often occur. If you start a business like dating, recruiting, real estate, it's important that you must accomplish the necessary legal documentation.

      You can start a business individually. When you make more than $1,000, you should start your own company.

      We have sales tax(8%) and income tax.

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        How expensive is the accounting / legal fees to get started? E.g. if you write a piece of software or other content that you sell online and you make $5000 in sales, then you've got to create a company right?

        How much would just the accounting and required fees for that setup cost? Would it be closer to $100 USD, $1000 USD or $10000 USD?

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          Accounting / legal costs around $1000 per month for startups, I paid about that. It's not necessary to set up your company but it will be tax saving.

          It costs about $2000 to set up a company.

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            Ouch… so if you're earning 1k/ month for the first 5 months (which is better than most indies here have done), then your business costs you more money than it earns!

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