The Business Manager Visa Crackdown: How Japan’s Politics, Real Estate, and Global Sharing Economy Converged

The End of the “¥5 Million CEO” Era

For years, obtaining a Business Manager Visa in Japan was surprisingly simple.
Deposit ¥5 million in capital, rent an office, register your company—and you could legally stay in Japan as a “business manager.”

That era is over.

Since late 2025, Japan has tightened the requirements for foreign entrepreneurs.
This reform is not just a bureaucratic adjustment—it marks a fundamental political and social shift redefining who gets to do business in Japan.

■ The Real Trigger: “Paper Companies,” Ghost Hotels, and Fake Entrepreneurs

Immigration officials long struggled with ghost companies—entities registered only on paper.
Many so-called “managers” had no staff, no real office, and no taxable business.
Some used the visa simply as a backdoor for residency or unskilled labor.

At the same time, the short-term rental (minpaku) industry revealed similar patterns: rapid expansion, absentee operators, and mounting neighborhood complaints.

In Osaka, the special zone rental system (tokku minpaku) has drawn particular attention.
By the end of 2024, roughly 41 % of the 5,500 authorized units in the city were reportedly operated by Chinese individuals or firms.
Meanwhile, resident complaints about such rentals increased 4.5 times in just three years.

■ A Political Undercurrent: From Sanseitō to Ishin

The visa reform was shaped not only by administrative necessity but also by political pressure.

The rising conservative party Sanseitō has long warned against “unrestricted foreign entry,” repeatedly pointing to the Business Manager Visa as a loophole exploited for residency rather than entrepreneurship.

“It makes no sense that anyone can get a visa just by registering a company,”
argued Sanseitō lawmakers in the Diet.

This message resonated with public anxiety about “fake entrepreneurs,” strengthening calls for reform within the Ministry of Justice and the Immigration Services Agency.

At the local level, however, the dynamic has been almost the opposite.
In Osaka, Osaka Ishin no Kai promoted deregulation and the expansion of tokku minpaku to attract tourism and investment.
Critics now say that this policy invited speculative investment—particularly from abroad—while leaving local residents to deal with noise, waste, and community disruption.

As one commentator put it:

“The same party that liberalized the system now laments how the cityscape is changing—but they created that change themselves.”

The contradiction is striking: while the national government tightens foreign-business entry rules, local governments have encouraged foreign capital inflows through deregulation.

■ Not Anti-Foreigner—but Pro-Integrity

This is not an anti-foreigner policy.
Officials stress that the intent is to protect legitimate entrepreneurs—those who invest, hire, and operate real businesses.

“We welcome serious investors and managers, not paper companies.”

The new framework aims to rebuild trust in Japan’s economic ecosystem and ensure that participation in its markets is grounded in genuine contribution, not exploitation.

■ The Global Context: Japan Was the Outlier

Compared with its Asian peers, Japan’s previous standards were remarkably lenient:

Country	Minimum Capital	Local Employment	Experience Requirement
Singapore	≈ ¥30 million	Required	Proven management record
South Korea	≈ ¥10 million	Required	Business experience
Hong Kong	¥10–20 million	Required	Business plan review
Japan (old rule)	¥5 million	None	Not required

For years, Japan was seen as Asia’s easiest country to obtain a business visa.
That reputation is now being intentionally rewritten.

■ From “Freedom to Apply” to “Proof You Belong”

The new regime represents a shift from freedom of application to proof of legitimacy.

For visas: applicants must now show clear evidence of business substance—capital, employees, and tax records.
For short-term rentals: operators must prove responsible management and community accountability.
For policymakers: growth must be balanced with social sustainability.

Yet there is a painful irony in this progress.
For many earnest foreign entrepreneurs who had hoped to start small but dream big, the reform came out of the blue.
Those with little capital but strong technical skills or viable business ideas now find the barrier simply too high.

In striving to restore trust, Japan may also be shutting out the very innovators it hoped to attract—people who could have built real value if given a chance.
It’s an unfortunate side effect of a reform born from good intentions.

■ The New Thresholds: What Nikkei Reports Is Coming Next

While the current tightening already makes the visa far more demanding, Nikkei reports that the government is preparing an even more concrete set of requirements.

Under this proposal:

The minimum capital will rise to ¥30 million, six times the old ¥5 million standard.
Companies must employ at least one full-time worker.
Either the applicant or the full-time employee must show Japanese-language proficiency.
And for the first time, applicants must demonstrate three or more years of management experience, or hold a master’s degree in a management-related field.

If implemented, these rules will fundamentally redefine who qualifies as a “business manager” in Japan—and who does not.

■ The Bottom Line

Japan isn’t closing its doors—it’s closing its loopholes.

For real entrepreneurs, that’s good news.
For real communities, even better.
But the country must ensure that integrity does not turn into exclusion.

Transparency, accountability, and trust will define the next phase of doing business in Japan—
provided Japan can still make room for those with ideas, not just capital.