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Startup Visa: The Municipal Founder Runway
The Japan startup visa gives pre-incorporation founders a legal runway: up to two years of 特定活動 (tokutei katsudō, "Designated Activities") stay to build a company that can meet the Business Manager bar.12 It is a preparation status, not a prize, and the runway ends.3
Procedures, fees, and requirements can change. Confirm current details at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry startup visa page and your target municipality's desk. This article is general information, not legal, tax, or immigration advice; for your specific case, consult a licensed administrative scrivener (gyoseishoshi, 行政書士) for municipality choice and conversion timing.
Last verified: 2026-09 against METI, Tokyo Metropolitan Government, and Fukuoka City sources.
Overview
The official scheme, the Program to Promote Startup Businesses by Foreign Nationals, runs nationally through METI but is administered city by city. A founder files a business plan with an authorized municipality or private body. On its approval plus ISA examination, Designated Activities stay is granted for preparation work.1
The old geography is gone. On 1 January 2025 METI unified the scheme nationwide, ending the restriction to a handful of special-zone regions (as of 2025-01).42 The content-plan title keeps the special-zone name for continuity, but new applicants use the METI framework only.
How the program works now
The current shape has three layers. The stay is uniformly Designated Activities No. 44. The maximum validity is up to two years, doubled from the old one-year ceiling on 1 April 2025 (as of 2025-04).2 METI revised eligibility criteria alongside the October 2025 Business Manager reform, so the end-of-runway bar is the new one (as of 2025-10).4
Confirmation letters under the old special-zone scheme stopped at the end of 2025, and cities such as Tokyo migrated to fresh METI authorization (as of 2026-04).4 Scale so far is modest: JETRO counts more than 716 recipients by May 2024 with over 359 conversions to Business Manager (as of 2024-05).2
Where to apply: Tokyo, Fukuoka, and others
Each authorized desk sets its own industry scope, review timing, and interview cadence. Tokyo and Fukuoka below are worked examples with their windows date-stamped. Never generalize one desk's rules to another.1
Tokyo
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government grants one-year Designated Activities on plan approval, renewable twice in six-month increments to a two-year total (as of 2026-09).3 Plan review takes about one to two months, and monthly progress interviews run through the stay, online or in person.3
The confirmation certificate is valid three months for the COE filing, so the immigration step must follow fast (as of 2026-09).3 Renewal review asks whether the Business Manager criteria look reachable within six months. Applicants must also keep return airfare funds separate from business funds.3
Fukuoka
Fukuoka City, the first special-zone implementer, now runs under the national framework. The city reviews the plan in advance and grants Designated Activities for preparation duties: securing an office, incorporating, and hiring.5
The pattern is an initial one year with a six-month extension to a two-year maximum when the Business Manager criteria are still unmet (as of 2026-09).5 Monthly interviews with the city or its support desk track progress, and the record feeds the renewal decision.5
Other authorized municipalities
As of April 2026 the authorized roster includes Shibuya Ward, Yokohama, Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo, Aichi, Gifu, Mie, Hokkaido, Sendai, Ibaraki, Niigata, Hamamatsu, Toyama, Kaga, Oita, Kumamoto, and Okinawa, plus METI-authorized private venture firms and accelerators (as of 2026-04).4 Business fields and required documents vary by desk, so confirm the target list before choosing where to file.1
Tokyo welcomes sectors such as finance, IT, environment and energy, healthcare, arts, and food technology, while manufacturing founders may fit Hamamatsu or Aichi better. Filing at a desk whose industry list excludes your business wastes months (as of 2026-04).4
The application path
The sequence is fixed. Municipal pre-screening comes first, then formal plan submission, then the confirmation certificate, then the COE filing inside its validity window, then the embassy visa and entry.34
Founders already in Japan on another status, such as Engineer, Student, or Dependent, may change status instead of entering anew (as of 2026-04).2 Budget realistically: plan submission to arrival runs five to six months minimum, with COE examination alone taking one to three months (as of 2026-04).4
Converting to Business Manager
Conversion means meeting the current Business Manager bar in full: 30-million-yen scale, an eligible full-time employee, B2-equivalent Japanese, a qualifying background, an expert-confirmed plan, and a real office (as of 2025-10).67 Tokyo takes the change filing at its Regional Immigration Bureau once the criteria are met.3 The same three findings that kill any Business Manager renewal apply at conversion: a paper company with no real operations, a no-substance finding where preparation never became business, or office failure where the lease lapsed or was never real.
Startup-period management experience can count toward the three-year experience alternative. But two years of runway alone cannot complete three years of experience, so founders relying on that leg need prior qualifying work too (as of 2026-04).7
If the business is not ready in time
The runway has no third extension. Holders who cannot convert must leave Japan when the stay expires. Wind-down runs through 30-day departure-preparation Designated Activities or a change to another fitting status such as Engineer or Spouse (as of 2026-04).2
Skipped progress reports damage the file at exactly this moment. Municipalities log attendance and use it in the renewal record, so missed interviews read as missing substance (as of 2026-04).2
Good to know
Windows differ by zone, so date-stamp your plan
Tokyo grants one year plus extensions while Fukuoka structures its initial-plus-extension path under its own review, and both cap at two years. Desks revise their rules, so verify the current window at the desk itself before committing travel and money.35
Monthly interviews are compliance, not courtesy
Both Tokyo and Fukuoka interview monthly and feed the record into renewal decisions. Treat each session as an examination with documents, not a chat.35
Keep return fare separate from business funds
Tokyo instructs applicants to hold one-way airfare money apart from business capital. Commingling the two invites questions about both.3
See also
- Business Manager Visa Requirements for Founders
- The Incorporation Process
- Hiring Your First Employee
- Business Manager Visa: Japan's Founder Status
- The 4-Month Business Manager Variant: Founding from Inside Japan