Japan

Ease of Doing Business in

Japan

This page summarizes Doing Business 2013 data for Japan. The first table lists the overall "Ease of Doing Business" rank (out of 185 economies) and the rankings by each topic. It also lists the economy's distance to frontier (DTF)** measure. The rest of the tables summarize the key indicators for each topic and benchmark against regional and high-income economy (OECD) averages.

Economy Overview

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Economy Summary
Starting a Business
Dealing with Construction Permits
Getting Electricity
Registering Property
Getting Credit
Protecting Investors
Paying Taxes
Trading Across Borders
Enforcing Contracts
Resolving Insolvency
Region OECD high income
Income Category High income
Population 127,817,277
GNI Per Capita (US$) 45,180
Doing Business 2013 Rank Doing Business 2012 Rank Change in Rank
24 20 down -4

Doing Business 2013 DTF** (% points) Doing Business 2012 DTF** (% points) Improvement in DTF** (% points)
77.8 77.9 down -0.1
Topic Rankings DB 2013 Rank DB 2012 Rank Change in Rank
Starting a Business 114 109 up -5
Dealing with Construction Permits 72 68 up -4
Getting Electricity 27 28 up 1
Registering Property 64 59 up -5
Getting Credit 23 23 No change
Protecting Investors 19 17 up -2
Paying Taxes 127 123 up -4
Trading Across Borders 19 19 No change
Enforcing Contracts 35 34 up -1
Resolving Insolvency 1 1 No change

Economy Profile

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Additional Data

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Starting a Business

Info

The challenges of launching a business are shown below. Included are: the number of steps entrepreneurs can expect to go through to launch, the time it takes on average, and the cost and minimum capital required as a percentage of gross national income (GNI) per capita.

DB 2013 Rank 114 DB 2012 Rank 109 Change in Rank down-5
DB 2013 DTF** (% points) 82.0 DB 2012 DTF** (% points) 82.0 Improvement in DTF** (% points) 0.0
YearNew business densityNumber of new limited liability companies
2011 1.1089,374
Indicator Japan OECD high income OECD

The total number of procedures required to register a firm. A procedure is defined as any interaction of the company founders with external parties (for example, government agencies, lawyers, auditors or notaries).

View methodology Procedures (number)
8 -- 5

The total number of days required to register a firm. The measure captures the median duration that incorporation lawyers indicate is necessary to complete a procedure with minimum follow-up with government agencies and no extra payments.

View methodology Time (days)
23 -- 12

Cost is recorded as a percentage of the economy’s income per capita. It includes all official fees and fees for legal or professional services if such services are required by law.

View methodology Cost (% of income per capita)
7.5 -- 4.5

The amount that the entrepreneur needs to deposit in a bank or with a notary before registration and up to 3 months following incorporation and is recorded as a percentage of the economy’s income per capita.

View methodology Paid-in Min. Capital (% of income per capita)
0.0 -- 13.3
No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
1 Make a company seal 3 days JPY 20,000
2 Acquire certificate of seal registration of representative managing member at the Ward office 1 day JPY 400 (each)
3 Register at the head office or a branch of the Legal Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Justice 1-3 weeks 0.7% of the capital amount or JPY 60,000, whichever is higher
4 File notification of the incorporation of a company, the opening of a payroll office, and application for the approval of blue tax returns with District Tax Office. 1 day no charge
5 File notification of the commencement of business with the local tax office (the office of local or prefectural government) 1 day no charge
6 File notifications of commencement the applied business and labor insurance, and the rules of employment with the Labor Standards Inspection Office. 1 day no charge
7 File applications for health insurance and public welfare pension with the Japan Pension Service 1 day no charge
8 File application for business establishment of employment insurance with the Public Employment Security Office 1 day no charge

** The distance to frontier (DTF) measure shows the distance of each economy to the "frontier," which represents the highest performance observed on each of the indicators across all economies included in Doing Business since each indicator was included in Doing Business. An economy’s distance to frontier is indicated on a scale from 0 to 100, where 0 represents the lowest performance and 100 the frontier. Read more...

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