Yes. The Business Manager Visa (経営・管理 visa) capital route requires JPY 30,000,000 in paid-in capital, and that figure is fixed in yen. If a founder holds capital in USD, EUR, or another foreign currency and the yen appreciates between the time the plan was scoped and the date the money is actually paid in (払込), the same foreign-currency balance can convert to less than JPY 30,000,000 even though its value in the founder's own currency has not moved at all.
What Is the Capital Threshold for the Business Manager Visa?#
The capital route to the Business Manager Visa (経営・管理 visa) requires JPY 30,000,000 in paid-in capital, under the framework set by the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act (出入国管理及び難民認定法). There is also an alternative headcount route built around employing a minimum number of staff, for applicants who prefer not to rely on capital alone. Most non-resident founders opting into the capital route are scoping around a single number: JPY 30,000,000 committed to the company's capital account.
That number is yen-denominated by design, not by convention. It is the figure Immigration Services Agency (出入国在留管理庁) reviewers test the filing against, and it does not float with the applicant's home currency. For the mechanics of who can actually receive that payment before a founder has a Japan bank account, see paying in capital without a Japan bank account.
Why Does FX Movement Matter Between Scoping and Actual Payment?#
Because the JPY 30,000,000 threshold is tested at the moment funds are paid into the company's capital account, not at the moment a founder first calculates how much foreign currency they need. A founder holding funds in USD, EUR, or another foreign currency must convert at whatever rate prevails on the actual payment date. If the yen has appreciated against that holding currency in the intervening period, the same foreign-currency sum buys fewer yen than it did when the plan was first scoped.
This is a pure exchange-rate effect, not an asset-value problem. The founder's wealth in their home currency has not changed. What has changed is the yen price of that wealth, and the yen price is the only number the capital route actually tests. A founder who scoped comfortably above the line at one rate can find themselves testing below it weeks or months later purely because a currency pair moved, with no change in their underlying financial position.
How Should a Founder Track the Threshold to Avoid This?#
Treat JPY 30,000,000 as the fixed target and treat any foreign-currency figure as a dated estimate, never the reverse. A founder who mentally fixes on needing to move a set amount of dollars is anchoring to the wrong variable, because that dollar figure was only ever an estimate tied to the exchange rate on the day it was calculated.
The correct discipline is to re-test that estimate twice: once at scoping, against the current rate, and again immediately before the actual capital payment (払込), against whatever rate is prevailing at that moment. Treating the foreign-currency number as fixed and the yen number as an afterthought is exactly backward, and it is the single most common way founders discover a shortfall only after funds have already moved.
Key points:
(a) The JPY 30,000,000 capital threshold under the Business Manager Visa (経営・管理 visa) framework is fixed in yen; a foreign-currency holding near that line is only ever an estimate at a dated exchange rate, not a substitute reference point.
(b) The gate is tested at the moment of actual capital payment (払込), not at the moment the plan was scoped, so a comfortable margin calculated months earlier provides no protection against yen appreciation in the interim.
(c) Where available capital sits close to the threshold, build in a currency buffer above the bare JPY 30,000,000 minimum, or deliberately time the payment step rather than leaving it to whenever is administratively convenient, since timing the payment is the one variable the founder actually controls.
Related Structural Issue: Which Institution Can Receive the Payment#
Separate from the currency question is the question of which payment-handling institution (払込取扱機関) can lawfully receive the capital for a founder with no Japan bank account yet. The two issues compound rather than substitute for each other: a founder solving the receiving-institution problem still needs to clear the yen-denominated threshold on the date the transfer actually lands, at whatever rate applies that day. The receiving-institution mechanics, including the offshore-account corridor some founders use before a Japan-side account exists, are covered in routing capital through an offshore account; the broader 2025 reform context for the visa category itself is in the Business Manager Visa reform guide.
Founders assembling capital funding, receiving-institution structure, and visa timeline in parallel are effectively running three moving parts against one fixed yen line. Coordinating that sequencing, alongside the entity structure itself, sits within Aplash's company setup scope.
Frequently Asked Questions#
If my capital was above JPY 30,000,000 when I scoped my company but the yen has strengthened since, is my filing still safe?
No. The threshold is tested against the exchange rate on the date the funds are actually paid into the company's capital account, not the rate used when the plan was scoped. If yen appreciation between those two dates pushes the converted amount below JPY 30,000,000, the filing no longer clears the capital route on the numbers, even though the underlying asset value in the founder's home currency is unchanged.
How much of a buffer should I hold above the JPY 30,000,000 minimum?
There is no fixed percentage that fits every case, because it depends on how far in advance of payment the capital was scoped and how volatile the relevant currency pair has been in that window. The practical approach is to re-check the converted amount against the current exchange rate at scoping and again immediately before payment, and to size any buffer to the gap actually observed between those two checks rather than to a generic rule of thumb.
Does the alternative headcount route avoid this currency exposure entirely?
Yes, in the sense that a headcount-based qualification does not depend on a foreign-currency-to-yen conversion the way the capital route does. It carries its own separate requirements around minimum staffing, which are a different qualification path entirely and are not addressed by simply avoiding the capital route's FX exposure.
Conclusion#
The JPY 30,000,000 Business Manager Visa (経営・管理 visa) capital threshold is a yen number, and it is tested on the date funds are actually paid in, not on the date a founder first ran the numbers. Founders holding capital in a foreign currency near that line should treat the yen figure as fixed, re-test their foreign-currency estimate against the current rate at scoping and again immediately before payment, and build in a buffer or control the payment timing where the margin is thin.
This article is informational only and does not constitute legal, tax, or regulatory advice. Consult a qualified advisor before acting on the content. Last updated: September 2026.