Insights & Guides
Practical knowledge on Japan market entry — from company setup and visas to trade logistics and branding.
Japan IOR Restricted and Prohibited Import Items: What Customs Will Not Let Your Importer of Record Clear
Restricted-party screening tells an Importer of Record whether it is safe to do business with a counterparty. It does not tell anyone whether the goods themselves are legal to bring into Japan....
Japan ACP for Thai Manufacturers: Staying Named as Importer of Record Without a Japan Entity (2026 Guide)
Thai manufacturers shipping to Japan, particularly in auto parts, electronics components, food and agricultural products, and rubber and plastics goods, are routinely routed through a Japan-based...
How Foreign API and Pharmaceutical Ingredient Manufacturers Ship Into Japan Without a Japan Entity: An IOR Guide for Pharmaceutical Ingredient Exporters (2026)
A foreign manufacturer of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API), excipients, or other pharmaceutical raw materials shipping into Japan is solving a narrower problem than a finished drug or...
Japan Market Entry Budget: What IOR, EOR, and ACP Actually Cost in Year One (2026)
Most companies planning a Japan launch reach the "which structure" decision before they reach the finance team. By the time a CFO or controller gets asked to approve the plan, the question has...
Japan EOR Payroll and Tax Withholding Guide: How Employer of Record Runs Payroll for Your Japan Hire
Deciding to hire a Japan-based employee through an Employer of Record (EOR) structure resolves the question of who bears legal employer liability. It does not, by itself, explain what happens...
Japan IOR Service Agreement and SLA: What Should Be in Your Importer of Record Contract
A foreign company evaluating Importer of Record (IOR) providers in Japan usually spends most of its diligence effort on price and turnaround time, and very little on the contract itself. That is...
Japan IOR for Health Supplements, Vitamins, and Nutraceuticals: The Food Sanitation Act Layer Foreign Brands Miss
Foreign supplement brands arriving in Japan tend to carry one assumption from their home market: that a "supplement" or "nutraceutical" is a distinct regulatory category with its own approval...
Japan IOR for 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing Equipment
Foreign manufacturers of 3D printers and additive manufacturing systems selling into Japan, whether to distributors, research institutions, or manufacturing customers, face the same threshold...
Japan EOR vs Secondment (出向): Which Structure Actually Fits Sending Staff to Japan
Foreign companies planning to place staff in Japan frequently reach for secondment (出向) first, because it is the model most familiar from other markets and from their own group's existing HR...
Importer of Record vs Freight Forwarder vs Customs Broker vs ACP: What Each Role Actually Does in a Japan Import
Foreign companies planning their first shipment into Japan almost always start their research with the same four terms tangled together: Importer of Record, freight forwarder, customs broker, and...