Companies in Japan

Japan's primary corporate forms are the Kabushiki Kaisha (KK), the traditional joint-stock company used by virtually all listed and large private companies, and the Godo Kaisha (GK), an LLC-style structure introduced in 2006 for smaller and foreign-owned operations. Incorporation is handled at the Legal Affairs Bureau (Houmukyoku) and typically takes 2-4 weeks; minimum capital is 1 yen for both forms. JPX Prime (large caps) and JPX Standard (mid caps) replaced the older Mothers/JASDAQ tiers in 2022, and listing requires Japanese-speaking auditors and a corporate auditor or audit committee. Foreign founders most often pick a GK for simpler operations or a KK if they plan to raise institutional capital, list, or sell to a Japanese acquirer.