The foreign ministry announced on March 16th 2015 that they will allow companies to be established without the need of appointing a resident representative in Japan.
Under the past rules, it was necessary to appoint at least one individual holding a valid residential address in Japan as representative of the company; otherwise, it was not possible to establish a company in Japan.
Now that this is not mandatory, it will allow foreigners and foreign companies to establish entities in Japan while appointing only a non-resident representative(s). However, issues still remain in procuring a Japanese bank account into which the capital amount must be paid. Therefore, most international clients will still need the minimal involvement of a contact person based in Japan to facilitate the establishment procedure, although this involvement can be much less than before, with less risk on both sides.
This is in effect as of March 16th, 2015.
