A large number of Airbnb hosts were using this Business Manager Visa as a way to stay in Japan.
People in China realized they could just buy/lease a guesthouse in Osaka / any tourist hotspot, and rent it out on Airbnb. Then they become a "business manager" and get a Japanese resident visa within 3 months. All you needed is to invest 5million yen, which is like 31k USD, which isn't much. People wrote entire online guides on how to do this. They even had brokers/agents helping people with the process [0].
Approximately half of all business manager visas went to Chinese nationals. In Osaka, 41% of all short-term rentals were operated by Chinese individuals [1]. The visa practically turned into an Airbnb host visa.
It's not surprising at all that Japan made the rules stricter.
Thought the name seems familiar: Jake Adelstein got his 2009 memoir Tokyo Vice turned into a (fun to watch, apparently very dramatized, though that was already criticized for the memoirs) 2 season HBO series in 2022.
Many countries are tightening the immigration screws. For example, Thailand just reduced visa exempt stays for most countries from 60 to 30 days and have been going hard after illegal foreign businesses set up under Thai nominees.
While there are usually political and economic factors that contribute to these decisions, I've been living overseas for almost two decades and have noticed that rampant abuse is now almost everywhere you look in any country that is interesting to foreigners. A few years ago, I was sitting at busy bar near the beach in Bali and a couple of guys were loudly discussing a scheme they used to get KITAS investor visas without actually putting up the required capital.
This is just the beginning of this type of thing methinks.
> In one case, investigators in Kanagawa Prefecture found that a Sri Lankan national had set up roughly 600 shell companies. He also allegedly submitted business manager visa applications for at least six Sri Lankan nationals by listing them as company presidents on paper, even though they actually worked manual labor jobs.
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that the government has a problem with this practice. The problem is trying to create a system of requirements that is both feasible to put on paper and also testable. When the issue was raised, the income requirements were changed as an immediate reaction, but the ISA has broad authority to grant or deny based on many circumstances.
Put differently, acts like this were already illegal, but difficult for the ISA to catch. So they changed the base requirements which are theoretically much easier to catch than the actual illegal behavior.
> The problem is trying to create a system of requirements that is both feasible to put on paper and also testable.
... and fair, just, and respects freedom and other rights. Telling people one thing in 2015, giving them a decade to build a life in Japan, and then a decade later telling them they have to leave violates many of those things.
Obviously the political subtext is contempt for fairness, justice, and human rights. It's not hard to see how destroying the foundations of freedom and prosperity will turn out; you can see it already in the impact on many people who are immigrants and others outside a certain power structure (conservative, racially dominant, wealthy) in many countries. Removing human rights is license to act with contempt for others.
> In one case
One case doesn't indicate a problem. I don't believe it's dependent on any problem: Is it coincidence that xenophobia is suddenly popular in all these countries around the world, simultaneously?
Nippon Kaigi friendly are mostly trad big corps. These days the anxiety came from everyday folks that are starting to consider Sanseito vs good ol' LDPJ.
While not 100% the same, I do think that the last LDPJ huge victory reminds me of 2019 UK election, the last big hurrah for Conservative, before Reform starts seeping in.
It will become increasingly difficult to police international borders. On the other hand, commercial space travel will create new states that can police there borders. The borders don’t disappear but they will change
I was surprised when I first heard of that. I actually noticed this
on Paolo from Tokyo's youtube channel first. The vibe was strange,
because Paolo seemed happy about stricter controls. I was baffled
about that, since it ran counter to the rest of Paolo's channel
(which is actually best with regards to the series "A day in the
life of a japanese xyz"; this is actually insightful and even
historically important). So Japan sending the message "gaijin
leave now" kind of would make me reconsider where to go - aka
not Japan. If it is in Asia, well, there may now be friendlier
countries. And the technological gap isn't that huge anymore;
South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan - these are almost equal to
Japan. Even some parts in mainland China (but who wants to
live in sinomarxistic-capitalism - that's such a weird psycho
combination). Even Thailand, while it is not on the same
standard as the other countries, may seem friendlier now than
Japan with his anti-foreigner's policies. It seems their
true mindset has never really changed. That may also explain
why the english language is still regarded as a hostile
entity to many; contrast this to Singapore please.
Singapore is not a nation, singaporean not an ethnicity and even Lee Kuan Yew had serious doubts about what people they could integrate.
They also don't allow this kind of 'get in on a business visa by pricing out locals with some airbnb's bullshit'.
As a Brit living in Japan (non-resident) I think they should protect themselves at all costs, lest what happened to my country happen to theirs. If the business visa was abused, that abuse should be stopped, not just allowed to happen like we would do.
> Foreign business owners could lose their residency status after the government increased the capital requirement from 5 million yen (approx. $31,000) to 30 million yen (approx. $187,000).1
A $31,000 capital requirement for a "business" is a joke. A food cart--not a truck, just a cart--requires more capital than that.
A dying country that doesn't want small business to continue, that's not something I had in my 2026 bingo card collection. Be that as it may, I would just close down the business and incorporate elsewhere. Let them sort out their population crisis on their own, I'm sure children will magically pop out of nowhere.
I applaud the Japanese for being capable of recognizing that many parts of their culture are unique and worth preserving. That what makes Japan Japan is not just the land and the name, but the people and their culture.
So sad to see the comments here from people who don't know any better cheering this on. They don't know what is actually happening. The rules change was applied retroactively to people who already had renewals filed (which you have to do frequently) but not yet approved, and are being rejected based on the rules change that was announced after having already filed. The new rules are being used as a way to visibly punish the (already very small, 3%) immigrant population in Japan to appease the growing number of people with far-right anti-immigration sentiment.
There is a Japanese-led movement attempting to raise awareness of this issue, at least as far as it affects ethnic restaurants, which I suppose is the most visible effect of it to regular Japanese people: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20260529/p2a/00m/0na/00...
As they point out, the stated goal of this policy change was to clamp down on rich people from other countries buying a "second home" with a visa in Japan. But the policy change to increase the capital requirement does not stop this. It only affects legitimate business. Because the rich people just deposit more money and meet the requirement. As the people in the link above point out, if the government was actually serious about this, they could instead verify the businesses are real by going there.
The people running small businesses, especially restaurants, cannot raise that kind of cash very quickly. And floating that amount of money in cash is just a bad idea.
The people here cheering this on, saying "Japan should throw out more foreigners to preserve Japan" need to realize that Japan is not a theme park. It's a real place that people live and work. And this policy change doesn't even do what it claims to do.
I live in Japan, and this tracks with what I’ve seen over the past few years. There has been a noticeable increase in Chinese-run Airbnbs, especially in tourist areas.
I’ve also heard of quite a few problems with some of these properties, such as operators not meeting licensing requirements or causing issues with nearby residents.
Japan also has a relatively generous social security system, especially national health insurance, which makes medical costs extremely low compared with many other countries. So I can see why this kind of route would keep attracting people from overseas.
23 comments
[ 4.4 ms ] story [ 47.6 ms ] threadPeople in China realized they could just buy/lease a guesthouse in Osaka / any tourist hotspot, and rent it out on Airbnb. Then they become a "business manager" and get a Japanese resident visa within 3 months. All you needed is to invest 5million yen, which is like 31k USD, which isn't much. People wrote entire online guides on how to do this. They even had brokers/agents helping people with the process [0].
Approximately half of all business manager visas went to Chinese nationals. In Osaka, 41% of all short-term rentals were operated by Chinese individuals [1]. The visa practically turned into an Airbnb host visa.
It's not surprising at all that Japan made the rules stricter.
[0] https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/06/05/japan/immigrati...
[1] https://chinatravelnews.com/article/186285/
While there are usually political and economic factors that contribute to these decisions, I've been living overseas for almost two decades and have noticed that rampant abuse is now almost everywhere you look in any country that is interesting to foreigners. A few years ago, I was sitting at busy bar near the beach in Bali and a couple of guys were loudly discussing a scheme they used to get KITAS investor visas without actually putting up the required capital.
This is just the beginning of this type of thing methinks.
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that the government has a problem with this practice. The problem is trying to create a system of requirements that is both feasible to put on paper and also testable. When the issue was raised, the income requirements were changed as an immediate reaction, but the ISA has broad authority to grant or deny based on many circumstances.
Put differently, acts like this were already illegal, but difficult for the ISA to catch. So they changed the base requirements which are theoretically much easier to catch than the actual illegal behavior.
... and fair, just, and respects freedom and other rights. Telling people one thing in 2015, giving them a decade to build a life in Japan, and then a decade later telling them they have to leave violates many of those things.
Obviously the political subtext is contempt for fairness, justice, and human rights. It's not hard to see how destroying the foundations of freedom and prosperity will turn out; you can see it already in the impact on many people who are immigrants and others outside a certain power structure (conservative, racially dominant, wealthy) in many countries. Removing human rights is license to act with contempt for others.
> In one case
One case doesn't indicate a problem. I don't believe it's dependent on any problem: Is it coincidence that xenophobia is suddenly popular in all these countries around the world, simultaneously?
In a country with a population of 123 million, that's a non issue just for pleasing far right Nippon Kaigi friendly voters.
*Sanseito.
Nippon Kaigi friendly are mostly trad big corps. These days the anxiety came from everyday folks that are starting to consider Sanseito vs good ol' LDPJ.
While not 100% the same, I do think that the last LDPJ huge victory reminds me of 2019 UK election, the last big hurrah for Conservative, before Reform starts seeping in.
Thank you taking this "ex-pat" off our hands.
Cheers.
A $31,000 capital requirement for a "business" is a joke. A food cart--not a truck, just a cart--requires more capital than that.
There is a Japanese-led movement attempting to raise awareness of this issue, at least as far as it affects ethnic restaurants, which I suppose is the most visible effect of it to regular Japanese people: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20260529/p2a/00m/0na/00... As they point out, the stated goal of this policy change was to clamp down on rich people from other countries buying a "second home" with a visa in Japan. But the policy change to increase the capital requirement does not stop this. It only affects legitimate business. Because the rich people just deposit more money and meet the requirement. As the people in the link above point out, if the government was actually serious about this, they could instead verify the businesses are real by going there.
The people running small businesses, especially restaurants, cannot raise that kind of cash very quickly. And floating that amount of money in cash is just a bad idea.
More: https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/16536637 More: https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/16615301 Example: https://www.ndtv.com/feature/japan-deportation-threat-leaves...
The people here cheering this on, saying "Japan should throw out more foreigners to preserve Japan" need to realize that Japan is not a theme park. It's a real place that people live and work. And this policy change doesn't even do what it claims to do.
I’ve also heard of quite a few problems with some of these properties, such as operators not meeting licensing requirements or causing issues with nearby residents.
Japan also has a relatively generous social security system, especially national health insurance, which makes medical costs extremely low compared with many other countries. So I can see why this kind of route would keep attracting people from overseas.