Japan

Yes, and it is the single most important fact for a wealthy family considering Japan. Japanese inheritance tax reaches up to 55%, and it taxes the recipient, not the estate. It reaches worldwide assets far more readily than most families expect. The basic exclusion is only JPY 30m plus JPY 6m per statutory heir. For a spouse and two children, that comes to about JPY 48m, roughly USD 300k. Everything above that is taxable, and the 55% band applies to each heir's share above JPY 600m. The current architecture dates from the 2017 and 2018 reforms.

The mechanism is the visa table, not clever structuring. Table 1 work visas, which include Business Manager, Highly Skilled Professional and J-Skip, carry a carve-out. Holders with jusho, meaning domicile, in Japan for less than 10 of the last 15 years are exempt from Japanese gift and inheritance tax on overseas assets, provided the counterparty is also a temporary foreigner or a non-Japanese national outside Japan. Table 2 statuses, such as permanent resident, spouse of a Japanese national and long-term resident, do not qualify. Japan-situs assets, such as a Tokyo apartment, are always taxable regardless of anyone's status.

Because it wipes out the inheritance-tax carve-out, and there is no grace period. Taking PR converts you from a Table 1 temporary foreigner into someone whose worldwide estate is exposed to Japanese inheritance tax immediately. So the J-Skip holder who takes PR after one year, congratulating himself on the fast track, has just moved his entire global estate into a 55% net. For most UHNW families, the correct move is to keep rolling a Table 1 work visa and never take PR. It sounds counterintuitive. That is the whole point. Marrying a Japanese national and taking a spouse visa is also a Table 2 status, with the same immediate exposure.

Very fast, on paper. Under the Highly Skilled Professional points system, PR is available after three years at 70+ points, or after just one year at 80+ points. J-Skip holders, a track launched April 2023, are treated as equivalent to 80 points, so they also qualify in one year. J-Skip bypasses the points table entirely, relying instead on hard income tests. That means JPY 20m income plus a master's degree for researchers and engineers, or JPY 40m plus five years' management experience for business managers. But the one-year PR track is a tax event in disguise. Read the inheritance-tax analysis before you apply.

Yes. Amended ministerial ordinances took effect on 16 October 2025. They raised the capital requirement sixfold, from JPY 5m to JPY 30m, or roughly USD 190k–200k. The rules also added new conditions. You now need at least one full-time employee who is a Japanese national or permanent resident, not another foreign work-visa holder. The applicant or that employee needs Japanese proficiency at roughly B2. You also need three years of management experience or a related master's degree, plus a business plan confirmed by a qualified professional. Anyone quoting JPY 5m is working from material written before October 2025. Existing holders get a three-year transition period, until 16 October 2028, but they are not grandfathered indefinitely.

No. Japan does not permit dual citizenship for adults. Naturalisation requires renouncing your existing nationality. The process generally needs about five years of residence. It is discretionary, and it expects functional Japanese at interview, even though there is no formal language test. For most globally mobile families, the citizenship question is moot. The real planning centres on which work visa to hold, not on a Japanese passport.

Yes. Japan levies an exit tax of 15.315% on unrealised gains on securities worth JPY 100m or more, if you have been resident for more than five of the preceding ten years. Payment can be deferred for up to ten years, with the right procedures in place. Leaving specifically to escape the inheritance regime can itself trigger a bill. A Japanese national who emigrates also carries worldwide inheritance-tax exposure for ten years after departure. Japan operates CFC rules too, and emigration does not simply switch these off.

No. It is routinely bundled into Japan golden visa marketing, but it is nothing of the sort. J-Find, launched April 2023, is a two-year job-search and startup-preparation permit for people who graduated within the last five years from a university ranked in the top 100 of at least two of the QS, THE and Shanghai rankings, with a funds test of about JPY 200,000. It leads nowhere on its own. You must convert to a work status such as HSP, J-Skip or Business Manager. It is essentially irrelevant to UHNW planning.