Eleven Questions Your Japanese Supplier Will Ask Before Net-30 — and the Answers US Founders Get Wrong

The first order from a Japanese supplier is usually prepaid or cash on delivery. Payment terms come later, and they are not granted on the strength of a conversation. Somewhere between the second and fourth transaction, a credit control clerk sends over an onboarding form, and what comes back determines whether your kaisha enters the supplier's system as a reliable account or as a permanent prepay customer.

The form is not arbitrary. Each item on it answers a specific question the supplier's credit department is required to ask. Below are the requests that appear most often, along with the responses that cause trouble.

1. A Recent Registry Extract

What they ask for: A certified extract of the commercial registry, generally issued within the last three months.

The bad answer: An extract from the incorporation date, six or eight months old, or a printout of a PDF rather than a certified copy. Japanese credit clerks notice issue dates. An aging extract suggests a company that does not maintain its own file.

2. The Certificate of Registered Seal

What they ask for: An official seal registration certificate, plus identification of which seal the company uses for contracts — the registered one or an ordinary one.

The bad answer: A personal seal, or an unfamiliarity with the difference. Japanese suppliers will often require that contracts bear the registered corporate seal, and some forms require a seal impression stamped partly off the edge of the page as an anti-copy measure. Know which seal you hold and who holds it.

3. Domestic Bank Account Details in the Corporate Name

What they ask for: Bank name, branch, account type, account number, and the exact account holder name.

The bad answer: A personal account, a payment processor's virtual account, or any name that differs by even one character from the registered corporate name. A mismatch between the registry and the bank account is the single most common reason a Japanese supplier declines to extend terms. Payment becomes unverifiable, and unverifiable payment is a credit risk.

4. The Corporate Number

What they ask for: The thirteen-digit corporate number assigned at registration.

The bad answer: A US employer identification number offered in its place. The two systems are unrelated, and the substitution signals that the person filling out the form is guessing.

5. Qualified Invoice Registration Status

What they ask for: Whether the company is registered as a qualified invoice issuer, and the registration number if so.

The bad answer: A blank field or a vague statement that the company is "not required to register." Since the invoice system began, this number functions as an operational credential. Leave it blank and you signal either ignorance or a status the supplier's accounting department has to work around.

6. Representative Director's Name, Address, and Date of Birth

What they ask for: Basic identification of the individual behind the company.

The bad answer: Reluctance. This information is on the public registry in any case. Hesitation reads as concealment, and concealment triggers escalation to a more thorough review.

7. Disclosure of Parent Companies and Major Shareholders

What they ask for: Whether the kaisha is a subsidiary, and if so, of whom.

The bad answer: Naming a US holding company without explaining the relationship, or omitting it because the parent seemed irrelevant. A foreign parent changes the credit analysis considerably and usually means the supplier will ask for the parent's financials as well. It is better to disclose and supply them than to have the omission discovered.

8. Financial Statements or a Tax Return Copy

What they ask for: The most recent fiscal-year statements, or a tax return copy for a very young company.

The bad answer: A management-prepared spreadsheet with no accountant's involvement, or an outright refusal. A first-period filing signed off by a tax accountant carries disproportionate weight precisely because the company has no history behind it.

9. Consent to a Commercial Credit Check

What they ask for: Agreement that the supplier may obtain a report from a commercial research firm.

The bad answer: Refusing. On a new company the report will come back thin regardless; refusal only adds an unfavorable note and prolongs the process.

10. An Anti-Social Forces Declaration

What they ask for: A signed covenant that the company, its officers, and its major shareholders have no relationship with organized crime syndicates, often on the supplier's own prescribed form.

The bad answer: Treating it as a formality to be signed without reading, or objecting to it as intrusive. The declaration is a standard component of Japanese corporate contracting and its absence stops onboarding outright. Officers should read the covenants carefully, because they typically include undertakings about not using threatening language in disputes — obligations that bind conduct, not just affiliation.

11. Contact Details for Accounts Payable and a Named Responsible Person

What they ask for: A real telephone number, a named individual, and an email address on a corporate domain.

The bad answer: A personal mobile number and a free mail address. It reads as a company that may be difficult to reach when a payment is late.

Building the File Before It Is Requested

Founders who move through Japanese supplier onboarding smoothly tend to keep a single PDF dossier, refreshed quarterly, containing: the current registry extract, seal certificate, corporate number notification, bank account confirmation, the latest financial statements, and a one-page company profile in Japanese. Sending that package unrequested, with the first purchase order, shortens the review and quietly signals that the company is organized.

The underlying logic is worth remembering. A Japanese supplier is not primarily asking whether you are wealthy. It is asking whether you are findable, whether your payments can be traced, and whether dealing with you will create work for someone in accounting. Answer those three questions before they are asked and the terms will follow.