Business Background Investigations
by Japan PI
Verification Before Trust
Japan is the third-largest economy in the world and a country with unique business customs and legal and financial systems as well as a unique culture and moral code of its citizens.
However, as with other countries in the world, Japan is also home to shady characters and businesses. Even so, such shady businesses and practices might not be so obvious to foreigners who are new to Japan.
Due Diligence & Cultural Bridge
Are you contemplating a new partnership, joint venture, merger, or corporate restructuring? Then consider the benefits of a due diligence investigation. In today’s business environment, timely and accurate intelligence isn’t an option; it’s a necessity.
Before your business dealings, due diligence is essential in avoiding all kinds of risks.
Japan has its unique business practices. Japan PI can provide in-depth local intelligence based on its extensive experience as the bilingual private investigation firm in Japan.
Bespoken Due Diligence
We specialize in conducting due diligence on any aspect of corporate or commercial business transactions, providing the information you require to trust partners and settle terms according to the best of your interests.
Our services include but are not limited to:
- Open Source Media Checks
- Source Interviews
- Site Visit Investigations
- Undercover Operations
Company Credit Reports in Japan
There are two dominant company rating agencies in Japan: TDB and TSR. They make researches on companies always based on direct interviews. If the target company does not accept the direct interview, there is no entry to their databases.
A typical good rated company should have a recent filing on both TSR and TDB databases, First you must have a filing on those databases. Otherwise your company will not get a full credit from your new customers.
From Japanese point of view, new large size business customers would not place a full trust on this kind of company which does not even have a filing on TDB database. And it also means that it is not easy to gather information on this company.
Japanese government registry records do not disclose any tax return related information to the private sectors unless the company is publicly listed. That’s the reason why TDB and TSR type of investigation is dominant in Japan.
Business Background Check Fees
Fees differ by size and scale of the request.
Based on the Database, fees can be combined with services like personal investigations.
Please check the Japan PI Pricing Page for more details.
FAQ’s For Business Due Diligence
- Can you check a criminal record or an association with a criminal organization?
Criminal records are strictly confidential in Japan. Even a signed release from the person himself/herself does not work at all at Japanese police.
But criminality check is available. It is an anti-social list (blacklist) check and a media coverage search for any criminal records.
To run a check, we need subject’s name in the Japanese character. Otherwise, the integrity of the verification diminishes due to the numerous numbers of homonyms in the Japanese language.
- Can you obtain a certificate of criminal records in Japan?
No. We can’t obtain it as a proxy of the subject.
As Japan is not based on common law, the Japanese government does not have the police background check system domestically. Therefore, they are quite reluctant to issue this certificate because it contradicts the domestic rules. However, they are aware the certificate of criminal records is required for immigration or employment purposes, they issue the certificate only for the international purposes.
The person himself/herself must visit the police head office or Japanese embassy to apply for the certificate of criminal records (警察証明／犯罪経歴証明／渡航証明). Fingerprints must be submitted to the application as well. The police will collect the fingerprints in the head office of the police in each prefecture.
The third party can’t apply for the document even though we are provided with the signed release from the person himself/herself.
For more details, please refer to the following site.
How To Apply For Certificate Of Criminal Record (Tokyo Metropolitan Police) - What information is included in Japan's company registry records?
Company registry records include name, address, capital, date of establishment, line of business, directors.
Company credit reports from the proprietary databases such as TSR or TDB will include name, address, capital, date of establishment, line of business, directors, customers/suppliers, shareholders, brief financial statement, etc.
- Can you investigate debts of Japanese company?
Japanese companies are not required to disclose their financial statements unless they are publicly listed companies. So it is not possible to find their financial statements in the publicly available databases.
But the company credit reports of the majority of Japanese companies are available in TDB (Teikoku Data Bank) or TSR (Tokyo Shoko Research). That way, we will find out the debts of the subject company.