August 2015, Fukuoka Legal Affairs Bureau, ticket number 47. Inside a manila folder on my lap was a name in three characters of black ink — Shingihou — a name my grandfather's rice shop in Yilan had carried through the 1920s and which had waited fifty years to be used again. The visa for a foreign founder in Japan required ¥5 million in paid-up capital. I did not have it. This chapter is about the four months I spent finding it.

In this episode: Shingihou, founding a company in Japan as a foreigner, the keiei kanri visa, family heritage.

Contact: medicalsupporter.org | shingihou.com | [email protected]

⚠️ Personal reflections only. Not medical practice, diagnosis, or treatment advice. Please consult your physician. Names have been changed.