For some context, I'm a freelance and worked for a company for almost a year. The last three months of 2025 my salary was not paid and the company owner said there was financial problems, but the company was not declared bankrupt.
I tried to keep it civil and wait for a bit but after several delays and empty promises I went to Tokyo Labour Bureau where they just told me they can't help because "I'm not a worker", just a freelance (I guess just because I'm not a 正社員 I don't have rights).
Also the company owner told me that he can "walk away from the responsibility of paying and not face any consequences". Don't know exactly what that means since we had a contract and he bridged it.
After that, radio silence since early February.
What I tried :
– Sent a request for payment over Kakitome (one sheet that the Bureau gave to me). It was delivered but didn't get any answer from the company.
– Went to a lawyer. I don't speak very well Japanese so I had to request a translator. I left with the impression the lawyer was not helpful at all since I had to push and ask different pathways to pursue instead of him giving me guidance.
My question would be, is there any good lawyer that I can talk to in English that someone can recommend?
Do I just suck it up and accept they abused their position and that I don't have the resources to pursue this?
I'm kind of feeling a bit desperate since I really need that money so any help would be really appreciated.
Edit: Thank you everyone for your suggestions! I will address some comments :
– Regarding working for such a long time without getting paid: Maybe I was being naive and trusting in people too much, but also the owner of the company just straight lied and kept me guessing/guessing until I couldn't take it anymore. I got late payments before and they eventually came up, so I was expecting this to be the same but it dragged for too long. I should had stopped working as soon as I didn't get my money.
– Regarding the distinction between freelance and 正社員: I get it, I'm not a company employee in paper, is just that I was using all my working time to work for this company as a contractor, and it kinda felt like I was an employee (I still had to organize meetings, updates, etc). I was under the misconception that the Bureau handled general work issues regardless if you are an employee or not (that's my bad).
– Related to the previous point, I understand now that I need to go to Labour Standards Inspections Office.
– The lawyer I went was a general one. I understand now that I should have done more research and find a specialist in debt collection or find a company to do it for me.
Thanks again for your help people!
by ZtJames