EDIT AND REPOST: Mod asked to put this in their wiki, so I’m editing it to make it a be a bit more detailed and correct some little things. I am also making this far more detailed as it could be potentially helpful to anyone who is considering making the move and to know what to expect. I wish I had this kind of info when I first applied! I apologize that I also cannot reply to PMs as I have a busy schedule (also against the rules here) and am just posting this here to potentially help others out there as I believe this to be the first detailed post of its kind on the internet from someone who actually has the visa.
Hi folks, I’ve been meaning to make this post for a few years now, but after renewing my visa for the 3rd time and this time getting a 3 year visa, I feel much more confident about the entire process. I’ve been wanting to make this post because when I was first researching this, I saw quite a lot of misinformation from people who don’t even have the visa making incorrect claims and even attacking people who were just asking. Also, since I am NOT a lawyer, I will purposely be making certain things relatively vague so as not to give the impression that I am giving legal advice. The requirements for visas change and you’ll have to consult with a lawyer or an immigration officer. The rules for the business manager visa just drastically changed very recently, and the process for renewing my visa this year was different (stricter) than last year. I’ll repeat it again: go through a lawyer for relevant details.
Even myself, having gone through a lawyer, I had to read between the lines as she would sometimes gave me vague answers hoping that I would catch her drift. The truth is that although the reality of a freelance musician does not match the legal requirements for a visa, there’s actually a bit of grey area that you can explore but it will likely not be explicitly explained to you by legal entities and not by me either since I am NOT a legal entity. You have to learn to read between the lines. This is why if you want this visa, I highly recommend going through a lawyer. I am not saying to do illegal things at all, but to think a bit outside the box. Sorry to use this analogy, but think about the adult entertainment industry in Japan. Lots of things are technically illegal yet are done in plain sight and in full conformity of the law.
There is very little information on this visa on the internet from people who actually have the visa, and this might actually be the first post of its kind so hopefully it could be of help to you. Most information out there are from law firms or the official Japanese Immigration site. I‘m hoping to give some info from an actual person who has it and who has renewed consecutively with the aim of eventually getting permanent residency.
Here’s the biggest misconception: Can you be a freelancer on an artist visa? So legally, it seems there is no “freelancer” visa but in reality, you CAN be on the artist visa and be a freelancer. I am such a person. However, it’s about reading between the lines when applying for it.
Essentially, what I needed to do was to prove that I could generate income in Japan as an artist (I’m a musician). As a side note, there are two visas for musicians : artist and entertainer visa. Talking about the difference between the two opens an entire other can of worms. I’m only going to focus on the artist visa here, which is what is the most viable option for musicians (more varied income possibilities as a freelancer). The entertainer visa is strictly for performance, and then you need a legitimate contract (ie having a residency in a legitimate venue and earning X income). Generally people on the entertainer visa are here for short term, it’s the visa that Taylor Swift would have to get to come to Japan. In other words, doing gigs in a bar that pay you 3000-8000 Yen in cash under the table is not going to cut it.
I had a fairly successful international career before moving to Japan and I didn’t move to Japan for the music scene, but because the lifestyle here suits my personality really well. My Japan story is actually very complicated and not relevant so I’ll keep it private. I have an international music company in my home country that is relatively successful and generates decent passive income. This was what allowed me to get the visa. Because it is an international company, I was able to prove that I could generate income in Japan.
Next, because I had a fairly successful international career, I had lots of connections in high places in Japan (CEOs of established companies). They provided me with letters of recommendations, and potential work contracts. This is very important: if you have connections in your field in Japan and they are willing to provide the same thing, it’s a step in the right direction. From what I understand, these people need to have their own registered companies. In other words, it can’t be some random Japanese artist who performs in bars willing to sign papers for you. As long as it’s a company that is operating according to the law in Japan, you should be good. So if you have a contact who, for example, owns a legitimate art gallery, or music school, and they’re willing to provide recommendation letters, and/or potential work contracts, then you’re good.
I believe that the absolute most important thing is that you can prove that you can generate X income in Japan. How famous you are is not so important. They want to know that you can survive through your craft in Japan. What this translates to is the next focus of this article: paying taxes.
I’ve had multiple artist visas from different countries. I had the O1 visa for the USA (which is considered to be one of the most coveted visas for non-American artists). I actually currently have another long-term artist visa in another country as well. The Japanese artist visa is on another level lol. On the O1 visa (and the other visa that I have), I didn’t necessarily have to live in the USA, I could just come and go for gigs, which is essentially what I did. I was therefore never a resident of the USA despite having a visa that granted me that possibility. I was able to get the O1 visa multiple times under these conditions. In Japan, the visa pretty much forces you to be an actual tax paying resident of Japan if your goal is to renew it. This is what makes things brutally complicated for people with international careers. Since moving to Japan, I’ve had to drastically reduce my international travel and, therefore, drastically reduce my potential income.
Getting the artist visa in Japan is one thing already, being able to renew it successfully is the next hurdle. In order to continuously renew the artist visa, you need to pay all your government related bills on time. Health insurance, income tax, municipal tax, etc. So when you do your taxes, you need to obviously show that you met the visa renewal requirement of X income.
When you renew your visa, your case officer will be looking at everything. On my second year of renewal (for my third year in Japan), I almost got screwed over because of an accountant who ripped me off.
So as you guys know, this visa is extremely rare, and when I got it, my lawyer and I were both surprised. I know some “famous” musicians who couldn’t even get it. Again, this visa is not about how talented or famous you are. Perhaps your profile is important but it is secondary to being able to prove that you can generate X income in Japan.
Anyway, getting it was the first hurdle, I was stressed about being able to renew it so I hired an accounting firm for foreigners. Their pitch was that they could help do the accounting so that I could maximize my chances of renewing the visa. I had a consultation with them, and they said they had never encountered my case before (freelance musician). They said that they needed to study my case very carefully in order file my taxes properly. They charged me quite a fortune. I paid the money because I really wanted to maximize my chances.
I managed to renew the visa for a second year so I figured it was worth paying that fortune. When I contacted the firm for my taxes the following year, I thought they could just pretty much copy and paste the same information and it wouldn’t cost as much. I was wrong; they said they would charge me the same amount. I thought that was ridiculous because not much had changed in my financial situation from one year to the next. Luckily, I took the documents that they had filed for me the previous year, went to the tax office myself (need Japanese skills for this, more on that later) and pretty much used it as a template. It was so easy that I got paranoid that maybe I did it wrong.
So when it came time to renew my visa for the second time, I got paranoid, and, indeed, the immigration case officer had an issue, but it was not because of my error. Apparently the accounting firm had registered their address for all my tax correspondences, so I basically never got a very important bill (municipal tax). I quickly rushed to the tax office and explained the situation. They deregistered the incorrect address, and gave me the bill. I paid it in full promptly and wrote a letter of apology with the explanation to the immigration officer. It was thankfully accepted, and I was able to renew my visa for a second time even though I was very late on the municipal tax payment. Lesson learned!
The municipal tax in my case is spread over 4 equal bills spread over roughly a year. This time around, as soon as I received it, I paid everything in its totality right away. Basically, I paid for my municipal tax until way after my visa was set to expire. My reasoning is that it will show the immigration officer that I am very serious about staying in Japan. When I applied to renew my visa for the third time (for my fourth year), it was approved within just days, and for the first time, I was awarded 3 years which is considered extremely rare! My lawyer who helps me renew was equally stunned. In the past, it would take over a month to renew my visa. As I said earlier, the requirements for renewal got stricter too so I was very nervous. Again, since visa requirements change, I purposely left a lot of information out. Consult with a lawyer, or go to the immigration office and ask.
There we go, those are the basics of this visa.
Summary:
Applying for the visa for the first time:
-Prove that you can earn X income in Japan.
-Get Japanese companies to write recommendation letters for you and provide potential contracts that match the legal requirements of the visa. You might think you can cheat your way by getting a company to say they’ll pay you X amount, but when it comes time to file your taxes as a freelancer, you better be sure you declare the minimum amount and can then pay everything.
-Of course, having a good profile is a cherry on top. Magazine articles, newspapers clippings, etc.
-consult with a lawyer for all the other details. I’m only mentioning the critical factors.
Renewing the visa:
-Declare your income properly when it comes time to file your taxes. I don’t hide anything from the government, I truly declare everything correctly to the best of my ability.
-Pay ALL your bills on time, and preferably pay them way past when your visa is set to expire if you get the 1 year visa (statistically, you’re unlikely to get a multiple year visa on your first try).
Now, regarding my personal experiences in Japan as a freelance musician:
As a freelance artist, since you will not necessarily be working for a company, you will have to pay the health insurance fees in full. Depending on which country you come from, it can get very expensive! There are online calculators out there, but pension and health insurance can really get up there as a freelancer. So on top of paying your rent, you need to set aside a sizable budget for these two alone. What I pay in health insurance and pension is what some of my lower income friends pay in one month’s rent.
As a musician, you might want to play your instrument at home. If you get to understand Japanese society in general, you will quickly realize that generally speaking, you’re not supposed to make noise at home that neighbors can hear. That is why when you search on real estate sites, they have this option called “楽器相談可“ (possibility to discuss about playing instruments) or “防音” (sound-proof). Clicking on these two options drastically reduce the number of places available. It’s why silent instruments are very popular in Japan. I had a friend who played electric guitar without an amp (for those who don’t know, this is considered extremely quiet; quieter than two people talking at normal volumes) and the walls to her apartment were so thin that even her neighbor could hear it. Apartments are generally very small in Japan and many people live in one room apartments so it just makes it complicated. In my home country, late at night, I could just go to the other side of my 130sq2 (roughly 1300 square feet) apartment while my neighbors were sleeping in their bedrooms, and play music without bothering anyone. A lot of Japanese musicians go to rehearsal rooms or karaokes to practice. There was a time where I used to practice 6-12 hours a day, and that’s just going to make things very expensive if you’re in that phase as a musician. You’ll have to look for a place that allows you to play your instrument, and, therefore, you may have less of a say in where you want to live. On the other hand, just because a listing doesn’t have an option for 楽器相談可 doesn’t mean that you cannot play music, you should still talk to real estate agent that you want to play music. They can ask on your behalf. The most important thing is just being reasonable and keeping the peace. 迷惑をかけない (do not inconvenience others) is a huge thing in Japan and with the current political climate, foreigners don’t have a great image. I do my best to protect that image.
About Japanese language skills. I think the good news is that if you really apply yourself, you can learn enough Japanese to live your life within about 2 years or so. Obviously, the better you are at it, the more enjoyable life in Japan will be. When I first moved here, I only knew basic greetings, couldn’t read or write. I spent a huge chunk of my savings on daily private lessons with multiple teachers. I attended free Japanese classes run by local governments. I made friends with the local communities. This combination of things allowed me to reach a high enough level that I could do things on my own. Whenever I asked my foreigner musician friends how they did their income tax or things that required knowledge of Japanese, they often told me their spouse did it for them. I came here alone so I was only able to rely on myself. In certain cities, there are English speaking services, but sometimes they charge extra. Having the sufficient Japanese level was a particular life saver at the tax office when I had that misunderstanding last year.
Now you see why it’s extremely hard to get the visa and then maintain it. It will likely come at a very significant cost. You need to have quite a bit of capital on hand. I’m not gonna lie, I ate through my savings. To be honest, I don’t recommend anyone come to Japan as an artist unless they REALLY love it here (which I do!). From a logistical perspective, everything just works against you, if you’re coming from countries such as USA, Canada, Europe, Australia, etc. Like I said, I already had an established career before coming here, and my choice for living here has nothing to do with my career.
Every single foreigner musician that I’ve ever met living in Japan has the spouse visa, including some “famous” musicians. When I say famous , I don’t mean Beatles famous but people who are somewhat internationally recognized in their fields. The last time I checked the census, there were fewer than 200 people on the artist visa in Japan. The record high was before the pandemic, and it was at like under 400 people. It’s really unfortunate but at the same time, the music industry in Japan is highly competitive, so you better be at the top of your game to even stand a chance. Also, I have to say as someone who was working internationally, Japan works in a completely different way. That’s again yet another huge topic. I’ve been to many countries as a musician, and the Japanese system sits in its own category. If you’re used to do things a certain way in your country, be prepared to do things in a completely different way in Japan. The whole thing about music at home is one of the examples. I don’t mean this as a negative thing but an objective truth. In every single other country that I’ve been to , I was able to do things in pretty much the same way. Japan is the only exception, and that’s where a lot of foreign musicians get shocked. Again this is another topic of its own.
I travel a lot all over Japan, I did all 47 prefectures, and I would go out and seek out the local scene. In all my travels, I met a LOT of people. Lots of foreign musicians. They all had the spouse visa. I only recently met for the first time two people on the artist visa and they were in the film industry. They told me that it was not possible to get it on the first try from outside of Japan. They told me you have to come here first under another visa, establish your career and then switch. When I told them that I got it on my first try from abroad, they were very surprised. I’m not saying this to show off, it’s just that I happened to check the correct boxes on my first try (namely that I had solid connections in Japan willing to vouch for me before ever setting foot here).
If your dream is really to be a musician (artist) in Japan without a pre-existing successful career, you might have to come on another kind of visa like as a language teacher, and do music on the side, build your name and career that way, and then find a Japanese spouse and get on that visa lol. I know a few great musicians who have English teaching jobs and plays music on the side. That was their way in. One of them married a Japanese and is now on the spouse visa.
With that said, the focus on this article was about being a FREELANCE artist which is what many people ask about. You can, for example, choose to get a full-time job working for a company. In my case, I was offered jobs teaching in music schools and what not, but I had to turn them down because then I lose the flexibility that I currently enjoy; namely that I still have high paying international work offers every now and then. If I worked for a school, it would be hard to take time off to do these high profile jobs, but if you don’t have an existing international career, this is definitely a viable option! However, while I have never worked in a music school before, I have some friends who absolutely hate their job lol but they have no choice. Either be an English teacher, or a music teacher, and play music on the side if you still have the energy.
I hope this helps people out there!
by LiveDaLifeJP