Establishment of a Kabushiki-Kaisha (a Joint Stock Company)　(1)

Establishment of a Kabushiki-Kaisha (a Joint Stock Company)　(1)

To establish a Kabushiki-Kaisha (a Joint Stock Company), it is necessary to prepare several documents. Normally, a judicial scrivener will prepare a set of these documents when the information necessary to prepare these documents is provided. There are approximately 20 items of information required for preparation of the documents. The following is a step-by-step explanation of these 20 items.

1. Trade name

When choosing a trade name, it is important to be mindful of the restrictions on characters and symbols that can be used. The trade name must consist of only Japanese characters, Roman alphabets, or other symbols designated by the Minister of Justice.

The following signs, except for the letters, may be used only for separating words and phrases. They may not be used at the beginning or end of a trade name. However, a period indicating omission may be used at the end of a trade name.

Roman letters,

Arabic numerals,

＆   ampersand,

‘      apostrophe,

，   comma, and

–      hyphen.

In principle, you can freely choose a trade name, except for the restrictions on the use of characters mentioned above. However, there are also following four restrictions:

• A trade name must include one of the following characters to indicate the type of company: “Kabushiki-Kaisha (株式会社)”, “Godo-Kaisha(合同会社)”, or “Gomei Kaisha (合名会社)”. These characters indicating the type of company must be written always in Chinese characters even if the body of the trade name is in Roman letters.
• There are restrictions on use by law. For example, a company that does not engage in the banking or life insurance business may not use the words “bank” or “life insurance” in its trade name.
• Trade names that offend public order and morals may not be used.
• Companies with identical trade names may not be registered at the same head office address.

#Joint Stock Company

＃Incorporation of a company