What Japanese banks actually look at before approving a business loan

Community note · General information, not financial advice

A question that comes up often from self-employed foreign residents: how do you actually get a bank to say yes to a business loan? The honest answer is that it usually comes down to a small set of things presented clearly — not luck, and not connections.

「事業融資はどうすれば承認されるのか」という質問はよく聞きます。運やコネではなく、いくつかの要素を明確に示せるかどうかです。

What a bank wants to see, in order

• A simple, honest business plan — gross sales, cost of inventory or materials, ongoing expenses, and what's actually left over. Banks aren't looking for a polished pitch deck; they're looking for numbers that add up and make sense together.
• A properly filed tax return (確定申告) — this is your track record. A bank generally trusts declared, consistent income far more than a verbal claim about how well the business is doing, or even genuine investment gains that aren't reflected in your filed income.
• Consistency over time — one strong month doesn't tell a bank much. Multiple years of filed returns telling the same steady story does.

Requirements vary by bank, and some require a larger down payment or have stricter conditions than others — it's worth comparing more than one before assuming you don't qualify anywhere.