Every legal form in Japan, each with its abbreviation, the kind of entity it is, liability and typical use where they are well established, and the values the Prometiam company object returns.
This guide lists the 6 legal forms the Prometiam dictionary knows for Japan: what each is called, how it is abbreviated, what kind of entity it is and how it appears in the company object. Use it to read the legal_form of a company registered in Japan, or to decode a form you meet in a contract or on an invoice. It is a general reference, not legal advice.
Coverage and limits for Japan: company records only (no officers, no registry-compliance signal, no founding date, no activity code, no share capital, no VAT number, no insolvency notices); companies (kabushiki, godo, gomei, goshi and tokurei yugen kaisha) and registered foreign companies only, government bodies, associations and other corporations are never served; status is active, deregistered or merged, and the register publishes no liquidation or insolvency state. Source: National Tax Agency Corporate Number Publication Site (https://www.houjin-bangou.nta.go.jp/). Edited and processed by Prometiam; not a product of the National Tax Agency or the State.
| Form | Abbreviation | Kind | What to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| 株式会社 | K.K. | Public limited company (joint-stock company) | Kabushiki kaisha (株式会社), the stock company, abbreviated K.K. |
| 特例有限会社 | Y.K. | Private limited company | Tokurei yugen kaisha (特例有限会社), a special limited company, abbreviated Y.K. |
| 合名会社 | - | General partnership | Gomei kaisha (合名会社), a general partnership company. |
| 合資会社 | - | Limited partnership | Goshi kaisha (合資会社), a limited partnership company. |
| 合同会社 | G.K. | Private limited company | Godo kaisha (合同会社), abbreviated G.K. |
| 外国会社等 | - | Branch of a foreign company | A foreign company registered in Japan, as the corporate number register lists it (foreign company etc.). |
Every company object carries four legal-form fields: legal_form (the standard abbreviation, null when the form is not mapped), legal_form_family (the cross-country family, so a private limited company compares across countries), local_legal_form (the register’s own value or code as stored) and local_legal_form_name (the register’s name for it, where it publishes one). Each form below shows the values the API returns for it.
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer rk_live_..." \ "https://api.prometiam.com/functions/v1/risk-api/companies/search?country=JP&name=<company name>" # each result carries, for example: # "legal_form": "K.K." # "legal_form_family": "public_limited_company"
Private limited company: a company with its own legal personality whose owners are, as a rule, not personally liable for its debts and whose shares are not offered to the public.
Tokurei yugen kaisha (特例有限会社), a special limited company, abbreviated Y.K.
Y.K.legal_form Y.K., legal_form_family private_limited_company, local_legal_form 302Godo kaisha (合同会社), abbreviated G.K.
G.K.legal_form G.K., legal_form_family private_limited_company, local_legal_form 305Public limited company (joint-stock company): a company with its own legal personality and share capital whose owners are, as a rule, not personally liable; the family of forms that can usually raise money from the public.
Kabushiki kaisha (株式会社), the stock company, abbreviated K.K.
K.K.legal_form K.K., legal_form_family public_limited_company, local_legal_form 301General partnership: the owners run the business together and, as a rule, answer personally for its debts.
Gomei kaisha (合名会社), a general partnership company.
legal_form Gomei Kaisha (general partnership company), legal_form_family general_partnership, local_legal_form 303Limited partnership: at least one partner answers without limit for the debts, the others only up to what they contributed.
Goshi kaisha (合資会社), a limited partnership company.
legal_form Goshi Kaisha (limited partnership company), legal_form_family limited_partnership, local_legal_form 304Branch of a foreign company: an establishment or registration of a company incorporated abroad.
A foreign company registered in Japan, as the corporate number register lists it (foreign company etc.).
legal_form Foreign company etc., legal_form_family branch_of_foreign_company, local_legal_form 401See the Japan company data API guide for the register behind these records and the free Corporate number lookup to try an identifier. For the register states that go with these forms, read company status in Japan. All countries: company legal forms.
Search by name or identifier and read legal_form, legal_form_family and local_legal_form on every result, or filter a bulk list by family.
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