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Keisho X

Japan Succession Brief

Weekly Brief

Short, high-signal intelligence: policy changes, market data points, platform developments, and observations from the ground. New briefs usually publish twice a week; this is the archive of everything we've sent to subscribers. RSS feed.

Empty traditional Japanese meeting room in soft morning light, with a long wooden table, plain folders and an iron teapot with two cups, tiled roofs beyond the window

Ecosystem Watch 6 min

Japan Plans an Exam and a Public Register for SME M&A Advisers. What It Means for Buyers

Japan's SME Agency is building a qualification for the brokers and advisers who sell small companies: a national exam, a public register of people who pass, and removal for ethics breaches, with the aim of putting it into law. Complaints to its information desk, adviser fees on small deals, and what changes for foreign buyers.

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Low wooden table in a quiet Japanese family company office, with a closed document folder, a company seal case, a calculator and a cup of tea, soft afternoon light through shoji screens

Policy Watch 7 min

Japan's Succession Tax Break Is Up for a "Fundamental Review". What It Means for Buyers

The special measure that lets family successors defer all gift and inheritance tax on company shares expires in 2027. On 9 October the Finance Ministry and the SME Agency put their evidence before a government tax panel, and METI is asking for a fundamental review. What the data says, what is undecided, and why it matters to outside buyers.

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Quiet wooden desk by a window in a small Kyoto office, with a leather notebook and fountain pen, a cup of green tea, a tray of blank business cards and a small plant, tiled rooftops soft in the morning light outside

Keisho X Update 6 min

Put Your Buyer Profile in Front of Japan's Sell-Side Advisers

Keisho X has opened a free, vetted register for foreign buyers of Japanese small businesses. Tell us what you'd buy in a minute or two, and, only if you choose, we share your profile with Japanese M&A advisers we have vetted. Here is what you give, what you get, and what you control.

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Aging Japanese shop owner handing over keys and company seal to a younger foreign buyer in a modest workshop office

Market Observations 2 min

Zero-Yen Acquisitions: Real, Growing, and Not Actually Free

Nominal-price business transfers are a real and visible slice of Japan's succession market. What a zero-yen deal actually transfers, when it makes sense, and how to price the 'free' company honestly.

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Foreign buyer meeting with Japanese regional bank succession specialists in a wood-paneled branch conference room

Ecosystem Watch 2 min

Regional Banks Are Quietly Becoming Japan's Succession Dealmakers

Regional banks and shinkin now run serious succession M&A operations. Why their incentives finally align with deal-making, and how a foreign buyer turns one bank relationship into sourcing, diligence, and financing at once.

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Japan Succession Brief · Buyer register

The intelligence serious buyers forward to colleagues

Policy changes, market data, and ground-level observations on Japanese SME succession, in your inbox as each brief publishes. Buyers can also join our vetted register for Japanese sell-side advisers.

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