Our advice is to get your Work Rules in place as soon as possible after establishment and NOT to wait until the tenth employee is hired. The reason for this is that it is FAR easier to negotiate with 1-2 early employees than it is with 10 or more.
It's all too easy to forget that what makes money is not just the barebones offering but also the value-added services that inspire or stimulate the customer.
It's tough being a foreign businessperson in Japan. Unlike our Japanese colleagues, we don't have a support network that stretches back to High School or University, and thus we're often left in a lonely and uninformed position.
Noto Peninsula is a wonderful part of the country, with dramatic cliff roads, forests, and fishing villages facing the crashing surf on the western side, and quiet bays, oysters farms, orchards, and retirement homes on the eastern side.