🇯🇵How to verify a supplier in Japan
To verify a supplier in Japan, look the company up for free in the official National Tax Agency Corporate Number Publication and confirm it is registered and currently active. The registry returns registered name, 13-digit corporate number, and registered address; free and fully open.
The official registry
- Registry
- National Tax Agency Corporate Number Publication
- Company ID
- corporate number (13 digits)
- Cost
- Free basic lookup
- Active status
- The publication flags closures; full commercial-registry extracts (with directors and capital) are obtained from the Legal Affairs Bureau.
Sector export licences
Being a registered, active company is not the same as being allowed to export a specific product. In Japan, these sectors carry their own export licence or certificate from a named regulator, so a genuine exporter of these goods holds a current one. Ask for it, then check it at the source.
- marine fish & tunamandatory
health certificate from the Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries.
Check the processing facility's compliance code in the MAFF exporter registration directory.
Official source - alcohol/winemandatory
export licence from the National Tax Agency.
Verify the liquor export license designation code via the NTA registry.
Official source
This is a factual pointer to public records, not legal advice, and the list is not exhaustive.
Before you sign: five asks no registry can answer
The register proves the company exists and who signs. It says nothing about whether the supplier survives a bad quarter, a fire or a key person leaving. Serious suppliers answer these five asks without friction; hesitation on any of them is information too.
- Business continuity: what happens to your order if their plant loses power, a strike hits or their systems go down? Ask for the plan, not a reassurance.
- Liability insurance: is product or professional liability insured, with which insurer and to what ceiling? A certificate of insurance is a one-page email for a real firm.
- Exit terms: how do you terminate if it goes wrong, what notice and fees apply, and how do you get your tooling, molds or data back?
- Support in numbers: ask for response and resolution times as figures, not adjectives. A supplier who commits to hours in writing has a support process; one who writes fast support does not.
- Named people: who exactly runs production and who owns your account? Continuity of a named team matters more than a polished sales deck, and employee-review sites often show whether that team stays.
General commercial hygiene, not legal advice.
Verify it in four steps
- 1
Open the National Tax Agency Corporate Number Publication
National Tax Agency Corporate Number Publication is the official government record of companies in Japan. Basic name or number search is free.
- 2
Search the exact legal name or ID
Search the supplier's registered name or its corporate number (13 digits). If the name does not match cleanly, treat it as a red flag, it may be a trade name, a different entity, or wrong.
- 3
Confirm it is active, not struck off
The publication flags closures; full commercial-registry extracts (with directors and capital) are obtained from the Legal Affairs Bureau.
- 4
Check it makes what it sells
A real factory carries a manufacturing activity code and a consistent trade history; a middleman reselling everything is the most common mismatch.
This is a factual pointer to public records, not legal advice. For the full method, see the 7 checks that separate a real supplier from a scam.
We do this check for you
On every Japan company we list, we show what the open record says, each linked to its free public source so you can re-check it yourself, no paid badge. And we go past the big directories to the local and craft makers who are too small for them but real, then verify and sort them, so you find genuine Japan suppliers, not just the loudest.
Japan suppliers by sector
Every company on these pages shows what the open record says about it, each fact linked to its free public source.
Related guides
Questions
Is checking a Japan supplier free?
Yes. A basic name or number lookup in the National Tax Agency Corporate Number Publication is free. Some full official extracts are paid, but confirming a company exists and is active costs nothing.
What ID does a Japan company have?
Its corporate number (13 digits). Ask the supplier for it, then confirm it in the National Tax Agency Corporate Number Publication and check the registered name matches.
How do I know a Japan supplier is a real manufacturer, not a reseller?
The registry's activity code is the tell: a manufacturing code means a real maker, a wholesale or retail code means a trader.