Professional and advisory services

Financial advisors#

A free discovery call qualifies the client, and the paid work that follows is a small number of long, valuable meetings that must not be missed.

Suggested booking questions: What would you like to talk about? · How long have you been in Japan? · Are you a Japanese tax resident?

Booking guide for financial advisors in Japan

Wealth and investment advisors#

Few clients, high value, and an annual review that gets booked twelve months ahead.

NISA, iDeCo and pension advisors#

One well-defined question per client, answered in an hour, with strong seasonality around the tax year.

Tax advisors (税理士)#

Consultation demand increases during tax-filing season. Leave enough time for preparation and filing work between client appointments.

Suggested booking questions: Employed, self-employed or both? · Do you have foreign income or assets? · Which tax year?

Booking guide for tax advisors (税理士) in Japan

Accountants and bookkeepers#

A monthly or quarterly rhythm with the same clients, punctuated by year-end, so the schedule is predictable and then suddenly is not.

Suggested booking questions: Which company? · Which period are we reviewing? · Anything unusual this month?

Lawyers#

A paid initial consultation of a fixed length that both qualifies the matter and is itself a product, with clients who are often anxious and want to book without explaining themselves first.

Suggested booking questions: Which area of law? · Brief description of the matter · Is there a deadline or court date?

Booking guide for lawyers in Japan

Immigration and visa consultants (行政書士)#

Clients arrive with a hard deadline — a visa expiring, a job starting, a family arriving — and they are anxious, overseas, or both.

Suggested booking questions: Current status of residence and expiry date · Which visa are you applying for? · Nationality · Are you in Japan now?

Booking guide for immigration and visa consultants (行政書士) in Japan

Company incorporation consultants#

A single consultation that turns into a project, often booked by someone who is not yet in the country.

Labour and HR consultants (社労士)#

Retained clients with a monthly check-in, plus urgent one-off calls when something has gone wrong with an employee.

Patent attorneys#

Consultations driven by filing deadlines, with a confidentiality concern that makes people reluctant to describe the matter on a form.

Suggested booking questions: Technology area · Have you disclosed the invention publicly? · Any filing deadline?

Inheritance (相続) advisors#

Clients come in the worst week of their year, often several family members at once, and the ten-month filing deadline is running.

Suggested booking questions: Date of death · Where are the assets held? · How many heirs?

Insurance brokers#

A fact-finding call and then a recommendation meeting, with nothing paid by the client at either.

Mortgage brokers#

Time-critical around an offer on a property, so short notice matters more than a tidy calendar.

Suggested booking questions: Do you hold permanent residency? · Have you found a property? · Employment type

Recruitment consultants and headhunters#

Candidates can only talk outside working hours or in a lunch break, and a first call is short, exploratory and often confidential.

Suggested booking questions: Current role and company · What are you looking for? · Notice period · Japanese level

Booking guide for recruitment consultants and headhunters in Japan

Career coaches#

A free introductory call that converts into a paid package, with sessions squeezed into early mornings, lunch breaks and evenings.

Suggested booking questions: Current situation in one line · What would a good outcome look like? · Any deadline you are working to?

Booking guide for career coaches in Japan

CV and resume consultants#

A short review call plus written work afterwards, where the document has to arrive before the meeting is useful.

Suggested booking questions: Which roles are you targeting? · Send your current CV before the call · Western CV, 履歴書, or both?

Executive coaches#

A standing fortnightly slot with a small number of senior clients, rearranged often and at short notice.

Business and management consultants#

A free scoping call decides whether there is a project, so the only thing that matters is that it is easy to book.

Marketing consultants#

Discovery calls from a website, plus recurring reviews with retained clients — two different event types on one page.

SEO and web consultants#

An audit call booked straight from a landing page, which means the booking widget needs to sit in the page rather than on another site.

Freelance developers#

A short call to decide whether the project is a fit, booked by people in several time zones.

Suggested booking questions: What are you building? · Timeline and budget range · Your time zone

IT support and managed services#

Remote sessions booked at short notice when something is broken, plus scheduled on-site visits.

Translators#

The work is not booked by the hour, but the quoting conversation is, and it is the bottleneck.

Suggested booking questions: Language pair and direction · Document type and word count · Deadline

Interpreters#

Booked by the half-day for a meeting whose time you do not control, with travel and preparation either side.

Suggested booking questions: Subject matter · Venue address or meeting link · How many participants? · Any materials to prepare from?

Notary and apostille services#

Short counter appointments where the document has to be right before the person arrives.

Suggested booking questions: Which document? · Which country is it for? · Do you have the original?

Bilingual virtual assistants#

A short onboarding call, then almost no meetings — which is exactly why the one call has to be easy to book.