The $500 Ladder — Japan https://500ladder.rockysoftware.ca/japan/ Every Friday, one thing $500 of starting capital, held in yen, can actually become in Japan, checked against its own statutes, regulators and prices, with the arithmetic to $5,000 a month shown. en 720 Japan caps one support officer at 49 foreign workers while authorising 805,700 of them. https://500ladder.rockysoftware.ca/japan/editions/2026-10-16 500-ladder-japan-003-2026-10-16 Fri, 16 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Japan rations the support of 特定技能1号 workers by headcount from 1 April 2027 — 「50人未満」 and 「10機関未満」 per 支援責任者等 — inside a channel the 2024 Act made the only lawful destination for outsourced support, while authorising 805,700 workers against 432,016 present; one officer’s legal maximum book of 49 workers is worth ¥790,958 a month at ¥16,142 each, and entry costs ¥28,400. Japan’s lowest supplier grade now covers the exact band where competitive tendering was abolished. https://500ladder.rockysoftware.ca/japan/editions/2026-10-09 500-ladder-japan-002-2026-10-09 Fri, 09 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Japan raised the 予決令第99条 no-tender ceilings on 1 April 2025, the first revision since 1974 — doubling the services band to ¥2,000,000 and, on the finance ministry's own simulation, putting 86.9% of national contracts by count outside competitive tendering, in a band exactly co-extensive with the D grade a supplier with no revenue is assigned. Japan’s invoice cliff landed at 70% yesterday, not the legislated 50%. https://500ladder.rockysoftware.ca/japan/editions/2026-10-02 500-ladder-japan-001-2026-10-02 Fri, 02 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Japan's invoice deduction cliff landed at 70% on 1 October 2026, not the 50% the 2016 statute legislated — cutting the penalty for staying unregistered from ¥3.24 to ¥1.20 per ¥100 of pre-tax price (a 62.8% cut) — and a new 3割特例 hands individual proprietors, but not companies, a 70% deemed-purchase rate for 2027–28.