"TIMEWELL BASE" Articles (6)

Running Paid Training for an Association Without Spreadsheets and Bank-Transfer Matching

For the secretariat of a Japanese professional association, industry body or society chapter that runs paid training many times a year. How to take registration and payment in one step so there is nothing left to reconcile, plus member and non-member pricing, cancellations and refunds, attendance records, a certificate of attendance template, a yearly operations checklist, and a take-home comparison for 3,000 yen x 50 people x 12 sessions.

2026-09-28Ryuta Hamamoto

BASE

Collecting Fees for a Paid Seminar in Japan: Start From the Receipt, Not the Rate

Bank transfer, card, cash at the door or invoice-and-pay-later: which is the right way to collect a 3,000 yen fee for a seminar, training session or study group in Japan? If most attendees are expensing it, the first decision is not the fee rate but whose name goes on the receipt and whether it qualifies under Japan's Qualified Invoice System. This piece walks through how Japan's National Tax Agency treats seminar fees, compares what the organiser actually keeps for 30 and 100 attendees, and ends with a pre-event checklist.

2026-09-28Ryuta Hamamoto

BASE

Stop Fronting the Money: Fixing Fee Collection for Class Reunions

What exhausts the person organising a class reunion is not the evening itself. It is the money. A bank transfer on a 3,000 yen fee costs 5.1% — more than a card payment — the reconciliation and chasing all land on the organiser, and the venue deposit comes out of their own account. Taking payment up front removes all three at once. Here is the sequence, and how to leave the member list behind for whoever organises next.

2026-09-20Ryuta Hamamoto

BASE

Communities That Survive a Staff Rotation

Communities run by public bodies and support facilities do not fade out for lack of enthusiasm. They fade out because the member list lives in one person's spreadsheet, events are one-offs, and staff rotate every two or three years. Using the Kanagawa startup hub SHIN-MINATOMIRAI as an example, here is how to design one that survives the handover — and what to watch when you charge for attendance.

2026-09-20Ryuta Hamamoto

BASE

Where Event Fees Actually Go: Taking a 5,000 Yen Ticket Apart

When a 5,000 yen ticket sells, 240 yen comes off the organiser's take. Most of it does not stay with the platform. Japan's Cabinet-approved growth strategy puts roughly 70% of a merchant discount rate into interchange — the fee that goes to whoever issued the buyer's card. Here is the full breakdown of event payment economics in Japan, using only primary sources.

2026-09-20Ryuta Hamamoto

Challengers

EMC GLOBAL SUMMIT 2026 Special Report: 'Don't Be the Last Samurai!' — Ikuo Hiraishi and a Dialogue with Asia-Pacific Entrepreneurs

EMC GLOBAL SUMMIT 2026 Special Report: 'Don't Be the Last Samurai!' — Ikuo Hiraishi and a Dialogue with Asia-Pacific Entrepreneurs.

2026-02-13Ryuta Hamamoto