"Japan should extend foreigners' residency to 8 years"

   As part of new economic policy recommendations, top advisers to the government will propose lengthening the residency period for qualified foreigners to a maximum of eight years to help attract talent to the country.
September 10, 2015  NIKKEI Asian Review
Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act Revised as of April 1, 2015
The site below provides a brief overview of its revisions (in Japanese)
:http://www.moj.go.jp/nyuukokukanri/kouhou/
nyuukokukanri05_00007.html

●(1) A mandatory clause - a domestic corporations’representatives - at least one of them required to reside in Japan for incorporation purposes is deleted.   
http://www.moj.go.jp/MINJI/minji06_00086.
html

●(2) Japan to launch training for foreign plant managers    Easing visa rules    March 10, 2015  NIKKEI Shimbun
http://asia.nikkei.com/Politics-Economy/
Policy-Politics/Japan-to-launch-training-
for-foreign-plant-managers

●(3) Kanagawa prefecture is designated as one of the special economic zones to promote  deregulations
You can keep track of the status of the work proceeded up to the present as the Justice Ministry invited public comments (in Japanese, though) for the duration of one month (October 20 through November 11, 2014)to review ongoing act for a new visa status “ke-i-e-i/ka-n-ri”or business management/operation management and the one existing “to-o-shi/ke-i-e-i” or investor/business manager.(as of January, 2015)
Please see the sites below:
1. http://www8.cao.go.jp/kisei-kaikaku/kaigi/meeting/2013/wg3/toushi/
141201/item1-3.pdf#search='投資管理++
在留資格'
2. http://www.moj.go.jp/nyuukokukanri/kouhou/
nyuukokukanri07_00052.html

●(4) Kanagawa prefecture with its prefectural city  Yokohama, is designated as one of special economic zones to promote  deregulations.  WLCI is set  ready to help you break through the tough bedrock of regulations.  Please note Kanagawa is one of the most ideal places to establish your branch offices in Japan. 
1.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/03/29/
business/
six-special-strategic-deregulation-zones-named-by-panel/#.VMm3Ie_9lD8
2.
http://asia.nikkei.com/Japan-Update/Corporate-farms-among-new-ideas-for-Japanese-economic-zones

Tips:
Kanagawa prefecture and the central government (the Cabinet Office)  set to ease visa rules for foreign professional housekeepers in special economic zones  such as Kanagawa prefecture.
(March 29, 2016Nihon Keizai Shimbun)

●＊Licensed to practice immigration and naturalization services and administrative procedures on behalf of clients in English and in Japanese (Applying for Certificate of Eligibility, Change of Status, Extensions, Re-entry Permits, Naturalization, Cross-Border Transfers, Company Formations, among others)

●＊Please note that the staff member of an affiliate of a parent company can not apply for a certificate of eligibility or act as a proxy for a non-Japanese applicant working for that parent company. This is because any person acting as a proxy must be a staff member of the parent company that is directly employing the applicant. A licensed immigration lawyer can represent a non-Japanese applicant on behalf of a parent company or affiliate company.
He can therefore contribute to your company's cost performance.

●＊Also please note a licensed immigration lawyer is bound to adhere to client confidentiality.

●＊Our representative, throughout his 30-year-long career in cross-cultural work environments, can help you out in many ways.
He has been entrusted to help local governments' community sections with solutions to problems, advice on new commercial codes and for foreign language institutes when it comes to employing non-Japanese teachers.

●[Some Examples of Achievements]
＊Attending to visa inquiries and consultation services for the non-Japanese over the phone, Kanagawa Gyoseishoshi Lawyers Association, Yokohama, as one the certified specialists

＊Certified translation in English to verify the
accuracy of the translation with the text of the
original Republic of Moldova documents

＊Assisted non-Japanese (Ireland ) applying for Japanese Culture Studies and filing applications for the clients

＊Notarized Divorce/Separation Agreements to spouses seeking a dissolution of marriage

＊Drafted business agreement between major Japanese rice wine producer and exporter, and its counterparts in Singapore and the U.S.A.

＊Helped senior citizens (Japanese) to apply for non-immigrant visa O-A: for applicants aged 50 years or above wishing to go to Thailand for "Long Stay" visa

＊Assisted a long-established company manufacturing experimental apparatus for physics and chemistry to recruit non-Japanese specialists 

＊Supported a leading company, engaged in  trading and sales of materials and products which include building materials, agriculture and horticultural materials, to recruit Chinese and Korean expertise, among others.

＊Supported remaining Japanese families who'd lost their spouses (non-Japanese) to resolve their inheritance problems overseas, primarily in the U.S.A.

＊Drafted business agreement between leading mobile-media companies in Italy and Japan to offer services for cellular phone internet site on their respective cellular phone internet sites.

＊Assisted English translation for Japanese Cultural Seminar -"The Art of Laughing" - through the Eyes of Kyogen sponsored by Komazawa University

＊A part-time lecturer at Yamawaki Gakuen Junior College and Teikyo University

＊In-house instructor entrusted by Avanti Staff to teach BOSCH and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan

＊Assisted English translation for presentation of new products of the leading IT technology industry's integration laboratories.

＊Assisted non-Japanese professionals of a highly reputed genetic analysis and related service products corporation with entry procedures.

＊Proposed better and clearly written signs for the showroom of a highly reputed electronics engineering corporation at Ginza in Tokyo.

＊Adviser to  foreign language institutes regarding employing non-Japanese English teachers and filing applications for visa for the clients.

＊Assisted family members of Japanese who passed away abroad with inheritance procedures
primarily in the U.S.

＊Assisted many non-Japanese with cross-border transfers with administrative procedures.

＊Attending to non-Japanese citizens with pension and overseas medical treatment reimbursement

＊Application of J 1 U.S. internship visa for Japanese college students and its follow-up support till they come back to Japan

＊Assisted Japanese commercial vendors and business service suppliers seeking markets for their products and services search and monitor business opportunities at foreign governments stationed in Japan by registering on-line.