Letter from the table: Put a clock on the permit process

To the Red Tape Council

This is an English rendering of what I hear in Japanese-language conversations among small-business owners. I am not speaking for every owner in Osaka, and the account below has been stripped of names and identifying business details. The point is not that a safety inspection should be hurried. It is that people should be able to understand the steps, the expected time, and what happens when the clock stops.

One owner was preparing a small food business in Osaka. The lease began on 1 February 2025, at ¥96,000 a month. Before opening, the owner needed a food-business permit under Japan’s Food Sanitation Act. In Osaka City, the ward health and welfare center serving the premises handles food-sanitation matters, including the application and inspection. The facility must meet applicable standards; an inspection is part of confirming that it is ready. A food sanitation manager also had to be designated.

The application went in on 14 February. The first inspection took place on 21 February. The owner had arranged the work in the space against the requirements as they understood them, but the inspector identified a change needed to the handwashing arrangement. The owner did not argue that the requirement was unnecessary. They called a plumber, paid ¥22,000 for the adjustment, and asked what else needed to be completed before another inspection could be arranged.

The owner kept notes of the calls and dates. They also checked the paperwork and the information available to them, trying to distinguish what was a legal requirement from what was simply the next administrative step. The work was completed by 3 March. A second inspection took place on 6 March, and the permit was issued on 11

March. The business opened the following day, rather than on the date the owner had planned.

Eleven days may look small on a calendar. It did not feel small to someone paying rent before earning anything. The owner had to keep the space ready, stay available for the inspection, and postpone the opening. The ¥22,000 plumbing bill was a real, itemized cost; the rent continued at ¥96,000 a month. The harder cost to plan for was not knowing in advance whether the first inspection would be the last, how quickly a follow-up could be scheduled, or when the permit would be issued after the requirements were met.

This is why I support RT-001, the Small Business Impact Standard. A published service time would not guarantee that every application is approved by a particular date. It would let an owner plan around a stated period, know when the process is overdue, and see what information or action is still outstanding. A one-stop digital process could show the checklist, submitted documents, inspection status, and next step together, instead of making the owner reconstruct the process through separate calls and visits. A small-business impact test would ask whether a proposed rule or procedure creates costs that a large organization can absorb but a one-person or small-team business cannot.

I also support a deadline with a consequence when an authority does not act. For permits where the law and the level of risk allow it, silence after a clearly published deadline should not leave an application in limbo. Food safety is a good case of why the rule must be designed carefully: an automatic approval should not replace an inspection or waive a health standard. Where silence cannot legally mean consent, the deadline should still require a decision or a written explanation, identify the missing step, and give the applicant a way to escalate the delay. The standard should make the process accountable without asking officials to ignore safety.

Owners in my language community are not asking for fewer safeguards. They are asking for instructions that can be followed, one reliable place to check progress, and a time limit that means something. When an owner

has corrected the issue identified at inspection, they should not have to guess whether the next wait is two days or two weeks. Clear service times would help people budget, schedule tradespeople, and decide when it is safe to make commitments to customers.

Notes and sources

1. Red Tape Council evidence and membership figures, as of 24 May 2026. ↩