How to open a restaurant in Japan

I am living in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka and I would like to open a restaurant but I am not sure of the procedure. I have a dependent visa and my wife is an English instructor.

I hosted a dinner and the Japanese guess thinks we should open a small restaurant because they love our food.

Any information will be good.
Amount for rent ect.

You can't work full-time on a dependent visa, and managing a restaurant is certainly a full-time work.

omg can my wife open it?

Do you have any experience operating a restaurant? It takes a lot more than just the ability to cook good food.

Your wife already has a full time job, and if she is an English instructor, her visa is probably very specific on the type of work she can do, of which restaurant work is not included.

Plus take it from someone with experience, opening a new business is NOT easy. It takes a lot of funds up front, knowledge of Japanese taxes and legalities, applications for licenses, business registration, etc. etc. Unless you have a VERY high level of Japanese (N1, business Japanese test, etc) I really doubt it'd work out.

If you're really interested in opening a restaurant, start looking for investors who can help support you, especially in the beginning stages. If your Japanese friends really are serious about you opening a restaurant and not just saying that to be nice, then see if they'll help you. If you have a sponsor/guarantor willing to take responsibility for the restaurant, it is possible to switch your visa to one that could allow you to work. Or, since you wouldn't be running the restaurant alone, teach others to cook as you do and keep to part-time. I'd also recommend hiring a lawyer to handle legalities, apply for contracts/licenses, etc. and an accountant to handle taxes.

See first if your town has any restaurant in your country's cuisine, and maybe do part-time work there? That will give you an idea of working in a professional kitchen... and if you are still interested, yes, try what scarreddragon suggested. Opening a restaurant is really more complicated than you might imagine.

Actually there are several ways that either of you could open a restaurant and run it. It would likely require a change in resident status, but compared to the difficulty required to get the business going (namely start up funds and/or investors), changing your resident status may end up being a relatively minor issue.