Marketing
Why the Western B2B playbook fails in Japan and what replaces it: the ringi buying process, the whitepaper lead engine, review platforms (ITreview, BOXIL), exhibitions and trade media — plus the channels to skip and a realistic first-year sequence.
Translation
The four ways to translate a website into Japanese — machine translation, professional translation, transcreation and translation platforms — honestly compared, with a page-tiering method, realistic per-character costs, and the step-by-step process to a credible Japanese site.
Japanese SEO
How to research the keywords Japanese buyers actually type: why translation fails, the intent modifiers that decode Japanese SERPs, where to mine real queries (suggest, Rakko Keyword, competitor extraction), reading thin volume data, and a workflow that needs only a half-day of native review.
Advertising
Japan's paid advertising map after the April 2026 LY Ads merger: how Google Ads, LY Ads (unified Yahoo! JAPAN + LINE inventory) and social platforms divide the market, what Japanese ad creative requires, realistic costs, and a testing sequence for foreign entrants.
Social Media
What LINE is as a marketing channel, how LINE Official Accounts and LINE Ads work with published pricing, what they're good for, how to set them up from abroad, and how LINE compares to email and Meta for retention in Japan.
Payments
How payouts really work for foreign sellers in Japan: Amazon Japan's 14-day cycle and Currency Converter fee, Rakuten settlement, why a Japanese bank account usually needs an entity, what multi-currency providers can and can't do with yen, and consumption tax basics.
Website Localization
How to actually ship a Japanese website: URL structure and hreflang per Google's guidance, the pages a Japanese site legally and culturally needs, Japanese web-font performance, forms and checkout localization, and a pre-launch QA checklist.
Ecommerce
The pillar guide to ecommerce in Japan: market size and structure (METI 2024), Amazon Japan vs Rakuten vs Yahoo! Shopping vs owned stores, payments (konbini, PayPay), logistics and service standards, rules for selling from abroad (ACP), and a phased entry plan.
Ecommerce
Amazon Japan vs Rakuten Ichiba for foreign sellers: fee structures as published, how to get on each from abroad (ACP/IOR for Amazon, Rakuten's 13-country no-entity program), where each wins, and the sequence most brands should follow.
Ecommerce
Shopify (your own store) vs Rakuten Ichiba (Japan's largest marketplace): what each is, published fees, the 2025 change letting sellers from 13 countries join Rakuten without a Japanese entity, payments for foreign Shopify merchants, and the sequence that works.