Japan, being one of the world’s top economies (in spite of its struggles), presents a lucrative and large market for foreign businesses. But to resonate with the local audience and achieve business success, just copying your domestic approach won’t work. In order to resonate with the Japanese target audience, you need to localize your offer for Japan.

Contrary to the common understanding, localization is not only about translating content. It means adapting your messaging to resonate with your local target audience, and requires understanding local circumstances such as culture, expectations, and language nuances. Not rarely, even the product itself needs to be adapted to the preferences and expectations of the local target consumer.

Proper localization for Japan improves your offer’s relevance, acceptance and thus success in the Japanese market.

To help you prepare for your business success in Japan, this ultimate checklist for Japanese localization will provide you with the most critical aspects you need to know about localizing for the Japanese market.

Know Your Target Audience and Market

Japan is known for its unique culture. In order to successfully conduct business here, it is crucial to understand Japanese consumer behavior, as well as their preferences and needs.

Study the market and your target segment’s demographics - they might differ from those in your home market. Who is your ideal target customer in Japan? What alternative offers and competitors are prevalent in the market? Are there any trends you should be alert of? 

A frequently overlooked aspect are also local circumstances such as a different climate (higher humidity and temperatures in summer), limited space at home (which might require changing the product size/format), as well as different legal standards.

These are all aspects that will impact your Japanese localization efforts and can make or break your success in Japan. Prior research is therefore crucial in order to prevent business failure.

• Know Your Target Audience and Market

  • Gather data on Japanese consumer preferences, behaviors, and needs in your target market

  • Conduct market research to know the demographics of your local target market

  • Analyze market reports and industry publications to be aware of current trends

  • Study the local competition. Understand common product/service features as well as customer needs and expectations

Speak Their Language

English proficiency among Japanese is low (even among young generations). It is therefore crucial that any communication is translated into Japanese. Since Japanese place importance on correctness and are risk averse, the translation needs to be impeccable. This not only means there cannot be any mistakes - in order to win the trust of Japanese customers, the translation should sound natural. Spelling mistakes or wording that is not common in a specific context (even if linguistically correct), can lead to suspicion and be a cause for business failure in Japan.

Don’t just translate content, but properly “transcreate”. Transcreation combines translation and creation. It describes the process of adapting content from one language to another, so that it conveys the same message. This means sentences are not just being translated, but adapted in order to maintain the original intent, tone, and context.

Especially when it comes to online content, it is important to understand that different wording is used in different situations. The way Japanese people search for information online differs from your domestic market. This is not only true regarding the search terms (just translating your keyword list won’t work for SEO in Japan) - but also regarding the writing system. Japanese use three types of characters, which can be combined as well. The same word can often be written in different ways (character combinations), with each of them having different search volumes. In order to ensure good online visibility, you will therefore need to involve a Japanese SEO expert. 

Furthermore, the language itself can impact different aspects of design: Texts in Japanese will not require the same length (space) as for example English texts. In addition, formats like dates can vary (year-month-day in Japan). It is therefore advisable to involve professional translators early in the process.

• Speak Their Language

  • Content needs to be translated into impeccable Japanese

  • Involve native professional translators 

  • Ensure content is not just translated but transcreated (is perceived as contextually natural and carries the original intend and tone)

  • Use the appropriate language style (formality) for your target audience

  • For online content, involve Japanese SEO experts

  • Confirm early in the process if designs need to be adapted (due to language based differences in necessary space)

Understand Their Culture & Preferences

In order to connect with your Japanese target audience, proper Japanese localization includes modifying marketing messages and business practices to reflect Japanese cultural norms and preferences.

This means considering local cultural references (see for example P&G’s failed marketing attempt of using the American image of storks bringing babies), as well as depicting Japanese people and locally relevant elements instead of - for example - blond people and elements that are not common in Japan. Be also aware of different meanings of colors: For example, red (luck) has a positive connotation in Japan, while black/white stands for mourning.

A part of Japanese culture is to celebrate the seasons. They play an important role in everyday life, and are a popular aspect used in marketing.

In addition, Japanese are known for being sophisticated customers. Indeed, it is important to provide high quality products as well as services in order to succeed in this market, as customers will otherwise quickly switch to alternative offerings. In a similar vein, messaging around a product’s exclusivity tends to resonate well.

As Japanese are quite risk averse, they prefer to inform themselves well before trying out a new brand. Providing detailed information in marketing materials might lead to a seemingly cluttered look from a western perspective, but resonates well with Japanese customers. One commonly mentioned example is the website of the e-commerce giant Rakuten. It might feel too busy and colorful from a western point of view - but this is what Japanese consumers prefer.

Furthermore, with Japanese people generally being group oriented, using official rankings or involving popular celebrities in your marketing can boost trust and help reduce doubts.

• Understand Their Culture & Preferences

  • Don’t use your domestic cultural elements in marketing (they might not be familiar in Japan)

  • Localize images/designs by using Japanese people and locally relevant references

  • Embrace seasonal elements (they resonate well with Japanese)

  • Leverage messaging around scarcity/exclusivity/novelty

  • Provide high quality products and services (Japanese are used to and expect great customer service)

  • Use official rankings and/or locally relevant influencers in your marketing to win trust

  • Provide detailed information in your communication (Japanese prefer to have all relevant information in order to make a purchase decision)

Analyze The Local Media Landscape

The media landscape can vary largely from country to country. It is important that you analyze the local media landscape in Japan when planning your marketing activities here.

For example, Google is the most used search engine in Japan as in many other countries. But in Japan, Yahoo also plays an important role. Apart from its search engine (which makes up around 13% in the mobile search market), Yahoo is also used as a news aggregator, a weather website, an auction site and more. Combining these services, the usage of Yahoo surpasses that of Google in Japan. This means that when running ads, it is important to not only consider Google, but also Yahoo.

Similarly, traditional media like TV, magazines, radio and newspapers that are largely losing importance in many other countries, still play a major role in Japan. These do not only have a wide reach in Japan, but are also generally more trusted than online sources.

• Analyze The Local Media Landscape

  • Make use of relevant traditional media (TV, magazines, radio and newspaper are still relevant in Japan)

  • Inform yourself about relevant online platforms (e.g. widespread use of LINE instead of WhatsApp, use of Facebook in B2B context instead of LinkedIn, importance of X)

  • Consider the importance of Yahoo for online ads

  • Know the popular ad platforms (TradeDesk, Teads, Taboola, Ogury)

Adapt Your Offering

Considering all the aspects mentioned so far, localize your product features and services to cater to the demands of Japanese customers.

If you sell food or beverages, the recipe might need to be adapted to Japan's high humidity. If you produce home appliances, different technological standards or the typically confined living space might require adjustments. And if you have an e-commerce shop or any platform involving payment, you will need to integrate the locally common payment methods in order to be relevant and practical to Japanese customers. 

• Adapt Your Offering

  • Revise your product’s features to local circumstances (different expectations and needs)

  • Be aware of locally common payment methods (e.g. JCB credit card, PayPay, Line Pay, Rakuten Pay, Merpay, convenience store payments)

  • Adjust your product design and packaging to meet local tastes and regulatory standards

  • Hire professional translation services

  • Adapt your product manuals and marketing materials (transcreation)

  • Consider culture and preferences in every aspect of marketing

  • Localize the website content and UI/UX, including CTAs and assets (Japanese websites do not follow the western-style minimalistic preferences)

  • Offer high-quality customer service in Japanese

Conclusion

Japan is a very attractive market to enter from an economic perspective. But due to the specificities of Japanese customers and local circumstances, prior in-depth research and preparation is needed in order to succeed in the Japanese market.

Because there are many crucial aspects that are easy to overlook, it is advisable to involve local business partners early on. They are familiar with Japan’s intricacies and can provide valuable market insights as well as advise on proper localization for Japan. At GlobalDeal, we are specialized in Japanese localization. Feel free to reach out to us for a free initial consultation!

As we have seen above, successful localization is a holistic strategy that impacts numerous aspects of your business's engagement with the new market, and should be prioritized in your business strategy for Japan.