Articles
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Aug 31 2021
The Impact of Covid-19 On Japanese Social Media (Short and Long Term)
During a time of increased social distancing and greater concern for public health and safety, it’s no surprise that many people turned to social media as the Covid-19 pandemic was first felt in Japan. For some, forced to isolate or spend less time with friends, it was a lifeline that allowed them to connect with others during a stressful and trying period. And for others, it was a way to distract themselves from everything going on in the world. Yet, perhaps the major driver here was the need to access information quickly on how the virus was spreading and measures taken by the Japanese government to prevent it. In this post, we explore some of the effects this unique moment has had on social media usage in Japan and some important takeaways for brands building or adapting their organic and paid social strategies today. Need Social Media Advice for Japan? Let Us Know The Changing Role of Japanese Social Media W
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Aug 31 2021
How to Find the Right Translation Services in Tokyo
There are hundreds of different reasons you might want to translate content into Japanese. And there are also plenty of ways you can go about doing this. The simplest but least effective option is putting your content into Google Translate. As well as stumbling when it comes to words that just don’t have an obvious counterpart in another language, this method fails to incorporate important contextual factors (which is extremely important in Japan’s high context culture). Humans, in some capacity, are the best route to translating your text so that it makes sense in Japanese and also has the intended impact. However, it can be incredibly hard to find the right individual or agency to work with if you’re completely new to the country. For inbound businesses starting their Japanese journey in the capital, we offer some advice on how you can find the right Japanese translation service in Tokyo. Entering the Japanese Market? We Can Help!
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Aug 31 2021
Top Ecommerce Websites in Japan - Popular B2C & C2C Marketplaces
While B2B ecommerce platforms like Rakuten, Amazon and Yahoo! Shopping are incredibly popular in Japan, there’s a lot more to the country’s online shopping scene than just these players. In addition to sales made through the websites of brands and electronic stores like Bic Camera, there’s a growing love for both auction sites and C2C marketplaces like Mercari where customers can sell their secondhand (and sometimes completely unused) items to one another. So, to build on content we’ve previously published focusing on the giants of ecommerce in Japan, we’ll explore the role these other types of ecommerce websites now play in Japan and whether brands should be making use of them in their ecommerce strategies. Building a Japanese E Commerce Strategy? We Can Help! Leading Types of Ecommerce Websites in Japan As well as online shopping malls that allow thousands of different brands and merchants to sell their goods
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Jul 31 2021
10 Mistakes to Avoid When Using SEO Marketing in Japan
The good news for foreign brands and marketers trying to break into Japan is that you don’t need to learn how to use an entirely new search engine. Google and Yahoo! Japan are the two most popular platforms and together they serve around 95% of the population. Also, because Yahoo uses the same algorithm as Google for reviewing and indexing pages in search results, you can keep using industry best practices from your home market when it comes to SEO marketing in Japan. Having said this, we find that many companies use this as an excuse to simply use exactly the same SEO strategy as they do back home without making necessary adjustments for the local market. As well as a few other mistakes, we’ll outline how this lack of localization is one of the biggest errors you can make when trying to rank on Google and drive good volumes of relevant traffic to your site. Need Some Japanese SEO Support? Contact Us! Using Google
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Jul 31 2021
An Ecommerce Businesses’ Guide to Japanese Search Engine Optimization
SEO is a critical step in getting more traffic and sales through your website. Most business owners and marketers are well aware of this and spend a good amount of time creating online SEO blogs, performing on-site optimizations, and employing various strategies to get backlinks. Running an ecommerce business also requires you to do all these things, but we’d say there’s another layer of context that must be worked into your process to achieve the best results. This is especially the case when you’re selling a completely new market like Japan. In this post, we outline how you can best perform Japanese search engine optimization so that you have the best chance of converting visitors into customers. Want to Learn About Japanese Ecommerce? Get In Touch! How Can Japanese Search Engine Optimization Help Your Ecommerce Business? Beyond simply getting more people to your site, rolling out a comprehensive Japanese search
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Jul 31 2021
A Check-List for Your Next List of Target Japanese Keywords
Your keyword list isn’t the only important part of your Japanese SEO strategy, but it’s a pretty major piece of the puzzle. If you’re trying to establish a strong online presence in a competitive market, as well as achieve good sales volumes (if you’re an ecommerce business), then tweaking your keywords so they’re not just translated from English, but are 100% localized and optimized for your new customer base is crucial. Whether you’re building an entirely new keyword list from scratch for Japan, or adapting your existing bank of targeted keywords and phrases, this is a checklist for making sure it includes all the right elements. If you’d rather first read the basics about how we approach SEO and keyword research in Japan, check out one of these blogs: Our Keyword Research for SEO in Japanese SEO vs PPC - What’s More Important in the Japanese Market Quick Tips for Japanese SEO Need Help Building a Japanese SEO Strategy?
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Jul 20 2021
How To Start A Business In Japan: A Step-By-Step Guide
Japan is an ever-growing market, and it's a hugely popular choice for foreign individuals and businesses who want to take the challenge of opening or expanding their business abroad. We have talked in our blog about entering the Japanese market , but in this article, we will be diving deep into the technicality of registering and establishing your own company in Japan. While Japan may not be among the top countries in Foreign Direct Investments (FDI), reaching only $14.5 billion of investment in 2019 (compared to, for example, Germany’s foreign investments in 2020 of $74 billion according to UNCTAD 2020 Report), Japan’s government is actively seeking ways to make it easier and smoother for foreign investors and entrepreneurs to start their business. There are a lot of initiatives that took place over the past 4 years that prove that Japan is trying to establish better FDI. For instance, the Ministry of Economy alongside METI are now implementing various measures to promote th
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Jul 01 2021
How to Get Good Brand Publicity in Japan
While the focus on traditional PR has been declining for a number of years in Japan, with the gaining appeal of digital marketing options and their ability to deliver more measurable results, there’s still no denying that getting good brand publicity (both traditionally or digitally) is an important goal for many brands operating here. To win earned media in the form of press mentions or coverage on various online publishers, you’ll need to plan a holistic content strategy that entices Japanese media influencers to pay attention to you. This should ideally include a combination of integrated activities like blogging, search engine marketing, social media marketing, influencer marketing, and content marketing — all working together. In this post, we explore a few tips international brands can use to build one of these strategies and get good publicity in Japan. Building a Japanese Marketing Strategy? We Can Help!
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Jul 01 2021
10 Best Tips for Using Social Media Advertising in Japan
If you already follow our blog, you’ll know we’ve covered various aspects of the Japanese social media landscape in our other posts, with topics ranging from a general overview of Japanese SNS channels to advice on using specific channels like Facebook or TikTok. In this article, we’ll simply be looking at a few of our favourite tips and tricks inbound brands can start integrating into their social media strategies for Japan. However, if you still think you need to cover some of the basics first, you might be better off taking a look at one of our guides below: Digital Marketing in Japan – A Crash Course for Inbound Businesses Japan’s Top Social Media Networks for 2021 Getting into Ecommerce in Japan? Here’s Everything You Need to Know Building a Japanese Social Strategy? Let Us Help You! 1. Build a Marketing Calendar Localized for Japan You may already be well versed in the process of creating a
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Jun 09 2021
Advertising in Tokyo? A Checklist for Japan’s Fastest Moving Consumer Market
Tokyo is the usual destination of choice for international businesses testing their products in the APAC region. Reasons for this include the huge consumer market to be found here (with a strong appetite for foreign brands), high levels of disposable income, and a willingness to pay more for high-quality luxury goods. The challenges, however, range from incredibly high customer expectations to the sheer speed that trends and fashion evolves, making it difficult for outsiders to keep up with trends in a location that often sets the pace for other South Asian nations, like Korea, Taiwan, China, and Singapore. We’ve talked a lot about adapting your advertising marketing strategies for Japan, but here’s some advice for how to take on Tokyo in particular. Building a Japanese Entry Strategy? We Can Help! What’s Unique About Tokyo? Assuming you know something about why Japan is a unique market to enter, below are a few re
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