Insights

Strategy.

Entry decisions for Japan — what to do first, in what order, and the mistakes that cost foreign companies the most.

2 articles

Leaf shadows on a paper wall beside the words Same Words, Different Worlds.

Translation is not localization: the mistake that melts ad budgets

The most common entry pattern — machine-translate the existing site to /ja and start advertising — fails for reasons that have nothing to do with grammar. Why, and what to do instead.

Mar 30, 2026 · 6 min read

Three different failures. One root cause: skipping a step.Strategy

Three ways foreign companies fail in Japan — and the one root cause

Machine-translated sites, the lone Japanese hire, and the full handover to a local agency. Different symptoms, one disease: skipping a step. A field guide to avoiding it.

Dec 15, 2025 · 7 min read