IM in Japan

I am different.

I live in Singapore

Doing IM for Singapore Market

And I am a Singaporean.

you're in Japan? IM in India!

Just kidding, Market doesn't decide people, peoples decide the market!

Hey I'm in California, amazing!!!

I was in Tokyo briefly in January, get green tea kit kats. You're welcome

I am not doing business in Japan but I am interested to do internet marketing in Japan.

Japan has the third largest economy in the world, I imagine you are killing it out there

Older people, very resistant. Don't trust the Internet, don't really understand it, for the most part. Younger people, somewhat resistant, but getting used to the idea of buying stuff online. It's like the US ~15 years ago. Still a very young market, so young that it's hard to really call it a market yet. It's only in the last year or so that I've found people who have Paypal accounts, for example. Amazon is starting to gain traction, though. In another few years Japan will be like anywhere else. Which is why I'm trying to get in on the ground floor, so to speak.

Could be. I have no experience with China. But I know that Korea is wired to the max, and that they do a lot of ecommerce there. Only a matter of time before Japan catches up, though.

Seems interesting to do IM in Japan. =)

I see a few Warriors did the joke - the first thing I thought about was I'M in England

Anyway, I think Kevin Riley is based in Japan.

ご多幸を祈る

Will

I have some amazing traffic form Japan i just couldnt find a product to monetise. if anyone is interested in a small JV PM me,

I'm in Taiwan and I don't know Chinese. I think the market is quite similar to Japan. Does it really matter where you live when it comes to IM?

Gasp! You're trying to steal my market! Just kidding...

Actually, I've been considering offering a translation service on the Warrior Forum since I'm a member of the polyglot community (although I don't speak nearly as many languages as some of those guys), and I may offer Japanese as one of the languages I offer. It depends on how many people actually want to try and break into that market.

I agree that there's a lot of potential to be found in Japan, but it's a huge pain. For anyone who's considering it, I'll start a list of the things you should know about before you try. Feel free to disagree or add to it if you'd like.

Also, I'm not trying to paint everyone with a broad brush here, nor portray them in a negative light. The Japanese people are some of the friendliest people on this planet, but every culture has its pitfalls, and these are the ones that stand out to me from a marketing perspective.

1. Insular Community: This is one of the big ones. Japanese people, by and large, tend to avoid dealing with foreigners. They have a huge them-and-us mentality. You know how so many Americans (including me) are wary about buying anything from China? Japan is a lot like that, except it extends to virtually every country. It also doesn't help that they can spot a foreigner a mile away, even if your Japanese is perfect.

2. Online Shopping Hasn't Caught On: Obviously, some of them do. I found an entire website (in Japanese) for affiliate marketers, so obviously there are native Japanese people who are into online marketing in some form. However, the items people in Japan buy on the Internet is different from Americans, or westerners in general. The Internet in Japan is about where it was in America while I was in high school.

3. SEO is a PAIN!: Obviously, the competition isn't fierce, and my general belief is that as long as you provide good content and not rehashed junk that just screams, "This niche ISN'T my passion!" then the customers will come to you naturally. However, for people who live for writing articles, forum posting, and all that good stuff, Japan will be hard on you. Article directories aimed at the Japanese are few and far between, and unless you live in Japan, posting on their forums will be impossible. They just don't care much for foreigners, so in order to post on, say 2chan, you need a Japanese IP address. There's a lot of other ways to SEO and market, but this is going to be a pitfall to some.

4. Japanese people hate hype and pushiness: The Japanese culture is a very humble one. Anyone who has studied the language at all knows that. They aren't very direct most of the time, and they seldom hype anything up. I get bombarded with Japanese ads all the time, and the novel thing about them is that they very seldom draw people in the way a lot of English ads do. They really on selling their products based on practicality, fun, cuteness, and all that stuff, and they don't usually hype it up.

They just hate being sold to, and they hate the idea that people are pushing things on them. You may think to yourself, "The money is in the list!" In Japan, it just isn't. From what I've been able to gather by talking to my Japanese friends, if they're on a newsletter and it tries to sell them something, they unsubscribe. For this same reason, I doubt the traditional sales funnel, what with all the upsells and downsells, will go over well with them, either.

Well, these are the four things that I've found to be the most obtrusive. Feel free to disagree or share your own experiences. There's a ton of potential here if you do it right, but getting it right without offending your audience is a tough one.

I did a lot of business with Japan back when the US Buck was at an all time high and the power of the global economy, we all recall them day's. We use to ship high end vehicles to Japan, so most the Black SUV's you see there might of come from me. The Yukon's, Tahoe's, Navigators and Durango's just name a few of them and yes the Suburban's and Escalates.

Japan l fell in love with, just that fast pace, and it just never stopped.... just hate their prices....