Three ways to work together.
One fixed price to start with, and two ways to keep going. All of it runs in writing, with no calls required at any point.
Localization projects for Japan are commonly quoted at ¥2–8M, and market-entry strategy at ¥3–10M. The diagnosis is USD 600. Its job is to tell you which of those you actually need, and in what order.
The diagnosis
I go through your product, site, or pitch and read it as a Japanese user would. You get a written report:
- Where the experience reads as untrustworthy, confusing, or built for someone else
- How Japan sees you when it looks you up
- What to change, in priority order
Includes a week of written Q&A after delivery. If you move on to the full edit within 60 days, the USD 600 counts toward it. Not included: new copy, implementation, translation.
The full edit
The main work. Positioning for Japan, what leads, how pages and onboarding get rebuilt, and the words themselves where needed. Where the work calls for it, this extends to how you're found: Japanese search visibility, terminology, UI language.
The retainer
After the edit, Japan keeps moving. New pages, features, and campaigns, read and edited before they ship, plus ongoing work on how Japan finds you. Cancel with a month's notice.
- What I saw
- Nothing on the Japanese site says the company is in Japan. No entity, no address, no one who answers in Japanese.
- Why it matters here
- It is one of the last things a Japanese buyer checks before putting you on a shortlist, and it is not a question they will ask you first. They just stop.
- What to change
- Say the entity, where it is, and who answers in Japanese, on the page where the decision gets made. Smallest item on the list, and the first one to do.
Taken from the first worked sample below. A report is built out of findings in this shape, ordered by what to do first.
One finding, free.
Send me the address of your Japanese page. Within two business days you get one finding back, in the same shape the paid report uses: what I saw, why it matters to a Japanese reader, and what I would change. In writing, and there is nothing to sit through.
- One page, one finding. The paid diagnosis is ten of them, ordered by what to do first.
- Three a week. That is all I can read properly, so there may be a short wait.
- You need a Japanese page. If there isn't one yet, write anyway and say so.
Do we need to get on a call?
No. Everything runs in writing. If your team prefers a call at some point, that can be arranged, but it's never required.
How is this different from a localization agency?
An agency converts what you've already decided to say. I work one step earlier, on the decisions themselves. What leads. What changes. What gets cut entirely. Where new Japanese text is needed, I write and edit it, but what you're buying is the deciding.
Do you do SEO?
Yes, in its place. Findability comes last in the order, after the product and its presentation are edited. Making an unedited product easier to find only loses more users, faster.
What do you need from us?
Access to whatever you want read. A site, a deck, a product, an onboarding flow. Plus a short written brief on your goals for Japan.
Do you translate?
Translation isn't the service. Where new Japanese text is needed, I write and edit it as part of the work, but the value is in deciding what should change, not in converting words.
Who is this for?
Teams bringing a product or service into Japan, before launch or after a launch that isn't landing.
Not sure which one you need?
Write two or three sentences about your product and where you are with Japan. I will tell you which of the three fits, in writing.