Starting a Website in Japan

[ejapan office]

So you want to set up a website in Japan? And why not. There are
millions of people from many western countries living in Japan who may
want to use you site, and millions more Japanese. Maybe you are an ex-
pat already living in Japan, or possibly you want to expand your
services to the Japanese market. But before you get started there are
several things for you to consider.

Choose a local web hosting service.
If you are serious about having a website in Japan, choose a web
hosting company in Japan. They will understand your needs much better
than a foreign owned service. A Japanese based company may cost a
little more, but it will be worth it. Avoid super cheap web hosting
companies as they may have poor international connections that may
slow down your site. Additionally, by choosing a Japanese web hosting
company, you can be billed in Japanese Yen. With fluctuations between
the Dollar and the Yen on a daily basis, you do not want to be in for
a nasty surprise when your credit card statement comes.

Ensure you can have support in English.
Getting your website up and running might take a little time and you
will probably need some support from your web host. Ensure your web
host can give you support in English, preferably 24 hrs a day, 7 days
a week. Also, check to see if this support is included in your hosting
plan, or if it will cost you extra.

Buy a Japanese domain name.
A Japanese domain name is needed if you want to build trust with
Japanese customers. A .jp, jpn.com or .co.jp domain name registration
is easily obtained but you may be asked to provide proof of address in
Japan. A .co.jp domain name is much more complicated. You will need to
provide a copy of you official company registration in Japan and you
can only have one .co.jp domain per company. Also consider that a
Japanese domain name will cost you considerably more than a more
common domain.

Translate your pages into Japanese.
If your website is going to target Japanese customers, have you
website professionally translated. Do not use online translation
tools, as the results will be near incomprehensible to your Japanese
audience. If your pages are not in Japanese, your website will turn
off any potential Japanese viewers.

Make sure you are going to be able to do business with Japanese
customers in Japanese.
You should also consider how you are going to communicate with your
Japanese customers. A large number of Japanese people have very good
English skills, however; many feel not confident with their English
skills. If they have to use English to communicate, they will simply
move on to another web site or company.

Have your pages designed for the Japanese market.
Take a look at Japanese web pages and you will be surprised how
different they can be from English language sites. Templates that you
can buy online will, I’m afraid, simply not appeal. Find a web
designer in Japan who can design your site for the Japanese market.
Apart from understanding your customers better, they will also
understand how to make sure your web pages are viewable with Japanese
characters.

Buy a SSL certificate.
Japanese people are extremely nervous online buyers. Make sure you
have a valid SSL whenever you user any contact forms or ecommerce
pages on your site. You should also note, that Japanese users avoid
PayPal so you may need to find another method to process payments if
you want to be successful.

http://www.jpstream.net
http://www.asiance.net

[ejapan office]

There are plenty of web hosting providers but hunting a cheap web
hosting company that offer standard service becomes a challenge.

Please read more about Web Hosting in Japan here
http://www.jpstream.net/articles//articles/81/1/Web-Hosting-in-Japan/Page1.html