Insights from operating Japan day-to-day.
Operating notes from running Rakuten Ichiba, Yahoo! Shopping and Amazon Japan storefronts for global brands. Written by the team logging in.
Coming soon
- Rakuten vs Yahoo! Shopping: which marketplace first?
- What Rakuten RPP actually costs foreign brands.
- Super-sale operations: the day-of playbook.
- Customer service in Japan: the non-negotiables.
- Localization beyond translation — PDP copy that converts.
- Amazon Japan vs Rakuten: the buyer-overlap data.
- Setting up a Japanese payment stack as a foreign brand.
- Inventory and 3PL options for Japan-bound D2C brands.
- Import duties and JCT tax — the 2026 rules.
- Case-study anatomy: 12× revenue on Rakuten.
- Metrics glossary — Rakuten / Yahoo / Amazon Japan.