At minimum, you should have decided on a brand name to use, have an understanding of what you and your product or service is about, and have an idea of what you are trying to accomplish.

Japan and its consumers can be quite different from what you’re used to, so being accepting of this is a plus.

Yes. While my service areas are decided and near-universal best practices do exist, each business will have different needs depending on variables such as what they do, what goals they’re aiming for, what budget they have, etc.

Basically, I’m able to work with any legal entity with an English-speaking point-of-contact. I’ve worked with clients based in locations such as Hawaii, California, Texas, Hong Kong, Singapore, France, Taiwan, Japan and more.

I mainly work with native-level Japanese specialists in order to best align with the reality of the typical Japanese customer. These specialized team members are skilled in their particular areas of work and aren’t tasked with something simply because they are Japanese and speak the language. This is to get the best possible outcome for the client.

My company, TAMKO X, is part of the TAM Group, a Japanese digital agency collective that’s based in Japan and has over 30 years of experience in the market.

This depends on what your product or service is, how usable your existing assets are for the Japanese market, and what goals and budget you have. It is worth noting that Japan is known to be a tough market to find success in, even for popular international brands, so being able to maintain a reasonable pace, as well as being flexible and willing to pivot is ideal.

Being that everything is custom and your needs aren’t exactly the same as the next person’s, costs can vary quite a bit. It will largely depend on what’s being done (ie: You’re just running one ad campaign for 3 weeks versus opening a shop and doing ongoing social media and influencer operations, etc.).

That being said, regarding ongoing Japanese marketing services specifically, there isn’t much meaningful work that can be done for less than $500 a month.

In addition to the cost for me to provide services, there are a few other potential things you may want to consider when thinking about your overall budget. These may include:

・Website domain purchase

・Website hosting / subscription fees

・Design and asset licenses as needed (custom fonts, images, icons, etc.)

・Media budget to run ads

・3rd party apps or software to help with management or optimization

For ongoing services, the full amount is due before service takes place. For one-time projects such as website creation, the first 50% of your project fee is invoiced at the start of work (non-refundable), and the last 50% at completion. If needed, adjustments to the payment schedule can be made.

Accepted payment methods include:

・Credit cards

・Debit cards

・ACH bank transfers

・Wire transfers

* Credit card payments will incur a 3% service fee