Website design for businesses selling in Japan

Why a translated Western template feels wrong in Japan

A site designed in English and translated into Japanese tends to break in small ways. Headings wrap awkwardly, buttons fit English words but not Japanese phrases, and the page lacks the details Japanese buyers look for before they trust a company. Design for Japan begins with Japanese text, not with a layout that Japanese text is later poured into.

Visitors from Japan often expect more information on one page than a minimal Western site offers: service lists, flow-of-work explanations, price notes, access maps and a clear company profile. Dense does not have to mean cluttered. Good Japanese layouts use spacing and headings to make a long page easy to scan.

What we design and build

We usually build on WordPress, Webflow or Next.js for content sites, and on Shopify when the site sells products.

Fonts and speed

Japanese fonts contain thousands of glyphs, so full font files are heavy. A page that loads a full file for each weight can feel slow on mobile data. We subset fonts, limit weights, set sensible fallbacks and measure with the Core Web Vitals checker before launch. Speed matters because Google is the main entry point in Japan, and Yahoo! JAPAN search uses Google's results too.

Legal and privacy pages to plan for

The Act on the Protection of Personal Information (APPI), overseen by the Personal Information Protection Commission, shapes the privacy policy and the wording near forms. If the site takes orders, the Act on Specified Commercial Transactions requires a disclosure page. Consumer prices are normally shown with consumption tax included. We design the pages and place the links in the footer. You confirm the wording with your lawyer.

We also build to WCAG 2.2 AA as a working target. Japan has its own accessibility standard, JIS X 8341-3, which your accessibility owner can map to the same checks.

How a design project runs from India

1. Brief callA call booked in Japanese afternoon hours. Japan is 3.5 hours ahead of India, so 10:30 in Pune is 14:00 in Tokyo.
2. Wireframes with real Japanese textWe ask for draft copy early, or placeholder lines checked by a native speaker.
3. Design and buildWeekly demos on a staging link, one project lead, written feedback rounds.
4. LaunchHandover of domain, hosting and files in your name. We avoid launches during Golden Week and the year-end break.

Mobile layouts, forms and the thank-you step

Most Japanese visitors reach a site from a phone, so we draw the mobile layout first. Buttons are large, body text stays readable without zoom and the phone number is tappable. The enquiry form is where many sites lose people, so it gets particular care.

• Accept full-width and half-width numbers in phone and postal fields, and normalize them on the server instead of showing an error.
• Offer address lookup from the 7-digit postal code where it is worth the extra build.
• Keep required fields few. Add furigana only when your staff actually use it.
• Send a confirmation email in Japanese and show a thank-you page with the next step and expected reply time.

Email deliverability matters too. We set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC on the sending domain so confirmation messages reach Japanese inboxes, and test with several mailbox providers before launch.

Price and next step

Projects start at $1,500, and our rate is $30 an hour. A fixed quote follows a short call. Page count, custom animation, number of languages and CMS needs move the price. The website cost guide and the website cost calculator show typical drivers. Need a larger rebuild? See website redesign for Japan or ask through the contact page.