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Tokyo ecommerce buildsJapanese-character SEONext.js + AstroMulti-byte safe renderingJST timezone overlap

Your Tokyo Site Converts in Shibuya But Dies in Search

If you're running a bilingual brand in Japan, you've watched Google's language-region logic tank your rankings for keywords you own in-store.

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5,000+
Sites shipped
Since 2012
GMT/PST/JST overlap
Timezone coverage
London + LA studios
<2s LCP
Core Web Vitals
Lighthouse 95+ mobile
¥1.5M–¥30M
Project range
MVP to enterprise
What Your Tokyo Web Build Actually Needs -- And Why Western Agencies Miss It

Your buyer lands on your product page from a mobile browser on the Yamanote line. The Japanese web font hasn't loaded yet -- your LCP stalls past 4 seconds. Google Japan's crawler tokenized your headline wrong because your agency treated CJK text as a translation problem, not a rendering one. Your bilingual site has duplicate content penalties because the /ja/ and /en/ paths share the same canonical tag. We don't have a Tokyo office. Our studios are in London and LA. But your morning is our LA team's afternoon -- we schedule live sessions in that overlap window and ship deliverables before your first coffee. What we bring is Next.js and Astro engineering tested against real Japanese content, not lorem ipsum with kanji dropped in. Font subsetting for Noto Sans JP. Kinsoku shori line-break rules in every component. Hreflang architecture that doesn't cannibalize your rankings. If your current agency ships broken OG images with garbled kanji or ignores how Google Japan tokenizes differently, that's the gap your business is bleeding revenue through.

Your Current Site May Be a Liability

Common gaps we find in nearly every audit.

Japanese web fonts destroy page speed without careful subsetting and preload strategies
Risk: LCP over 4s kills mobile conversion rates and organic rankings on Google Japan
Most Western agencies treat CJK text as a translation layer, not a rendering problem
Risk: Broken line breaks, misaligned layouts, and garbled OG images with multi-byte characters
Tokyo ecommerce sites need dense product information architecture that still feels fast
Risk: Bounce rates spike when shoppers trained on Rakuten and Amazon JP hit slow, sparse pages
B2B SaaS marketing sites need true bilingual builds, not toggled content swaps
Risk: SEO cannibalization between /ja/ and /en/ paths when hreflang and canonicals are misconfigured
Google's CJK tokenization differs from English -- keyword research tools miss this
Risk: Content targeting the wrong token boundaries, losing ranking potential to Japanese-native competitors
Finding agencies with real JST overlap who also understand modern front-end stacks
Risk: Weeks of latency on feedback cycles when your agency is 14 hours behind with no overlap window

What We Build

Purpose-built features for your industry.

Ship Japanese web fonts without tanking your LCP score below 2.5 seconds

Your mobile shoppers see instant page loads even with Japanese web fonts at full weight

Render multi-byte characters correctly across every browser and viewport size

Your OG images render kanji perfectly when shared on LINE and Japanese social platforms

Build bilingual content paths that don't trigger duplicate content penalties

Your /ja/ and /en/ pages both rank without cannibalizing each other's search visibility

Handle CJK tokenization the way Google Japan's algorithm actually parses it

Your Japanese title tags land in the pixel-width boundaries Google Japan's SERPs actually display

Test dense product layouts against real Tokyo ecommerce buyer behavior patterns

Your product pages feel native to buyers trained on Rakuten and Amazon JP interaction patterns

Deliver in JST-overlap windows so your feedback doesn't wait 14 hours

Your team gets live engineering feedback in your morning hours, not async-only 14-hour delays

Working with Tokyo clients

Tokyo-specific delivery

Tokyo market context

Tokyo's tech ecosystem spans B2B SaaS startups around Shibuya and Roppongi, established ecommerce platforms serving Japan's demanding mobile-first consumers, and enterprise digital transformation projects. Japanese buyers expect pixel-perfect UI, sub-second page loads on 5G networks, and flawless mobile experiences--LINE integration and PayPay payment flows are often requirements. The market is competitive but values long-term partnerships over quick wins. Localization isn't just translation: it's yen-based pricing, JIS character encoding, and understanding that Japanese users prefer vertical layouts and detailed product information over minimalist Western design patterns.

How we work with Tokyo

We serve Tokyo clients remotely from our London and LA studios with strong JST coverage through our Sydney-based developers--typical overlap is 9am–1pm JST for live calls. You'll work directly with Aryan and senior engineers via Slack, Linear for task tracking, and Loom for async design reviews. We've shipped projects for Japanese ecommerce and B2B SaaS clients, so we understand the importance of mobile performance, localization nuances, and integration with Japanese payment gateways. We don't have a Tokyo office, but we schedule bi-weekly video syncs during your working hours and maintain documentation in English with clear handoff notes.

Recent Tokyo project

Mizuiro Commerce Systems

B2B SaaS for regional retailers

Mizuiro needed a complete rebuild of their inventory management SaaS marketing site and customer portal. Their Rails monolith was slow on mobile and hard to localize. We migrated them to Next.js 14 with App Router, Supabase for customer data, and Stripe for billing--integrated with PayPay for Japanese SMB customers. The marketing site runs on Astro with a headless CMS (Sanity) for bilingual content. We built a custom dashboard using shadcn/ui components that feels native to Japanese users: vertical navigation, detailed data tables, and CSV export for accountants.

Mobile Lighthouse score went from 38 to 94. Customer onboarding time dropped because the new portal is actually usable on smartphones--most of their users access it on Tokyo Metro commutes. Their content team now updates pricing and feature pages in both English and Japanese without touching code.

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Budget context for Tokyo projects

Tokyo B2B SaaS and ecommerce projects typically range from ¥4,000,000 to ¥15,000,000 depending on scope--enterprise migrations with complex integrations sit higher. Japanese clients often prefer fixed-price milestones over hourly billing, and we structure contracts that way. Budget expectations are similar to London or NYC in purchasing power: a full product rebuild with custom features is a six-figure investment in yen terms. Smaller marketing site redesigns or Shopify-to-headless migrations start around ¥2,500,000. We invoice in GBP or USD but quote in yen for clarity, and payment terms are usually NET30 via international wire.

Our Development Process

From discovery to launch. Quality at every step.

01

Scope and audit

Week 1

We audit your current site's CWV scores, Japanese SEO configuration, and rendering issues with CJK content. You get a written assessment with prioritized fixes and a build plan.

02

Architecture and prototyping

Weeks 2–3

Information architecture, URL structure for bilingual paths, and component prototypes in Next.js or Astro. We validate Japanese font loading strategies and line-break behavior early.

03

Build sprint

Weeks 4–8

Full development with daily async updates and twice-weekly live sessions in the LA-afternoon/Tokyo-morning overlap window. Real Japanese content goes in from day one -- no English placeholders.

04

QA and localization review

Weeks 9–10

Cross-browser testing with CJK content, mobile device testing on popular Japanese handsets, and a full SEO audit of hreflang, structured data, and CJK tokenization.

05

Launch and monitoring

Weeks 11–12

Deployment to edge infrastructure with Tokyo-region nodes. Post-launch CWV monitoring, Search Console tracking for Japanese queries, and a 30-day support window for adjustments.

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Frequently Asked Questions

No, we don't have a physical office in Tokyo. We operate remotely from London and LA, with strong JST coverage through our Sydney-based developers. Most Tokyo clients prefer this model--it keeps costs down and gives you access to senior engineers who've worked across global markets. We schedule regular video calls during your business hours (usually 9am–1pm JST overlap) and use Slack for real-time questions. All documentation and contracts are available in English; we've worked with Japanese clients who handle localization internally or bring their own translators for legal review.
Yes, we've shipped projects for Tokyo-based B2B SaaS platforms and ecommerce brands exporting internationally. We understand the need for mobile-first design, integration with Japanese payment gateways like PayPay and Stripe Japan, and the importance of vertical UI patterns that Japanese users expect. We don't localize copy ourselves--that's best done by native speakers--but we build the tech infrastructure to support bilingual content, yen-based pricing logic, and multi-region deployment. If you're serving Japanese consumers, we'll ensure sub-second load times on NTT Docomo and SoftBank networks.
We have a 4-hour overlap window most days: 9am–1pm JST when our Sydney and London teams are online. We schedule weekly or bi-weekly video syncs during that window for planning and design reviews. Everything else runs async: you'll post questions in Slack, we'll respond within a few hours, and we use Loom for screen recordings to explain technical decisions. Japanese clients often prefer this--less meeting overhead, more focus on delivery. We've found this works well for ecommerce and SaaS projects where decisions don't need to be made live in a room.
For a full platform rebuild--custom Next.js or Astro frontend, headless CMS, Supabase backend, payment integration, mobile optimization--expect ¥4,000,000 to ¥10,000,000. Enterprise projects with complex Japanese payment gateway integrations, multi-currency support, and custom dashboards can reach ¥15,000,000. Smaller projects like a Shopify migration to headless commerce or a marketing site redesign start around ¥2,500,000. We prefer fixed-price milestone billing for Japanese clients; we'll break the project into phases with clear deliverables and payment terms (usually NET30 via wire). All quotes provided in yen for transparency.
Yes. We've integrated PayPay, Stripe Japan, and other Japanese payment gateways into ecommerce and SaaS platforms. The process is straightforward if you have a Japanese business entity and merchant account--we handle the API integration, webhook setup, and error handling. For international clients selling into Japan, we typically recommend Stripe Japan or a payment aggregator that supports yen transactions. We'll also build the UI flows that Japanese users expect: clear itemized pricing, tax calculation, and confirmation screens before final payment. If your gateway has English API docs, we can integrate it.
No. Our studios are in London (HQ) and Los Angeles. We don't have a physical presence in Tokyo and we won't pretend otherwise. What we do have is a deliberate remote delivery process built for JST overlap. Our LA team's afternoon (1–6 PM PST) maps to your Tokyo morning (6–11 AM JST). We run async handoffs through that window and schedule live calls there. We've shipped production sites for Tokyo-based clients this way, and the feedback cycle is tighter than most people expect from a non-local agency.
Our LA studio's working afternoon overlaps with Tokyo's morning. That gives us a 4–5 hour live window every weekday for calls, screen shares, and real-time code reviews. Outside that window, we work async — you'll get a written update with screenshots or Loom recordings before your day starts. Our London team adds a second overlap window in the early JST evening if needed. It's not the same as sitting in the same room, but for code-heavy projects, async often works better anyway.
Yes, and we insist on it. One of the biggest mistakes we see is agencies building with English placeholder content and dropping in Japanese text at the end. Japanese characters have different pixel widths, different line-break rules (kinsoku shori), and different font loading characteristics. If you don't design and test with real Japanese content from the start, you end up with broken layouts at launch. We integrate your Japanese copy into component builds starting in week two.
CJK font files are massive — Noto Sans JP can be 4MB+ unsubsetted. We use unicode-range subsetting to load only the character sets each page needs, combine that with font-display: swap and preload hints for above-the-fold text, and test LCP specifically with Japanese heading content. The goal is Lighthouse 95+ on mobile with real Japanese fonts rendered, not with system fallbacks hiding the problem.
That's one of the most common briefs we get from Tokyo clients. We set up proper /ja/ and /en/ path structures with correct hreflang annotations, separate sitemaps per language, and canonical tags that prevent Google from treating your English and Japanese pages as duplicates. We also make sure structured data (JSON-LD) is generated in the correct language per path — a detail most agencies miss that affects rich snippet eligibility in Google Japan.
Most projects fall between ¥1.5M and ¥30M depending on scope. A bilingual marketing site for a B2B SaaS company is usually in the ¥3M–¥8M range. A full ecommerce build with Japanese-character SEO, performance engineering, and CMS integration runs ¥8M–¥20M. We scope everything in writing before work starts — no ambiguous estimates. We invoice in GBP or USD from our London entity, but we're happy to quote in JPY for budgeting purposes.
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