We help overseas makers sell in Japan.
A product that sells at home does not sell here by default. Japan has its own regulations, its own labelling expectations, and its own sense of how a product should be presented and priced. We take yours, fit it to all of that, and place it with Japanese retailers. You keep making the product. We handle the market.
Translating the label is not the job.
Getting a product into Japan is mostly not a language problem. It is knowing which regulations apply to your category, what a Japanese buyer expects to see on the box, what a shelf in that category will bear on price, and how the product has to be explained for it to make sense here.
None of that can be decided from outside the market. It has to be worked out by someone on this side, product by product. That is the work we do — and it is the same work whether the thing being brought across is a product or a technology.
What we take on
Japan is a market where distribution, compliance and language are handled locally or not at all. We take that side on, so your product reaches Japanese buyers in a form they can stock without friction.
Selection
We look for products with a real track record in their home market, sound certification, and a supply line that can hold. We are not looking for novelty.
Import & compliance
Customs clearance, conformity with the Japanese regulations that apply to the category, and Japanese-language labelling prepared to the standard retailers expect.
Distribution
We hold domestic stock and supply independent retailers and businesses through Japanese wholesale marketplaces and direct accounts.
Whether your product is a fit
Before you spend time on a conversation, here is how we decide. We judge a product on whether it sells consistently at home — not on whether it is currently trending. Products that spike tend to have unstable supply, and Japanese retailers cannot build a shelf around them.
We would like to hear from you if
- Your product has sold steadily in its home market for several years
- It is certified, or can be tested to meet Japanese requirements
- You can fulfil repeat orders reliably
- Nothing equivalent is established in Japan, or yours is clearly better
- It is consumed, replaced or repurchased rather than bought once
Probably not yet, if
- It launched recently and has not yet been proven anywhere
- Origin or manufacturing cannot be documented
- The Japanese category is saturated and competes on price alone
- Its regulatory status cannot be resolved lawfully
Not sure which side yours falls on? Send it to us and we will tell you straight — including when the answer is no. A clear no costs you less than a slow maybe.
Regulations we work through
Every category carries its own requirements in Japan. We identify which apply, complete the notifications and testing they call for, and prepare labelling accordingly. If a product cannot be handled lawfully, we do not handle it until it can.
Where a certificate, ingredient statement or test report is needed from your side, we will identify it early rather than late.
Where your product goes
We sell business-to-business. Rather than chasing individual accounts one by one, we place products where Japanese retailers already go to source their stock.
How we start
We would rather prove a product in the market than ask you to commit on a forecast. Neither side should be locked into volume before the product has been shown to move in Japan, so we start small and let the sell-through decide.
- Trial order, non-exclusive. We place a small first order at your standard wholesale terms and test sell-through with Japanese retailers.
- Exclusive distribution, once proven. If the product moves, we discuss exclusive rights for Japan against an annual minimum we are confident we can meet.
- Compliance is ours. Import documentation, category regulations and Japanese labelling are handled on our side.
- Correspondence in English. No Japanese is required to work with us.
What we have done
A selection of past work. Client and brand names are withheld for confidentiality.
Importing and selling overseas products in Japan
We have imported and sold overseas makers' products in the Japanese market across gadgets, general goods, toys and sporting goods — each carrying its own regulatory and labelling requirements, identified and satisfied category by category.
Japanese localization of an overseas sports fan app
Adapting a sports fan application built for another market so that it works for Japanese users — not only translating strings, but rewriting wording and flows into what reads naturally here.
Content production and evaluation pipeline
Design, implementation and operation of tooling that automates production, quality evaluation and publishing — turning repeated manual checks into a process that runs.
Website operation for an academic society
Ongoing operation and rework of a member-facing site: restructuring an existing CMS so that journal issues and announcements can be maintained by the client's own staff.
About
- Trade name
- coharu
- Representative
- coharu
- Registered address
- Miyamasuzaka Building 609, 2-19-15 Shibuya,
Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0002, Japan - Legal form
- Sole proprietorship, registered in Japan
- Business
- Import & wholesale distribution／Web & application development
- info@coharu.work
- Website
- coharu.work
Get in touch
If you are a maker considering distribution in Japan, tell us what the product is and where it currently sells. We will come back with a straight answer on whether we think it can work here.