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Japan market entry for overseas B2B companies

Entering Japan,
run as business development.

We help overseas B2B companies win their first customers in Japan. Strategy, sales and marketing, and the follow-through that turns interest into meetings and deals.

Start with advice if you need a clear decision first. Start at a Japanese trade show if you are ready to meet buyers. Either way, you work with people who sit in the meetings with you.

Book a free 30-min call Exhibiting in Japan?
Fukuoka base, Tokyo coverage Ex-ITOCHU with JEGA
How an engagement runs
01
Start on one of two paths
Advisory for a clear decision, or a trade show to meet buyers
02
Get evidence from Japan
A written fit memo, or real conversations with Japanese companies
03
Continue with the right setup
Monthly advisory, or an embedded Japan team
The problem

Three gaps that stop good products from selling in Japan

Japan rewards patience and punishes vagueness. Most stalled deals we see are not product problems. They are one of these three.

01

Reading the market

Interest is not demand. A Japanese buyer needs a budget owner, an internal champion and a reason to move this fiscal year. From overseas you usually see only the interest.

02

Designing the sale

A pitch that closes in Singapore or Berlin often stalls in Tokyo. The order of information, the level of detail and the number of touchpoints before a decision all change.

03

Earning trust

Without a Japanese reference, Japanese-language materials and a clearly defined scope, the first meeting ends politely and nothing follows.

Entering Japan is not a sales problem first. It is a trust-design problem.

What usually goes wrong

Three sentences that quietly end deals in Japan

Each of these sounds reasonable at home. Here is how it lands on the Japanese side.

The pitch

"We can adapt to whatever you need."

How it is read: this company does not know what it sells. Flexibility without a defined scope reads as risk, not as service.

The proposal

A vision deck with no scope, no price and no timeline.

How it is read: your champion cannot take it upstairs. Japanese approvals need concrete scope, process, cost and expected outcome on paper.

The meeting request

"Let's have a casual chat to explore synergies."

How it is read: the purpose is unclear, so the safest answer is no answer. Meetings in Japan are accepted when the agenda and the ask are explicit.

"Here is the scope, here is the process, here is how far we go" builds more trust than "we are flexible."

Our approach

We do not translate your pitch. We redesign it so a Japanese company can evaluate it internally.

Before

The overseas playbook, translated

  • The pitch is a literal translation of the home-market deck
  • First meeting has no explicit purpose or next step
  • Target companies chosen by size, not by fit
  • Consulting billed by activity, with no decision at the end
After

A sales strategy Japan can say yes to

  • A written assessment with the reasons, before any major spend
  • A target list with the approach for each company
  • A deck your counterpart can circulate internally
  • Every step ends with a deliverable and a decision
Two ways to start

Start with a decision, or start on the show floor

Companies come to us at different stages. Pick the path that matches where you are today. Both lead to the same choice about how to continue.

Advisory path

"We need a clear answer first."

For companies that want to know whether and how Japan works for them before committing budget, people or a trade show.

Free 30-min callJapan Market Pre-CheckJapan Business Partner
from $500
Japan Market Pre-Check
Book a free 30-min call
Exhibition path

"We want to meet Japanese buyers now."

For companies that want to exhibit at a Japanese trade show and test the whole path: leads, meetings, negotiations and a PoC.

Before the showShow dayAfter the show
from ¥550K (approx. $3.7K)
Exhibition-led business development, with JEGA
See how it works
Services

Clear starting points. Execution scoped to your targets.

Advice and exhibition support have a published starting price. Execution work depends on your industry, targets and timeline, so we scope it with you.

Advisory · Start

Japan Market Pre-Check

from $500
Online session + one-page fit memo
  • Pre-session questionnaire and desk research
  • The 3 to 5 unknowns that could block your entry
  • A clear next step, or a reason to stop
  • Memo delivered within 5 business days
Start here
Advisory · Ongoing

Japan Business Partner

from $2,000/mo
Monthly advisory, 6-month minimum
  • Monthly 60-minute strategy meeting
  • Review of emails, proposals and sales materials
  • Preparation before meetings, analysis after
  • Slack channel, replies within 2 business days
Talk to us
Trade shows
Exhibition

Exhibition-led business development

from ¥550K (approx. $3.7K)
Before, show day and after
  • Japanese pre-show outreach and meeting booking
  • Booth support and same-day lead logging
  • Tiered follow-up by email and phone
  • Results report and next Japan GTM plan
See how it workswith JEGA
Execution

Sales Development / Embedded Japan team

Scoped per project
A Japanese team doing the work
  • Target lists, outreach and appointment setting
  • Meetings attended with you, in Japanese
  • PoC and partner coordination
  • One point of contact, monthly reporting
Talk to uswith JEGA

Japan B2B Target List

Companies matched to your ideal customer, with an optional priority ranking and an approach note per company.

On request

Japan-Ready Sales Deck

Your deck rebuilt for a Japanese approval process: scope, process, cost, timeline and proof, in Japanese.

On request

First Meeting in Japan

One real meeting with a Japanese company, arranged and attended with you, with strategy sessions before and after.

On request

Prices in USD or JPY, excluding tax. Final quotes depend on scope and duration.

Exhibition-led business development

Turn a Japanese trade show into meetings, negotiations and a PoC

Many overseas exhibitors leave a Japanese show with a stack of business cards and no next step. We prepare the weeks before, work the booth with you, and run the follow-up in Japanese until conversations turn into meetings.

Delivered with JEGA Japan Entry and Go-to-Market Alliance, a founder team of 4 companies jega.jp ↗LinkedIn ↗
4 weeks beforeTargets, Japanese outreach, meetings booked
Show daysBooth, logging, tiering
4 weeks afterFollow-up, meetings, PoC talks, report
Before
From about 4 weeks out

Where it usually stalls

Visitors arrive cold. Nobody has heard of you, no meetings are booked, and the materials are only in English.

What AIBOU and JEGA handle

  • A target list of companies worth meeting
  • Pre-show emails written in Japanese
  • Meeting slots booked before the doors open
  • A pitch script and talk track for Japanese visitors
Show day
On the floor with you

Where it usually stalls

Good conversations happen at the booth, then disappear into a pile of business cards with no notes and no priority.

What AIBOU and JEGA handle

  • Booth flow and who does what
  • Japanese-speaking support at the booth
  • Every lead logged in the CRM the same day
  • Leads tiered by fit and urgency
After
About 4 weeks after the show

Where it usually stalls

Follow-up goes out weeks later, in English, with the same message for everyone. By then the interest has cooled.

What AIBOU and JEGA handle

  • Follow-up by email and phone, by tier
  • Meetings and negotiations set up and attended
  • PoC discussions moved to a concrete proposal
  • A results report and the next Japan GTM plan

What you receive

Each item is yours to keep and reuse for the next show or the next market push.

  1. Pre-show emails in Japanese
  2. Pitch script and talk track
  3. Booth flow and role design
  4. Same-day CRM entries, with leads tiered
  5. Tiered follow-up by email and phone
  6. Results report and next Japan GTM plan

Now supporting an exhibitor in the EU Pavilion at CEATEC 2026.

Planning a show in Japan? Book a free 30-min call
Continue

After the show, or after the Pre-Check: two ways to keep going

The right setup depends on who will do the work in Japan. If your team runs the sales, you need a partner to decide with. If you need people on the ground, you need a team.

Advisory

Japan Business Partner

Delivered by AIBOU
from $2,000/mo
  • Monthly strategy meeting
  • Review of emails and proposals before they go out
  • Advice before and after each meeting
  • Slack for the day-to-day questions
Right when your own team sells and needs a Japan-side partner to read the replies with.
Execution team

Embedded Japan team

Delivered with JEGA
Scoped per project
  • A Japanese-speaking team running outreach and follow-up
  • Meetings and negotiations attended with you
  • PoC and partner coordination
  • One point of contact and monthly reporting
Right when you need people in Japan doing the work, before you hire your own.

Think of it as a fractional Japan office

TestBuild a track recordEnter fully

You do not need a Japanese entity to start selling in Japan. Test the market with a team that already works here, win your first customers and references, then decide on an office, hires or a local partner with real results in hand.

Cases

What execution looks like when the groundwork is done

British online platform

B2B services · Company A
Before

No customers, no team and no leads in Japan. No idea how to approach Japanese businesses.

What we did

Built a target list from zero, ran outreach to 60 companies by phone and email, managed the full follow-up cycle.

Result

40+ qualified appointments and the first contract within 4 months.

Turkish sanitary equipment maker

Manufacturing · Company B
Before

Wanted a partnership with a major Japanese manufacturer but had no connections or channel to reach one.

What we did

Used our network and inside-sales know-how to reach the decision-makers at a leading Japanese manufacturer directly.

Result

Meeting secured in 3 weeks. Led to an installation deal at a 100-room luxury hotel, worth an estimated ¥100M+.

Overseas health-tech app

Health-tech · Company C
Before

Wanted a proof of concept in Japan but had no local partners and no access to pilot programs.

What we did

Connected the client with the relevant municipal offices in Fukuoka and coordinated meetings during their Japan visit.

Result

Multiple on-site meetings within 1 month and an MOU with a local partner for a government-backed POC.

Why AIBOU

Small by design. Hands-on by default.

You work directly with the person who designs the strategy and sits in the meetings. No account managers, no hand-offs.

40+
qualified appointments generated in 4 months for one client
¥100M+
deal size unlocked from a single introduction
3 wks
from engagement to a meeting with a leading manufacturer
9+
years of international business, including a Japanese trading house
Yuto Kamada

Yuto Kamada, Founder & CEO

Playflow Corporation · Fukuoka, Japan
After 9 years in international business, including a Japanese trading house, I kept seeing the same thing: good companies failing in Japan not because of the product, but because nobody told them what to fix before the first meeting. AIBOU exists to tell you, in writing, early.
Ex-ITOCHU Corporation (Japanese trading house)Founding member of JEGAJapanese and EnglishFukuoka base, Tokyo coverage

Yuto started his career at ITOCHU Corporation, running trading and investment projects across eight countries in Latin America and Asia, including new business development with a national oil company in Mexico. He then spent three years at a Tokyo venture capital firm as head of corporate planning, coordinating a team across Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand and Canada. In 2023 he founded Playflow Corporation, where he has supported 20 to 30 overseas and Japanese companies on Japan market entry, proposals and partner development. He studied at Keio University.

LinkedIn ↗

Playflow is a founding member of JEGA, the Japan Entry and Go-to-Market Alliance. When a project needs more hands than one advisor, such as a trade show or an embedded team, it is staffed by JEGA's founder team of 4 companies.

Frequently asked questions

AIBOU together with JEGA (Japan Entry and Go-to-Market Alliance), a founder team of 4 companies. Playflow, the company behind AIBOU, is one of the founding members. You agree the scope with one point of contact, and the same team works on the preparation, the booth and the follow-up.
A "from" price shows where a service starts, so you can judge the order of magnitude before we talk. Execution work, such as sales development or an embedded team, depends on your industry, targets and timeline. We scope it with you and quote per project rather than publish a number that would not fit.
A free 30-minute call. If you then want a clear answer before spending more, the Japan Market Pre-Check (from $500) gives you a one-page memo of the unknowns that could block your entry, and the next step.
B2B companies selling to Japanese businesses, across industries: SaaS and DX products, industrial and equipment makers, and consumer brands entering Japanese retail. If your case is outside what we can judge well, we will tell you on the first call.
English and Japanese. We work with you in English, online and on your time zone, and with Japanese companies in Japanese. Materials that Japanese companies will see are produced in Japanese, with English versions for your team.

It starts with a 30-minute conversation.

Tell us where you are with Japan. We will tell you which single step is worth taking next, and if the honest answer is none, we will say so.

Book a free 30-min call