What Export Japan does

Export Japan (エクスポート・ジャパン株式会社) is a privately held multilingual digital services company headquartered in Osaka, Japan, with an additional Tokyo branch and a Chinese subsidiary in Changsha. Founded in 2000 with initial capital of ¥10 million and current registered capital of approximately ¥61.17 million (~$400K USD), the company employs 11–50 staff across its offices. Its largest shareholder is JTB Corporation, which took a stake in 2007, providing a long-running strategic anchor in the tourism sector. The firm operates across four interlocking service lines: multilingual website development, multilingual content production, inbound marketing, and inclusive design/technology.

Its core product portfolio combines services and licensable technology. The flagship media property is Japan Guide (japan-guide.com), a tourism portal that originated in 1996, contains over 2,000 pages of destination content, and attracts approximately 1.8 million monthly users; Export Japan has acted as its domestic sales agent since 2002. The second product line is Accessible Code®, a patented accessibility technology originally launched in December 2019 and increasingly applied to pharmaceutical packaging and digital compliance use cases. Supporting technology includes the BIMAN monitoring tool with automated anomaly detection and translation-memory infrastructure layered on top of third-party machine translation. A separate operating entity, PIJIN, runs the QR Translator product for inbound tourism.

The business model combines project-based professional services, advertising and licensing revenue from Japan Guide, and product licensing for Accessible Code. Client mix is anchored in Japanese central and regional government agencies (Financial Services Agency, JASSO, Yokohama Port, Japan Tourism Agency) and large private enterprises (Shionogi, Rohto, Kokuyo, Keihan Railway, Willer Marketing). Distribution leverages the Japan Guide portal, partnerships with destination management organizations, and an active presence on Chinese social platforms (RED/Xiaohongshu, Weibo, Douyin) to support tourism and brand clients. Pricing references in the public domain indicate professional service rates of approximately ¥100,000 per day for writing and localization work.

Name

Export Japan

Legal name

エクスポート・ジャパン株式会社 (Export Japan Inc.)

Website

https://export-japan.co.jp

Company type

Private

Founded year

2000

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Export Japan provides multilingual website development, content localization, and inbound marketing services to Japanese government agencies, tourism organizations, and enterprises, while licensing the patented Accessible Code accessibility technology and operating the Japan Guide tourism portal.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Multilingual Web Localization Services

NAICS

Translation and Interpretation Services (541930)

SIC

Services-Mailing, Reproduction, Commercial Art & Photography (7330), Miscellaneous Publishing (2741), Services-Allied To Motion Picture Production (7819)

akta.pro primary industry

Export Promotion & Market Access Support (BPADAMAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Tourism Trade & Services Exports Development (BPADAMAO), Content Localization, Translation & Transcreation (BPAFAIAH), Localization, Translation & Multilingual Publishing Tools (EDAFAHAJ)

Keywords

• Multilingual website development
• Web localization services
• Inbound tourism marketing
• Accessibility QR technology
• Cross-cultural content production

Headquarters

HQ city

Osaka

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Multilingual Website Development: End-to-end web localization services including consulting, design, development, translation and ongoing maintenance for government and enterprise clients.
2. Japan Guide Advertising & Promotion: Advertising placement services on japan-guide.com including video ads, sponsored articles, banner ads, reaching approximately 1.8 million monthly visitors targeting English-speaking visitors to Japan.
3. Content Production Services: Native translation, writing, and localization services for cultural heritage sites, tourism materials, and corporate communications.
4. Accessible Code Licensing: Licensing of Accessible Code technology for product packaging, enabling pharmaceutical and consumer goods manufacturers to provide multilingual audio information access.
5. Podcast Production: English podcast production services for tourism boards and organizations, including planning, recording, editing, and distribution across platforms like Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Export Japan provides end-to-end multilingual website development, native-language content production, and inbound tourism marketing services to Japanese government agencies, local municipalities, tourism boards, and enterprises. Its core offering combines native-language consulting, website construction, translation, and ongoing operation, alongside proprietary Accessible Code® accessibility technology and the Japan Guide tourism portal.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Japan Guide (japan-guide.com): An English-language inbound tourism portal site for Japan, founded in 1996 by Swiss national Stefan Schauwecker. Export Japan serves as the domestic sales agent (総代理店) since 2002. The site serves approximately 1.8 million users monthly, covering 1,400+ tourist destinations across all 47 Japanese prefectures.
• Accessible Code® (アクセシブルコード)

Products and services

• Multilingual Website Development (多言語Webサイト制作) End-to-end multilingual website development service covering native consulting, design, development, translation, and ongoing operation and maintenance. Specializes in large-scale multilingual sites with 10+ languages and thousands of pages, particularly for government agencies, municipalities, and large enterprises.
• Inbound Marketing (インバウンド・マーケティング) Marketing service combining Japan Guide portal operations with multilingual social media management to attract and engage international visitors to Japan. Includes video ad production, sponsored articles, banner advertising, and country-specific SNS management across Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, WeChat, RED/Xiaohongshu, Weibo, and Douyin/TikTok.
• Multilingual Content Production (多言語コンテンツ制作) Content production service including translation, native-language writing, and English podcast production for tourism boards, government agencies, and enterprises. Focuses on culturally adapted content rather than literal translation, with three-stage quality control (native translator, native checker, browser-based final check).
• English Podcast Production End-to-end English podcast production service including planning, recording, editing, and publishing. Specializes in Western/Australian English podcast production with native perspective for tourism boards and Japanese organizations seeking to reach English-speaking audiences.
• Accessible Code® (アクセシブルコード) Patented 2D barcode solution enabling visually impaired individuals and non-Japanese speakers to access product information via smartphone QR code scanning with automatic multilingual text display and text-to-speech audio playback in up to 15 languages. Uses standard QR codes without requiring dedicated apps, with tactile features (raised bumps, recessed edges) for blind users.
• Japan Guide (japan-guide.com) English-language inbound tourism portal covering 1,400+ tourist destinations across all 47 Japanese prefectures with 2,000+ pages of content. Reaches approximately 1.8 million monthly users and serves as a property for advertising and promotional content placement targeting international visitors to Japan.

Quantifiable outcome

• 180万人 monthly users on Japan Guide portal
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration9 records

AI capability6 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core, support and major.

• PIJIN (株式会社PIJIN)coreTechnology or IntegrationRelated company operating the QR Translator business. Developed the QR Translator platform used for Accessible Code implementation. Export Japan manages Accessible Code licensing while PIJIN handles the underlying QR translation technology.
• Changsha Nittsu Business Service (長沙日通商務服務有限公司)supportOthersChinese subsidiary established in September 2007 to support China market operations and Chinese-language services.
• NEDA (新エネルギー・産業技術総合開発機構)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerGovernment research agency that co-funded Accessible Code development research. NEDO's 'Welfare Equipment Practical Application Development Support Project' supported the national-scale user testing with 100+ visually impaired participants from 2017-2019.
• Kobe Lighthouse (神戸ライトハウス)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerVisual impairment self-support organization that initiated the QR code accessibility project concept in 2016. Provided expertise on visually impaired user needs and participated in product development research.
• i-Collaboration Kobe (アイ・コラボレーション神戸)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNPO technology organization focused on accessibility that hosted the innovation challenge where Accessible Code was presented to pharmaceutical manufacturers, leading to commercial adoption.
• Japan Guide (japan-guide.com)coreOthersEnglish-language Japan tourism portal founded by Stefan Schauwecker in 1996. Export Japan has been domestic agent since 2002, managing Japanese client relationships and advertising sales.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves12 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• RWS Group: Global translation, localization, and intellectual property services company with broad enterprise coverage. Comparable in the translation and language services core but serves a much wider set of industries and geographies than Export Japan.
• Lionbridge: One of the world's largest translation and localization services firms, offering enterprise-grade multilingual content, AI services, and global delivery. Overlaps with Export Japan's translation and content localization services but at vastly greater scale and global footprint.
• TransPerfect: Largest privately held translation and localization services firm in the world, offering comprehensive multilingual services across content, media, and digital channels. Comparable in service breadth but operates at global enterprise scale far beyond Export Japan's reach.
• Welocalize: Global localization and translation services provider offering multilingual content, AI-enabled workflows, and global delivery. Overlaps with Export Japan's core translation and content production but operates at significantly larger scale and broader language coverage.
• Dentsu: Largest Japanese advertising and marketing agency group with international content, digital, and localization capabilities. Overlaps with Export Japan's inbound marketing and multilingual digital promotion services but as part of a vastly broader communications portfolio.

Emerging players

• Smartling: Translation management system and localization platform serving digital content for enterprise websites and apps. Comparable in the website localization delivery model but competes more as a technology platform than a services firm.

Direct peers

• Transn: Asia-headquartered translation and localization services firm covering multiple language pairs including Japanese. Comparable in core translation/localization offering and in serving cross-border enterprise clients.
• Honyaku Center: Established Japanese translation and interpretation services company serving corporate, legal, and government clients. Comparable as a domestic competitor in the Japanese translation and localization services market, though with less focus on web localization.
• EC studio: Japanese multilingual web production firm offering website localization, translation, and international marketing services to government and enterprise clients. Highly comparable in service mix (multilingual web + content + translation) and Japanese customer base.

Others

• PIJIN: Related Japanese company operating the QR Translator multilingual QR code platform that powers Export Japan's Accessible Code® offering. Closely tied technology partner rather than competitor; relevant for understanding Export Japan's accessibility stack.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/japanguide
• Facebookfacebook.com/exportjapan
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/export-japan-inc-
• Xx.com/exportjapan

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Export Japan