Why taking your business to Japan may be critical?

By MYNIPPON Team

In the world of the Internet and e-commerce, the level of activity in the United States has been so intense that no one has made any serious attempts to pursue the balance 95% of the people on the planet. While MYNIPPON has always been directed to a more global audience, we know that we have to do even more. First, we need to have a Japanese version of each and every page. Secondly, we need to provide Chinese translation since so many of our members speak Chinese.

Our sister site Lindisima is similarly addressing the needs of Spanish speaking women all over the world. From time to time, we do hear from women who are just fascinated by Latin beauty and would like to learn their techniques for beauty and romance but can not because they do not speak Spanish. Thus, our next goal is to translate Lindisima into English.

However, we continue to be shocked that a large number of companies all over the world are satisfied simply having a couple of page website in their local language completely forgetting the fact that the website is actually accessible from any computer on the planet. If companies have to really become global economy players, they have to consider site globalization by providing multiple language options, providing several measures of units, and above all paying attention to minor details related to culture that can prove disastrous. While evite.com was considered to be a cool company with a cool name to manage your invitations, the company realized that it has committed a faux-pas by sticking to the same name in Spanish speaking countries since the word 'evite' has a totally opposite meaning in Spanish - 'to avoid'.

Not many executives realize that Japan has the second highest number of Internet users and the percentage of users at home is much higher than most other countries. The popularity of Internet use in Japan is still growing rapidly and with wireless access at very high levels already, Japan will continue to be among the most wired nations in the world. Buying on the phone has always been popular in Japan and home delivery of goods is standard practice. Though Japan has been slow in using credit cards (because credit is considered a taboo), there are several other forms of payments in Japan that work just fine, and Japanese consumers are very prompt in their payments. But how many companies even acknowledge that Japan exists. It is clear from our research that a site in Japanese language appears to be the last thing on the minds of both American and European companies and then these executives complain that Japan is a closed market and Japanese bureaucrats are a 'pain-in-the-neck'.

According to the Inktomi WebMap, the web has as many as 87% of the pages in English. The second highest number of pages are in French adding up to approximately 3%. As you can see, some of the other languages of Asia, Europe, Latin America and Africa all amount to less than 1% each. This leads us to conclude that the potential for growth of non-English pages is enormous as companies recognize the benefits of publishing their site in several languages.

We also believe that the recent turmoil in United States capital markets will be disastrous for globalization efforts. Almost all plans for global expansions have been practically put on hold forever as companies struggle to survive. If you are a company with a vision to grow your marketplace beyond your geographic bounds, then you should seriously consider globalizing your business before it is too late. Our parent, eCreativa.com, is capable of helping you navigate the complex world of globalization, localization, and translation. eCreativa understands what are the critical components of a global Internet strategy and will work with your team to develop a solution that meets the needs of the global village economy.

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