Stage 02 · Entry Route Assessment
Know which path into Japan
suits your situation
There is more than one way to enter the Japanese market. Each carries different obligations, timelines, and costs. This assessment sets them out plainly, so you can choose with your eyes open.
What this delivers
A side-by-side view of every realistic path forward, set out so you can compare them on the same terms
The Entry Route Assessment covers the five main ways a foreign company can establish a presence in Japan: direct sales from abroad, a distributor arrangement, an agency relationship, a joint venture, and local incorporation. Each is set out with its typical timeline, capital requirement, degree of control, and the obligations it creates.
The assessment is specific to your product or service. What works well for a manufactured goods company at a certain scale may be entirely unsuitable for a professional services firm or a food and beverage brand. We write it with your situation as the frame of reference, not a generic set of categories.
The discussion session with your leadership team is where we work through the trade-offs in the context of your actual priorities — growth speed, capital preservation, operational control, or the capacity to exit cleanly if things do not develop as expected.
Where many companies find themselves
The decision to enter is made. What follows it is less certain.
Once a company decides that Japan is worth pursuing, the next question tends to be the harder one: how. The options are not particularly obscure — most executives have heard of distributors and joint ventures — but the specifics of each route in a Japanese context are less familiar.
A distributor arrangement that would be straightforward in another market may carry exclusivity obligations in Japan that limit your flexibility for years. A direct sales model that works well at home may be difficult to scale here without local legal infrastructure in place. Incorporation looks clean in theory but creates permanent obligations that need to be managed.
The cost of choosing the wrong route is not always visible immediately. It tends to show up later — in a relationship that proves difficult to exit, in capital committed to a structure that does not fit the way the market works, or in time lost trying to reverse a decision that seemed straightforward at the time.
Our approach
Each route set out on the same terms, so the comparison is honest
We begin by understanding your product or service, your company's resources, and what you are trying to achieve in Japan — not just in the first year, but over a longer horizon. This shapes which aspects of each route matter most for your situation.
The comparison document then sets out each route against the same set of dimensions: typical timeline from decision to operational, capital required at different stages, degree of day-to-day control, the obligations created and how long they typically run, and the realistic exit options if things do not develop as planned.
We also include an indicative cost outline for each route — not a precise budget, but a realistic order-of-magnitude figure that helps you understand the financial shape of each option before any commitment is made. All figures are accompanied by sources and caveats so you understand what they rest on.
What working together looks like
Three weeks from start to decision-ready
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1.
Scoping conversation
We begin with a short exchange to understand your product or service, your company's capacity, and what you are trying to achieve. This shapes what the comparison focuses on and ensures we are not producing a generic document.
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2.
Research and drafting
We research each route in your sector and against your situation, draft the comparison document and cost outline, and check figures against current sources. This takes the bulk of the three-week timeline.
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3.
Document delivered
You receive the written comparison document and cost outline. We suggest circulating it to the people who will be involved in the decision and taking a few days to read it before the session.
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4.
Leadership session
We hold a session with your leadership team — online, at a time that suits your schedule — to work through the trade-offs in the context of your specific priorities. By the end, you should be in a position to make the route decision with confidence.
Investment
¥41,500 for the complete assessment and session
The fee covers the scoping exchange, the research, the written comparison document, the indicative cost outline for each route, and the leadership discussion session. There are no further charges after the engagement concludes.
For context: the structural decisions made at this stage — which route to take, what obligations to accept, how much capital to commit — tend to be difficult and expensive to reverse once made. A considered decision here has a long reach.
Payment is arranged directly. We confirm the method when you get in touch.
Everything included
How we measure success
At the end of the session, you should be able to name the route you are choosing and explain why
The test of whether this engagement has worked is simple: can your leadership team, by the end of the discussion session, articulate clearly which entry route best fits your situation and what the reasoning is? Not in abstract terms, but specifically — given your product, your resources, and your goals.
We also consider the engagement successful if you come out of it having ruled out routes you had been considering, with a clear account of why they do not fit. Narrowing the field is as useful as finding the answer.
What we do not promise is that the assessment makes the decision for you. It gives you the material. The judgement about what matters most — speed, control, capital, flexibility — remains yours, and it should.
Our commitment
We scope carefully so the document lands on what you actually need
The scoping exchange at the start of this engagement exists specifically to prevent us from producing something that does not fit your situation. We ask enough questions to understand your product, your resources, and your priorities before any research begins.
If the document we deliver does not address the trade-offs that matter most for your situation, we will discuss what needs to be added or revised. Our intention is for the leadership session to be genuinely useful — not a presentation of material that misses the point.
The initial conversation carries no obligation. If your situation suggests that a different approach would serve you better than this assessment, we will say so plainly rather than proceed with an engagement that will not be useful.
How to proceed
One message is enough to start
Use the contact form on our home page to tell us briefly about your product or service, the stage your company is at, and what you most need to resolve about the route into Japan. A paragraph or two is sufficient — we will follow up with any questions we need to sharpen the scope.
We reply within a few working days and, if it looks like a good fit, we confirm the scope, timeline, and payment arrangement before any work begins.
From confirmed scope to delivered document runs three weeks. The leadership session is scheduled after delivery at a time that suits your team.
After you reach out
- 1. We read your message and respond within a few working days
- 2. We confirm scope, three-week timeline, and payment arrangement
- 3. Research and drafting proceeds; we may send clarifying questions
- 4. You receive the document and we schedule the leadership session
Entry Route Assessment · ¥41,500
Send us a note about where your thinking stands
If you have decided Japan is worth pursuing and now need to work out how, this assessment is designed for that stage. The initial conversation carries no obligation and takes a few minutes to start.
Get in touch