Institutional-quality Japan market intelligence. Delivered in 5–15 business days. Not months.
Generic market reports tell you the market is "large and growing." We tell you which companies to partner with, which segments to avoid, and why, by our estimate, roughly 70% of independent Japan entries stall by year two.
Validated TAM, addressable segments, and growth drivers with Japan-specific data — not global averages.
Named Japanese and foreign competitors, estimated revenues, product weaknesses, and where the gaps are.
Who to sell to first, decision-maker profiles, ACV expectations, and realistic sales cycle lengths.
Named SIs, resellers, and distribution partners — with commentary on how to approach each one.
Cultural, regulatory, and competitive risks ranked by severity — with mitigation strategies for each.
Bull / Base / Bear case projections with assumptions, so your board can stress-test the investment case.
We built the same engagement — a fictional overseas carbon-accounting SaaS ("Verdex") entering Japan — at all three plan levels. Read the actual deliverables and see exactly what each plan buys.
All three samples are in English. Japanese-language versions of the same reports are available on request — the language your Japanese partners and auditors read.
Like what you see? Get one built for your company.
Get your report →Client details are anonymized by agreement. The questions, the depth, and the verdicts are real.
A client exploring the Japanese non-life insurance market commissioned a Starter screening. We delivered a 22-page Go/No-Go assessment covering TAM/SAM, top-3 segments, the 3-mega oligopoly, and the six foreign retail exits — fully async, no calls. Verdict: conditional GO, corporate specialty only — the 2024 cartel enforcement and 2029–31 cross-shareholding unwind are opening a multi-year window that retail's graveyard history says generalists shouldn't touch.
A foreign-affiliated retailer evaluating entry into Japan commissioned a Starter screening. Beyond a general market overview, the report gave the client's team a clear basis for judging whether entry was viable — with every claim traced to its source and analysis kept clearly separate from fact. The client rated the report 5/5 on output quality and source transparency, and is now scoping an upgrade to Standard.
"The report's structure and content were clear, organized around whether there's room to enter — which made it directly useful for our actual marketing strategy. The QA process felt trustworthy, and the cost-performance was excellent. From contract to invoice, almost everything was digital, which made it easy to manage."
No lengthy kickoff meetings. No junior analysts padding slide decks. Just focused, expert research delivered fast.
Complete a short online brief — share your product, target customer, and goals. We'll confirm receipt within 24 hours and send a tailored proposal within 2 business days.
It starts with a structured questionnaire about your product, goals, and assumptions — the more you share, the sharper the report. We then combine 20 years of Japan market knowledge with AI-driven deep research across hundreds of sources.
You receive a structured HTML + PDF report within 5–15 business days. No filler, no fluff.
Optional: Async Q&A over email. Send questions as you review the report — we respond within 24 hours.
Once you approve the proposal, we send a secure Stripe payment link — no contracts to negotiate, no onboarding calls. Starter and Standard are paid in full upfront; Premium is 50% at kickoff, 50% on delivery. Right after payment you’ll receive a short structured questionnaire (async, ±30 min) — your answers anchor the report in your reality, and delivery time is counted from the day we receive them. Every engagement includes revisions after you've read the report (Starter & Standard: 1 round; Premium: 2 rounds), so you can sharpen the focus once it's in front of you. The whole process runs over email, on your schedule and timezone — start to finish.
A 40–60 page report in days, not months, raises a fair question: is this just AI output? No. We use AI to compress the slow part — and spend the time we save on the part that actually decides whether you win in Japan.
AI-driven research sweeps hundreds of Japanese and English sources — company filings, industry data, competitor sites, regulatory notices — and assembles the market model. This is the work that used to take analysts weeks. We compress it into days — so none of your fee pays for time spent gathering.
Every conclusion is written by a human who spent two decades inside a sogo shosha: who really holds budget, which partners to approach, why deals die in committee, and what the data can't show. The AI never writes your recommendations — it just buys back the hours so a 20-year trader can get them right.
The result: the depth of a traditional engagement, delivered in 5–15 business days — at roughly one-tenth the cost.
Unreleased products, financials, go-to-market plans — everything you share is treated as strictly confidential. We're glad to sign your NDA before any sensitive details change hands. Your data is never shared with third parties, and never used to train AI models. Your Japan strategy is kept fully separate from any other engagement.
Pay per report. No subscriptions, no lock-in. Start with Starter to check our quality, step up to Standard for the full picture, and Premium when you're ready to decide and act.
Need the full entry picture? Step up to Standard — pay only the difference (within 90 days).
Ready to decide and act? Step up to Premium — pay only the difference (within 90 days).
All prices exclude Japanese consumption tax (JCT), added where applicable.
Need a custom scope? Contact us →
I spent 20 years at Sumitomo Corporation, one of Japan's five major general trading companies (sogo shosha), working across commodity trade, cross-border investment evaluation, and business development in global markets.
That career taught me something that no consulting firm can replicate: how decisions actually get made in Japan. Not the official process — the real one. Who controls budget. Which relationships open doors. Why certain deals die in committee even when the numbers work.
I founded Blueshift Japan LLC to make that knowledge available to global companies in a format that's fast, affordable, and actionable — without the overhead of a traditional consulting engagement.
Our edge compounds where Japan's biggest openings meet the founder's real depth. We focus where 20 years inside a sogo shosha — and a career spent between Japan and markets a step ahead — lets us read what generalists can't.
Japan's ¥150T+ GX buildout — renewables, hydrogen, storage, the EV & battery value chain, and industrial decarbonization. The founder spent two decades in energy, resources, and the materials behind this shift.
An aging, digitally-underpenetrated Japan where foreign SaaS and AI have real room — if you understand why adoption stalls. We read that gap from both sides: inside the Japanese enterprise, and outside in markets that moved faster.
The connective work both sectors run on — deal structuring, target evaluation, partner mapping, and reading how Japanese decisions actually get made. Two decades of cross-border investment and business development.
Outside these? Ask us anyway — and if we can't add real value, we'll tell you within 24 hours. Start a brief →
Blueshift Japan is a young firm, so we won't pretend to have a wall of client logos. Instead, we earn your confidence the honest way — show you the work before you commit, and stand behind it.
We don't ask you to imagine the output. A full sample report is live on this page — read it before you decide anything.
20 years at Sumitomo Corporation, one of Japan's five sogo shosha — commodity trade, cross-border investment, and business development. Verifiable, not a claim.
Published prices, one-time fees, no retainers or lock-in. You know exactly what it costs before you say yes — and what's in scope.
NDA on request, kept fully separate from any other engagement, never shared with third parties, and never used to train AI models.
No junior analysts. The person with the 20 years of context writes your report personally — and answers your follow-up questions directly.
The goal isn't a thick deck — it's a clear go / no-go answer. One round of revisions is included to make sure the report gets you there.
Because every report is researched and written personally by the founder, we take only a small number of engagements at a time. Founding clients get that direct attention and priority turnaround at a founding-client rate — in exchange for honest feedback that sharpens the service. If the work helps you (and only with your written approval), we may publish an anonymized summary; otherwise it stays entirely between us.
Work with the founder →No. AI compresses the slow part — collecting and modeling hundreds of Japanese and English sources. Every conclusion and recommendation is written personally by the founder, drawing on 20 years inside a sogo shosha. The AI never writes your recommendations; it buys back the hours so a 20-year trader can get them right.
Confidential details are processed only in enterprise API environments with zero-data-retention — your inputs are not stored after the request and are never used to train AI models. We're glad to sign your NDA first, and we can work from anonymized or redacted inputs. See our Privacy Policy for detail.
The founder, Tomoaki Nakao — personally. No junior analysts. He spent 20 years at Sumitomo Corporation across trade, cross-border investment, and business development. You can verify his background on LinkedIn.
Every engagement includes a revision round after you've read it — Starter and Standard each include 1 round; Premium includes 2. That's your chance to sharpen the focus once the report is in front of you. The goal isn't a thick deck — it's a clear go / no-go answer you can act on.
Submit a short brief, and you'll get a tailored proposal within 2 business days. Once you approve it, we send a secure Stripe payment link — no contracts to negotiate, no onboarding calls. Starter and Standard are paid in full upfront; Premium is split 50% at kickoff and 50% on delivery. Your report is delivered in 5–15 business days from receipt of your completed questionnaire. Everything runs over email, on your schedule and timezone. If you upgrade to a higher plan within 90 days of delivery, you pay only the difference.
We go deepest where Japan's biggest openings meet the founder's real depth: Climate Tech & Energy Transition (GX), and Digital Transformation & AI. We also support cross-border market entry and investment more broadly — if you're unsure whether we're a fit, just ask in your brief.
Send us a brief description of your company, product, and target market in Japan.
We'll confirm receipt within 24 hours — and send a tailored proposal within 2 business days.