Product Design Company in Tokyo

Tokyo design engagements are priced by how much of the system ends up documented in both languages: a scoped product design engagement at Tokyo rates, a full design system build with proper CJK typography setting, tokenisation, and Japanese plus English documentation, or embedded design partnerships with a dedicated Japanese-speaking cell. Scope drivers include research with Japanese-speaking participants, IA, UX, UI, and a high-fidelity prototype. Tokyo rates sit at par with Sydney and below San Francisco. We invoice in JPY for domestic clients and USD for international engagements.

Yes, and this is where most non-Japan-resident design partners fail. We set Japanese type with explicit font stacks (Noto Sans JP, Hiragino Kaku Gothic ProN, Yu Gothic UI, Meiryo as fallback), enforce kinsoku shori line-breaking rules so that small kana, closing punctuation, and prohibited start or end characters never appear at line boundaries, and subset JIS Level 1 and 2 kanji to keep web font delivery under 200KB on 5G and LTE in Tokyo. Vertical writing (tategaki) is handled with CSS writing-mode vertical-rl plus proper text-orientation, and ruby furigana uses HTML5 ruby with rt and rp elements for screen reader fallback. We test rendering in Safari iOS, Chrome Android, and the major Japanese browsers, and we proof typography with a Japanese senior designer rather than relying on autotranslated wireframes.

Keigo is a product design decision, not just translation. We decide at discovery whether the product addresses the user in teineigo (polite, the default for most B2C apps), sonkeigo (respectful, used in formal B2B and financial services), or kenjougo (humble, used by the product when referring to its own actions toward the user). Mercari and LINE skew teineigo with conversational tone, MUFG and SMBC use sonkeigo and kenjougo in transactional copy, and Rakuten Ichiba shifts register by surface (storefront teineigo, account and transaction sonkeigo). We document the register decision in the design system tone-of-voice guidance, write copy with a Japanese copywriter, and avoid the awkward register mixing that machine translation produces. We also handle Japanese honorifics in name fields (-san, -sama, -dono) where context requires.

Yes. JIS X 8341-3 mirrors WCAG 2.1 AA and is the Japanese Industrial Standard for software accessibility, and JIS Z 8071 is the universal design guidance referenced by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and major Japanese enterprises. We design components with keyboard interaction, focus order, ARIA roles, colour contrast at 4.5:1 text and 3:1 UI per WCAG 2.1 AA, target size minimums, and reflow at 320 CSS pixels. We run the JIS X 8341-3 self-evaluation procedure published by the Information Accessibility Council and produce the accessibility statement format expected for Japanese public sector and large enterprise procurement. Manual screen reader testing uses NVDA with Japanese voices and VoiceOver in Japanese.

The Act on the Protection of Personal Information (APPI), particularly the 2022 amendments, drives several design decisions. Consent surfaces must specify the third parties receiving personal information, the country if transferred internationally, and the protection measures in that jurisdiction. We design consent flows that meet PPC (Personal Information Protection Commission) guidance, include the required notices for transfers to countries without adequacy (notably the US), and produce defensible records of consent. Pseudonymously processed information and anonymously processed information have different design treatments under APPI, and we handle the disclosure and complaint flows the PPC expects. For health or financial data we layer the Medical Care Act or Banking Act obligations on top of APPI.

Yes. Western minimalism often underperforms on Japanese e-commerce conversion benchmarks because the JP shopping mental model expects detailed comparison information, badges, multiple call-out banners, and editorial-style product description pages. Rakuten Ichiba, ZOZO, and Yahoo! Shopping share this density aesthetic. We design dense surfaces with proper Japanese information hierarchy, badge taxonomy, and CTA stacking that converts on JP audiences, while keeping the underlying component system clean enough that engineering does not maintain a separate visual mess. For brands also targeting Western markets we deliver paired surface systems with shared tokens but distinct density patterns rather than forcing one aesthetic to serve both.

We study them as reference points and we are clear about what is licensable versus inspirational. Muji's brand language under Kenya Hara, Sony Design Centre's industrial and product design heritage, and LINE Design's messaging UX patterns are deeply influential but proprietary. We do not copy their visual identity. We do pattern things like Muji's restraint in editorial layouts, Sony's hierarchy in technical product configurators, and LINE's chat-first interaction model where those approaches fit the client problem. For visual identity work we collaborate with a Tokyo brand partner (we have working relationships with several Roppongi and Aoyama studios) rather than overclaiming visual design depth in-house.

A single-surface redesign in Japanese (one flow, one persona, mobile or web) typically runs six to ten weeks from kickoff to engineering handoff including JIS X 8341-3 accessibility audit and keigo register review. A multi-surface product redesign with a Japanese-first design system and proper CJK typography setting runs sixteen to twenty-six weeks. Japan-market entry design for a US or European product (relocalising UX, typography, register, density, and APPI consent surfaces) runs ten to sixteen weeks depending on scope. FSA-supervised financial product design adds four to eight weeks for FISC alignment and design audit trail production. We work JST so Tokyo product owners review synchronously without overnight async cycles.