WordPress & CMS Development Company in Tokyo

A Tokyo WordPress budget is set by the publishing model underneath it: a Tokyo marketing site on a custom block-based theme with Japanese typography, two-language support (Japanese plus English), and basic SEO setup, a headless WordPress build on Next.js with WPGraphQL for performance-critical brands, or enterprise multisite migrations off Movable Type or Drupal 7 with 10,000 plus pages. Scope drivers include content complexity and redirect strategy. We quote fixed-fee in JPY and include twelve months of post-launch support. Tokyo rates sit above Osaka and Fukuoka but below Singapore for equivalent scopes.

Yes. Movable Type (Six Apart Japan) dominated Tokyo corporate sites through the 2000s and many estates still run on it. We have migrated MT4, MT5, MT6, and MT7 sites to WordPress with content preservation, taxonomy mapping, and URL-redirect strategies that hold existing Google rankings. Drupal 7 end-of-life in January 2025 pushed many Japanese universities and government-adjacent sites onto migration paths, and we have shipped Drupal 7 to WordPress moves with custom Drupal-to-Gutenberg block conversion. Migrations typically run twelve to twenty weeks depending on content volume, taxonomy complexity, and bilingual content. We preserve permalink structures or build 301 redirect maps reviewed in Google Search Console before cutover, and we run a parallel staging environment for editorial QA in Japanese before the DNS switch.

Japanese typography is harder than Western typography because three scripts (kanji, hiragana, katakana) plus Latin and numerics need consistent vertical rhythm, line-height calibration above the Western default (1.7 to 1.9 rather than 1.5), and proper handling of mixed-width characters. We default to Noto Sans JP and Noto Serif JP via Google Fonts Japan endpoint for performance, with Hiragino Kaku Gothic and Yu Gothic as system-font fallbacks for older Windows installations. Heading hierarchy uses font-size-clamp with viewport-based fluid scaling. For editorial brands needing vertical text (tate-gaki) we use CSS writing-mode with browser fallbacks. We avoid Adobe Fonts Japan unless the client already licenses it, because the additional weight and licensing complexity rarely justifies the visual difference for typical corporate sites.

Japanese WooCommerce stores need local payment rails because Japanese consumers heavily prefer convenience-store payment (konbini), bank transfers, and QR-code wallets over credit cards. We integrate GMO Payment Gateway (the largest Japanese aggregator, handles credit cards, konbini, bank transfer, Pay-easy), SBI Sumishin Net Bank, KOMOJU (especially strong for SME exporters), Stripe Japan with PayPay and Apple Pay enabled, PayPay direct, LINE Pay, Rakuten Pay, and Amazon Pay Japan. For B2B we integrate Paid.biz for invoice-based deferred payment, which dominates Japanese B2B commerce. Shipping integrates with Yamato Transport B2 Cloud, Sagawa e-Hiden, and Japan Post Yu-Pack and EMS. Each integration includes Act on Specified Commercial Transactions disclosure pages (tokuteishoutorihiki) which Japanese e-commerce regulation requires.

Yes. The Act on Protection of Personal Information (APPI), amended in 2022, applies to any business that handles personal information of Japanese residents, regardless of business size. Contact forms, newsletter signups, recruitment forms, and account registration all collect personal information and trigger APPI obligations around purpose specification, consent (in many cases), retention limits, cross-border transfer disclosure, and breach notification. We build APPI-compliant forms with explicit Japanese-language purpose statements, granular consent checkboxes, secure transmission, server-side validation, and storage that respects retention rules. For sites using Google Analytics, Meta Pixel, or other US-hosted analytics, we add cross-border transfer disclosure to the privacy policy and (where applicable) consent banners that meet both APPI and Telecommunications Business Act cookie-rule requirements introduced in 2023.

Traditional WordPress (PHP theme rendered server-side) is faster to build, simpler for marketing teams to operate, and adequate for most Tokyo corporate sites where editorial velocity matters more than millisecond-level performance. Headless WordPress (WPGraphQL plus Next.js or Nuxt front-end) is worth the additional complexity when Core Web Vitals scores affect revenue (e-commerce, SaaS marketing with paid acquisition), when the front-end needs to be a complex app with React-driven interactivity, or when content is syndicated to multiple front-ends (web, native app, partner channels). For Rakuten and LY Corporation media partnerships that require Core Web Vitals minimums, headless usually wins. For a standard Marunouchi corporate IR and marketing site, traditional WordPress on a fast managed host typically meets every meaningful KPI without the operational overhead.

Three tiers. SME sites and personal brands use managed Japanese hosting — KAGOYA Cloud, AMIMOTO (AWS-backed, English support, Tokyo region), ConoHa WING, Xserver, or MixHost — for ¥1,000 to ¥10,000 monthly with Japanese-language support and JCB-acceptable billing. Mid-market and enterprise sites move to WP Engine Japan, Kinsta (Tokyo POP), or self-managed AWS Lightsail and EC2 in ap-northeast-1 (Tokyo) with CloudFront for ¥30,000 to ¥250,000 monthly. Headless deployments split the WordPress instance (often a small EC2 in ap-northeast-1) from the front-end (Vercel, Netlify, or Cloudflare Pages) for cost efficiency and global edge performance. For FSA-adjacent regulated clients we stay on AWS Tokyo with VPC isolation, KMS Japan keys, and audit logging to meet internal IT security policies.

A standard Tokyo corporate marketing site (15 to 40 pages, two languages, custom design, basic integrations) takes ten to fourteen weeks from kickoff to launch. Week 1 to 2 is discovery, content audit, and APPI review. Week 3 to 5 is wireframes, design, and Japanese typography specimens. Week 6 to 10 is theme development, content migration, and integration work. Week 11 to 12 is QA in Japanese and English, Core Web Vitals tuning, and stakeholder approval. Week 13 to 14 is launch, DNS cutover, and post-launch monitoring. Add four to six weeks for WooCommerce with Japanese payment gateway integration. Add eight to twelve weeks for migrations from Movable Type or Drupal 7 with substantial content volume. We work to fixed-fee milestones and absorb scope creep within reasonable bounds, with change-order documentation for substantial new requirements.