When communicating your brand to a Japanese audience, utilizing a blog or owned media (online media owned and controlled by a brand) are often among the plans you consider. Written content remains very powerful in Japan.

Marketers who attended the "ad:tech tokyo 2021", a conference on digital advertising in Japan, said in a survey that "owned media" was the most important area that they wanted to focus on and allocate resources to in their marketing initiatives. [J]

In many cases, brands will operate a media page within their website, but Japan also has its own blog services that are popular for brands to use.

We’ll introduce a few of the most popular ones, in case you may be considering a blog for a Japanese audience.

Note

No ads, just high quality content.

Note is a blog content platform that has gained momentum in recent years.

The service was launched in 2014 and is operated by note, a company with the mission of "enabling anyone to start and continue creating.” It aims to create a safe and secure place for creators, regardless of whether they are individuals or corporations, professionals or amateurs.

Note at a glance:

40.66 million+ MAU in August 2022 (note calculates MAU by active browsers visiting in a month)
- For reference: Instagram’s MAU in Japan is 33 million

note has 5.5 million members as of December 2022
- Content is viewable to members and non-members alike, but only members can post
The largest user group is business people in their 20s to 40s

Key points:

Unlike other platforms, there is no advertising space
- There is no space for advertisements on the interface, so there is more focus on creating quality content than clickbait that gains page views
Mechanism to prevent bashing, harassment, etc.
- Pop-up checks upon negative comment submissions as well as human monitoring of the platform to reduce negativity
No ranking
- Unlike other blogs, note’s UI/UX allows for a variety of content to be seen rather than mainly pushing blogs by popular accounts
There is a Pro plan for corporate use

Corporate use is currently growing and there are more than 12,000 business accounts on note.

The Pro plan offers services to help businesses with strategy and to help them continue to operate their blog. It also gives them features such as scheduled posting, comment moderation, and lets them create an original design for their blog. The Pro plan is available from 50,000 yen per month.

What kind of content is on note?

Much of the content on note are high in quality and users expect this as well. Companies use note to communicate their brand's thoughts and philosophies. Because of this, it may not be suitable for brands that want to communicate using a lot of visuals or companies that simply want to send out a lot of light content.

KIRIN, a major beverage manufacturer in Japan, publishes a variety of content on its note blog, including behind-the-scenes articles on the development and production of products such as beer and tea. They also publish articles that convey the thoughts of its employees, and have launched an engagement campaign to solicit essays from the public related to their drinking culture and the beverages they consume.

Ameba

A gathering of famous people and mama celebs.

Ameblo, or Ameba Blog, is operated by CyberAgent, a major advertising agency in Japan. It began in 2004.

Ameba Blog at a glance:

22 million MAU as of January 2021
The largest user group is women in their 30s to 50s
Heavy focus on life-blogging related to parenting, fashion, recipes, beauty, and household finances

Key points:

Recommended for brands related to women's lifestyle, such as housewives, and other women in their 30s and older
Free service designed for personal use, so there’s not much customizability
Recommended for personal brands rather than large corporate brands

Ameba Blog has a ranking page highlighting popular content. The top blogs featured are often by celebrities and entertainers.

What kind of content is on Ameba Blog?

Although there aren’t many companies using Ameba Blog, if one wants to communicate with the child-rearing generation frequently using Ameba, or if there’s a clear strategy such as having the company president communicate on behalf of their company, for example, it may be a platform worth considering.

For example, this is the Ameba Blog of the representative of GAIA, a financial planning corporation. There are many entries related to his work life, personal life, and hobbies. On the top page, you can find information about books he has written and seminars he has done.

Hatena Blog

Where people such as engineers stand out.

Hatena Blog began with a beta launch in 2011. It is operated by Hatena Corporation, an Internet content company.

Hatena Blog at a glance:

11.38 million Hatena members (as of July 2022, including members of related services other than blogs)
The largest user group is men in their 30s
Engineers account for 26% of the total user base, and many of them are technical interests

Key points:

-Separate plans are available for companies, allowing them to acquire their own domain name and customize CSS
Recommended for corporate engineering content, etc.
Easy to use, even for individuals, with low operational hurdles

What kind of content is on Hatena Blog?

Personal blogs related to hobbies, lifestyle, etc. are prominent on Hatena Blog.

In addition, since Hatena Corporation has been providing Internet services since the early days of the Internet, many men with strong Internet skills use the site, such as those who have a high affinity with 2channel.

This is a technical blog operated by employees of the real estate information service company LIFULL Corporation for the purpose of sharing information. The company shares tried-and-true technologies and connects them to recruitment activities, particularly for engineers.

The key is whether or not you want to make connections within that platform.

You can truly take advantage of the platform you use only if you maintain a certain amount of communication, such as exchanging comments and participating in the community.

Like other social platforms, the big advantage with going this route is that there’s a potential audience already there.

When opening a media page within your own website, the major benefit is that you can customize the design, tag placement, etc. and increase the number of visitors to other pages of the website more smoothly since they’re already there.

The high degree of freedom, however, also means that there are many things to consider, and the hurdles to getting started and then operate are often cited as challenges.

Feel free to contact us if you’d like to learn more.

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