Your product is fine. The paperwork is what comes back.

JapanDesk is a working reference for people outside Japan who sell to Japanese customers: what the other side checks, why they stop, and the document that gets it through. Written in English. Templates in both languages.

Where did it stop?

• They sent my invoice back
• They will not pay by card, only by bank transfer
• I have no Japanese bank account and the payment arrived short
• My Japanese pricing page gets traffic and no sign-ups
• They are asking for a 注文請書 and I do not know what that is
• They want a hanko (印鑑) on a PDF — guide in progress
• They asked for my registration number and I do not have one
• My app store payout stopped matching my price — guide in progress

Not on the list? Send us the document and we tell you what their side will stop on.

Start here

• I sell software or services to Japanese companies

  The order a Japanese B2B deal happens in, the documents each stage needs, and where an overseas seller gets stopped.

• I publish apps or games in Japan

  What changes for an app or game developer when Japan becomes a real market — tax on store revenue, withholding, store disclosures and Japanese-language listings.

• I sell physical goods on Amazon.co.jp

  Importing into Japan as an overseas seller — who acts as importer of record, what an attorney for customs procedures does, and the documents customs reads.

Before you send that invoice

Three questions the buyer's back office asks first. Get one wrong and payment slips a month.

• 01

  Does the invoice carry a registration number?

  Without one, the buyer’s accounting team may not be able to take the input tax credit. That is the most common reason paperwork comes back.

  Read the guide →

• 02

  Is the amount tax-inclusive or tax-exclusive, and does it say so?

  A figure with no tax line gets queried before it gets paid, and a consumer-facing price has its own display rules.

  Read the guide →

• 03

  Did you state the payment terms and who pays the transfer fee?

  Most Japanese buyers settle by bank transfer on a monthly cycle. If you did not name a cycle, theirs applies.

  Read the guide →

• 04

  Not sure which of these applies to your document?

  Send it before it goes to the buyer. We mark every point their back office is likely to stop on and send it back within two business days.

  What a review covers →

Guides by topic

Tools

• Price Page Checker

  Twelve things a Japanese buyer looks for on a pricing page. Score yours in two minutes.

An invoice builder and an app-store price calculator are next. See the list.

Kits

• Japan B2B Paperwork Kit

  Twelve bilingual documents for selling to a Japanese company — quote, purchase order, delivery note, qualified invoice, payment terms, reminders and the glossary that decodes them.

  In progress — get notified

Need a second pair of eyes?

Send a quote, invoice or pricing page before it goes to a Japanese buyer. We mark up what their side will stop on and send it back within two business days. We do not give tax rulings, legal advice or visa help.

What a review covers

Who writes this

A sole proprietor in Japan who files the same paperwork this site describes, working with a drafting and checking pipeline that reads the primary sources. Every guide names the documents it was checked against and the date they were read.

How guides are made, and what we do not do →

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