This presentation (August, 2012) provides a great overview of the Japanese social media and internet landscape.

1. Japanese Social Media
Fast Facts
August 2012

2. [Fast Facts
[ Japan is the 4th largest population of Internet users in the world .
Throughout the years, Internet penetration has been increasing.
Currently, 80% of the population uses the Internet. The penetration rate
of social media in Japan is 19% . Twitter is an example of a popular
social media platform in Japan. Mixi surprisingly falls out of the top 10,
notching only 15% of the SNS users while Ameblo and Livedoor reach
more than 30% of users. Even Hatena has nearly 20% .
Japan accounts for the 3rd most bloggers in the world with 4.9%. It
seems that blogging is part of the Japanese culture as Japanese
bloggers make more than 1,000,000 blog posts each month!
1
Source:
Wikipedia
[ Fast Facts

3. [Fast Facts
[With nearly 100,000,000 internet users out of a country of
126,000,000, internet usage is at 80% in Japan having one of the
highest rates of internet penetration in the world.
2
Source:
James
Lawrence
-­‐
Search
Engine
Market
Share
[ Fast Facts

4. [3G Fast Facts
[Entering 2011, Japan had over 35 million broadband lines in place,
making it the third largest broadband country in the world after the US
and China. Much of the success of broadband in Japan is owed to the
stunning growth surge that occurred back in 2003 on the back of DSL
broadband technology.
3
Source:
www.budde.com.au/Research/Japan-­‐Broadband-­‐Market-­‐Overview-­‐StaBsBcs-­‐and-­‐Forecasts.html
[3G Fast Facts

5. Social Media and Search Facts

6. [Social Media Facts
[What is the Social Media landscape in Japan
4 [ Social Media Facts

7. [Social Media Facts
[ As of April 2011, Mixi ranks as the most popular social network site with
over 23 million subscribers and 80% of the social media market share
Social network users in Japan, 2011-2014:
- 2011: 39.5 million
- 2012: 44.7 million
- 2013: 47.8 million
- 2014: 50.7 million
5
Source:
www.newmediatrendwatch.com/markets-­‐by-­‐country/11-­‐long-­‐haul/54-­‐japan
[Social Media Facts

8. [Facebook Facts
[ The 2 major SNS Platforms in Japan are racing to take the leadership
position.
Facebook users in Japan, 2011-2014: Mixi ranks as the most popular
- 2011: 7.6 million (+61.6%) social network site with over 23
- 2012: 11.5 million (+51.5%) million subscribers and 80% of
- 2013: 16.5 million (+43.0%) the social media market share
- 2014: 19.5 million (+18.7%)
6
Source:
What
Japan
Thinks
[ Facebook Facts

9. [Video Sharing Facts
[ Video sharing is very popular in Japan on both web and mobile
platforms. This is highlighted as Japan ranked second in the Asia
Pacific region with 60.4 million viewers and posted the strongest user
engagement with an average of more than 12.5 hours of video viewing
per viewer.
Note: Nico Nico Douga (“smiling videos”), Japan's largest home-grown video sharing platform, is only
available in Japanese and is widely used to watch Anime and Manga.
7 [ Video Sharing Facts
Source:
www.forrester.com/rb/Research/global_online_populaBon_forecast%2C_2009_to_2014/q/id/57427/t/2

10. [Blog Facts
[ mobile phones. Unlike many of their Western counterparts, many
By some estimates, as much as 40% of Japanese blogging is done on
bloggers in Japan shy away from politics, controversy, and barbed
language. Compared with Americans, they write at less length, they write
anonymously, and they write a whole lot more often.
Top 10 blogging platforms:
1. FC2 Inc.
2. Livedoor-Blog
3. Ameblo.jp
4. Seesaa
5. Yahoo! Blogs
6. Cocolog-nifty.com
7. Hatena-Diary
8. Blogger
8
9. Goo Blog
10. JUGEM
Source:
hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_2010_EN_Table1.pdf
[ Blog Facts

11. [Microblogging Facts
[ Twitter was launched in 2006 and has been embraced far more rapidly
by the Japanese mainstream as compared to the likes of Facebook,
MySpace, and eBay. According to studies, 16.3 percent of Japanese
web users tweet, as opposed to just 9.8 percent in the U.S. . Japan
moved 3 places from 6th in 2010 to becoming the 3rd in the world for
total Twitter usage in 2012 . On Dec 14th, Twitter confirmed that
Japanese users had once again recorded the highest number of tweets
per second. The proportion of tweets emanating from Japan in April
2011 was 25% in the world .
9
Source:
Wikipedia
[ Microblogging Facts

12. [Instant Messenger Facts
[ Japan.internet.com's study highlights the decreasing popularity of
online instant messaging in Japan, which can be attributed to the shift
towards mobile instant messaging.
The two most used services are:
• Windows live messenger/ MSN messenger Japan
• Yahoo! Japan Messenger
10
Source:
whatjapanthinks.com/2008/10/22/instant-­‐messaging-­‐surprisingly-­‐unpopular-­‐in-­‐japan/#more-­‐1332
[ IM Facts

13. [ Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) / Forums Facts
[ 2ch (pronounced "ni-channel) opened by Hiroyuki Nishimura in 1999,
is one of the largest Internet forums in the world (largest in Japan). It
is one of the most distinguishing features of 2ch is the complete
freedom given to anonymous posting. This is a rare feature as almost
all other internet forums require some form of registration, usually
coupled with email verification for further identification of an
individual.
Other Unique Features:
• Anonymous posting
• Free speech and derogative language
• Affinity towards conservative politics
• Sexually explicit context and expressions
11
Source:
www.chemistrydaily.com/chemistry/2ch
[ BBS Facts

14. [Search Engine Facts
[Search Engine Watch reported at the beginning of 2011 that Yahoo held
around 56% market share in Japan with Google holding around 31% and
Rakuten around 2.3%. Baidu, the dominant player in China has made a
push into Japan but has yet to secure any noticeable share.
12 [Search Engine Facts
Source:
www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2009/3/Japan_Search_Engine_Rankings/(language)/eng-­‐US

15. E-commerce Facts

16. [E-commerce Facts
[ Nearly all Japanese Internet users shop online - the country has an online
shopping penetration rate of 97%.
More so than anyone else in Asia, the Japanese prefer paying for goods
online with their credit cards over any other form of payment method, with
70% of them saying that was the case.
Online shopping is the second most favored online activity in Japan, after
email.
13
Source:
www.ecomzen.com/2010/06/outlook-­‐on-­‐asia-­‐pacifics-­‐e-­‐commerce.html
[ E-commerce Facts

17. [E-commerce Facts
[ Online retailing has a stronger presence in Japan than elsewhere in the
region with 73.7% reach. They are also one of the region's top spenders
on online overseas products, with Japanese internet users spending on
average US$1,827 on international shopping sites.
14
Source:
www.emarketer.com
[ E-commerce Facts

18. [E-commerce Facts
[ Top 5 Online Retail Subcategories in Japan:
1. Comparison Shopping (57.6% reach)
2. Books (41% reach)
3. Computer Hardware (23.6% reach)
4. Apparel (19.6% reach)
5. Retail Food (15.2% reach)
15
Source:
Wikipedia
[ E-commerce Facts

19. [E-commerce Facts
[ Leading Japanese eCommerce Companies
16
Source:
Doubleclick
Nov,
2011
[ E-commerce Facts

20. Mobile Facts

21. [Mobile Facts
[There were 11 million mobile handset subscribers in Japanese by the
end of 2011. This represents an increase of 13.6% from June 2011. Of
these, 2.2 million (20%) were dedicated data subscriptions and 8.8
million (80%) were all other active standard mobile subscriptions.
17 [ Mobile Facts

22. [SNS Facts
[Japan Development of 3G market:accessed solely from Mobile
75% of Social Networking Sites
Top 3 used SNS features: Checking inbox, playing games and reading a
friend's blog
SNS usage skewed toward females
SNS usage behind Apps/Games, Ringtones and Screen Customization
SNS usage skewed toward females
SNS usage behind Apps/Games, Ringtones and Screen Customization
18 [ SNS Facts
Source:
www.reportlinker.com/report/best/keywords/Japan?utm_source=adwords2&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Country&gclid=CISHvuXZ17ECFXF14god7EUAuQ

23. [Mobile Facts
[In Japan, Online mobile phone activity shows has a bias towards
micro-blogging and blogging.
19
Source:
www.emarketer.com
[ Mobile Facts

24. [Mobile Facts
[Google Vs Apple Platforms. The Japanese data suggests that Android
platforms are continuing to outpace the iPhone platform in Japan
20 [ Mobile Facts
Source:
www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2011/6/Google_Android_Leads_AcceleraBon_in_Smartphone_AdopBon_in_Japan

25. [Mobile Facts
[ According to a survey by Net Asia (Japanese) in January of this year
57.5% of mobile users have experience shopping online via their phones.
There is certainly still room for growth but the experience is not novel to the
smartphone. Also, according to comScore (Japanese), by the end of fiscal
2010, there were just shy of 10 million smartphones in Japan. If the year-on-
year 230 billion yen
21
Source:
Net Asia
[ Mobile Facts

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