For companies with .com domain names, it is common for the Japanese part of the website to reside in a directory, such as www.example.com/ja/
For businesses without a .com domain, acquiring a Japanese web domain for your Japanese website can help build your online presence in Japan and establish trust among Japanese users.
The two most popular domains are as follows
.co.jp – required the registration of a company in Japan
.jp – can be registered anywhere
While the most popular and trusted domain for Japanese companies is .co.jp, it is limited to companies which are registered in Japan, and what’s more only 1 domain can be acquired per company.
Companies which are planning on establishing a Japanese entity within the next 6 months are able secure a .co.jp domain name here.
For companies who are not considering registering as a Japanese company, the best alternative is to establish a .jp domain. These domains can be registered with many domain name providers such as GoDaddy, Domain.com and JP Domains.
More information on what entities can accrue which domains is available here.
