Before arriving in Japan, international visitors search on their smartphones, and after they arrive they look for shops and facilities using "near me" searches, map apps, and, increasingly, AI assistants like ChatGPT. If your website has no English, Chinese, or Korean pages, you won't appear in search results or in AI answers. Going multilingual is an investment not in "avoiding problems once they arrive" but in "being found before they come."
Which languages to start with
According to visitor statistics from the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO), South Korea, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the United States rank at the top, while Southeast Asia (Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia) is growing. For your first three languages, the following combination is a safe choice for most industries.
| English | Visitors from not only Europe, North America, and Australia but also Southeast Asia and India search in English. Top priority. |
|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese (zh-Hans) | Mainland China. Searches often go through Baidu or social media, but having Simplified Chinese pages on your site is a prerequisite. |
| Traditional Chinese (zh-Hant) | Taiwan and Hong Kong. Provide this as a separate language version from Simplified Chinese. Many are repeat visitors, and the share of independent travelers is high. |
| Korean | Among the largest groups of visitors to Japan. Many take short weekend trips and search shortly before arriving. |
You can find out which countries your customers come from using "Searches used to find your business" in your Google Business Profile, or the geographic reports in Google Analytics. Starting with the languages of countries whose visitors already come to you is the surest approach.
Which pages to translate first
- Home page and access, hours, and prices. These are the pages visitors land on first from search results and use to decide whether to come.
- Menus, plans, and service lists. For restaurants, the menu; for accommodations, rooms and plans; for clinics, treatments offered. Also include photo captions and text within images (signs, menu images).
- Reservations and inquiries. If form field labels and buttons aren't translated, visitors will drop off here.
- FAQs and important notes. Writing up front about things people ask due to cultural differences—tattoos, cash only, removing shoes, allergy accommodations, and so on—reduces inquiries.
Blogs and news can wait. If you use a service that translates your entire site at once, you won't need to think about priorities at all.
3 settings to help you "get found"
1. Make translated pages that search engines can read
With translation widgets that merely swap text in the browser, the HTML received by Google and AI crawlers remains in Japanese, so you won't appear in English searches. Choose a method where each language has its own URL and the server returns translated HTML. For details, see How to Choose a Multilingual Tool.
2. Link it with your Google Business Profile
In industries where many customers come from map searches, the link in your Business Profile's "Website" field is important. So that people searching in English land on English pages, register either the top of your multilingual site (a page that automatically selects and routes to the right language) or your English page. Providing your hours, photos, and review replies in English also boosts effectiveness.
3. Make it readable by AI search
ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overviews generate answers by reading web pages. The conditions are that your robots.txt does not block AI crawlers, and that your prices, hours, address, and features are written as text on the page (not only in images). How to Get ChatGPT and AI Search to Read Your Website explains the specific settings.
Thinking about costs
If you hire a translation agency, costs grow with the number of languages × pages, and every time you change your menu or prices you incur additional fees. With a monthly service, costs barely change as you add languages, and updates are reflected automatically. As a guideline, ¥4,980 per month for 100 pages in 3 languages (Sotomuke Starter Plan, excluding tax) is a level you can recoup if you gain just a few more international groups a month. With a service that has no setup fee or minimum contract period, you can try it before your busy season and decide whether to continue after seeing the results.
Getting started (with Sotomuke)
- Paste your site's URL and preview the translation (free).
- Choose your languages and select a plan.
- Add a single CNAME record to your DNS,
global.〇〇.jpand publish at an address such as - Place links to each language in the footer of your Japanese site. Update the link in your Google Business Profile.
From then on, simply updating your Japanese site keeps the translated pages in sync. If any translation needs adjusting, you can edit and lock it in the dashboard.
Try it with Sotomuke
Just paste the URL of your Japanese website, and we'll create a free translated preview of your homepage. No CMS modifications or tag installation required. Publishing starts at ¥4,980 per month, with no minimum contract period.