Japanese PR pricing is famously opaque — most agencies quote only after meetings, in Japanese. Here are the real numbers, so you can budget before you talk to anyone (including us).
The four ways to buy PR in Japan
| Option | Typical cost | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY on a Japanese platform | from ~¥30,000 / release | Companies with a native Japanese writer in-house | Japanese-language requirement; account setup for overseas entities; a badly written release wastes the fee |
| Translation-only + DIY | ¥15,000–50,000 translation + platform fee | Honestly: almost no one | Translated releases read foreign and get skipped — the cheapest option that reliably fails |
| Traditional Japanese agency retainer | ¥300,000–1,000,000+ / month, often 6–12 month minimum | Established Japan subsidiaries with ongoing news flow | Overkill for market entry; most agencies work primarily in Japanese; slow onboarding |
| Fixed-price market-entry service | ≈€1,500 per release; ≈€3,900 with Japanese landing page + media kit | Foreign brands testing or entering the market | Scope is fixed — big ongoing programs eventually justify a retainer |
Where foreign brands overspend
- Paying a retainer to test the market. A 6-month ¥500,000/month commitment (¥3,000,000) to find out whether Japan responds to your product — when one properly executed release plus a Japanese landing page answers the same question for under €4,000.
- Translation instead of native writing. The ¥30,000 you "save" costs you the entire distribution's effect. See our format guide for why translated releases get filtered instantly.
- Japanese landing pages from domestic production houses. Quotes of ¥300,000–800,000 for a single page are normal in Japan's web industry. Good work, but heavy for a market test.
- Skipping the media kit. ¥0 spent here silently caps your coverage: an interested journalist lands on an English-only site and moves on. A Japanese media kit is the cheapest coverage multiplier there is.
What we charge (since transparency is the point)
Fixed prices, published: Launch Release €1,500 (native writing + account setup + distribution + English report) · Japanese LP €2,500 (hosting included) · Market Entry Pack €3,900 (both, plus media kit and Japanese SNS launch posts) · Retainer €2,000/month only if you have monthly news flow — we'll tell you honestly if you don't need it. Full details on the packages page.
Get an exact number for your launch
Tell us what you're launching — you'll have a concrete scope, price and timeline within two business days. No meetings required, no retainer pitch.
Get your Japan launch plan →Frequently asked questions
How much does one press release in Japan cost?
Platform fee from ~¥30,000; professionally handled end-to-end, roughly €1,000–2,500 including native writing, setup, distribution and reporting.
How much are Japanese agency retainers?
Typically ¥300,000–1,000,000+ per month with 6–12 month minimums — built for established subsidiaries, not market entry.
Can I just translate my English release to save money?
It's the most expensive cheap option: the release reads foreign, journalists skip it, and the distribution fee is wasted. Native rewriting is what makes distribution worth paying for.
What does a complete Japan launch cost?
As a reference, release + Japanese landing page + media kit runs about €3,900 fixed — versus a retainer plus ¥300,000–800,000 domestic web-production quotes.