Japan

There were 99,182,000 internet users in Japan (representing 78.4% of the population) in June 2011, according to Internet World Stats. This represented 10.6% of the Asian population. (Internet World Stats, August 2011)

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95.7 million people will use the internet in Japan by 2013, according to eMarketer. This would be up from 92.3 million in 2009.

Internet users in Japan 2008-2013:
- 2008: 90.7 million
- 2009: 92.3 million
- 2010: 93.4 million
- 2011: 94.2 million
- 2012: 95.0 million
- 2013: 95.7 million

(eMarketer, May 2009)

eCommerce

Hunting out the best deals is truly a global activity. In April 2011, Groupon reached more than 1 million unique visitors (age 15+ home/work location) in 12 markets across the globe. The US saw the largest audience reaching 10.4 million visitors, but Japan and Taiwan made the list of the top ten largest markets for Groupon reaching nearly 1.6 and 1.2 million visitors, respectively.

Top ten markets by total unique visitors to Groupon (age 15+ home/work location):
1.  United States: 10,414,000
2. France: 3,619,000
3. Brazil: 2,501,000
4. United Kingdom: 2,351,000
5. Poland: 2,256,000
6. Germany: 1,846,000
7. Japan: 1,581,000
8. Canada: 1,407,000
9. Italy: 1,263,000
10. Taiwan: 1,192,000

(comScore Data Mine, June 2011)

 

Mobile Commerce

Japan shows potential for mobile commerce, according to Morgan Stanley. 19% (and rising) of Rakuten's online commerce revenue in 4^th quarter of 2009 derived from mobile.  Rakuten Ichiba is Japan's leading eCommerce company (eCommerce revenue excludes travel, includes books and auctions).

% mobile share of total Rakuten's online commerce revenue, 2004-2009:
- 2004: 4%
- 2005: 7%
- 2006: 10%
- 2007: 14%
- 2008: 16%
- 2009: 18%

(Morgan Stanley Internet Trends Presentation at CM Summit - New York City on SlideShare, June 2010)

Males made up the majority of the smartphone owners in Japan at 61.5% of the total audience in October 2011, while those under the age of 35 accounted for more than half of all smartphone owners, according to comScore. 

Male smartphone owners(61.5%) in Japan represented nearly 9 million users in October 2011. Females made up the remaining 38.5% of the audience or 5.6 million users.

Half (51.8%) of smartphone owners are under the age of 35, with those age 25-34making up the largest proportion at 25.6% of the smartphone audience (3.7 million people).

The Kanto/Koushinestu region was home to the largest percentage of smartphone owners in Japan at 39.7% or nearly 5.8 million people. The Kansai region was home to 19.6% of smartphone owners in October, followed by Chubu (13.8%) and Kyushu (11.8%). (comScore, December 2011)

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An estimated 94% of the population (aged between 16 and 59 years old) in Japan owns a cellphone, according to research by Netratings. In addition, more than half of internet users in the country also go online through their mobile phones.

Despite an obvious affinity for mobile devices in the country, smartphone uptake in Japan has lagged compared to other parts of the world until very recently. Now that iPhones, BlackBerrys and Android handsets are taking off, companies in the country are increasingly using the platform to reach out to their consumers. (nielsenwire, November 2011)

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Japanese users are continuing to adopt smartphone devices, with Apple and Google platforms seeing significant increases in subscribers, according to comScore Japan KK.

Compared to other mobile markets such as the US and Europe, smartphone adoption (defined as those phones that use the Microsoft, Google, Apple, Symbian or Palm platforms) has remained relatively low in Japan. Recently, carriers and operating systems have made the push into Japan to introduce smartphones into this sophisticated mobile market. Analysis of smartphone adoption during December 2010 revealed that 7 million mobile users in Japan (7% of the total mobile market) are smartphone owners, an increase of 33.5% from September 2010 when comScore first introduced its MobiLens service into Japan. Many smartphones in Japan have advanced capabilities such as mobile wallet, 1seg TV and waterproof features, all of which encourage current feature phone users to switch to smartphone devices.

Smartphone and non-smartphone usage in Japan, December 2010 (Total Japan mobile audience Age 13+):
TOTAL MOBILE AUDIENCE: 100,900,000
- Non-smartphone users: 93,925,000 (93.1% of total mobile audience)
- Smartphone users: 6,975,000 (6.9%)

When looking at smartphone platform adoption in Japan, the study found that Apple and Google account for the largest number of smartphone users. In December 2010, 3.8 million smartphone subscribers used Apple devices, up 48% from June 2010. Google Android devices witnessed a surge in users growing to more than 2 million in December 2010, up from just 435,000 users in June. (comScore, February 2011)

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Japan is home to one of the most advanced mobile markets in the world, with sophisticated consumers who use their mobile devices for a wide array of activities, according to comScore vice president for Japan.

In June 2010, nearly 60 million mobile users in Japan accessed the browser on their mobile device, equating to 59.3% of the entire mobile audience, while more than 42.6 million users accessed a mobile application (42.3%).

More than half of mobile users in Japan (54%) accessed email on their mobile device, with more than a third accessing weather information (34.1%) and search (33%). News (20.9%) and sports information (20.8%) were also among the more popular activities, while 17% of the mobile population visited social networking sites or blogs. Other popular mobile behaviors include taking photos (63.0%), sending text messages (40.1%), watching TV and/or video (22.0%), playing games (16.3%) and listening to music (12.5%).

Selected mobile behaviours in Japan, June 2010 (total Japan mobile audience age 13+):
TOTAL AUDIENCE (13 years old and older): 100,900,000
- Took photos: 63,560,000 (63.0%)
- Used browser: 59,848,000 (59.3%)
- Used email (work or personal): 54,513,000 (54.0%)
- Used application: 42,671,000 (42.3%)
- Send text message: 40,496,000 (40.1%)
- Accessed weather: 34,369,000 (34.1%)
- Accessed search: 33,312,000 (33.0%)
- Watched TV and/or video on mobile phone: 22,200,000 (22.0%)
- Accessed news: 21,042,000 (20.9%)
- Accessed sports information: 20,959,000 (20.8%)
- Accessed entertainment news: 17,902,000 (17.7%)
- Accessed social networking site or blog: 17,173,000 (17.0%)
- Played games: 16,397,000 (16.3%)
- Accessed financial news or stock quotes: 16,233,000 (16.1%)
- Accessed maps: 15,806,000 (15.7%)
- Accessed traffic reports: 12,694,000 (12.6%)
- Listened to music on mobile phone: 12,662,000 (12.5%)
- Accessed tech news: 8,935,000 (8.9%)
- Accessed restaurant information: 8,468,000 (8.4%)
- Accessed bank accounts: 8,089,000 (8.0%)

(comScore, September 2010)

UGC and social media

More than 80% (or 59 million) of the entire online population in Japan visited a blog site in June 2011, as the number of visitors to the category rose 7% from the previous year, according to comScore Japan KK.

FC2 inc. led as the top blog destination with an audience of more than 46.7 million, followed by Livedoor - Blog and Ameblo.jp.

Blogs play a central role in Japan's internet culture, according to Daizo Nishitani, President of comScore Japan KK. Blogging has historically been a popular internet activity, as the opportunity to interact anonymously appealed to many online users. Beyond the wide reach of the blog category in Japan, visitors are also highly engaged on these sites - spending more time on blogs per month than any other country globally.

Global analysis of the Blog category revealed that Japan led all markets in blog engagement, with the average visitor in Japan spending more than an hour (62.6 minutes) visiting blogs in June. South Korea ranked second with an average of 49.6 minutes on blog sites, followed by Poland at 47.7 minutes.

Japan was also among the top markets for Blog category penetration with 80.5% of its online population visiting blogs in June. Taiwan ranked highest globally with 85.5% of its online population visiting blogs, followed by Brazil (85.2% reach), South Korea (84.9% reach) and Turkey (81.9% reach). (comScore, August 2011)

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More than 9.7 million people owned smartphones in Japan in March 2011, an increase of 71% from September 2010, as smartphone adoption has continued to accelerate in Japan, according to comScore.  The surge in smartphone adoption during the past six months has been led by Android devices, which has increased its installed base by nearly 3.8 million users while the market as a whole has grown by 4.1 million users.

Google Android led as the top smartphone platform in March 2011 with 4.6 million subscribers, more than doubling in just the past three months. Despite giving up its #1 position, Apple still grew 17% in the past six months to 3.9 million mobile subscribers. The two leading platforms accounted for 87% of the smartphone market in Japan. (comScore, June 2011)

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Social networking site Twitter grew its unique audience in Japan by a whopping 428% in the 12 months ending September 2010, and will likely end the year as the most popular social networking site in the country, according to comScore.

The site attracted 13.2 million unique users in September, closely following rival site Mixi.jp which saw 13.5 million visitors but has seen its growth plateau since March. Given its strong growth, it appears Twitter will therefore overtake Mixi by December at the latest.

Despite its dominance in the social networking space in the US and the UK, Facebook continues to attract a fraction of the Japanese audience achieved by Mixi and Twitter. It has enjoyed growth, though, increasing its user base by 78% during the year ending September, reaching 5.3 million unique visitors, according to comScore. (ClickZ, November 2010)