Insights · Domains for Japan
Do you need a .co.jp domain to be found in Japan? What the registry allows, and what search actually rewards
Somewhere in every Japan launch plan is a line that says "get a .co.jp domain". Sometimes it is right. Often it is a registrar's product page repeating itself. The rules are short, they are public, and they are stricter than the sales copy suggests.
Published 2 September 2026. Registration rules from JPRS (Japan Registry Services), the registry for .jp, confirmed 2 September 2026. Search behavior from Google Search Central documentation, confirmed the same day. SuzuLabo runs its own site on a .co.jp with an English subdirectory, so the example at the end is our own.
Who can register .co.jp, according to the registry
The .jp namespace is run by JPRS. Its English guide splits the space into three kinds of name, and only one of them is what people mean by ".co.jp":
- .co.jp is an organizational-type name. JPRS: "Companies (kaisha) having an official corporate registration in Japan. Non-Japanese companies that are registered as 'Gaikoku Kaisha' may also apply." One name per registrant.
- .jp (general-use, second level) is open to "any individual, group, or organization that has a permanent postal address in Japan".
- Prefecture-type names such as example.tokyo.jp are open to "any person or organization having a residential address in Japan".
Read the first bullet slowly. A foreign company with no Japanese entity cannot register .co.jp. A foreign company that has registered a branch as a gaikoku kaisha (a foreign company registered under Japanese company law) can. And a plain .jp needs a Japanese postal address, not a corporation. Source: JPRS, "Guide to JP Domain Name" and ".JP Q&A", confirmed 2 September 2026.
So the honest first question is not "which domain is best for SEO". It is "which domains are we eligible for at all". If you have no entity and no address in Japan, the ccTLD is off the table until you do, and the decision makes itself.
What a country-code domain does in search, and what it does not
Google's own documentation on multi-regional sites lists the country-code top-level domain as one of the signals it uses to work out a page's target audience, and describes it as a strong one: ccTLDs "are tied to a specific country" and "provide a strong signal to both users and search engines that your site is explicitly intended for a certain country".
The same page lists the trade-offs side by side, and they are worth reading in full before you decide, because the SEO argument is smaller than it looks:
Two things follow. First, a ccTLD is a targeting signal, not a ranking bonus. It tells Google "this is for Japan". It does not tell Google the page is good, and it does not carry the history, links or content of your existing domain. Second, the other structures are not penalized. Google documents subdirectories and subdomains as normal, supported ways to serve a country, with geotargeting available through hreflang and Search Console settings. The document is explicit that geotargeting "can improve your page rankings in the target country, but at the expense of results in other locales".
In practice, the ccTLD matters most when you have a Japanese entity, a Japanese team, and a Japanese site that will live its own life. It matters least when the Japanese pages are a section of a global site that a small team maintains from abroad, which describes most of the companies we talk to.
A decision that fits most foreign companies
- No Japanese entity yet. You cannot register .co.jp, so stop debating it. Put the Japanese pages in a subdirectory of your existing domain, declare them with hreflang, and set the country in Search Console if the section is for Japan only. Revisit the domain when the entity exists.
- Japanese entity exists, but the site is run from headquarters. The subdirectory still wins on effort. You can register the .co.jp to protect the name and redirect it, which is what many companies do. Moving the Japanese pages onto it is a migration project with its own risks; do it when there is a reason beyond "ccTLDs are stronger".
- Japanese entity and a Japanese team that will own the site. This is the case for .co.jp: separate content, separate contact details, a Japanese company name in the footer, and a domain that Japanese buyers recognize. The trade-off is a new domain starting from zero authority, which is the price of the strong signal.
Whichever you choose, the buyer-facing signals matter more than the string in the address bar: a Japanese company name and address where Japanese B2B readers expect them, a form that behaves the way Japanese forms behave, and content written for Japanese queries rather than translated from English ones. A .co.jp with a translated homepage behind it is still a translated homepage.
What we did with our own site
SuzuLabo is a Japanese limited liability company, so .co.jp was available to us, and suzulabo.co.jp is our main domain. When we added an English section for overseas companies in August 2026, we did not buy a second domain. The English pages live at suzulabo.co.jp/en/, with hreflang pointing between the Japanese home page and the English one, and each English page carrying its own canonical.
Two consequences we accepted with open eyes. The English pages sit on a Japanese ccTLD, which is a mild targeting signal towards Japan for pages written for readers in the United States and Europe. And the English section inherits the domain's history, which at our size is modest. In our Search Console data for August 2026, the English pages appeared in results in 54 countries, with the United States the largest by impressions, so the ccTLD did not stop them from being shown abroad. It did not make them rank well there either; that is a content and authority question, not a domain one.
The point of the example is not that our choice is right for you. It is that the choice was made on eligibility and effort, and the domain has not been the thing that decided our results in either direction.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Can a foreign company register .co.jp without a Japanese subsidiary?
Not under JPRS rules as published. The registrant must be a company with an official corporate registration in Japan, and a non-Japanese company qualifies only once it is registered in Japan as a gaikoku kaisha. A general-use .jp requires a permanent postal address in Japan. Confirmed on the JPRS English guide, 2 September 2026.
Does a .co.jp domain rank higher in Google Japan?
A ccTLD is a targeting signal, not a ranking boost. Google documents it as a strong indication of the intended country and lists trade-offs, including that the domain can only target one country. Ranking still depends on content, links and technical health.
Is a subdirectory like example.com/ja/ a disadvantage for Japan?
Google documents subdirectories as a supported structure with easy setup and low maintenance. The documented downside is that users may not recognize the country from the URL. Use hreflang and Search Console geotargeting to make the intent explicit.
Should we register the .co.jp anyway to protect the name?
If you are eligible, holding the name and redirecting it is a reasonable defensive step. Moving your Japanese pages onto it is a separate decision and a migration project.
What about Japanese-character domain names?
JPRS supports Japanese JP domain names (for example a company name in kanji followed by .jp). They are rare in B2B and need IDN-aware software on both ends. We would not choose one for a first entry.
Does the domain affect how Japanese buyers judge trust?
Less than the page does. A Japanese company name, address and contact route on the page, and a form that works the way Japanese forms work, carry more weight in our experience than the suffix. That said, a .co.jp does read as "a company registered here", which is why it belongs to the case where you actually are.
If your question is really "will our Japanese pages be found"
The domain is usually the smallest part of that answer. If you send us your site and where you are with Japan, we will reply in writing with whether a subdirectory or a separate domain fits your situation, what the Japanese pages need to carry, and a quote if implementation is needed. That reply is free.