# How to crack open the Japanese market (Part I: KWO)

- Link: https://phiture.com/asostack/how-to-crack-open-the-japanese-market-part-i-kwo-462bce02d69b/
- Published: 2020-04-21T11:11:51+01:00
- Author: Adzsa Hatano

#### What is the best way to undertake keyword research and explore all written keywords in Japanese?󠀁[⌊How to crack open the Japanese market (Part I- KWO) ⌉](https://www.linkedin.com/in/adzsa-hatano-2019/)󠁿

#### 󠀁[_Adzsa Hatano_](https://www.linkedin.com/in/adzsa-hatano-2019/)󠁿_ is an ASO Specialist at Phiture and she helps companies to optimize the visibility and conversion of their apps in both the App Store and Play Store through Apple Search Ads, CRO experimentation, and keyword optimization processes._

It is no news for marketers that localization will increase your product’s visibility
and conversion. There are a number of inspiring case studies about what has brought
successful results, and, in terms of ASO, it often lies down to metadata and creative
assets. Beyond language skills in the targeting market, it requires a deep understanding
of culture, trends, preferences and more in order to properly localize your assets
and see positive results.

[ASO Stack Slack Group](https://asostack.com/aso-stack-slack-group-3757fc2aff0f),
where over 2,500 ASO practitioners help each other by sharing knowledge and advice,
has 22 public channels (as of 20 April 2020) to discuss related topics in channels
such as _#appstore_, _#playstore_, _#in-app-purchases_. Topics related to localization
are discussed in the relevant channels, such as how keywords in a language with 
accents are indexed in the App Store/ Play Store, for instance. But reflecting the
increased demand for one market, the ASO Stack Slack moderator launched a channel
dedicated to the market a few months back, which is _#aso-japan_.

While it is true that every country/region has distinctive cultures and traditions,
Japan is often named as one of the most unique countries. It might feel like an 
impossible nut to crack when encountering complexities of language and user behaviors
there. But as it is the third biggest market on the App Store, following China and
the United States, it would be foolish to miss out on opportunities there.

If anyone is hesitant about starting ASO in Japan, or you’re interested in improving
your ASO strategy, I would like to share my learnings from multiple projects that
I have been involved in over the last two years. I will publish a series of articles
focusing on 1) increasing visibility and 2) increasing conversion.

**_The Japanese language uses three writing systems._**

It is already well known that three types of writing systems are used in Japan, 
namely _Hiragana_, _Katakana,_ and _Kanji_. In most cases, _Katakana_ is used for
transcription of foreign-language words into Japanese, and these three characters
get mixed together in Japanese sentences. _Hiragana_ and _Katakana_ have 46 characters,
respectively and _Kanji_ has _X thousands_ of characters. According to the Ministry
of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, you are supposed to acquire
2,136 Kanji characters by the end of the nine years of Japanese compulsory education,
and you will obtain more _Kanji_ in higher education. The older you get, the more
_Kanji_ you can manipulate. In general, an adult would know 3,000–6,000 _Kanji_ 
characters.

⌊the number of kanjis learnt during the 9 years of the japanese compulsory education⌉⌊
the number of kanjis learnt during the 9 years of the japanese compulsory education⌉

_Example:_

_“It is very sunny today” in i. formal writing and ii. lower educational writing(
around 6–7 years old). The pronunciations remain the same between two variants._

 1. _ 今日は晴れです。_
 2. _ きょうははれです_。

**_How can we collect all types of written formats in Japanese language?_**

I know this might already have put you off starting a localization project in Japanese.
However, this actually gives you a lot more opportunities to be able to rank with
high volume keywords. In order to ensure you are on the right track for keyword 
optimization, we can use a step-by-step framework called the _Keyword Optimization(
KWO) Cycle_. It outlines four stages:_ Research, Propritise, Target and Measure_.(
For the details of the _KWO Cycle_, please read ASO Keyword Optimization in Practice:
[Part 1](https://asostack.com/aso-keyword-optimization-in-practice-part-1-e43e8eb9a6f)
and [Part 2](https://asostack.com/aso-keyword-optimization-in-practice-part-2-504ccc15b531).)

![the keyword optimization cycle](https://phiture.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/
the-keyword-optimization-cycle-min.png)

In this article, Research and a small part of Prioritization/ Targeting will be 
covered in order to help the ASO practitioners who are struggling to find keywords
in all three characters as well as using them in their assets.

**_1.How to do keyword research in Japanese?_**

If we want to translate languages from one to another, I bet you would use translation
tools such as Google Translate. With Google Translate, we would encounter several
options with frequency measures. In the case of “_photo_” in English keywords, we
have two words with high frequency. Congratulations, you have already found two 
versions for one English word!

⌊translate photo in google translate JAPANESE⌉⌊translate photo in google translate
JAPANESE⌉

_Example: Translate “photo” in the Google Translate_

But as a Japanese speaker, I have actually come up with five types of writing formats
in my mind. The pronunciation [sha-shi-n] with three variants (_Hiragana, Katakana
and Kanji_) as well as [fo-to] with two variants (_Hiragana and Katakana_). As you
can see below, the term [sha-shi-n] in _Kanji_ is generated from the translation
of “photo”, and it can be converted to _Hiragana_ and _Katakana_, respectively. 
The terms [fo-to] in _Hiragana_ and _Katakana_, on the other hand, are directly 
converted from the “photo”. I will refer to keywords that are shown in the Google
Translation as “formal” and keywords that are not as “informal” to make the explanation
simpler.

⌊5 types of writing formats in keyword photo⌉⌊5 types of writing formats in keyword
photo⌉

_5 types of writing formats in the keyword “photo”._

As a side note, the variations of the writing format vary from keyword to keyword,
with there being two to five different equivalents. Here are two examples with “
blur” and “pen”.

⌊4 types of writing formats in the keyword “blur” and 2 types in the keyword “pen”⌉⌊
4 types of writing formats in the keyword “blur” and 2 types in the keyword “pen”⌉

_4 types of writing formats in the keyword “blur” and 2 types in the keyword “pen”._

 2. **_ Which keywords should be visible?_**

Let’s assume that you successfully make a list of keywords, and you add these keywords
to ASO tools to pull data on volume. Whilst formal keywords (that are shown in Google
Translate) have relatively high Search Popularity, the other two informal keywords
are also popular keywords. This clearly shows that it is very important to conduct
proper keyword research, in order not to miss your core keywords in all written 
types.

![search populairty of photo keywords ](https://phiture.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/
04/search-populairty-of-photo-keywords-min.png)

You are wondering why informal keywords “photo” in _Hiragana _have relatively high
Search Popularity. This relates to how users would type keywords in Japanese. There
are two Japanese keyboards: _Japanese — Romaji_ and _Japanese — Kana_.

With the _Japanese-Romaji_, users type keywords with romanised Japanese language,
which are converted into _Hiragana_, and then users select character types or suggested
words/sentences. On the other hand, with the Japanese-Kana, users directly type 
with _Hiragana_ and then select character types or suggested words/sentences. So
we can consider that _Hiragana_ is the typing character, and users are too lazy 
to convert keywords in _Hiragana_ into formally written keywords. This is why _Hiragana_
written keywords (informal) have relatively high Search Popularity.

⌊japanese keywords⌉⌊japanese keywords⌉

_Type “写真加工” (photo editor) in 2 types of Japanese keyboards._

However, you would find it impossible to include all of these keywords in your metadata
since the spaces are limited. On the App Store, for instance, your app is only able
to have 160 characters in total (title: 30, subtitle:30, keyword set: 100) to be
indexed. It is necessary to select certain keywords, based on keywords you would
prioritize with considering long-tailed keywords and volume.

If your app is not an app for children, I highly recommend placing keywords that
are written _formally_ in the visible assets and informally in the invisible asset,
regardless of volume data. **In other words, keywords that are relevant and appear
in the translation tools would be included in the title and subtitle, whilst keywords
that are relevant but ****_do not appear_**** in the translation tools in the keyword
set. **It is simply because formally written keywords are more common to see in 
real life, so users would be able to understand words at a glance and find your 
apps trustworthy.

**_Ok, so where should I start?_**

So now you understand how important it is to consider targeting three Japanese characters
in your app’s metadata, but you must be wondering where to start.

Unfortunately, we must recognize that tools to simplify these processes are very
limited. I would recommend using [Hiragana API from goo lab](https://labs.goo.ne.jp/api/jp/hiragana-translation/),
which allows you to find Hiragana and Katakana written keywords in spreadsheets.

Once you have the ID, you run the script on your spreadsheet, and then you can convert
characters with _=Hiragana()_ and _=Katakana()_ functions. Here is an example how
I would do with using _=GOOGLETRANSLATE() _function.

As I mentioned earlier, you will see a few duplications in a keyword (e.g. B6 & 
C6, and B9, D9 & F9 and C9 & E6), and at the end there are two to five unique keywords.
Keywords that should be used in visible assets are keywords generated from _=GOOGLETRANSLATE(
English keywords)_ and _=KATAKANA(English keyword)_ functions, which are highlighted
with green, but of course, you should better target keywords without the highlight
in your invisible assets if it has high volume.

⌊using hiragana API⌉⌊using hiragana API⌉

_An example of using Hiragana API._

**_Summary_**

 1. The Japanese language uses three characters: _Hiragana_, _Katakana_ and _Kanji_,
    and it is important to explore a keyword in all possible writing characters in 
    order to increase visibility.
 2.  Japanese users often search with _Hiragana_ because it is a typing character. 
    Hiragana written keywords are sometimes formal and informal.
 3.  However, it is always the best to use formally written keywords in visible assets,
    and informally written keywords in invisible assets, to showcase the quality of
    your app.

I hope you will find this article useful! Try out these methods to increase your
visibility and feel free to join our ASO Stack Slack Community.