Nihongo Search is published by Amanaut, Inc., a Japanese content and SEO company. We take two kinds of contributions: articles in English for people working on Japanese search, and sponsored features that introduce a product from outside Japan to Japanese readers on the Japanese-language sites we run.
Two ways to contribute
Write for our English readers (no fee)
For practitioners who have worked on search, content or AI visibility in Japan and have something to show for it: numbers, screenshots, a test you ran, a mistake you made. We do not pay for these articles and we do not charge for them. The editor decides what runs.
- Written by you, in English, from your own work
- Every claim has a date and a source, or is marked as your own observation
- One link to your site in your author profile. Other links point to sources
Introduce your service to Japan, in Japanese (sponsored)
For companies outside Japan with a product Japanese users can buy or use, and for the agencies that represent them. We publish a Japanese-language article about it on one of the Japanese sites we run, chosen by who the product is for. You or your agency can supply the Japanese article, or our editors write it from your materials and answers. Either way, it is written for Japanese readers, not translated from your English page.
A Japanese buyer who hears about a foreign product usually searches for it in Japanese first. If nothing in Japanese explains what it is, what it costs and who uses it, that search ends somewhere else. A feature gives the product one well-researched Japanese page that Japanese search engines and AI assistants can find and cite.
Where a feature can run:
- Business and marketing: our company media, read by people who run marketing at Japanese companies
- Books and reading: a book media for readers looking for what to read next
- Coffee, study and hobbies: coffee, coffee certifications, subscriptions and places to study
- Apps and reward points: apps that pay points for walking, shopping and everyday use
- Nihongo Search, in English, if your service is for companies marketing in Japan
Placement on sites with an Ahrefs Domain Rating of 30 or higher is available (as of October 2026). We send each site’s name, its current Domain Rating and sample articles by email, and suggest the one that fits your product. If none of them fits, we say so instead of placing the article anyway.
Agencies can send more than one client through a single contact. We edit, publish and invoice in one place.
Every sponsored article is labeled as PR.
Formats for sponsored features
- Explainer: what the product does, how it compares with what Japanese users already use, and how to start
- Interview: we send questions, you answer in writing in English, and we write the Japanese article from your answers
- Case study: how a customer uses the product, with the conditions and numbers stated
- Editorial roundup: your product included in a comparison or “best of” article that our editors plan and write
Pricing
| Plan | Price (excl. tax) | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Standard feature | JPY 40,000 per article, paid once | Review of your outline and draft against our editorial rules, a preview before publication, a link to your site, a contributor profile, a clear PR label. No renewal fee |
| Japanese writing | Quoted per article | Our editors write the Japanese article from your materials. You review the facts; you do not need to read Japanese to approve it |
| Editorial roundup | Quoted per article | Everything in the standard feature, with the topic, selection criteria and other products designed by our editors |
Articles have no end date. After publication we may make small edits that keep the meaning, and we ask you first before any change that affects it. If the information goes out of date or our editorial policy changes, we may unpublish the article. You are free to cite the article URL in your own materials.
Not included: press release distribution, advertising, and a full Japanese SEO or AI visibility plan. If you need those, say so in the form.
What we do not publish
- Machine-translated or lightly edited text
- Claims we cannot check, including rankings and results with no source
- Articles written mainly to place links
- Gambling, adult content, and financial products we cannot assess
We review every request, and we turn down topics that do not fit our readers. We also take a limited number of new features at a time.
How it works
- Tell us about your topic or product with the form below.
- We check whether it fits and confirm the terms.
- You send an outline, and we agree on it before anyone writes the full text.
- You send the draft, or your materials and written answers if we write it.
- We edit it and send you a preview URL.
- Once you approve the preview, we publish. For sponsored features, we send the invoice on the day of publication, payable within 14 days by Wise, PayPal or bank transfer in Japan. Any transfer or conversion fees on the sender’s side are borne by the sender. We can invoice your agency instead of you.
Timing depends mostly on the draft. One sponsored feature took four weeks from the first email to publication, most of it spent on the client’s draft. The most recent one went live the same day the agency sent a finished Japanese draft.
Who edits
Every article is edited by Hiroki Tanaka, founder and CEO of Amanaut, Inc. He founded the company in 2019 and has worked on Japanese SEO content as a writer, editor and content director since then, including content production for a large Japanese comparison media company (2021 to 2026) and, since 2023, as a content director at Willgate, a Japanese SEO firm. He holds Japan’s SEO Certification Level 1 (All Japan SEO Association).
Questions
Will a feature make AI assistants recommend my product in Japan?
We cannot promise that. AI answers change from one question to the next. A feature puts accurate Japanese information about your product on a page that AI assistants can read. Whether they use it is up to them, so we suggest checking the same questions over several weeks rather than once.
Can the article read like an article rather than an ad?
Yes, and we prefer it. The best features answer a question Japanese readers already search for, with your product as one clear part of the answer. The PR label stays either way.
Can you publish my English article in Japanese?
We do not translate. We use your article as material and write a Japanese article for Japanese readers, which usually changes the examples, the order and the search terms.
Can the same article run on more than one site?
No. The same text in several places does not help Japanese readers or your product. If more than one site fits, each site gets its own article written for its readers, and each is priced as a separate feature.
Is this program available in Japanese?
Yes, for companies in Japan: Amanaut contribution program (Japanese).
Send a request
We reply by email, usually within one business day (Japan time). We use what you send only to reply to you. See our privacy policy.