The App Store shows a Japanese page only in Japan, and there it also reads keywords from your English (US) localization (Apple help, Oct 16, 2026). In Japan 57 of the 100 highest-grossing apps are games and 98 of 100 list Japanese among their languages (Top Grossing, Oct 16, 2026). Write the name and keywords in Japanese with hiragana and katakana variants. Buyers in Japan see a $4.99 price as ¥800.
Where a Japanese page shows
According to Apple's App Store localizations page (Oct 16, 2026), Japanese is the default language of one App Store storefront out of 175, Japan, and it is not an additional language anywhere else.
Apple lists English (US) as Japan's second language. AppTweak and Phiture tested such pairs with made-up words and found that Japanese search takes words from both localizations, though it does not build a phrase out of words from two of them (AppTweak, Nov 21, 2025).
Japan is the only storefront where Apple lists English (US) as the additional language. In the other 37 storefronts with an additional English, it is English (U.K.). So the words on your US page reach Japanese search, while a British localization has no effect in Japan. Keep Japanese words in the Japanese localization, and put into the US English page only what also suits a buyer in Japan.
Who earns most on the App Store in Japan
The top three of Japan's Top Grossing chart on Oct 16, 2026 are ChatGPT, YouTube and TikTok ティックトック. Games take 57 of the 100 places but only 3 of the top ten, where the other seven go to ChatGPT, YouTube, TikTok, LINE, U-NEXT and two manga apps, ピッコマ and LINEマンガ. 98 of the 100 list Japanese among their languages.
84 of the 100 names contain Japanese characters, and 39 of those mix in Latin letters, such as “TikTok ティックトック” and “LINEマンガ”. Half the names are 16 characters or shorter, and 32 separate the brand from a description with a colon, a dash or the “・” dot.
| Rank | App | Category |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ChatGPT | Productivity |
| 2 | YouTube | Photo & Video |
| 3 | TikTok ティックトック | Entertainment |
| 4 | ピッコマ | Books |
| 5 | モンスターストライク | Games |
| 6 | LINEマンガ | Books |
| 7 | SDガンダム ジージェネレーション エターナル | Games |
| 8 | LINE | Social Networking |
| 9 | U-NEXT - 映画やドラマ、アニメなどの動画が見放題 (no Japanese listed) | Entertainment |
| 10 | パズル＆ドラゴンズ | Games |
Source: chart Top Grossing, Japan, Oct 16, 2026; languages iTunes Lookup.
What people search for on the App Store in Japan
We typed 9 common small-app topics into App Store search in Japan and saved 10 suggestions for each (Oct 16, 2026). The median query is 6.5 characters long. 無料 (free) appears in 13 of 90 queries and アプリ (app) in 20.
| Typed | Top App Store suggestions |
|---|---|
| 写真 photo | 写真, 写真加工, 写真編集, 写真 コラージュ, 写真加工アプリ無料 |
| 動画 video | 動画編集, 動画保存, 動画編集アプリ, 動画モザイク, 動画 |
| 翻訳 translation | 翻訳 アプリ, 翻訳, 翻訳アプリ 無料, 翻訳 カメラ, 翻訳 会話 |
| 睡眠 sleep | 睡眠, 睡眠アプリ, 睡眠アプリ 無料, 睡眠記録, 睡眠の質 |
| ダイエット diet | ダイエット, ダイエットアプリ, ダイエット記録, ダイエット無料, ダイエット 運動 |
| 家計簿 household budget | 家計簿, 家計簿アプリ, 家計簿 無料 人気, 家計簿 レシート, 家計簿 共有 |
| スキャン scanning | スキャニバース, スキャン, スキャンアプリ, スキャン 無料, スキャンアプリ 無料 |
| 英語 English | 英語, 英語の友, 英語 勉強, 英語 リスニング, 英語辞書 |
| 筋トレ strength training | 筋トレメモ, 筋トレ 記録, 筋トレ, 筋トレタイマー, 筋トレアプリ |
Source: App Store search suggestions, Japan, Oct 16, 2026.
People in Japan often type even Latin brand names in hiragana. For five kana syllables (あ, か, さ, た, な) the App Store suggested 50 queries, and 29 of them are written entirely in hiragana, such as “あまぞん” for Amazon and “かかおとーく” for KakaoTalk. AppTweak advises putting informal high-demand variants into the keyword field and formal words into the name and subtitle (AppTweak, updated Feb 27, 2024).
App Store prices in yen
The Japanese storefront prices in yen. The $0.99 step costs ¥150, $4.99 costs ¥800 and $9.99 costs ¥1,500, and the conversion is not linear, since $9.99 comes to less than twice ¥800 (App Store Connect, Oct 16, 2026). From ¥800 you receive ¥618, 77% of the price, while $4.99 in the US brings $4.24, 85%.
| Countries | $0.99 | $4.99 | $9.99 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japan | ¥150 you get ¥116 | ¥800 you get ¥618 | ¥1,500 you get ¥1,159 |
| United States | $0.99 you get $0.84 | $4.99 you get $4.24 | $9.99 you get $8.49 |
Source: App Store Connect, price points equal to $0.99, $4.99 and $9.99 in the US, Oct 16, 2026. Proceeds are for the Apple Small Business Program, 15% commission.
Proceeds are the price minus taxes and Apple's commission (App Store Connect Help). They are shown here for the Apple Small Business Program at 15%, and are lower at the standard 30%.
How to write the page in Japanese
- Name up to 30 characters, subtitle the same (App Store Connect Help). Japanese queries are shorter than Latin ones, a median of 6.5 characters against 16 in Germany (App Store suggestions, Oct 16, 2026), so 30 characters of name hold more words.
- Keywords, per Apple's help, up to 100 bytes, no names of other apps (Apple). In practice App Store Connect counts characters. For our app on sale it accepted Japanese keywords of 99 characters, 259 bytes in UTF-8 (checked Oct 16, 2026). Separate keywords with commas, since Japanese has no spaces between words (AppTweak, Feb 27, 2024).
- Keep “無料” out of the name and subtitle, since guideline 2.3.7 of the App Review Guidelines rules out pricing information in metadata.
- Put a space or a particle such as の between words in the name. AppTweak notes that this reads naturally and looks less like a list of keywords (AppTweak, Feb 27, 2024).
Where to start with a Japanese page
- Type your topics into App Store search in Japan and see what people add. Across our 9 topics, 無料 showed up in 7, and アプリ in 20 of 90 suggestions.
- Collect three spellings of each word, kanji, katakana and hiragana, and check each with suggestions.
- Put the formal word with the most demand into the name or subtitle and informal variants into the keywords.
- Work out the yen price in advance. The $4.99 step is ¥800, and it brings you ¥618.
Appto writes the Japanese name, subtitle and keywords with a live counter against Apple's limits and shows the Japanese page next to the US English one, whose words also reach search in Japan. Appto asks for your yes before every change in App Store Connect.
Questions
How much is a $4.99 purchase on the Japanese App Store?
¥800, and the $0.99 step is ¥150 (App Store Connect, Oct 16, 2026). A ¥800 purchase brings ¥618 in the Apple Small Business Program.
Which countries see a Japanese App Store page?
Only Japan. According to Apple, Japanese is the default language of the Japanese storefront alone and is not an additional language anywhere else (Oct 16, 2026).
How many Japanese characters fit into the keyword field?
About 100. Apple's help mentions 100 bytes, but App Store Connect accepted Japanese keywords of 99 characters, 259 bytes, for our app (Oct 16, 2026).
Should the name be in Japanese or in Latin letters?
84 of the 100 top-grossing apps in Japan have Japanese characters in the name, and only 13 are Latin-only (Oct 16, 2026). The brand often stays in Latin letters, as in “LINEマンガ”.
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