AI-NATIVE · BILINGUAL SHOPIFY · JAPAN
Bilingual Shopify storefronts, built in Japan by a native-English developer
Legacy Shopify agencies are slow and expensive. I build the same quality faster and for less — AI-native development for speed and price, with a native speaker reviewing every word your customers see. Bilingual storefronts done right: native English, native-reviewed Japanese, and a Japan-ready checkout.
Machine-translated English quietly costs you sales
Japanese shoppers expect keigo, precise address formats, and the payment methods they trust. Western shoppers expect English that sounds like a person wrote it — not a raw translation plugin. Most stores get one side right and lose the other.
Japan's established Shopify agencies build beautiful Japanese stores, but their English is often outsourced and reads like it. Overseas agencies write great English but don't understand Japanese checkout, logistics, or trust signals. Both build the slow, expensive way and charge Shopify Plus and agency rates for the privilege.
The result is a store that half your customers don't quite trust — in whichever language isn't the original.
One developer who gets both sides right
I'm a native-English developer based in Japan, building Shopify stores end to end with an AI-native workflow. Every storefront ships fast, fluent in English and Japanese, and ready for the market it's selling into.
Native-English copy, not translated
Product pages, microcopy, and checkout wording written in natural, on-brand English — the kind that earns trust from Western buyers instead of quietly signaling 'foreign store'.
Genuinely Japanese, native-reviewed
Japanese drafted fast with best-in-class AI, then reviewed and refined by a native speaker — proper keigo, correct name-order and address handling, and the domestic UX conventions shoppers here expect. Checked by a human, not raw machine translation.
Japan-ready checkout & logistics
Local payment methods (Konbini, GMO, SoftBank Payment), JPY pricing via Shopify Markets, and shipping wired for Yamato, Sagawa, and Japan Post.
Cross-border in both directions
Shopify Markets set up so one store sells cleanly to Japan and the West — right currency, language, and tax per market, from a single admin.
AI-native speed, one-person price
Top-tier AI models handle the heavy lifting, so agency-quality builds ship in weeks at a solo developer's rate — typically a fraction of what a legacy bilingual agency quotes for the same scope.
SEO in both languages
Structured, fast, bilingual storefronts with hreflang done right — so you are found in Japanese and English, by Google and by AI assistants.
Built for two kinds of brand
Japanese brands going global
You sell well in Japan and want Western customers — or you're tired of your English store reading like a translation. I give you a storefront that sounds native to English-speaking buyers, without losing what works at home.
Foreign brands entering Japan
You want to sell into Japan and need it done properly — local payments, logistics, keigo, and the trust signals Japanese shoppers look for — by someone on the ground here, not a remote team guessing.
Why AI-native beats a legacy agency
Most Shopify agencies still build the slow, expensive way — layers of project managers and account handlers, and hours billed for work that modern AI now does in a fraction of the time. You pay for the overhead, and you wait.
I build AI-native: top-tier models handle the repetitive engineering and first-draft translation, so quality builds ship in weeks, not months, at a fraction of agency cost. What AI can't own — judgment, taste, and native-language trust — stays with people: native English from me, native Japanese review on everything your customers see.
One flat, fixed quote before anything starts. Builds typically run $2,500–$18,000 depending on scope, with monthly care plans from $490 to keep the store growing after launch.
Straight answers
What makes a 'bilingual' Shopify store different from just translating mine?
Translation swaps words; localization rebuilds trust. A real bilingual store handles English that reads natively, Japanese keigo and address formats, per-market currency and payments via Shopify Markets, and hreflang so search engines serve the right language. I build all of that in from the start, rather than bolting a translation app onto an English theme.
Do you use AI to build and translate my store?
Yes, openly — that's the advantage. Best-in-class AI models handle the heavy, repetitive work and first-draft translation, which is how you get agency quality in weeks at a fraction of the cost. But AI drafts; humans decide. I review the build, and a native speaker reviews all Japanese your customers see, so nothing ships on autopilot. You get AI speed with human accountability.
Can AI really be trusted?
Not on its own — and neither can any system. Society already runs on a mix of mechanical and digital infrastructure that we depend on every moment of the day. What keeps that safe isn't the machinery; it's that people stay in charge of it — designing it, checking it, and taking responsibility for it. It works the same way here: AI does the fast, heavy lifting, but every build and every word a customer sees is reviewed and approved by a human before it ships. You're not trusting AI. You're trusting a person who uses it well and stands behind the result.
How is the Japanese handled if you work mainly in English?
Japanese is a native-speaker capability here, not an afterthought. Copy is drafted quickly with best-in-class AI models and then reviewed and refined by a native Japanese speaker — so keigo, name and address handling, and the domestic UX conventions shoppers expect read authentically, not raw machine translation. English and development are mine; Japanese review and conversations are handled by a native speaker, so when you'd rather talk it through in Japanese, you can.
Do you work with brands outside Japan?
Yes. About half the value here is for overseas brands entering Japan who need someone on the ground for local payments, logistics, and cultural UX — and the other half is Japanese brands who want genuinely native English to sell to the West. I work in both directions.
Why are you cheaper than a Japanese Shopify agency?
I build AI-native — best-in-class models do the heavy lifting, without the project managers, account teams, or Plus-tier minimums a legacy agency bills you for. You get the same build quality and direct access to the person doing the work, at a solo rate. Builds typically run $2,500–$18,000 depending on scope.
How fast can a bilingual store launch?
Most bilingual builds go live in about 4–6 weeks depending on scope. AI-native development lets me move far faster than a traditional agency timeline without cutting corners on quality or localization.
Let's build a store that sells in both languages
Tell me about your brand and where you want to sell. You'll get a straight answer and one fixed quote — no agency runaround.
Prefer to reach out in Japanese? You are welcome to — Japanese inquiries are handled by a native speaker.