Since the COVID pandemic, tourism in Japan has surged—even during typhoon season, despite extreme heat and high humidity. Having spent most of my time in Tokyo, I found it unusual to witness. I don’t think anyone anticipated such a sharp rise in visitors.

When UX first started gaining popularity, I noticed some designers taking an interest in the unique cultural aspects of Japanese design. There’s an incredible depth to it—every detail is carefully considered, from posters and websites to packaging and beyond. Yet, while there’s plenty of analysis from a foreign perspective, comprehensive discussions from a truly Japanese viewpoint are surprisingly rare. I hope this serves as a helpful resource for understanding Japanese design through that lens.

Disclaimer

This is based on my personal experiences from daily conversations with both Japanese and foreign residents, as well as tourists. The opinions shared are my own, and I have no endorsements from any individuals or organizations. This is a response to the following articles:

The deeper meaning behind Japan’s unique UX design culture

The sociology of the big difference between Western minds and those of the Far Eastuxdesign.cc

What makes Japanese food packaging more innovative and user-centric than its Western counterparts?

The art of Japanese packaging innovation and user experience.uxdesign.cc

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Advertisements are one of the most striking things you’ll notice on your first visit to Japan. The sheer amount of characters, layers of information, and vibrant colors in every ad and billboard can feel overwhelming at first.

The main reason for the large number of characters is usually to avoid complaints from customers and violations of the law. Particularly for financial and information security, Japan’s notation rules are extremely strict. It might feel similar to traffic rules here, or even more overwhelming.

Other than those rules, the most common reason for dense information is the desire to show all possible information. This has been a trend since the Economic bubble explosion in 1980–1990s in Japan. We don’t want to add any extra steps that might waste our limited time — though this is starting to change.　

We have a ponchi-e(ポンチ絵)” culture, which illustrates how the entire project works for all the stakeholders just at a glance. The amount of information can be overwhelming, and the younger generation would likely complain. However, it eventually starts to make sense, and somehow, we’ve stuck with this practice for a long time — even today.

Even in the post-COVID era, we still rely on trains for commuting in most cities, with journeys averaging 1 to 1.5 hours. The inside of the commuter train is a prime opportunity to showcase products or business presence, which is why trains have become a battleground for advertisements — with ads covering the ceilings.

However, most ads you’ll come across focus on sales, exclusive offers, limited-time discounts, or the latest product releases. Beyond these, there’s also a strong appreciation for clean, minimalistic design—well-organized and as simple as possible. With the rise of mobile advertising, physical ads have declined over the past two to three decades, often being replaced by video ads, likely due to smaller budgets and reduced interest in traditional billboards.

While foreigners often complain that Japanese advertising is overwhelming with unattractive designs, many Japanese people also prefer minimalist designs. Some companies that follow this trend include Balmuda, Standard Products, MUJI, and Panasonic.

This is why many great designers, architects, and art directors have emerged in Japan and around the world. Some examples include Yusaku Kamekura, Naoto Fukasawa, Tadao Ando, Kashiwa Sato and Kenya Hara. This is also why brands like Uniqlo and MUJI, known for their minimalistic natural taste become so popular globally, similar to Japandi (a natural minimalist style that merges Scandinavian and Japanese design).

We often work with clients or stakeholders who strictly adhere to Japanese regulations or have specific, sometimes unique, obsessions. This can lead to misunderstandings about how third parties might perceive things. To make an impact, we often have to prioritize our clients’ opinions, as the market here isn’t fully developed for a global audience yet.

Unfortunately, these challenges usually stem from discussions with people who still don’t fully understand the importance of design. Many—especially older generations—struggle to grasp its role or engage with digital culture. Surprisingly, even some Gen Z users describe themselves as “not tech-savvy.” As a result, their perception of design often differs significantly from industry expectations. Personally, I believe this gap is mainly due to a lack of communication or insufficient research into actual user needs.

Japanese Packaging

Have you ever noticed the meticulous decorations in Japanese department stores—the beautifully arranged interiors, or the elegantly packaged groceries and sweets? This level of attention to detail is deeply ingrained in Japanese culture, where even packaging is designed to convey subtle thoughtfulness.

The origin of Japan’s current gifting culture can be traced back to the Edo period. Inazo Nitobe first introduced the concept of expressing humility used by samurai in his book, Bushido.

“In America, when you give a gift, you often sing its praises to the recipient; in Japan, however, we tend to downplay or even belittle it. The underlying idea in Western culture is, ‘This is a nice gift. If it weren’t, I wouldn’t dare give it to you, as it would be an insult to offer anything less than something nice.’ In contrast, the Japanese logic runs as follows: ‘You are a person of such worth that no gift could ever be good enough for you. You will accept nothing I offer except as a token of my goodwill. Therefore, accept this, not for its intrinsic value, but as a gesture. To claim that even the best gift is good enough for you would be an insult to your dignity.

Bushido, The Soul Of Japan, Annotated Edition | www.amazon.com

You might’ve seen Sakuraco’s advertisements on YouTube about Japan. They deliver seasonal snacks with a monthly gift box. Similar elements of these gift boxes can be found in grocery stores, in the prints or cuttings on plastic bags or paper boxes, all reflecting the same respect for the recipient through gifting.

I also found articles explaining the origin of onigiri (rice ball) packaging. Apparently, the first packaging for the onigiri style was created by a local grocery store in Nagano Prefecture and was later introduced to the mass market by Seven-Eleven convenience stores in 1978.

*The following contains Japanese articles:

Onigiri (おにぎり): Japanese Rice Ball – The Chef Dojo | thechefdojo.com

Onigiri – Wikipedia | en.wikipedia.org

I believe this approach to innovation may have originated from The Junior Competition for Innovation in Invention (発明創意工夫展), a summer break event for elementary and junior high school students. In this competition, kids create new products by tinkering with existing tools.

You can see similar clever designs in everyday life—at 100-yen shops, Tokyu Hands, and even convenience stores. Take, for example, onigiri packaging that keeps the seaweed crisp, resealable cereal bags, or tearable paper boxes. The level of attention to detail is truly remarkable!

Websites and Apps

It’s great to see the presence of Japanese digital design is getting bigger year by year. When I look at Awwwards, many of the designs are usually clean and beautifully designed, and the quality doesn’t differ to other countries.

However, there is often a significant amount of information that needs to be displayed, especially in important areas like the hero section of a homepage. For example, when comparing Starbucks’ websites across different countries, the Japanese and Chinese versions used to feature the most information. While this has likely changed due to internationalization and inbound market needs, Starbucks’ websites in those two countries still contain more information than in other markets.

Discussions about how to efficiently present this information on a single screen aren’t limited to movie posters and station advertisements — they also apply to websites. Due to efficiency concerns, many advertising images are repurposed for web pages (for example, many stores on Rakuten Ichiba are designed in such a way).

In the case of apparel and consumer goods companies in e-commerce, many Japanese companies, until recently, lacked dedicated web specialists when they first introduced their online services. This gap led to a heavy reliance on agencies, consultants, and system integrators (SIers), a trend that still persists today.

Due to budget constraints, many of these projects are handled through one-time contracts, which often results in businesses changing partners frequently. This cycle can create a patchwork of websites and databases that are difficult to maintain properly. When companies try to transition to in-house teams and revamp their websites or apps, they often face a massive backlog of legacy issues, making recovery challenging. This scenario is quite common. 

Additionally, there are websites that do not receive upgrades even as time goes on. Designs like these often remain unchanged, even after multiple A/B tests, as the results consistently show that ‘it’s better not to change.’ This reflects the stability of the Japanese market and user mindset, while also highlighting how the platform market has matured within Japan’s domestic sphere. As evidence, consider Yahoo and Rakuten, which have maintained largely the same designs since their inception. The fact that overseas Rakuten sites look completely different may be linked to this trend.

・・・

In this article, we explored Japan’s unique UX through the lenses of advertising, packaging, and websites. We know many people have different perspectives on this topic, so we’d love to hear your thoughts! Feel free to share your comments on social media.