Inside Japan Market Entry with Shigeru HarasawaVol. 1 - Direct or Partner-Led? In Japan, Who You Team Up With Matters Most
- October 23rd, 2025 -
Shigeru Harasawa flies under the radar. He doesn’t chase the spotlight. But if you’re an overseas company eyeing Japan, he’s the first call you make. A behind-the-scenes operator—some say a ninja—Harasawa has turned “impossible” launches into durable businesses, from Experian and Netezza to DataStax and DataRobot. Not every attempt succeeds, and he’ll be the first to say so. He still keeps showing up.
In this three-part series, we ask him what it really takes to build in a market as particular as Japan. Vol. 1 asks: Direct or partner-led?
TL; DR (Summary)
Direct can work — if you target truly advanced IT buyers (think Rakuten, Yahoo! JAPAN).
Default to partner-led to control cost and offload support/headcount, then layer in direct case-by-case.
No single right playbook; the make-or-break decision is who you partner with.
“Direct or partner—either way, the decision that makes or breaks you is who you team up with.”
Interviewer: Thanks for joining us. Conventional wisdom says: avoid direct sales in Japan and go partner-led. True?
Harasawa: If you can go direct, it’s simpler—no channel margin. Selling through agencies trims roughly 20% off your profit. But for years, Japanese enterprises outsourced IT wholesale to system integrators (SIs). The default advice was, “Don’t sell direct—won’t work.” That’s changing. More large enterprises now want to build in-house. Think Rakuten or Yahoo! JAPAN. If you target that tier, we’re in an era where direct can work.
Interviewer: So direct is now viable for large enterprises with strong in-house IT. Makes sense for Rakuten and Yahoo! JAPAN. What about traditional sectors?
Harasawa: Banks, insurers, manufacturers—many still rotate staff across sales → IT → marketing, and don’t develop deep IT expertise in-house. Selling direct there is usually a poor fit. If you go direct, aim squarely at cutting-edge IT buyers.
If Direct Works Sometimes, Why Bother with Partners?
Interviewer: If you pick advanced buyers, is direct the better route?
Harasawa: Yes and no. Direct means you own support—and you need headcount on the ground. The biggest advantage of a partner-led model is that the partner shoulders the heavy lifting. On cost and speed, I generally advise starting partner-led by default, then adding direct case-by-case where it truly makes sense.
Interviewer: That sounds a bit noncommittal. laughslaughslaughs
Harasawa: There’s no single right playbook. And “partner” itself spans many types. For example, some “Japan entry” consultancies also do recruiting. They’ll say, “Invest big—start with five hires.” You look fully built on day one, but that approach often underperforms. Be careful with partners whose incentives are tied to staffing first, outcomes later.
Interviewer: So the trap is outsourcing Japan entry to a firm that’s also motivated to grow headcount fast.
Harasawa: Exactly. I’ve done this many times and none went by the book. Every case is different. The constant is: whether direct or partner-led, what matters most is who you team up with.
Want the full framework?
We’ve expanded Harasawa’s thinking into a concise white paper: “Winning Japan: It’s All About Who You Team Up With.”
You’ll learn: ・When the partner-led model outperforms direct ・How to structure a successful partnership model ・Partner archetypes and their roles ・Five criteria for choosing the right partner
System Integrator (SI / SIer): A firm that designs, builds, and often operates enterprise IT systems for end-user companies in Japan.
Partner-Led (Channel-Led) Model: Go-to-market driven by SIs, resellers, distributors, or specialist consultancies rather than a direct vendor sales org.
Direct Model: Vendor sells and supports customers directly with its own Japan team.
What's Next (Vol.2 Teaser)
In Vol. 2, Harasawa breaks down partner archetypes, how to assess true delivery capability vs. slideware, and when to pivot from partner-led to hybrid or direct without losing momentum.
