Kohomadha Inc. — Tokyo · August 2026

Kohomadha in Japan

A market-entry partner for companies selling into Japan, and for Japanese companies selling abroad.

Who we are

Two directions, one discipline

Into Japan

Overseas companies that want to sell in the Japanese market.

Out of Japan

Japanese companies that want to sell in overseas markets.

We are not a firm that hands over a research report and stops there. We identify the right counterparties, arrange the meetings, sit in the room in both Japanese and English, and stay with the deal through contracting and trade execution.

Public programmes land you in Japan. We sell for you once you are here.

You deal directly with the people running the company, not with an account handler.

TSUNAGU

Our cross-border team

Tsunagu is the Japanese verb “to connect”. It is what the practice is built to do.

A small core in Tokyo works with a standing network of members across markets — Brazil, Africa, the Middle East and Europe. They are not a subcontractor list assembled per project. They are people we work with continuously, which is why we can put someone credible on the ground quickly, in the right language, without a hiring cycle.

The practical effect: you are not buying one consultant in Tokyo. You are buying a team that already spans the distance between your head office and your Japanese counterparty.

We hold no registered offices outside Japan. Our members and partners work with us from their own markets.

Reach

Who we can put in a room

Everyone claims connections. What follows is narrower and more useful: the kinds of counterparty we can actually reach, and the route by which we reach them.

Inside Japan
Public sector
Tottori Prefecture, by formal appointment. Our Representative Director serves as Overseas Business Support Representative, which gives direct access to prefectural industry desks and the companies they support.
Department store buyers
Reached directly. We currently take a European food brand to these buyers ourselves — a working route, not a stated capability.
Large retail groups
We are inside one of Japan's largest reuse retail groups on a digital transformation rollout, at operational level.
Regional manufacturers
Food processing, seafood and precision manufacturing, particularly along the Sanin coast and in the Chubu region. These firms do not answer cold approaches from overseas. They are reachable in person, in Japanese.
Electronics & materials
Through current work qualifying Japanese manufacturers against technical criteria for a European materials company.
Systems integrators
Being developed now, through our work with a European AI software company.
Outside Japan
Europe
Active engagements in Sweden, Spain, France, Portugal, Estonia and Lithuania — in software, food and industrial technology.
Chambers & trade offices
We wrote directly to the foreign chambers of commerce and national trade promotion offices based in Tokyo, asking one question: whether their member companies want someone on the Japanese side to carry the work rather than advise on it. Conversations are open with the Ukrainian, Canadian and Irish chambers. The Greek chamber introduced us onward to the commercial section of its embassy. Several others told us plainly that this is not what their members ask for, which was just as useful to know.
Brazil
A member of our team is based there. We have delivered software to a Brazilian logistics operator and hold ongoing commercial relationships.
Africa
Through a partner with government-level access in the region. Early stage, and described as such.
Middle East
Through a partner team, on technical and operational delivery.
Taiwan & Southeast Asia
Buyer-side relationships built through completed market-entry work.

The value is not the list. It is that someone walks into the meeting with you, in the right language, and is still there three months later.

Any specific introduction is subject to the counterparty's agreement.

Engagements

Selected work

Most engagements are under confidentiality, so these describe the work without naming the client. Where a reference would be decisive, we will ask the client directly for permission to introduce you.

SE → JP

Exclusive Japan mandate — wave energy technology

Under a Memorandum of Agreement with a Swedish wave energy technology company, we hold an exclusive mandate for the Japanese market and lead their market development here: partner introductions, relationship building, and access to climate and energy financing structures including MAF, GEOP and feed-in tariff routes. Compensation is success-based against project value.

Ongoing
ES → JP

Japan channel — plant-based food brand

We act as the Japan-side channel for a Spanish plant-based brand, taking their products directly to department store buyers rather than advising from a distance.

Ongoing
FR → JP

Partner qualification — functional ink manufacturer

A French manufacturer opened a representative office in Nagoya. We screen Japanese manufacturers against their technical qualifying criteria — deposition capability together with curing capability — and accompany the resulting meetings in both languages.

In progress
LT → JP

Japan partner — AI software company

Japan-side partner for a Lithuanian AI company whose product turns recorded workflows into training documentation. Our focus is the Japanese systems-integration sector, where delivery contracts oblige the vendor to produce operating manuals and run training.

In progress
JP → TW

Market entry — forestry machinery

A Japanese forestry machinery company sought buyers in Taiwan. We researched the market, identified prospects, arranged and supported the negotiations.

Closed, mid-2026
BR

Operational automation — logistics operator

Designed and delivered an operational efficiency tool for a Brazilian logistics company.

Delivered
JP

Digital transformation — major reuse retail group

Implementing and rolling out digital transformation at one of Japan's largest reuse retail groups. Domestic channel development is a substantial share of our work — which matters to overseas clients, because it means we hold live commercial relationships inside Japan, not only an international network.

Ongoing
LK

AVW Project — production and delivery

Produced and delivered the project's PR film and vision film. Our Representative Director's account of building a business in Sri Lanka was published as a book in Japan.

Delivered
AF

Africa — market entry groundwork

Japan market study and a textile-sector archive prepared for an Africa-facing initiative. Introductions in progress through a partner with government-level access.

Early stage
Method

How an engagement runs

01

Briefing

Product, target and objective.

02

Market research

Competitors, price bands, regulatory requirements.

03

Target definition

Agreeing the disqualifying criteria, then screening against them.

04

Approach

Direct contact and meeting arrangement.

05

Negotiation

We attend, in both languages.

06

Close

Contract terms and trade documentation.

Step 03 is where most engagements are won or lost. A long list of plausible-looking companies is easy to produce and almost worthless. The work is agreeing the disqualifying criteria first, then screening honestly against them.

For partners

Referring work into Japan

If you are an adviser, chamber or firm outside Japan whose clients ask for Japan, there is a page written for exactly that: what the Japan leg involves, the routes we actually hold, and how we structure it with you.

Your partner in Japan →

Positioning

Alongside public support

Japan offers substantial public support to foreign companies entering the market. JETRO's Invest Japan Business Support Center provides help with incorporation, tax and labour matters, PR, business matching and office space. Most of the companies we work with use these services, and they should.

Our role sits next to that. Public programmes are built to establish your presence. We are engaged to win your first customer — a different problem, on a different clock.

Each engagement is scoped individually. We work on a success-fee basis, a monthly retainer, or a combination, and propose a structure once the scope is understood.