EU-Japan Centre Webinars: How European SMEs Use the Free Archive
The EU-Japan Centre runs a large, free, English-language webinar programme for European companies entering Japan, About Japan sessions, Market Access Workshops, and business culture series. Here is how to find, register for, and actually use it.
- The EU-Japan Centre runs a large, free, mostly English webinar programme for European companies on entering and operating in Japan
- The EU Business in Japan library holds 500+ reports and webinars; most live sessions are recorded and browsable on demand
- Key formats are the About Japan series (broad market and culture topics), Market Access Workshops (sector and culture, co-hosted with local EU partners), and dedicated business culture series
- Registration is free and online via eu-japan.eu; recordings and slides are published on the Centre's site after delivery
- Silkdrive founder Patric Sawada delivers within this programme, the Market Access Workshops and a 2026 business culture webinar series, so this guide explains it from the inside
The single most useful free resource for a European company learning to operate in Japan is not a consultancy report. It is the EU-Japan Centre's webinar programme: hundreds of recorded, English-language sessions on market entry, regulation, and business culture, paid for by the European Commission and METI, free to anyone who registers.
This guide explains how the programme is structured and how to get value from it fast. It is written by Silkdrive founder Patric Sawada, an accredited EU-Japan Centre expert who delivers within this programme, so it covers both how to attend and what actually happens behind a session.
What is in the library
The EU Business in Japan platform holds 500+ reports and webinars. The webinar side breaks into a few recurring formats:
- About Japan series — broad, practical sessions on communicating with Japanese partners, planning a business trip, decision-making inside Japanese organisations, and sector overviews. This is the best entry point.
- Market Access Workshops — co-hosted with local EU partners, splitting sectoral market access and Japanese business culture. Some run online, some on-site.
- Business culture series — focused sessions on the cultural operating system: honne and tatemae, nemawashi, ringi, and the protocol around first encounters and follow-ups.
- Policy and sector webinars — EPA usage, tax, IP, and specific industries.
Most live sessions are recorded and published to the library afterwards, usually with the slides, so the archive grows continuously and stays free on demand.
How to register and use it
- Go to the EU Business in Japan library and browse upcoming events or search past recordings by topic.
- Register online for a live session, or just stream a recording. No fee.
- For broad readiness, start with the About Japan series and the cross-cultural sessions on communication and decision-making.
- For sector-specific intelligence, search the report library alongside the webinars.
A practical tip: the cultural sessions repay re-watching after your first Japanese meetings, when the concepts have something concrete to attach to. The first watch builds vocabulary; the second builds judgement.
What the sessions cover well (and where to go deeper)
The Centre's webinars are strong on framing and orientation. Where a public cohort session is necessarily general, our own concept guides go deeper on the mechanics:
- Japanese business culture: a working guide
- Nemawashi: how Japanese decisions really get made
- The ringi approval process
- Honne and tatemae in Japanese communication
Free public webinar vs private company session
If you need a session built around your company, your sector, your stage, and your specific deal, that is where a private webinar fits. Silkdrive's Japan Market Entry Webinar is the tailored version of what the Centre offers publicly: same practitioner, delivered to your team instead of a mixed cohort. For most companies, though, the right first move is free, register for an About Japan session this month.
Author: Patric Sawada, Founder, Silkdrive. Accredited EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation expert; delivered the Centre's Market Access Workshops to Polish, Czech, and Swedish SME cohorts in 2025 and contributes to its 2026 business culture programming. Based in Amsterdam. Read Patric's full profile.
