A book from Silkdrive · in production
The Japan Playbook
How European companies win, from market entry and negotiation to a marketing engine that works.
The tariffs are gone. The trust is not. Closing that distance is the whole job, and it is the job no trade agreement does for you.
Launch list only: the first chapter before release, the launch date, and the launch price. No spam, unsubscribe any time.
A playbook, not a culture lecture
In Japan you do not buy your way in. You get vouched in. The distance between where you stand today and the point where a Japanese partner trusts you enough to do business is the one gap that decides everything. The book calls it the trust distance, and closing it is what all four parts teach.
Almost every rule in it exists because a real European company broke it and paid for it, so you meet the rule and the mistake together. Culture is the lens, not the subject: it appears exactly where it changes what you should do on Monday.
Part 1
Entering Japan
Why the market is worth a year of your life, and the cultural operating system you are actually entering.
Part 2
First meetings to the close
The B2B sales journey, from the first handshake to a signed, lasting partnership.
Part 3
Getting seen
Marketing, channels, and creative: how a Japanese customer finds you, trusts you, and buys.
Part 4
Once you are in
Growth, marketing operations, and localization for the company that is established and wants to scale.
The webinars tell you that something is true and give you one example. This book tells you why it is true, shows you the case where it played out, and hands you the move to make on Monday.
Written for the people doing the entering
B2B founders: Read Part 1 for the operating system, then go straight to Part 2 for the sales journey.
Marketing leads: Read Part 1, then jump to Part 3: channels, creative, and how trust is earned in public.
Country managers: Read Part 1, then Part 4: growth and marketing operations for the company already in market.
Every claim traces to a source
The cultural claims rest on a verified research database: peer-reviewed studies, primary scholars such as Hofstede, de Mooij, Hall, Nisbett, Markus and Kitayama, Meyer, and Matsumoto, and named institutions including JETRO and the EU-Japan Centre. Where a claim could not be grounded, it was cut or labelled a practitioner observation, not dressed up as fact.
Written by Patric Sawada, founder of Silkdrive and registered EU-Japan Centre expert, who runs the Japan market-entry trainings this book is the companion to.
Questions, answered straight
When does the book come out?
The manuscript is in production now. Join the launch list and you will get the first chapter before release, plus the launch date and price as soon as they are set.
Is this a transcript of the Silkdrive webinars?
No. Both draw from the same verified body of knowledge. The webinars are the live, 50-minute cut; the book is the reference you keep on the shelf and re-read when a real deal is in front of you.
Is it a culture book?
It is a business playbook: how to decide on entry, win the first meetings, negotiate, close, and build a marketing engine that works in Japan. Culture appears exactly where it changes what you should do, not as a topic in its own right.
Does it cover legal, tax, or customs?
No, and it says so on page one. Where those mechanics matter it points you to the people who handle them: JETRO, the EU-Japan Centre's EPA Helpdesk, and your own counsel. It covers the part no helpdesk will: how trust is built and how decisions are really made.
Be first when it ships
First chapter before release, launch date, and launch price, in one email each. While you wait, start with the Japanese business culture guide or talk to us about Japan market entry.