TOKYO -- Japan's cross-border e-commerce is booming again, with many smaller companies joining the market to take advantage of the yen's sharp decline and advances in information technology, the latter of which makes it easier to communicate with buyers and handle customs paperwork.
The U.S. and China are the biggest markets for Japanese products. Online sales to China hit 2.13 trillion yen ($14.37 billion) in 2021, up 10% from the previous year, while sales to the U.S. grew 26% to 1.22 trillion yen, according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The combined total roughly equals 10% of Japan's overall exports to the two countries for the same year, though online transactions of less than 200,000 yen are excluded from the statistics.
