Note: This article covers SHOPLINE, an e-commerce platform primarily framed for the Japanese market. This will not be relevant if you are not evaluating platforms for the Japanese market.
When running an online store on SHOPLINE targeted at Japan, there are some important basic settings you should configure first. This guide walks you step by step through changing your currency to Japanese yen, setting the time zone to Japan time, and enabling Japanese language support. Configuring these settings properly will let you provide an easier-to-use store experience for your Japanese customers.
How to Change Your Currency to Japanese Yen
In this section, we'll introduce the steps for changing your Shopline store's currency to Japanese yen.
Note that the payment currency cannot be changed once you have received your first order or issued a gift card, so be sure to change it first.
Change the Currency to Japanese Yen
Result
Setup Steps
(1) From the Shopline admin, go to "Settings > General"
(2) In the Payment Currency section, click "Change currency"
(3) From the popup that appears, select "Japanese Yen (JPY)"
(4) Click "Change"
Change the Currency Format to "XX Yen"
Even after changing the currency to Japanese yen using the method above, it will still display as "¥XX JPY." Here, we'll introduce the steps for changing it from "¥XX JPY" to "XX Yen."
Result
(After changing the currency format)
Steps to Change the Currency Format
(1) In the Payment Currency section, click "Edit format"
(2) Change the JPY format to "{{amount_no_decimals}} yen"
(3) Click "Save"
(4) Enable "Custom currency format" in the Payment Currency section
This completes the currency format setup.
If you visit a product page or the product list page, you should see that product prices now display as "XX Yen."
How to Change Your Store Time to Japan Time
In this section, we'll introduce the steps for changing your Shopline store's time to Japan time.
(1) From the Shopline admin, go to "Settings > General"
(2) In the Store Operations section, change "Time zone of business location" to "Asia/Tokyo"
(3) Click "Update"
How to Change Your Store Language to Japanese
In this section, we'll introduce how to set your store language to Japanese.
(1) From the SHOPLINE admin, go to "Settings > Languages"
(2) In the language list section, click the ellipsis (⋯) next to the default language
(3) Click "Change default language"
(4) From the popup, select "Japanese"
(5) Click "Done"
(6) Confirm that the default in the language list section is now "Japanese"
This completes the setup.
How to Remove Unnecessary Languages
In this section, we'll introduce how to remove unnecessary languages when your store has multiple languages set up.
(1) From the SHOPLINE admin, go to "Settings > Languages"
(2) In the language list section, click the ellipsis (⋯) next to the language you want to remove
(3) Click "Remove language"
(4) In the confirmation dialog, click "Remove"
How to Display the Language Selector (When Multiple Languages Exist)
In this section, we'll introduce how to display the language selector, which allows customers to switch languages on your online store.
Result
If you visit your online store, you should see a language selector like the one below in both the header and footer.
(Header language selector)
(Footer language selector)
Setup Steps
(1) From the SHOPLINE admin, go to "Online Store > Themes"
(2) For the theme where you want to show the language selector, click "Customize"
(3) Select Header and enable "Show language selector"
(4) Click "Save"
(5) Select Footer and enable "Show language selector"
(6) Click "Save"
This completes the setup.
Final Check
This completes the basic setup for the Japanese market.
Finally, let's check the following points.
Currency Settings
▢ Is it correctly set to Japanese Yen (JPY)?
▢ Is the price display in the "XX Yen" format?
Time Settings
▢ Is the time zone set to "Asia/Tokyo"?
▢ Are your business hours displaying correctly in Japan time?
Language Settings
▢ Is the default language set to Japanese?
▢ Have unnecessary languages been removed?
▢ Is the language selector displaying properly?
If there are any issues with these settings, go back to the relevant section and check the setup again. Configuring these correctly will let you provide a more comfortable shopping experience for your Japanese customers.
