Import Distributor School
Find it abroad.
Grow it in Japan.
A one-year program on finding overseas products to represent as an exclusive distributor, or planning your own through OEM, all the way to pre-sales and running your own store. Three instructors work through it with you.
- PERIOD
- 1 yearJanuary to December 2027
- MENTORS
- 3 instructorsFrom negotiation to your own store
- FIRST COHORT
- 50 in cohort 0Term 1 opens in 2027
01 · Curriculum
How to find, make and sell a product.
The core is import distribution. For those who want to make their own product, there's an OEM product development course.
Grow a maker's existing product in Japan
Try the real product first and check the specs and photos the maker provides. Sort out which materials work in Japan and what needs new photos, then negotiate the terms of sale.
Plan the product you want and make it with a factory
Turn your planning notes into a spec sheet and ask factories for quotes. Use the sample to point out fixes, then prepare the production reference sample and the photos and video for selling.
Highlights
Real numbers, real screens.
Lessons are built from the instructors' own stores and students' cases, with the actual dashboards and numbers.
- LINE PRE-LAUNCH2x in a week
Doubling LINE friends before launch
A real case where friends grew from 1,870 to 3,682 in the week before a new product went on sale, at about ¥88 per friend.
- LIVE COMMERCE~90% from replays
Live selling that keeps earning
Of one stream's ¥580,000 in sales, about 90% came from the recording afterwards. How to announce, stream and keep going.
- NO DISCOUNTS5x sales
Limited colors instead of price cuts
Twenty-day limited colors, made to order, bring in about five times normal sales without leftover stock.
- SOCIAL PROOF+50% sales
Earning trust from first-time buyers
University research and magazine features on the sales page. One case grew sales about 50% just by adding a magazine feature at the top.
- DRY TESTTest before you buy
Check demand before ordering stock
A simple sales page, LINE sign-ups and a survey tell you if a product will sell before you sign or import.
- ADS × AIImage to ad copy
Writing Meta ad text with ChatGPT
From setting the button event to targeting and publishing, step by step on the real ad screens.
Figures are examples shown in the lessons. Results vary by product and timing.
02 · Field Case
Pre-sales, in your own store.
Tuanty
A home cooker for making pet food
Total pre-orders
¥26M+
450 units pre-ordered on its own store in about a month
See the Tuanty store ↗Total paid pre-orders (tax included) as of October 30, 2026. Units counted from September 27 to October 30.
03 · Mentors
The instructors you'll work with
01 · MOTOKI · RepresentativeMotoki
Business foundations, product research, negotiation prep and profit simulations.
Book a Zoom lesson
02 · CHIKAChika
Negotiating with overseas makers, what to do after they reply, and building Makuake sales pages.
Book a Zoom lesson
03 · KATSUKatsu
Reading the market, test sales, running ads, and improving your Shopify store and sales pages.
Book a Zoom lesson
DocumentaryA day in Chika's work, with Motoki along21:39 · YouTube ↗
04 · Admissions
2027 Term 1
- Who it's for
- People who want to sell a product sourced from overseas, or one they design themselves, in Japan.
- Term
- January 1 to December 31, 2027
- How you learn
- Lessons on the members' site, online consultations and study sessions
- Fees
- One-time tuition, plus 1% of eligible sales while enrolled. Compass Next and eligible apps are included as member benefits.
- After the program
- You can choose to continue from January 2028. The monthly fee is ¥10,000 or 1% of that month's eligible sales, whichever is higher. If you graduate or leave instead, there's no performance fee on later sales. Tools you keep using are charged at their normal price.
Eligible sales that month 1% of sales Monthly fee
Term 1 details are being prepared. How to apply and the final fees will be posted when enrollment opens.