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For some domain investors, it’s difficult to understand foreign markets such as Japan. It’s advisable to avoid these markets until you know what you're getting into, before a loss occurs. There are speculators with International Domain Names to the Roman alphabet utilized in various TLD's. Lacking the knowledge of the appropriate phrases to use may make them mean something different than intended or could even be offensive, resulting in a wasted investment. Being in Okinawa, Japan for 8 years as an American expatriate, I have a relatively good grasp of what is and what isn't a good domain name to invest in. Earlier this year, there was a thread regarding Yabai.com on NamePros (“Cool” or “Scary”) with an offer of $650 from a Japanese buyer. Seeing and hearing this word on a daily basis, I replied to accept nothing less than $10-$15k. If the seller @international_love had accepted the offer of $650 or suggestions of $5k, the member wouldn't have walked away with an $11,100 sale on Flippa. I had to put pressure on the seller as I knew this name would fetch a significant amount. If I hadn't, it would have left a lot of money on the proverbial table. However, this is where speculation gets interesting. I reside in one of the poorest prefectures of Japan. From my perspective with a disconnect from mainland Japan, the current market for businesses comes up with random and broken English phrases with a TLD that doesn't support their target audience, leading to poor acceptance. This dates back to 2001 when the Afilias registry released the gTLD .info for $1. At this point, there was a landrush of businesses pursuing these since second-level ccTLD's are restricted and expensive, as well as the .jp ccTLD being pricey too. Skip ahead to the year 2015 and you can see .info used by many companies here. It’s also a well-known gTLD among consumers. However, plenty of businesses' target market have a global reach, which this gTLD simply doesn't provide alone. The only way for such businesses to reach potential consumers is by using AdWords to claim the top position in Google results by placing the highest bid as well as advertising in the region they wish to target. With that said, the areas targeted being the United States, Canada, Australia along with other English-speaking countries notice the poor reflection of a phrase and choice of TLD, on a well-designed page with broken English. Many consumers are put off by the TLD chosen alone as they have seen the bombardment of spam, resulting in overall poor campaigns. Currently, Afilias is at it again. They’re pumping out .colors such as .red, .blue, .pink, and .black with the assistance of GMO Registry. Though, what do they mean? They're merely colors. With a closer look at the advertisement featured in Japan, you'll see that Onamae is pushing .red at 99 Yen (83 cents), much like .info, and claiming the top spot among the .color gTLD's. The website ntldstats.com shows .red having 5,181 new registrations over the watched period of 12/21-1/1 and as a whole, the sole winner of the .color market. GMO Registry, the corporation behind Onamae and recent investors in Z.com from Nissan are strongly pushing Afilias' .color gTLD’s in Japan. Evaluating the trends between the .colors, prices are as follows: 400 Yen for .black with 3,050 domain names, 360 Yen for .pink and .blue with 12,770 and 10,532 domains respectfully, and .red with a price tag of a mere 99 Yen with a staggering 22,039 domain names as of 1/1/2015 (JST). This tells me that the cheaper a domain name is, the more it will be purchased in the Japanese market. You can see history repeating itself with .info in a new era. Businesses are choosing to purchase the most inexpensive TLD for their company, which is ultimately making them lose ground globally once again. A lot of domain investors have asked me advice about the Japanese market and my answer has always been to stay away, until they know what they are doing. Kanji can have different meanings as an IDN if used incorrectly, which would make them worthless. In my opinion, if IDN’s and the Roman alphabet are used correctly, they stand a better chance at succeeding if in the target market TLD. The exception to this is if it’s listed as a premium domain on venues like Onamae, such as Frank Shilling’s 128-bit.com domain name for just under $10,000 USD. At that point, corporations will purchase and make use of them. This is due to the fact that Japan has a very formal culture where the people follow what they're told and what others are doing. Having a domain name that is labeled as premium gives the impression that it is a necessity to have for their business. In the end, the consumer will ultimately pay the price when they realize their mistake and settle for a ccTLD of their geographic region or a .com if they want an international presence to exponentially grow. Which .color(s) have you invested in?

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