LoreaTec KK Japan - Blog

In an earlier post we introduced japan-tenders.loreatec.jp, our free tool for reading Japanese government tenders in English. Finding tenders is the easy part, though. The more useful question is which ones you can actually bid on. Here is how we would narrow the list down.

1. Start with the category

Tenders fall into three broad buckets — goods, construction, and services. Pick the one that matches your business first; it cuts the list down quickly.

2. Check the certification grade

Many Japanese public contracts, especially in construction, require the bidder to hold a supplier qualification at a particular grade (A, B, C, or D). If you do not hold the grade a tender asks for, you cannot bid on it, however well the work fits. The site shows and filters by grade, so you can set aside what is out of reach and focus on what is open to you.

3. Narrow by prefecture

Local-government tenders usually expect a supplier who can realistically deliver in that area. Filtering by prefecture keeps you to work near where you actually operate.

4. Mind the deadline

Every listing shows the submission deadline. Japanese public bids often have short windows and specific paperwork, so once you find a good match, give yourself enough time to prepare the documents properly.

A realistic word on the paperwork

The translated listing gets you to the right opportunity quickly, but the bid itself still runs on the official Japanese documents and process. If you are already set up in Japan, that is manageable. If you are not, it is worth lining up someone who can handle the Japanese side well before the deadline. We are based in Tokyo and happy to point people in the right direction.

Try the filters for yourself: japan-tenders.loreatec.jp.

If you do business in Japan — or want to — you already know that the public sector buys an enormous amount of goods, construction, and services through open tenders. The problem is that almost all of it is published in Japanese, on government portals that were never designed with non-Japanese readers in mind. A lot of capable companies simply never see the work they could be bidding on.

We built a small, free tool to help with that: japan-tenders.loreatec.jp.

What it does

It collects tenders from Japan’s official government procurement portal (官公需情報ポータル / KKJ) and translates each one into English, so you can read what is being requested without copy-pasting into a translator. New tenders are added every day.

What you can do with it

• Browse the latest tenders in English, newest first.
• Search by keyword to find work that matches what you do.
• Filter by category (goods, construction, services), certification grade, prefecture, and date.
• See the details that matter at a glance — the issuing organization, the location, the issue date, and the submission deadline.
• Open the original documents — every listing links back to the source PDF or announcement page, so you can check everything against the official Japanese record.

An important note

The translations are automatic, so treat the site as a fast way to find opportunities, not as a legal document. When something looks relevant, open the linked original and confirm the details in Japanese — or with someone who reads it — before you invest time in a bid. That is how we use it ourselves.

Would rather not check every day?

You can subscribe to a weekly email digest of new tenders, so the opportunities come to you.

It is free to use. Take a look: japan-tenders.loreatec.jp.