The Japanese app market is one of the most lucrative and active in the world. It has the third highest country consumer spend, behind only China and the United States, and the number of smartphone users continues to rise. Japanese users also spend over 4.5 hours on average a day using mobile apps, which has increased significantly since the pandemic.
Mobile games are a dominant source of revenue in the Japanese market. Monster Strike has been one of the highest earning apps in the country since its release 10 years ago, and other games including Fate/Grand Order and Dragon Quest Walk have had incredible success.
In comparison to a lot of other app economies, Japan’s is quite insular and a lot of the games and apps are designed for Japanese users. Companies such as Rakuten, Line, and PayPay have strong market share in the country but have failed to expand outside of it.
Analysts predict strong growth in the e-commerce sector, as cashless purchasing is adopted by an increasing number of the population. There is the potential for competition from international businesses such as Amazon to the established domestic companies, including Rakuten and Mercari.
The Japanese economy is experiencing a downturn, and so apps which provide good value-for-money deals are growing in popularity.
We have collected data and statistics on the Japanese mobile app market. Read on below to find out more.
Key Japanese App Market Statistics
- The Japanese app market generated $17.9 billion in 2023, a slight increase but still down on the 2021 figure
- Comic book app Piccoma was the top grossing app in the country with over $500 million consumer spend
- There were 98 million smartphone users in Japan in 2023
- Apps were downloaded 2.5 billion times in 2023, fewer than in 2020 and 2021
- Japanese users spent 57 billion hours on mobile apps in 2023
Japanese App Market Revenue
Annual revenue in the Japanese app market has fallen since 2021 but still generated over $20 billion in 2023, above pre-pandemic levels. Japanese users spent on average $182.5 in 2023.
Japanese app market annual revenue 2016 to 2023 ($bn)
Japanese consumer spend per user 2017 to 2023 ($)
Japanese App Market Revenue by App
Comic book app Piccoma generated the most revenue in 2023, taking the crown from popular game Monster Strike.
Japanese revenue by app 2023 ($mm)
| App | Revenue ($mm) |
|---|---|
| Piccoma | 520 |
| Monster Strike | 490 |
| Uma Musume Pretty Derby | 350 |
| Fate/Grand Order | 325 |
| Professional Baseball Spirits A | 307 |
| Puzzle & Dragons | 285 |
| LINE | 280 |
| Dragon Quest Walk | 223 |
| YouTube | 215 |
| Genshin Impact | 210 |
Source: AppMagic, Sensor Tower
Japanese Smartphone Users
The number of smartphone users in Japan has been rising steadily for the last few years, from 63.1 million in 2017 to almost 100 million in 2023.
Annual Japanese smartphone users 2017 to 2023 (mm)
Japanese Smartphone Population
There has been a significant increase in the proportion of the Japanese population using smartphones since before the coronavirus pandemic, reaching 78.8% in 2023.
Japanese population smartphone usage 2017 to 2023 (%)
Time Spent on Apps in Japan
In 2023, Japanese users spent 57 billion hours using mobile apps, up from 38.7 billion in 2019.
Hours spent on mobile apps in Japan 2019 to 2023 (bn)
Japanese App Market Downloads
There was a slight increase in downloads of apps in Japan in 2023, up to 2.5 billion from 2.4 billion the year before.
