[1-Minute Overview] Understanding Shutto Translation's Track Record and Impact
Many teams want to go multilingual — but hesitate because they can't see "how much it will cost" or "whether it will actually deliver results." This article addresses those questions head-on by organizing real case studies of Shutto Translation, a website multilingual tool, by industry, and explaining concretely what changed before and after implementation.
Shutto Translation is a SaaS tool that enables full multilingual support simply by adding one line of JavaScript to your site. It supports four translation methods — automatic translation, generative AI translation, self-translation, and professional translation — allowing you to flexibly balance cost and quality. With plans starting at ¥8,000/month (excl. tax), setup in as little as three minutes, and over 5,500 sites already using it, Shutto Translation has earned wide adoption.
Companies ranging from major corporations to mid-sized businesses — including Daiwa House Industry, GMO Aozora Net Bank, Murasaki Sports, and NTT DATA Intramart — have all put it to use across a wide variety of industries. One company even cut its translation costs to one-tenth of their previous spend after switching. By the end of this article, you'll have a clear picture of what it could look like for your own organization.
What Is Shutto Translation? Core Features and Service Overview
How Multilingualization Works with a Single Tag
Shutto Translation is a SaaS-based website translation tool developed by E-Agency Co., Ltd. By adding just one line of JavaScript to an existing website's HTML, automatic translation into over 100 languages is instantly activated. It works with CMS platforms like WordPress, custom-built sites, and dynamic content such as e-commerce pages — and when site content is updated, translations are reflected automatically.
The management dashboard features an intuitive UI that lets users edit translated text and images in a no-code preview environment. The fact that non-technical staff can manage operations independently is especially valued by small and mid-sized businesses with limited IT resources. The dictionary registration feature also allows proper nouns such as product names and company names to be locked in as intended, and the tool's international search engine support can even boost multilingual SEO performance.
Four Translation Methods to Mix and Match
One of Shutto Translation's defining features is the flexibility of its translation options. Automatic (machine) translation is cost-efficient and ideal for quickly multilingualizng entire sites. Generative AI translation re-translates content by reading the overall tone and context of a page, producing more natural output than standard machine translation. Self-translation allows your own team to manually adjust translations in the dashboard, making it useful for polishing key headlines or product descriptions. Professional translation lets you commission human translators directly through the platform, for the sections where the highest quality is required.
By combining these four methods, businesses can pursue a lean launch strategy: publish the full site in automatic translation first, then refine only the highest-traffic pages with self-translation or professional translation. A user review on ITreview put it well: "The speed at which every page gets translated instantly with a single tag is unmatched. Being able to do a phased polish — launch with auto-translation first, then go back and fine-tune specific sections — is exactly what resource-constrained teams need."
Case Studies by Industry: Corporate Websites
Daiwa House Industry Co., Ltd.
Daiwa House Industry, one of Japan's largest housing and real estate companies, implemented Shutto Translation on its corporate website to strengthen outreach to overseas investors, business partners, and foreign customers.
For large-scale corporate sites, the sheer number of pages and frequent content updates can create a significant operational burden. Shutto Translation's automatic page registration, publication, and deletion features ensure that as content is added or updated, translated pages follow automatically — dramatically reducing operational overhead. The larger the organization, the greater the strain of managing translations at scale. Daiwa House Industry's case is a strong example of structurally resolving that challenge.
Murasaki Sports Co., Ltd.
Murasaki Sports, a national chain of specialty stores focused on action sports such as surfing, skateboarding, and snowboarding, has also implemented Shutto Translation on its corporate website. The company leverages machine translation, self-translation, dictionary registration, and automatic page management to efficiently serve information to inbound customers.
Action sports is an inherently global culture. As the number of foreign visitors to Japan looking up sports shop information in their native language continues to grow, Japanese-only sites risk missing out on a substantial audience. Multilingual support opens the door to customer segments that would otherwise be lost. The dictionary registration feature also ensures that product and brand names appear as intended, allowing Murasaki Sports to maintain brand consistency across languages.
Case Studies by Industry: Finance and IT
GMO Aozora Net Bank
GMO Aozora Net Bank, a digital-native online bank targeting a broad base of domestic and international business customers, implemented Shutto Translation to improve operational efficiency in delivering complex financial information in multiple languages.
Financial institution websites face high translation costs due to regulatory complexity and the volume of information involved. In the financial sector, multilingual support serves not only foreign individual customers but also functions as an interface for international corporate clients. Shutto Translation's ability to deliver multilingual coverage in major languages — including English, Chinese, and Korean — at low cost makes it a practical entry point for global communication in finance. The ability to exclude specific pages from translation via the dashboard also provides the control financial institutions need for privacy compliance.
NTT DATA Intramart Co., Ltd. — A 90% Reduction in Translation Costs
Among all Shutto Translation case studies, NTT DATA Intramart stands out for the clarity of its measurable results.
The company, an IT vendor providing ERP and BPM platform solutions, was operating a multilingual corporate site (English and Simplified Chinese) for overseas business partners and product users. However, their previous translation engine produced low-quality machine translations, and the management interface for self-editing (post-editing) was complex — driving up staff workload. Time-zone-related delays in support responses from the overseas-headquartered translation vendor added further friction.
More critically, the site contained numerous pages exceeding one million characters. Fully translating all content required enormous effort, and the multilingual site was perpetually lagging behind.
After switching to Shutto Translation, the company reduced its translation costs to approximately one-tenth of what it had been spending — while successfully multilingualizng large-scale content exceeding one million characters. The factors cited in the decision: an intuitive UI, ease of use for staff with limited IT literacy, responsive Japanese-language support, and strong cost performance.
Case Studies by Industry: E-Commerce and Inbound Tourism
The Impact of Multilingualization for E-Commerce Sites
Shutto Translation is especially well-suited for e-commerce, and has official partnerships with EC platforms including futureshop. Multiple e-commerce operators who implemented Shutto Translation have reported "being able to multilingualize the website without significant cost, and then receiving orders from foreign customers."
One apparel EC business that had seen zero overseas orders during the COVID-19 pandemic saw international orders resume after multilingualizng its site with Shutto Translation. E-commerce sites require translation across many pages — product descriptions, sizing, payment instructions, shipping information — but the automatic content-sync feature and per-page translation prioritization allow even small teams to manage operations sustainably.
A manufacturer also reported: "We use Shutto Translation so that overseas customers can understand our products in their local language rather than in English — and we've received positive feedback from international customers saying the products are easier to understand than reading the English version." This illustrates how translation quality directly translates into customer satisfaction.
Use Cases in Inbound Tourism
Industries where inbound visitors (foreign tourists in Japan) are a primary customer segment — including travel, accommodation, and sports facilities — have also been adopting Shutto Translation. Rinyuu Kanko Co., Ltd. (a Hokkaido-based travel agency), the Kenroku-en Tourism Association, and Sunpiaza Duo (a large commercial complex in Sapporo) are all cited as users, demonstrating broad applicability across tourism, retail, and regional tourism industries.
When it comes to how foreign visitors use their smartphones to search for information, whether a website displays in their native language directly affects their decision to visit or make a reservation. Shutto Translation automatically switches the display language based on the user's browser language settings, delivering a native-language browsing experience without any action required from the visitor. This automatic language switching is particularly effective for inbound tourism initiatives.
Use in Local Government and Public Institutions
Shutto Translation's reach extends beyond private businesses. It has also been deployed by local governments and public institutions. Educational institutions, including Kanazawa University, have adopted it to communicate with international students, foreign researchers, and visitors.
Government websites often contain a high density of specialized terminology and legal language, which can challenge machine translation quality. Shutto Translation's self-translation feature allows IT staff to apply manual corrections where needed. For public-sector sites that require ongoing management and updates across many pages, the automatic page registration and deletion features offer significant operational efficiency gains.
What Changes After Implementation: Concrete Outcomes
A Dramatic Reduction in Translation Workload
The most commonly cited change among companies that have implemented Shutto Translation is a reduction in the time and effort spent managing translations. Under traditional multilingual site operations, every page addition or content update triggered a cycle of commissioning translations and updating the published content. For frequently updated sections — news, blogs, product information — translation lag often undermined content freshness.
Shutto Translation's automatic page registration, translation, and publication features ensure that when Japanese content is updated, the foreign-language pages reflect those changes in real time. One IT manager summed it up: "Previously, every time we launched a new site, we'd get requests to handle translation — since implementing Shutto Translation, we can be ready immediately, and the whole process is much smoother."
Overseas Orders and Inquiries Start Coming In
Once a multilingual website goes live, foreign users who previously had no way to access the site at all begin to visit — and in some cases, those visits convert into actual inquiries and orders.
A review from an e-commerce operator on ITreview notes: "We were able to multilingualize the site without significant cost, and we received orders from foreign customers." An apparel EC company also reported that overseas orders, which had dried up during the pandemic, resumed after multilingualizng their site. These examples show that Japanese-only sites lose visitors at the point of language barrier — and that native-language support can recapture that audience.
A Transformed Cost Structure
Before implementing Shutto Translation, the cost of running a multilingual site tended to follow a dual structure: translation fees plus development costs. Engaging an external translation firm can run several yen to over ten yen per character — for a site exceeding one million characters, translation costs can easily reach several million yen.
As the NTT DATA Intramart case demonstrates, switching to Shutto Translation enabled one company to compress translation costs to one-tenth of their previous level. With entry plans starting at ¥8,000/month (excl. tax) and no upfront fees, Shutto Translation is a genuinely realistic option for mid-sized businesses looking to start global outreach.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Can Shutto Translation be used on e-commerce sites? Can it be integrated with an existing site? A: Yes, Shutto Translation supports virtually any HTML-based website, including e-commerce sites. Since it operates by adding just one line of JavaScript, no major changes to the existing site architecture are needed. It has a strong track record with popular CMS platforms like WordPress and Movable Type, as well as e-commerce platforms including futureshop. It also supports dynamic content such as cart pages and member areas, enabling comprehensive multilingualization of an entire e-commerce site. Setup simply involves specifying which pages to translate in the management dashboard, keeping IT staff workload to a minimum.
Q: How good is the translation quality? Is automatic translation alone good enough for practical use? A: Shutto Translation uses a Google Translate-based engine, and for typical business documents and product descriptions, the output is generally of practical quality without additional editing. That said, for industry-specific jargon or brand-voice copy, we recommend using the self-translation feature for adjustments or applying professional translation selectively. The dictionary registration feature allows product names, company names, and brand names to be locked in as intended. One manufacturer reported that "overseas customers said the products were easier to understand than reading the English version" — showing that with proper use, translation quality can reach a solid business standard.
Q: We already have in-house translators. Is there still a benefit to using Shutto Translation? A: Yes, Shutto Translation delivers high value even for organizations with dedicated translators. Automatic translation can cover multilingualization across all pages first, while translators use the self-translation feature to refine only the most important pages. This allows translators to focus their time on editing and quality review — improving the quality of each page they touch. The NTT DATA Intramart case noted that "even translators with low IT literacy can easily operate the interface" — meaning the translation workflow can be completed without relying on dedicated engineers.
In Closing: If You're Considering Shutto Translation, Start by Auditing Your Own Challenges
As the case studies in this article show, Shutto Translation has been adopted by a remarkably diverse range of organizations — from corporate websites and e-commerce stores to inbound tourism sites and government agencies. From large corporations like Daiwa House Industry and NTT DATA Intramart to mid-sized sports retailers and regional tourism businesses, the common thread is appreciation for the simplicity of "multilingualization with a single tag."
Particularly notable is the NTT DATA Intramart case of achieving "one-tenth the translation cost." Even companies that already had a translation system in place achieved dramatic cost reductions after switching to Shutto Translation. For a mid-sized company still in the "considering multilingual support" phase, the zero-upfront-cost, ¥8,000/month (excl. tax) entry point is a genuinely realistic option.
At the same time, multilingualizng a website is just the entry point for reaching overseas audiences. To communicate in a way that truly resonates with local customers, translation alone is not enough — the content itself needs to be localized for the target market. At Leap, we don't just translate Japanese sites; we support the creation of multilingual pages optimized for each target market, along with comprehensive overseas web marketing.
If you're exploring Shutto Translation and also thinking seriously about international expansion, we invite you to explore Leap's global business blog — covering everything from choosing translation tools to localization strategy, cross-border e-commerce, and multilingual SEO.
References
- Shutto Translation Official Service Site
- Shutto Translation Case Studies (Submit Inc.)
- NTT DATA Intramart Case Study (Submit Inc.)
- Daiwa House Industry Case Study (Submit Inc.)
- Murasaki Sports Case Study (Submit Inc.)
- NTT DATA Intramart Adopts Shutto Translation (ASCII STARTUP)
- Shutto Translation Product Profile (ITreview)
- Shutto Translation Product Information (IT Trend)
- Shutto Translation Partnership (futureshop)
This article was written by the Leap Editorial Team. Leap supports Japanese small and mid-sized businesses looking to expand internationally with multilingual website creation, localization, and overseas marketing services. Leap Global Business Blog →
