Eyeing Asian expansion, LinkedIn launches Japanese platform, opens Tokyo office

TOKYO – LinkedIn Corp. on Thursday launched in Japanese, marking the rapidly growing professional networking service’s first Asian language platform as it pushes to expand in the region.

The Mountain View, California-based company also established a Tokyo office, following the opening of its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Singapore in May.

Arvin Rajand, head of LinkedIn’s Asia operations, described Japan as a key market for the company because of its technologically sophisticated workforce.

LinkedIn has about 120 million members worldwide, with 20 million in Asia and the South Pacific.

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“We think there are tremendous opportunities for growth not only in Japan but in entire region,” Rajand said at a press conference in Tokyo. “If you look at LinkedIn’s business as a whole around the world, we feel we’re still just scratching the surface.”

The service is now available in 10 languages, with more on the way. Earlier this year, it launched in Russian, Romanian and Turkish.

Rajad said the company is not focused on revenue in Japan at this point. Rather, it aims to grow its membership in the country and will tweak the service to fit local needs.

It faces a work force in Japan that is more accustomed to anonymity on the Web than the sort of openness encouraged by LinkedIn and other U.S. social networks. Also foreign is the concept of establishing an accessible online professional identity to foster personal or business advancement.

The company said it is learning about the Japanese market and expects to roll out products and services localized specifically for the country.

LinkedIn has had a decent year, having executed the biggest initial public offering by a U.S. Internet company since Google went public in 2004.

The company reported better-than-expected quarterly profits in August as growth in membership and revenue picked up pace, but its share price has floundered.