"Repeating Student's Challenge on Naver Japan... 'I'm Illiterate in Japanese but I'll Create a Service'"

[Asia Economy Reporter Buaeri] Naver, having experienced two failures in the Japanese search service market, is attempting a 'third try.' The situation now is different from 2005 and 2013, when it gave up after failing to overcome the walls of Google and Yahoo Japan. This is because of 'Line,' which has established itself as Japan's national messenger.

Developing Algorithms Tailored to the Characteristics of the Japanese Language

Naver's work on the Japanese address search service, which has been in preparation since early last year, is nearing completion. The development of the Japanese address search service signifies Naver's re-entry into Japan. Engineer Jae-yong Cho, who is participating in this project, said, "We are applying Naver Map's location search technology to various services operated in Japan to provide accurate results," adding, "Currently, we are finalizing a service that places the intended results at the top when a search term is entered."

Naver Search Engineer Jo Jaeyong

Mr. Cho is a developer working to improve the quality of search. For example, he programs algorithms so that even if a typo like 'Gannam Station' is searched, it will be recognized as 'Gangnam Station.' This is because users continue to use the service only if the desired results appear quickly with minimal typing.

Mr. Cho faced many challenges when assigned to the Japanese address search task. He explained, "Although I am illiterate in Japanese, I am analyzing data by understanding the address system." Since he cannot input Japanese directly, he utilized a Japanese address database (DB) written in Korean pronunciation and repeatedly performed 'copy and paste' tasks. He said, "We also analyzed Japanese users' address search patterns," adding, "Unlike us who input addresses only in Hangul, Japanese people mix Kanji, Hiragana, and English, and we are analyzing and reviewing such data as well."

Unlike Korea, which has accumulated data for 20 years, Mr. Cho created new algorithms suitable for Japanese service development, where data is insufficient. Instead of a typo correction engine that requires vast amounts of data, he applied a 'string similarity search' algorithm. This method scores how similar the search term and the search document are and recommends results accordingly. Mr. Cho stated, "We have now reached the level of address search comparable to Google."

Two Failures, Another Challenge

Naver knocked on the door of the Japanese search service market twice but failed both times. In 2000, it established 'Naver Japan' but could not overcome the walls of Yahoo Japan and Google, ending the service in 2005. Two years later, in 2007, it tried again but closed the service again at the end of 2013. Currently, Google dominates the Japanese portal market. According to StatCounter, Google's share of the Japanese search market is 77.27%, and Yahoo's is 18.01%.

Naver's determination for the third attempt is exceptional. The strategy is to leverage its subsidiary 'Line,' which succeeded as Japan's national messenger. Line currently has 84 million monthly active users (MAU) in Japan. Naver has also increased the number of search engineers eightfold. Naver stated, "We are preparing a search service linked with Line in Japan."

The reason Naver is challenging the Japanese search market again is that it is an essential market for global expansion. In the case of search services, each country's society and culture are important, and Japan is culturally the most similar to Korea. Also, since Japan's population is twice that of Korea, the digital advertising market, the main source of portal revenue, is substantial. According to market research firm Statista, Japan's digital advertising market is expected to grow from $15.7 billion (17 trillion KRW) this year to $18.3 billion (20 trillion KRW) in 2023. A Naver official explained, "With the solid foundation of Line and Naver's stronger firepower than in previous attempts, the possibility of success has increased."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.