Home Automation in Japan is way behind the rest of the world with most consumers unaware of the developements. For most home owners, control systems are limited to: 1) Amazon, Apple, Google, etc., or 2) expensive Home Energy Management Systems (HEMS). The local population of Home Assistant users is small but growing. There are two main challenges for the locals: 1) language (almost all internet/youtube information are in English), 2) limitations on major appliances (ex: HVAC, Solar Panels, etc). API for my Nissan Ariya is publicly available in the EU, but not in Japan (yes, this is weird).
Similiar to Home Theatre, the Japan market appears to be industry driven rather than consumer driven, making it a tough one to crack for foreign brands. One of the tenets of this site is to break the language barrier as much as possible in order to allow Japan to catch up with the rest of the world and hopefully "shake things up" in the market. Local manufacturers should not continue to be allowed to take advantage of the language barrier.
New devices, technologies, protocols are being introduced to the market at a rapid pace. Unaware of this is the Japanese consumer, with the brand owners showing minimal interest in introducing to the local market. I am guessing that this is due to the small market size (one could hardly blame the manufacturers).
Wifi continues to be the main network system with only a handful of manufacterers offering Thread, Zigbee, Zwave, Matter, etc. (The Japanese version of this section continues to describe the newer protocols in more detail)
