Quick answer: A US buyer has seven realistic ways to buy Japanese products wholesale online: direct from the maker's own wholesale program, through a Japanese trading company or export agent, on a US wholesale marketplace such as Faire, on a European marketplace such as Ankorstore, through a dropship supplier app such as Spocket, at a Japanese trade show such as the Tokyo International Gift Show, or through orosy, which opens the supplier accounts and arranges the international shipping and arranges the international shipping. The routes differ on two axes that matter more than price: what you get to choose from, and how much of the import operation lands on your desk. This guide compares all seven on the same four questions, then maps them to specific buyer situations.
Key takeaways
- The seven routes split into three families: you contract the supply yourself, you buy from a roster someone else assembled, or you use a source that carries the supplier relationships and arranges shipping.
- Selection is decided upstream of you on every marketplace route. A brand appears on a roster because it cleared that platform's onboarding, not because it fits your shelf.
- Import duties and customs clearance in your country are yours in all seven routes. Routes differ only on who arranges the freight.
- Integration platforms such as Flxpoint and Logicbroker turn up in searches for Japanese wholesale distributors, but they move order data between partners you already have. They are not a place to buy from.
- Match the route to your situation, not to a ranking. A single store testing one Japanese line and a distributor adding a permanent Japan section start in different places.
The four questions that separate one route from another
Most comparisons of Japanese wholesale websites turn into feature lists. That is not where the differences live. Four questions do almost all of the work.
What can you choose from? Every route hands you a different shelf. A marketplace hands you the brands that completed its onboarding. A trade show hands you the exhibitors who paid for a booth. A trading company hands you what it already buys.
Who arranges the international leg? Someone books the freight from Japan to your door: you, a forwarder you hire, the supplier, or a platform doing it on your behalf. That answer determines how much operational weight the route carries.
Who is the importer of record? For a US buyer, this is you. Clearance and the duties assessed at import sit with the importer no matter who booked the freight. Our guide to importing Japanese products: customs, duties, and logistics walks through what that means line by line.
What does the first step cost you in time? Writing to twenty makers in Japanese and waiting is a different expense than creating an account and searching. Neither is wrong. They are paid in different currencies.
The seven routes to buy Japanese products wholesale
| Route | What it is | Best for | Where shipping and import sit | Typical first step |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Direct from the maker or brand | You contact a Japanese brand and open an account with it directly | Buyers who already know the specific brand they want | You or a forwarder you hire book the freight; clearance and duties are yours | Find the wholesale or inquiry page on the brand's Japanese site and write to it |
| 2. Trading company or export agent | A Japanese firm buys on your behalf, consolidates, and handles the export side | Buyers with volume and a defined product list | The agent arranges export from Japan; US clearance and duties stay with you | Send a named product list and ask for a quotation |
| 3. Faire | A US-based wholesale marketplace; its site states over 100,000 brands and 60 days to pay | Buyers who want browsable discovery and payment terms today | Depends on where the brand ships from; check the individual listing | Create a retailer account and search the Japanese section |
| 4. Ankorstore | A European wholesale marketplace; its site describes 30,000+ European brands and 300,000+ European retailers | European retailers buying European brands | Set by the brand's country and the marketplace's own terms | Check whether your country and the brands you want are on it |
| 5. Dropship supplier apps such as Spocket | An app that links your store to suppliers who ship to your end customer | Sellers testing products without holding stock | The supplier ships to your customer; you never take the goods in | Install the app and browse the catalog |
| 6. Trade shows, such as the Tokyo International Gift Show | Japan's large gift and lifestyle trade fair, open to trade visitors only | Buyers who can travel and want to meet makers face to face | Nothing ships from the floor; you arrange every leg afterwards | Register in advance and book appointments |
| 7. orosy | One account and one cart across 5,000+ brands on our Japanese marketplace and 200,000+ products | Buyers who want breadth without running the import operation | orosy arranges international shipping to your country; clearance and duties stay yours | Sign up with your business website URL |
Route 1: direct from the maker or brand
This is the route people picture when they imagine sourcing. You find a Japanese brand you love, you write to it, you open an account. It also has the widest theoretical selection, because nobody pre-filtered anything for you.
The work is real. Many Japanese makers publish a wholesale page written for domestic buyers, with domestic payment terms and a delivery address in Japan assumed. Your first exchange is often not about price at all; it is about whether the maker exports. Then come the checks you should run anyway: registration, capacity, references. Our guide on how to vet Japanese suppliers covers what to ask before money moves. Get through all of it and you own a relationship nobody else on your street has.
Route 2: Japanese trading companies and export agents
Japan has a deep bench of firms whose business is buying domestically and exporting: large general trading houses at one end, small specialist exporters at the other. The model is consistent even when the size is not. You give them a list, they buy from the makers, they consolidate, and they handle the export paperwork on the Japan side, for a margin or a commission.
This route suits a buyer who knows what they want and has enough volume to be worth quoting. It works badly for discovery, because an agent quotes against a list rather than showing you a catalog. For the discovery half, public matching services exist: JETRO, the Japanese government's trade organization, runs an invitation-based product catalog for overseas buyers alongside a general business-matching platform. (JETRO business opportunity databases)
Route 3: Faire
Faire is the route most US retailers already know. Its own site describes an online wholesale marketplace with over 100,000 brands, 60 days to pay with no interest, low order minimums, and returns at no charge on a first order with a brand. (faire.com) For a buyer who wants to browse, order, and keep cash flow comfortable, that is a strong package, and Japanese brands are on the roster.
The structural point is not a criticism of the platform: what you choose from is the set of brands that completed onboarding. For Japanese supply, that means the export-ready slice rather than Japan's full base of makers, because a brand listing from Japan self-manages a US-dollar account, its own international shipping, and exporter-of-record customs (details in the piece below). We wrote that out in Faire for Japanese brands vs. sourcing direct from Japan.
Route 4: Ankorstore
Ankorstore comes up in searches for Japanese wholesale websites, so it is worth being precise about what it is. Its own site describes over 30,000 European brands and over 300,000 retailers across Europe, payment terms of up to 60 days, and a €100 minimum order. (Ankorstore: how retailers benefit) That is a strong marketplace, described by the company itself as European on both the brand side and the retailer side.
For a US buyer looking for Japanese product, the mismatch is geographic rather than qualitative. Before you invest time in an account, check that your country and the brands you want are both on it. We go through that check in Ankorstore for Japanese products: what US buyers should know.
Route 5: dropship supplier apps such as Spocket
Spocket connects an online store to suppliers who ship directly to the end customer. Its own site puts it plainly: you import products from the catalog with one click, and "when a customer places an order on your online store, you forward the details to the supplier, who then handles packaging and shipping." The same page describes its supplier network as US and EU based, across plans running from Starter up to Unicorn; Spocket elsewhere puts it at over 80% of suppliers in the US and EU, a deliberate choice for shipping speed. (Spocket pricing and how it works)
Two things follow, and neither is a knock on the product. This is a fulfillment model, not a wholesale purchase: you never own the inventory, so you are not setting wholesale economics, the subject of our explainer on kakeritsu, the Japanese wholesale pricing system. And a network built around US and EU suppliers is not where Japanese supply lives. The longer version is in Spocket for Japanese products vs. wholesale sourcing.
Route 6: trade shows, starting with the Tokyo International Gift Show
Nothing replaces standing in front of the product. The Tokyo International Gift Show is the anchor event for gift and lifestyle categories: the 102nd edition (Autumn 2026) runs September 2–4, 2026 at Tokyo Big Sight, with roughly 3,000 companies exhibiting across the show and its concurrent fairs, organized by Business Guide-Sha. (TIGS show outline) Admission is restricted. The show's FAQ states these are "trade fairs open to business professionals only," that general visitors and students are not permitted to enter, and that a visitor badge comes from advance registration. (TIGS FAQ)
The honest caveat is that the show is the easy part. You are unlikely to close orders on the floor; what you collect is a shortlist and the contacts to follow up with. Account opening, the export question, samples, and freight all happen afterwards, from your desk. Our Tokyo International Gift Show guide for US buyers covers the trip and the follow-up that makes it pay.
Route 7: orosy
orosy is a Japanese wholesale marketplace turned into a buying route for overseas businesses: one account and one cart across 5,000+ brands on our Japanese marketplace and 200,000+ products, reachable through the screen, through one API, or from an AI client. orosy negotiates with each supplier and opens the accounts, so a maker does not need to be export-ready to be reachable by you. orosy arranges international shipping to your country. You do not need a forwarder or a receiving point in Japan.
The 5,000+ figure describes the brands on our Japanese marketplace, joining the API over time, rather than a count of everything orderable on a given day. The section below sets out the cross-border split.
A note on platforms that are not supply sources
Two names surface constantly in searches for Japanese wholesale distributors and belong in a different category. Flxpoint describes itself as software that pulls in "inventory, pricing, and product data" from vendors and sends "orders to the right supplier, warehouse, or 3PL." (Flxpoint: how it works) Logicbroker describes an orchestration engine that "unifies product availability, order orchestration, and fulfillment intelligence," onboarding partners "whether they're using Fortune 500 ERPs or simple spreadsheets." (Logicbroker) Both are capable at what they do. Neither carries a catalog you can buy from: they move data between partners you have already signed. If your unsolved problem is where Japanese product comes from, these sit downstream of it. See Flxpoint for Japanese products: operations vs. supply and Logicbroker for Japanese products: integration vs. supply.
Which route fits your situation
Rankings are not useful here, because the routes are not competing for the same buyer. A situation-by-situation cut is more useful.
| Your situation | Start with | Why | Read next |
|---|---|---|---|
| A single store adding its first Japanese line | A marketplace route (3 or 7) | You need to see product and order small before committing shelf space | How to source Japanese products wholesale in the US |
| A wholesale distributor adding a permanent Japan section | Routes 2 and 7, in parallel | You need depth and repeatability, not a one-time buy, and you will re-order on a schedule | Adding a Japan section: a distributor's playbook |
| A corporate gifting company running client programs | Route 7, with 6 for discovery | Client programs need breadth across categories and a predictable reorder path | Sourcing Japanese corporate gifts at scale |
| A promotional products agency quoting campaigns | Routes 2 and 7 | Campaign work is quoted against a brief with deadlines, so lead time and quoting speed decide it | Sourcing Japanese promotional products for campaigns |
| An e-commerce seller who does not want to hold stock | Route 7 for wholesale; 5 only if the model fits | You can list Japanese product before you own it, but a dropship app's network is not Japanese supply | Spocket vs. wholesale sourcing |
| A buyer with one specific Japanese brand in mind | Route 1, with 7 as the fallback | If you know the name, go to the source; if it does not export, a route that opens accounts is the way in | How to vet Japanese suppliers |
Two patterns show up across that table. Discovery and execution are separable: a trade show is a good way to decide what to carry and a poor way to place the order. And most buyers combine two routes, usually a direct relationship for the brands that define them plus a broad route for everything else.
Where orosy fits
orosy is the route for buyers who want a wide selection without running the import operation themselves. The name comes from the Japanese verb orosu (卸す), "to wholesale." Rather than choosing from the brands that could clear an export process on their own, you get one account and one cart across 5,000+ brands on our Japanese marketplace and 200,000+ products, because orosy negotiates with each supplier and opens the accounts. Suppliers who never intended to sell abroad become reachable without you learning to read a Japanese price sheet. The same catalog is reachable through the screen, through one API, and from MCP-compatible AI clients such as Claude Code, which can search, build a cart and order: the AI shows the total and stops, and a person confirms.
Here is the division of labor. orosy arranges international shipping to your country. You do not need a forwarder or a receiving point in Japan. Before you order, the cart shows a reference figure for international shipping, for your information only. The actual shipping cost is calculated later and billed to you, and it can differ from that figure. Customs clearance in your country, import duties, and taxes at import are your responsibility. They are not part of the cost billed by orosy. None of that is unusual across the seven routes above. What changes is how much of it you assemble yourself.
If you want to see the catalog against your own categories, sign up at orosy. Registration is no-cost and does not require a card, and you will need a business website URL, which is what the business check uses. Most accounts are approved within an hour if the sign-up email domain matches the business website or the email is listed on it; otherwise normally within 12 hours. Prices are shown after approval.
FAQ
Where can a US buyer buy wholesale Japanese products online?
There are seven realistic routes: direct from a Japanese maker's wholesale program, through a Japanese trading company or export agent, on a US marketplace such as Faire, on a European marketplace such as Ankorstore, through a dropship supplier app such as Spocket, at a Japanese trade show such as the Tokyo International Gift Show, or through orosy, which opens the supplier accounts and arranges international shipping.
What are the best Japanese wholesale websites for a US retailer?
It depends on what you are optimizing for. If you want browsable discovery with payment terms, a US marketplace like Faire is the familiar route. If you want the breadth of Japanese supply rather than the export-ready slice of it, you either contact makers directly or use a source that has already opened those accounts. There is no single best site; the honest question is whether the brands you want are on the roster you are browsing.
How do I find suppliers in Japan if I do not speak Japanese?
Three practical starting points: Japanese trade shows, where makers expect to meet buyers in person; public matching services such as the databases JETRO runs for overseas buyers; and platforms that carry the supplier relationship for you. Contacting a maker cold in English works sometimes, but many Japanese wholesale programs are written for domestic buyers, so expect the first reply to be about whether they export at all.
Who pays import duties when I buy Japanese products wholesale?
You do, in every route described here. Whoever arranges the freight, customs clearance in your country and the duties and taxes assessed at import are the importer's responsibility. Build a landed-cost model before you compare prices across routes, because a low wholesale price and a low landed cost are not the same number.
How long does orosy approval take?
Most accounts are approved within an hour if the sign-up email domain matches the business website or the email is listed on it; otherwise normally within 12 hours. You need a business website URL to register. Prices are shown after approval.
Sources
- Faire: marketplace overview, brand count, 60-day payment terms, order minimums, first-order returns: https://faire.com/
- Ankorstore: how independent retailers benefit (European brand and retailer base, terms up to 60 days, €100 minimum): https://blog.ankorstore.com/ankorstore-benefits-retailers/
- Spocket: pricing and how the model works (supplier ships to the end customer, US and EU supplier base, plan names): https://www.spocket.co/pricing
- Tokyo International Gift Show: show outline (102nd Autumn 2026 dates, Tokyo Big Sight, ~3,000 exhibiting companies, organizer): https://www.giftshow.co.jp/english/tigs/outline.htm
- Tokyo International Gift Show: FAQ (business professionals only, advance registration and visitor badge): https://www.giftshow.co.jp/english/tigs/faq.htm
- Flxpoint: how it works (inventory and product data ingestion, order routing, pre-built integrations): https://flxpoint.com/how-it-works
- Logicbroker: platform overview (order orchestration across trading partners, partner onboarding): https://logicbroker.com/
- JETRO: business opportunity databases for overseas buyers (invitation-based Japanese product catalog, business matching): https://www.jetro.go.jp/en/database/