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Kakaku.com runs popular Japanese websites that help people compare prices and reviews before they buy things and book restaurants and travel.
Kakaku.com is a Japanese internet company that makes money by helping people decide what to buy. Its main site, Kakaku.com, lets shoppers compare prices on everything from laptops to rice cookers, and it pairs those listings with user reviews and ratings. When a shopper clicks through to a retailer and buys something, the retailer pays Kakaku.com a commission. That click-based fee is the core of the business, and it has made the company one of the most visited shopping sites in Japan.
The company also owns Tabelog, a restaurant review site that works a bit like Yelp for Japan. Tabelog lists restaurants, collects diner reviews, and sells advertising and reservation services to restaurants that want more customers. It is a big deal in Japan's dining culture, where people often check reviews before picking a place to eat. Beyond that, Kakaku.com runs a travel booking site and a few smaller services, but those are side dishes next to the price comparison engine and Tabelog. What makes the company strong is that it sits in the middle of people's buying decisions without holding any inventory. It does not stock products or run restaurants. It just connects buyers with sellers and takes a small fee when the match works. That keeps costs low and lets the company earn high margins, which is why it has been a quietly profitable business for years. Its main vulnerability is that it depends on consumer spending and on people continuing to trust its reviews and price data; if shoppers drift to Amazon or other big platforms, the clicks slow down.
Mitsuaki Makino noticed something while wandering through Akihabara's electronics stores: shoppers wanted the lowest price, and shopkeepers wanted to know what their rivals were charging. He turned that gap into a simple website in 1997 that compared prices and made money by charging the shops that listed on it, not the people browsing. The whole idea rested on one insight: if you can gather every price in one place, you become the place everyone checks first.
As the site grew, the company renamed itself Kakaku.com and attached a review forum to every product, so shoppers could hear from other shoppers, not just see a number. It also pushed beyond computers into branded goods, golf gear, mobile phones and even auto insurance, turning the price board into a habit for many kinds of purchases.
In late 2003 the company listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's Mothers market, and two years later it moved up to the First Section. Going public gave it money and visibility, but more importantly it signaled that a price-comparison website was a real business.
Also in 2005, the company launched Tabelog, a restaurant search and reservation service, but deliberately kept it separate. Restaurant reviews are not about cheapness, so competing on the lowest price would have ruined the feel; Tabelog needed its own brand and its own tone.
That same year, a travel review and comparison site operator called Fortravel joined the group, adding travel to the company's growing menu of comparison businesses.
By 2010 Tabelog had become the most-used gourmet site in Japan by third-party measurement. What started as a side project now stood beside Kakaku.com as the company's second big engine, and the restaurant business would go on to shape its fortunes for years.
In 2016 Shonosuke Hata replaced Minoru Tanaka as president. Leadership changed hands, but the company now had two strong brands carrying it, and the question was how far each could grow.
In October 2021 the company cut its forecast for the year, and the stock fell hard. The cause was simple and painful: repeated COVID state-of-emergency extensions kept people out of restaurants, and Tabelog's business depends on people eating out.
In 2024 Atsuhiro Murakami, the person who created Tabelog, took over as president from Hata. The restaurant site had become central enough to the company that its own creator was now running the whole place.
By the 2026 fiscal year, revenue hit a record 94.1 billion yen, up 20%, powered by Tabelog and the Kyujin Box HR service. Operating profit fell 7% because the company was pouring money into growing Kyujin Box and paying for acquisitions and AI. It forecast even higher revenue and profit ahead, with Tabelog and HR as the twin growth engines.
Kakaku.com is headquartered in Tokyo and has been listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange for years. It generates solid free cash flow and has historically returned much of it to shareholders through dividends, while also investing in its sites and services. The company is a useful window into how Japanese consumers shop: they research heavily, compare carefully, and trust reviews, and Kakaku.com has built a durable business around exactly that habit.
Saved answer 路 last researched 4 Nov 2026