WCAG Audits and Accessibility Testing in Japan
JIS X 8341-3 audits for the market where accommodation became a duty in 2024.
Where Japan stands right now
Japan's JIS X 8341-3 standard is WCAG 2.0 AA in national form, and since April 1, 2024 private businesses have carried a mandatory duty of reasonable accommodation. The soft-law era is over. Ministries issue guidance now, and they expect to see movement against it.
We audit Japanese sites against the WCAG rules the JIS standard mirrors, with an expert review of every rule and a professional blind screen-reader user on your pages. Findings arrive with screenshots and fixes, ready for your team to pick up.
The law that reaches you in Japan
Japan: JIS X 8341-3 & Reasonable Accommodation
- Standard
- JIS X 8341-3:2016 = WCAG 2.0 AA
- Where it stands
- Private duty since Apr 1, 2024
- Who it binds
- Public and private sectors
- Reaches sellers based abroad
- Not by itself
- What non-compliance costs
- Mandatory accommodation duty, ministry guidance
- WCAG via JIS X 8341-3
- 2.0 AA
- Private duty mandatory
- Apr 2024
- Standard adopted verbatim
- ISO 40500:2012
- Businesses covered
- All sizes
The Japan JIS X 8341-3 dates, 2 of them
- 2016JIS X 8341-3:2016 aligns fully with WCAG 2.0
- Apr 1, 2024Reasonable accommodation becomes mandatory for private businesses
What accessibility testing in Japan covers
Start with the honest part. The audit is the same in Japan as it is anywhere, because WCAG does not change at a border. What changes is which law is watching and what it costs to fail, and the section above settles that.
The work itself runs in three passes. A machine finds the failures a machine can prove. A human works every one of the 55 A and AA rules by hand. Then a professional blind screen-reader user opens your real journeys and tries to finish them, the way your customers would. Every finding arrives with its screenshot and the fix that closes it, drawn from our free library of 432 guides.
None of the reference sits behind a form, either. Every number below counts pages you can go and read right now, free, whether you ever buy an audit or not.
- A and AA rules we check
- 55
- Techniques and failures
- 432
- ACT test rules
- 90
- ARIA roles documented
- 94
- Terms in the glossary
- 131
- Checklists to work from
- 9
- A free 10-page scan that finds what a machine can prove, before you spend anything
- Paid audits at fixed prices on the pricing page, $499 for 10 pages in 5 business days, $1,499 for 25 in 10
- The exact deliverable, free to read, as the sample report
The honest limit
And an audit is evidence, not a legal opinion. We tell you what fails, who it stops, and what closes it. Whether that satisfies a regulator or a court in Japan is a question for your lawyer, and we would rather say so than pretend otherwise.
Questions owners in Japan ask us
Does the audit change because my site is in Japan?
No. WCAG is the same standard everywhere, so the testing is identical wherever you are. What changes is which law is watching and what failing it costs, and that is what the law section on this page settles.
Which law applies to my site in Japan?
Japan JIS X 8341-3 is the one that reach Japan first, and each has its own page here covering what it asks for, who it lands on, and how it gets enforced. Sell into more than one market and more than one of them can reach you at the same time.
Do I have to publish an accessibility statement in Japan?
No law that reaches Japan names one in our library, so nothing forces you to publish a statement. You can still publish one anyway, and our free generator will write it from what the audit found.
What does the audit cost, and how fast is the report?
A Rapid Audit is $499 for 10 pages, with the report in 5 business days. A Standard Audit is $1,499 for 25 pages in 10 business days. Once your team has fixed things, the re-audit is half price within 3 months.
Do you actually test with a blind user?
Yes, on every audit. A professional blind screen-reader user opens your real journeys and tries to finish them, and we write down where they stop. That is the pass no scanner can run.
Related on this site
The reading behind the law that reaches you in Japan, and the guides that turn it into work your team can do.
Prefectures and cities we test in Japan
- Hamamatsu, Japan
- Kawasaki, Japan
- Kitakyushu, Japan
- Kobe, Japan
- Nagoya, Japan
- Sagamihara, Japan
- Sakai, Japan
- Sapporo, Japan
- Sendai, Japan
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- Yokohama, Japan
- Aichi, Japan
- Akita, Japan
- Aomori, Japan
- Chiba, Japan
- Ehime, Japan
- Fukui, Japan
- Fukuoka, Japan
- Fukushima, Japan
- Gifu, Japan
- Gunma, Japan
- Hiroshima, Japan
- Hokkaido, Japan
- Hyōgo, Japan
- Ibaraki, Japan
- Ishikawa, Japan
- Iwate, Japan
- Kagawa, Japan
- Kagoshima, Japan
- Kanagawa, Japan
- Kumamoto, Japan
- Kyōto, Japan
- Kōchi, Japan
- Mie, Japan
- Miyagi, Japan
- Miyazaki, Japan
- Nagano, Japan
- Nagasaki, Japan
- Nara, Japan
- Niigata, Japan
- Okayama, Japan
- Okinawa, Japan
- Saga, Japan
- Saitama, Japan
- Shiga, Japan
- Shimane, Japan
- Shizuoka, Japan
- Tochigi, Japan
- Tokushima, Japan
- Tottori, Japan
- Toyama, Japan
- Tōkyō, Japan
- Wakayama, Japan
- Yamagata, Japan
- Yamaguchi, Japan
- Yamanashi, Japan
- Ōita, Japan
- Ōsaka, Japan
Accessibility testing in other countries
Show all 48
- Denmark
- Norway
- Switzerland
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Canada
- Austria
- Belgium
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Czechia
- Estonia
- Finland
- Greece
- Hungary
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Sweden
- Argentina
- Colombia
- China
- Hong Kong
- Taiwan
- Saudi Arabia
- Qatar
- United Arab Emirates
- Iceland
- Liechtenstein
- Australia
- New Zealand
- South Korea
- India
- Israel
- Brazil
Find out where your site stands in Japan
Run the free scan. Read the sample report. Order the audit when you want the humans on it, and what lands is a report your developers, your lawyer or a regulator in Japan can act on.