LinkedIn has introduced its professional networking service in Japanese and opened an office in the Shibuya district of Tokyo with the aim of rapidly increasing its presence in this market.

And after building a stable foothold in Japan, the California-based firm intends to create more foreign-language services for other key Asian economies.

The service was first set up in 2003 and has more than 120 million members in 200 nations and territories worldwide; the Japanese version marks the first time it has been offered in an Asian language.

New LinkedIn members are able to create a profile in Japanese and build and manage their professional identity online by sharing career updates and experiences, skills, capabilities, education and recommendations by their industry peers.

The service, which is free, also enables a member to contact other users and make professional contacts, the company said.

LinkedIn only began moving into Asia in late 2009 but already has some 20 million members in Asia and the Pacific. The company said it believes there are "tremendous opportunities for growth" beyond the Japanese market, and that rather than focusing on revenue it intends to expand its user base.

The company is also happy to tweak the service to meet the needs of local businesspeople.

The Japanese market is likely to throw up some unique challenges to the company, however, as employees here change companies far less frequently than in other economies and posting lists of personal achievements is seen as bragging.

LinkedIn is available in ten languages and launched in Russian, Romanian and Turkish earlier this year. There are no plans to launch a Chinese-language site in the near future, the company said, due to complications in doing business in that market.

Access the site: http://jp.linkedin.com/

JR