They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but in the case of Western eyes beholding Japanese websites, the beauty is hard to find. Japanese websites often feature loud banners, dense text, multiple columns, lots of tiny images and an overall cluttered, crowded look — vastly different from the clean aesthetic of Western web design. Many factors contribute to these busy Japanese websites, but the underlying reasons are cultural and practical.

They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but in the case of Western eyes beholding Japanese websites, the beauty is hard to find. Japanese websites often feature loud banners, dense text, multiple columns, lots of tiny images and an overall cluttered, crowded look — vastly different from the clean aesthetic of Western web design. Many factors contribute to these busy Japanese websites, but the underlying reasons are cultural and practical.