Chagee isn't in Japan yet. Osaka already has a shop that looks a lot like it

On 1 April 2026 a tea shop called Charming opened in Nakazakicho, Osaka. Photos reached Chinese social media and people noticed at once. The layout, colors and composition of the logo are nearly identical to Chagee's, the Chinese tea chain. The Peking-opera figure in the middle has been swapped for a woman in a kimono. The cups, the paper bags and the menu typesetting look similar too.

Chagee's customer service responded on 3 April. They said they had noted it and were watching, and that the company has no stores in Japan. The shop is run by a Japanese company founded in 2022, whose brand page says it was inspired by Shanghai's tea culture. As I write, Chagee has issued no formal statement and filed no suit. Whether the shop is a copy isn't for me to judge. It isn't the point of this post either.

There are almost no legal cards to play

Suppose Chagee wanted to deal with this in Japan. What would it hold?

Japanese trademarks are first-to-file. The Japan Patent Office examines them, and the right goes to whoever filed first. Who used the mark first doesn't matter. If Chagee hasn't registered in Japan, then in Japan it owns no trademark right in the name or the logo. That is the first wall.

The second is the Unfair Competition Prevention Act. It can protect an unregistered mark, but only if the mark is already well known in Japan, meaning widely recognised by Japanese consumers. A brand with zero stores in Japan struggles to show that. Fame in Malaysia, Singapore or Korea does not count for a Japanese judge.

The third is the Trademark Act's provision against bad-faith filings. An application in Japan for a mark well known abroad, made with improper intent, can be refused or invalidated. That's useful, but it solves "someone registered my mark". It doesn't solve "someone opened a shop that looks like mine". And it requires proving foreign fame plus bad intent through an opposition or invalidation procedure that takes a year at minimum.

The lesson has nothing to do with tea

Swap in any Chinese brand preparing to enter Japan and the situation is the same. A thousand stores in China and zero in Japan. A logo everyone recognises on Xiaohongshu and nothing in the JPO database. The cheapest thing to do before entering Japan, and the easiest to forget, is the trademark.

In my experience the order goes like this. File in Japan twelve to eighteen months ahead, because examination usually takes six months to a year, and that is about how long it takes from deciding to enter Japan to opening the first store. Don't file only the Chinese name. File the logo as a device, the English name and the katakana rendering, each separately. Japanese consumers will call you by the katakana, and if you do not register that spelling, someone else can. Split the classes too. The tea itself is class 30, food-service is class 43, retail is class 35. Register one and the other two are still open.

Search before filing. Use the JPO's J-PlatPat to check whether your name is already registered to someone. This isn't rare in Japan. A name already famous in China turns out to be registered to an unrelated company, and the brand discovers on arrival that it cannot use its own name. If the search finds a problem, negotiate or rename, but do it before the store opens.

After registration, monitor. Once a year, check for similar filings and oppose them. The opposition window is only two months. A Japanese patent attorney can do this cheaply.

One uncomfortable line

Some will say the Osaka shop proves people in Japan are already waiting for Chagee, which is good news. I half agree. It does prove people are waiting. Some of the people waiting are in business. In Japan, a right isn't defended by everyone knowing the brand is yours. It's defended by the register. What is not on the register is not yours here.

Companies entering Japan tend to spend the budget on location and fit-out and leave the few hundred thousand yen for trademarks until last. I'd reverse that. The store can open three months late. The name cannot.

This article summarises public reporting and the general principles of Japan's trademark system. It is not legal advice and makes no judgment on whether the Osaka shop infringes any right. For a specific matter, consult a Japanese patent attorney or lawyer.