The European Tour is continuing its global expansion by targeting what it calls "one of the world's biggest golf markets."
It has launched a Japanese version of its official website -- the first in a non-European language following French, German and Spanish ones.
The European Tour does not have any tournaments in Japan, which has its own circuit, but has made big inroads in other Asian venues such as China, South Korea, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore.
"It is another important step forward in our strategy of providing a localized experience of the European Tour for our fans all over the world," director of broadcasting and new media Mark Lichtenhein said.
"Given the globalization of the European Tour and popularity of golf and the Tour in Japan, this introduction of the first non-European language is an exciting new dimension to our multilingual strategy."
The ruling body will team up with Golf Digest Online to provide the content, marking the beginning of its 2013 Race to Dubai season.
"We believe this agreement will bring huge benefit for Japanese audience, and we will make our best effort to showcase the great tournaments and players from the European Tour," Golf Digest Online editor in chief Yasuko Mukai said.
The news came as Masters champion Bubba Watson tipped young Japanese golfer Ryo Ishikawa to become the first player from his country to win a major title.
The American played with the 21-year-old for the first two rounds of this week's Thailand Championship -- they were tied for seventh after the third round on Saturday.
"He's good enough to win at any level -- he can win a major," Watson said of Ishikawa, who finished 108th on the PGA Tour this year and will play fulltime on the U.S. circuit in 2013.