Japan was the country where Microsoft opened its first international office in 1978.
Microsoft’s early business was based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where Bill Gates and Paul Allen had moved to work with the Altair computer. As the company’s software business expanded, it established an overseas presence in Japan, creating Microsoft Japan.
The Japanese market was important to early personal computing because it had a growing electronics industry and a strong interest in computer technology. Microsoft’s international expansion eventually became a major part of its business, with regional subsidiaries supporting software sales, localization, and customer relationships.
This fact is sometimes confused with Microsoft’s later international offices in Europe. The company opened offices in several other countries during the 1980s, but Japan is generally identified as its first international location.