I applied through an employee referral. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Rakuten (Tóquio) in Jul 2013
Interview
Four rounds of interviews (on different days), some days with multiple 30 min interviews. Most interviews were conversation based. As part of the process, you are also expected to read 2-3 of Mikitani's books and write a book report. Interviews in Japan tend to be fairly easy compared with N. American or European interviews, and this was no exception.