Meta launches its Muse agent in Japan, its first market outside North America

Meta has started offering Muse, its personal AI agent, in Japan from October 23, Japan time, according to a post on its Japanese newsroom. Meta says Japan is the first region outside North America, where Muse launched in September. It is available from today on iOS, Android and muse.ai. Many basic features are free, with subscription plans for heavier use; the Japanese post gives no yen prices.

What Muse does

Meta describes Muse as an agent you message like a person. You tell it what needs doing, and it plans and carries out the work: sending email, booking travel, or working toward a larger goal. It can open a browser and fill in forms on your behalf. Long tasks keep running after you close the app, and Muse notifies you when something changes or when it needs approval, for example before sending an email or buying something. It also remembers what matters to you across conversations.

Connectors, global and local

Connectors are how Muse reaches your services. The post lists Gmail, Google Calendar and Instagram, plus Stripe, Shopify, Trip.com, Agoda and Klook for shopping and travel.

For Japan specifically, Meta names three local partners: Mercari, the flea-market app; Money Forward ME, a household finance tracker; and Ticket Pia. Read the wording closely. The Japanese text says Meta is “proceeding with” these integrations alongside the launch, not that they are live today, and promises more Japanese services later. Masahiro Ajisawa, head of Meta’s Japan unit, is quoted saying the same.

Features shown at Meta Connect, including an advanced voice mode, Muse Realtime Avatar (English only) and a Muse email address of its own, are not part of this launch. Meta says it will announce their Japan availability separately.

Privacy and safety, as Meta describes them

Muse runs on a per-user isolated cloud virtual machine Meta calls Muse Secure VM, which stores connected-service data and credentials. A separate Sentinel agent manages internet access. Meta says Muse cannot see your passwords or payment methods, asks before important actions, and keeps a history of actions taken and planned. You choose which apps to connect and can revoke access at any time. You can opt out of having your Muse conversations used to train Meta’s AI models, and Meta says conversations and VM data are not shared with its ad systems.

These are Meta’s descriptions of its own design. The post points to Meta’s safety writing but cites no independent review.

Why it matters

Japan is a large, mobile-first market, and local commerce links are what make an agent useful there. Until Mercari, Money Forward and Ticket Pia are actually wired in, Japanese users get mostly the global connector set.