The move comes on the heels of the opening of a new office in Taipei, Taiwan in October in response to client demand after it picked up Unilever account in Taiwan at the beginning of the year.
Until now, Initiative has been represented in Japan by Hakuhodo:Lintas, a joint venture between sister agency Lowe & Partners and Hakuhodo.
The new agency, Initiative Media Tokyo, will be headed up by managing director James Gover, who has worked at the Japanese operation since 1999 as executive media director.
Gover will report directly to King Lai, chief operating officer for Initiative in Asia Pacific.
Initiative will continue to work with Hakuhodo on Unilever's Nippon Lever account. The agency also holds Unilever's business in Europe, Latin American and other parts of South-East Asia.
Initiative Media Worldwide is owned by the Interpublic Group of Companies, and has billings of $21bn (£13.5bn) through 95 agencies in 48 countries. Billings for the Asia Pacific region were $2.1bn in 2001.
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