On February 28, 2017, the Japan Patent Office, for the first time, issued Notifications of Acceptance for a pair of color-only trademark applications. Details concerning the applications for Tombow Pencil Co., Ltd. (Application No. 2015-29914) and Seven Eleven Japan (Application No. 2015-30037) can be found at the Japan Platform for Patent Information (J-PlatPat), the JPO’s patent search website.

Beginning April 1, 2015, the JPO expanded trademark protection to five new application categories: color, sound, motion, hologram, and position. Although roughly 200 of these “new-type” trademark applications have already been granted, last month marked the first time color-only marks have been granted.
For more information, please visit the METI homepage at the link below.

(in Japanese only) http://www.meti.go.jp/press/2016/03/20170301003/20170301003.html