[3] M. japonicus lives in bays and inland seas, particularly where warm currents occur.

[2] M. japonicus has entered the Mediterranean Sea as a Lessepsian migrant, through the Suez Canal.

[2] Further populations have been established after the species was released at various sites around France, Italy, and Greece.

In 1971, N. M. Tirmizi established a new subgenus of Penaeus for P. japonicus,[4] and raised to the rank of genus by Isabel Pérez Farfante and Brian Kensley in 1997.

[3] In its introduced range, it is the subject of fishing by trawling in the eastern Mediterranean, especially around the Gulf of İskenderun.