I graduated in ‘99 and lived in Japan for 5yrs from 2012-2017 when I ran a solar co in Tokyo.
Some cultural gaps are wider than others; moving to Tokyo wasn’t easy but has certainly paid off in the long run. I remember my first day in Tokyo, two and half years ago. I was standing on a busy intersection with a map in my hand. I must have been standing there for half an hour and nobody offered to help me because the Japanese are sometimes timid and/or don’t speak English. It was very frustrating for me to get around the city in the early days as the address system is very complicated. Once you start relying on the public infrastructure, you realize it is wonderfully designed and executed. Tokyo can make you feel lost and confused; it’s huge and speaks a challenging language; but the energy is vibrant. Japan is a contrary of contrasts; old and new but Tokyo is without question the epicenter, the pulse of the country.
At first, it’s challeneging to get into the country, the immigration laws are well controlled for working visas. It’s best to be sponsored by a company or use a market entry specialist firm who act as facilitators: they hire you, assure you a short term visa, give you time to look for a long term employment. In building your customer base, it’s best to find a local ally to open new channels. It’s crucial to be punctual, polite and mindful of your reputation. Many companies fail by trying to rush into Japan but it often takes time to buld the trust on this island nation. Supplier alliances are built over decades and it can be very difficult even for the most accomplished corporations to break those bonds. The manner of communciation is important in building the trust. Westerners learn to be more direct, concise, and to the point. Japanese are focused on politeness and reading in between the lines. This can lead to frustrations or misunderstandings in the business context. I manage an office of fifteen people and it’s very important for me to encourage feedback and foster creativity. It makes sense to be in the Minato zone of the city; it’s where the foreigner embassies, multinational corporations and the expats are mostly located and where English is spoken more readily than in other parts of the city; you will find the greatest support system here.
The challenges? The cost of conducting business and day to day life can be expensive. Depending on the industry, the market can be quite protectionist as well. It’s important to have a strong value proposition which can not be replicated easily; also important is to protect your intellectual capital. However, the Japanese market is extremely focused on quality and good service, if you can execute that model well here; the market will pay a premium. Finding good talent is probably my greatest challenge; I am constantly interviewing to meet new people, even if there is not an immediate need to hire someone. The unemployment rate is very low in Japan; the social norms limit the availibility in the workforce. It’s a male dominated society which relies heavily on age as determining seniority. In no other developed nation is there such a wider income gap between men and women. Woman earn 50% less than men on average, and typically when they get pregnant, they don’t return to the workforce beacause the cost of day care is so high. Modernizing the employement structure to recruit foreign talent and promote woman still remains as the last part of the Abenomics roll-out and it still remains unclear whether this will be socially adopted.
I’ve learned to love Tokyo, you can live very comfortably here. It’s not your average chaotic Asian city. If you include its surroundings, it’s the second largest city in the world, yet Tokyo is orderly, clean and very safe. When I look for a European feel, I go to the Azabu Juban neighborhood and walk the tree lined streets with many shops. Unfortunately, the green space is limited in the city center, but you can always use the great network of bullet trains to reach great mountains or some nice beaches in one or two hours. The quality of food is extremely high quality (2nd only to Italy!), but after the Fukushima nuclear accident, I’m like everybody else, careful about the products’ origin.
There’s a strong sense to strive for perfection here in Tokyo. The work ethic is truly impressive and this charateristic is adopted by a large majority of the population. People are very diligent and considerate of others around them. Whether they are managers or taxi drivers, Japanese take pride in their work and show respect for society. More than anything, this is the most impressionable aspect of this city; it shows you what is possible in a society by implementing this learned behaviour from a young age.
John Taylor
Managing Director
Clean Technology Capital LLC.