My article on the receiving end of ageism in Japan and finding work when you’re over 50 obviously struck a chord in a number of readers, and I appreciate all the emails coming in. I thought I’d share two of these emails, with the author’s respective permissions, about their take on being over...

Apart from a pile of cash, the most tradable commodity in the Japanese business world is a strong personal network. You see successful networkers in this country all the time, creating relationships based on both friendship and interpersonal IOUs – “giri”. Look this word up on the internet; it is usually defined as obligation and...

With all the media hype going on about privacy of personal data and court actions against those companies that breach the law, it is easy to think that such rules extend to your own private communications at your place of work. However, in Japan at least, this is far from correct and as an employee you should know that your company is legally allowed to access...

I've spoken before about the value of doing an internship and using the “ties that bind us” to allow a happy and motivated job seeker's personality to shine through to compensate for an otherwise deficient resume, experience, or qualifications. I have come across many people who are looking to change careers and an internship is a great way to...