JIN-409 -- Tokyo Station Redux

Tokyo Station, the sprawling red brick landmark with a main entrance facing the Imperial Palace, is being restored to Kingo Tatsuno's original design. This is ironic. It is ironic because the nearly century-old station is the focal point of two modern, glitzy office building complexes, one in the...

Probation Periods act as Filter

I am often surprised at how much effort some companies put into filtering their candidates at the interview process. Yes, it's important to find out as much as possible and try to get the best person available, but at the end of the day...

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Starting Your Own Company

The one good thing about the current downturn in the economy is that it is forcing people to take charge of their lives and explore the reality of their situation. Even though suddenly losing your job can come as a terrible shock in an otherwise ordered life, it can also be an excellent opportunity...

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Wasted Talent

I've written before about the creeping age-related discrimination that is appearing in the job market. At 44 years old myself, it is quite sobering to know that for many jobs I'm already considered too old or borderline. I work about 70-80 hours a week, I'm highly motivated and experienced, and feel that I could make a big difference to any company that hired me (no, I'm not looking for a job...). So, why do many - foreign companies...

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IT: What Should I Learn?

The IT business is good as a source of employment. When times are good, companies are all trying to develop new, exciting ways to reach the mass market. When times are bad, companies are trying to cut costs by automating. Either way, the technology needs people to create and operate it. It's no wonder then that there are a lot of people who start out in other professionals and realize that...

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US Returnees Head for the Boonies

Recently, I have been getting requests from companies outside Tokyo looking for skilled staff. Although these are name-brand firms and they normally would get oodles of responses from applicants in Tokyo, for some strange reason positions outside Tokyo seem to be of little interest - in fact, the further away from Tokyo the job is...

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Advice on Getting Strong Salespeople

Just about every foreign "shacho" of a small- to medium-size company I've ever talked to has complained about how hard it is to find strong bilingual Japanese salespeople. By "strong", I mean people who are self-motivated and can maintain a high level of performance without a sales "bucho"...

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My Personal Assistant

One of the most important people in my team is my Personal Assistant (PA). Notice that I didn't call her a secretary. In a smaller company like DaiJob.com, staff often bear multiple responsibilities and almost certainly have to have a wider range of skills than in larger firms. This point of being able to do a lot of different tasks within the job description is...

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Export Your Way Out of Trouble

For the last 15 years, Japanese manufactured goods have been too expensive for global markets. Consequently, most brand name makers are now running factories out of China. This has caused Japan's exports...

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Returning to Japan

Although no one seems to have the real numbers, from what I can gather there are about 50,000 tertiary students studying in North America every year. Of this number, about 4,000 are doing an MBA or other Masters course. Outside the USA, there are probably another 30,000 people studying in similar ratios in Europe, Asia, and Oceania. That's quite...

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