The ideal size for a software sales and support outpost in Japan is about 10 to 20 people. Broken down, the numbers are typically: CEO, PA/office manager, sales manager and 2-3 sales people, engineering manager and 2-3 engineers, marketing manager, and then possibly assistants for all of the above managers. Note that I haven't included an accounting or HR manager. For the first...

A reader wrote to me asking about a friend who has a PhD in Computer Science and who is working as a professor at a prestigious US university. His wife is Japanese and they are thinking about returning to Japan for a while. The friend wants to get an academic job here in Japan and wants to know how to go about it. This is not the first time I've been asked this question, but information about the subject is extremely limited. Indeed, I don't think I've ever seen a traditional academic (university) job in Japan advertised...

An acquaintance asked me several weeks ago about the unspoken rules for socializing with clients. As a female, she was particularly concerned about whether her eagerness to close a deal might be misconstrued as something else. Hmmm, interesting topic... Let's start with male-to-male socializing. It is often said that the biggest deals in Japan get done on the golf course...

Just as with pay raises, the topic of asking for leave in Japan can be a thorny one, if you don't follow the unwritten rules. But before advising you on how to ask for the unusual, let's take a look at just which leave is specifically allowed. As I have written previously, there are 3 levels of contract when...