Occasionally I get enquiries about work in the medical field, so I went to talk to Guy Harris D.O, the CEO of Digital Medical Communications (DMC). Guy's company develops telemedicine and e-care platforms and services. Guy himself, has been in Japan 16 years, starting off in the rewriting and editing field for pharmaceutical companies, then branching out into telemedicine in...

The greater "Keihin" area describes the landmass from where the buildings of Kanagawa merge into Tokyo, that spreads out over 4 surrounding cities to the North and East. The Keihin area is one of the developed world's largest metropolises, with over 30 million people living within 2 hours train ride of Ginza, Shibuya, or Shinjuku. So, as a foreigner, you might be forgiven for thinking that Tokyo is an easy place to...

As promised, I will continue to open up my casebook of job enquiries, so that readers can have a reference to some real-world situations. Today's case is "Nigel" who is a Lotus software developer looking to come and work in Japan for the first time. Nigel is a US citizen who has been interested in Japan since he was a teenager. He studied Japanese in college for several years and even did a semester of study in Japan, though feels that his languages skills have become pretty rusty. Nigel has been a Lotus...

The title Procurement Manager means different things to different people, but in a larger multinational corporation this is usually a pretty exciting job. Typically there are two types of procurement positions available in Japan, the more senior role that covers many aspects of the business, and the less so, focusing mainly on managing and improving the procurement process. The first type is an...

Japan's direct and indirect taxation levels for companies are among the highest in the world, and foreign senior managers often wonder how Japanese companies can survive. In actual fact of course, the overheads are hitting everyone really hard, but there are some tricks that can help you reduce your employee overheads significantly. The one I want to talk about specifically today is staff housing. After the Second World War...

Over the last year or so, I've been hammering home the message that any non-Japanese wanting to get a job in Japan can significantly increase their salary and promotion prospects by learning the language. However, I don't think I've ever said just how much language skill is enough. Of course, it depends on the type of job, so let's take a look at a couple of examples; first the network engineer...

One of the most difficult jobs for the foreign CEO of an organization in Japan is finding trusted, capable, and effective right-hand men (or women) to assist with operations and the general affairs of running a company, i.e. a COO or CIO. If you have the cash and a mandate from Head Office, it is possible to make a focused and...

There is no doubt that the best way to acquire a decent level of Japanese and an excellent collection of business contacts is to join a Japanese company (versus a foreign capital one) in Japan. Some of the best people we've ever placed have come through this route. While it's an excellent education, almost 100% of people who've done it are...

Thanks to good exposure on the Internet, I regularly get enquiries from people asking for additional advice about their personal situation. I welcome the email, but would ask that people follow some simple rules of engagement: 1. Please always send your resume (not photos) with your first...

For many of us, me especially, 2002 will be a year to forget. The tech meltdown turned into a global economic slump, of which Japan continued to be one of the central (non-) players. However, it was good in one respect: it gave all of us a dose of realism and reset expectations. In a way, the trials and tribulations have made us stronger. Looking forward to 2003, I believe that the...