TT-512 -- 334, 000 Working Holiday Makers Can't be Wrong

* * * * * * * * * T E R R I E 'S T A K E * * * * * * *
A weekly roundup of news & information from Terrie Lloyd.
(http://www.terrie.com)

General Edition Sunday, Apr 05, 2009 Issue No. 512

+++ INDEX

- What's new
- News
- Candidate roundup/Vacancies
- Upcoming events
- Corrections/Feedback
- News credits

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+++ WHAT'S NEW

From June 1st, Japan will open its Working Holiday visa
program to Taiwan, allowing up to 2,000 young Taiwanese
aged 18 through 30 to come work and holiday in Japan for up
to 6 months, while allowing a similar number of young
Japanese to do the same there. Taiwan is not the first
Asian country to ink a working holiday visa arrangement
with Japan, that honor goes to South Korea in 1999. There,
too, the initial numbers were limited to 2,000 people
going each way. However, the program has been so successful
that the two countries have agreed to lift the total to
10,000 travelers each by 2012. We have heard that the
Taiwanese like Japan's pop culture even better than the
Koreans do, so we imagine that the numbers for Taiwan will
rise quickly.

The Taiwan agreement brings to 10 the number of countries
who have concluded working holiday visa arrangements with
Japan, the first being Australia back in December, 1980,
followed by New Zealand in 1985. Our understanding is that
the program was the brain child of former Australian
ambassador to Japan (1976-1980), John Menadue, (and
possibly others, as mentioned by Greg Clarke in his memoirs),
and was the first such free exchange of youth between
countries in the Asia Pacific on a basis other than migration.

In an interview Menadue did with the Japan Times in 2001,
he stated that 100,000 Japanese and 25,000 Australians had
done working holidays over the previous 20 years. This is
an amazing statistic, especially when you consider how many
people's lives these young "ambassadors" touch in each
other's countries while they live there. Now, 8 years
further on, the number is around 177,000 Japanese and
40,000 Australians respectively. The Japan Association for
Working Holiday Makers reckons that all up, about 334,000
Japanese and 88,000 non-Japanese (i.e., all countries, not
just Australia) have participated in the program.

[Continued below...]

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[...Article continues]

We wonder if Mr. Menadue realized at the time what a
powerful change agent he was unleashing when he first
suggested the idea to the Japanese Prime Minister of
the time? In 2007, around 20,941 people traveled out of
Japan to its co-signatory countries: Australia, Canada,
Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Korea, New Zealand, and
the U.K. Actually, more than half of the Japanese, 11,217
people, went to Australia, which we assume is because each
wave going back to Japan would have had such great
adventure stories to tell. Australia would certainly come
across as the land of the free to any Japanese kid coming
out of the constricted environment of a high school in
Ebina or Utsunomiya.

Next, after Australia, in 2007 4,991 young Japanese
working holiday makers traveled to Canada, and 2,411 to New
Zealand. These numbers just represent travelers moving
between Japan and its paired countries. If you take the
overall working holiday movement worldwide, the numbers are
considerably larger. Australia for example now has around
20 partner countries in its working holiday program, so if
we look at all the possible migratory permutations for
those and other countries with such visa categories, then
the number of young people moving between the various
borders on our planet must be in the high tens of
thousands. This is a fitting legacy for Menadue.

One thing that you will notice quickly in looking at the
Japan/other-country pairs, is that the number of Japanese
traveling to western countries is drastically larger than
the number of kids coming the other way. For example, in
2007, while 11,217 Japanese went to Australia, only 880
came the other way -- a ratio of almost 13:1. For New
Zealand the difference was even higher, with 2,411 Japanese
going there versus only 160 Kiwis going the other way, a
ratio of 15:1. This will no doubt become an issue in the
future and already some countries such as the UK limit the
number of Japanese acceptances to 1,000 youths a year.

Interestingly for South Korea the ratios are the other way
around, with just 396 Japanese traveling there versus 3,600
coming here. We suppose that economics have a large role
to play, as does the attractiveness of lifestyle.

This imbalance has resulted in some discussion in Australia
as to whether there aren't too many young people traveling
there and whether they are taking jobs that Australians are
now need. However, a recent report found that the average
working holiday maker in Australia stays for just 9 months
and during that time spends about AUD16,000. Further,
although the holiday makers work an equivalent of 41,000
full-time jobs, they actually create 49,000 full-time jobs
for locals catering to those travelers -- a net gain of
8,000 jobs.

We certainly hope that the current recession doesn't create
protectionist measures by the immigration offices of the
various countries participating in the program. There is
nothing comparable for a youth of 18 or so than to go
live in a completely different society on a legal basis,
working and traveling and thoroughly soaking in the culture
of their host. Our company loves returnee Japanese holiday
makers. Their experiences help open their eyes and let them
become more risk tolerant and thus better able to solve
problems independently.

In fact sometimes the transformation is so complete, the
person doesn't want to go home. Of course this is not
supposed to happen since the working holiday program is a
temporary exchange mechanism. However, people being people,
and especially at that age, often a working holiday maker
will wind up falling in love and marrying into a much
longer-than-anticipated relationship with the host country.
Indeed, this is exactly what happened to this writer
(Terrie), and what starts out as a 6 month flirtation with
fate becomes a 26-year love affair. We presume that the
Japanese have decided that the risks of unplanned
immigration are outweighed by the life-expanding
experiences its own citizens come back with and take with
them into business and later life.

Thanks to the length of engagement, the Australia-Japan
working holiday relationship provides us with some valuable
insights as to the benefits of the program. Not only has it
created impromptu ambassadors in their tens of thousands,
some of these travelers have matured into successful
business people who are weaving tighter bonds between the
countries. We know of a number of Australian (and other
nationality) business people in Japan who came here on
working holiday visas and who are now running multi-million
dollar companies employing dozens to hundreds of people.

Conversely, we are also aware of Japanese ex-working
holiday makers living in Sydney and other cities in
Australia who decided not to come back and who are doing
equally well. These people may have assimilated, but they
also remain as cultural/business bridge builders helping
youth still in Japan to gain the confidence to take a
risk and travel -- which is perhaps why the program retains
its popularity even now, 19 years later.

********************

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...The information janitors/

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+++ NEWS

- Empty containers push up grapefruit prices
- Keyence buys 44% of JustSystems
- Robot on moon in 10 years
- Worst Tankan since 1974

-> Empty containers push up grapefruit prices

Although the connection is not immediately obvious,
apparently the lower volume of autos being exported from
Japan to the USA is pushing up grapefruit prices. The
reason is because containers once emptied of their auto
parts would have made the return trip laden with fruit,
but now available containers are in short supply. Further,
a vehicle carrier fitted with refrigerated holds to
transport fruit on the return voyage had several of its
scheduled round-trip voyages canceled. As a result,
grapefruit supply is down around 5% in Tokyo and fruit
prices are expected to climb. (Source: TT commentary from
nikkei.co.jp, Apr 4, 2009)

http://www.nni.nikkei.co.jp/e/ac/tnks/Nni20090403D03JFA13.htm

-> Keyence buys 44% of JustSystems

Once proud local software developer JustSystems is now
probably at its nadir, as evidenced by the private
placement of 44% of its stock with leading sensor
manufacturer Keyence Corporation. The placement was
apparently worth JPY4.5bn and JustSystems will issue new
shares to cover the purchase. JustSystems lost JPY1.9bn
last fiscal year, its fourth straight year of losses.
***Ed: JustSystems' IchiTaro word processing software once
dominated the local market, until challenged by Microsoft
Word and subsequently buried in a price-feature war of
attrition.** (Source: TT commentary from nikkei.co.jp,
Apr 4, 2009)

http://www.nni.nikkei.co.jp/e/fr/tnks/Nni20090404D03JFA25.htm

-> Robot on moon in 10 years

We're not sure why Japan is so obsessed with robots, but in
any case now the Japan Strategic Headquarters for Space
Development, a Cabinet-level policy group, has said that it
will put a biped robot on the moon by 2020, with more
robots and astronauts to follow. ***Ed: The group did not
say why they thought it important to send up a robot rather
than a person, however, if was us, we'd at least send a
monkey robot than a human one. Monkeys, after all made it
into space long before man did and they are tons cuter --
creating an opportunity for the Space Agency to licence the
image to advertisers and thus defer launch costs.** (Source:
TT commentary from google.com, Apr 4, 2009)

http://tinyurl.com/ddhug8

-> Worst Tankan since 1974

The Tankan business confidence survey conducted by the
Bank of Japan recorded its worst level since the surveys
started in 1974, sliding to -58 for manufacturers and -31 for
services companies. What analysts are drawing as
conclusions from the survey is that not only are the
manufacturers getting hammered by plummeting exports, but
now the secondary services market is also getting punished.
Thus the impact of this recession is hitting much harder
and deeper than previous ones. ***Ed: Not surprising, then,
that consumer spending was down another 0.4% in Q4 this
year.** (Source: TT commentary from bloomberg.com, Apr 2,
2009)

http://tinyurl.com/cfpkre

NOTE: Broken links
Many online news sources remove their articles after just a
few days of posting them, thus breaking our links -- we
apologize for the inconvenience.

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***------------------------****-------------------------***

+++ CANDIDATE ROUND UP/VACANCIES

=> BiOS, a Division of the LINC Media group, is actively
marketing the following positions for customers setting up
or expanding in Japan, as well as other employers of
bilinguals.

** HIGHLIGHTED POSITION(S)

BiOS is looking for an Account Manager to join the LINC
Media back office team. This is not a sales position and
since clients are introduced to the company by agents, or
found by the CEO and other senior managers, there is no
cold-calling involved. Instead, the person will be assigned
to the accounts and will meet those accounts with the CEO
and other managers. The job will involve listening to
client needs, understanding them, coordinating with the
various departments to provide the services, then quoting
and project managing the delivery of those services to each
client.

The ideal candidate will have a strong interest in
business, and in meeting people, and yet be able to pay
attention to detail and keep deadlines. No specific prior
experience required, although a background in account
management, office administration or accounting, or general
project management would be helpful. In addition to this
strong communication skills and accomplished Japanese are
a definite must for you to be successful in this job.

Remuneration is JPY4m – JPY5m + commission, based on your
experience and language ability.

** POSITIONS VACANT

- Entry Level Java Engineer, JPY3m – JPY3.5m
- Enterprise Systems Engineer in TV co., JPY5m – JPY8m
- IT Support in Tokyo Law firm, JPY4m – JPY5m
- COBOL Programmer, European Insurance Co., JPY5m – JPY5.5m
- Web Applications Developer with Linc Media – JPY3.5m – JPY5m

Interested individuals may e-mail resumes to:
stuart.gibson@biosjp.com

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Every 2 weeks BiOS sends out a regular communication to its
job seeking candidates, called BiOS Job Mail. Every edition
carries a list of BiOS's current and most up-to-date
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-----------------------------------------------------------

+++ UPCOMING EVENTS/ANNOUNCEMENTS

---------- Entrepreneur Association of Tokyo --------------

Seminar-Tuesday, April 7th

Speaker: Martin van der Linden-Founder and Principal
of van der Architects
Seminar Title: 'Design, Business and Creativity'
Martin established van der Architects in 2000 and focuses
on corporate interior design using a unique methodology he
created called WorkVitamins. This methodology helps his
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companies such as Ernst&Young, ING Group, Societe Generale
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Please sign up early while seats are available.

Date/Time: Tuesday, April 7th - Doors open at 6:30,
Seminar starts at 7:00
Location: The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan
Language: English
Website: http://www.ea-tokyo.com
-----------------------------------------------------------

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Speaker: William Achury, President, Sanko Telecom Co., Ltd.

Title: Surviving and Thriving in IT, Take Two

Details: Complete event details at http://www.icajapan.jp/
(RSVP Required)
Date: Thursday, April 16, 2009
Time: 6:30 Doors open - Buffet Dinner included and one
free drink, then cash bar
Cost: 4,000 yen (members), 6,000 yen (non-members)

Open to all. Venue is The Foreign Correspondents' Club of
Japan. http://www.fccj.or.jp/aboutus/map
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+++ CORRECTIONS/FEEDBACK

In this section we run comments and corrections submitted
by readers. We encourage you to spot our mistakes and
amplify our points, by email, to editors@terrie.com.

=> No feedback this week.

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+++ ABOUT US

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Written by: Terrie Lloyd (terrie.lloyd@japaninc.com)

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