Posts Tagged ‘business’

Business Manners: Meishi Koukan

A little bit about exchanging business cards in Japan. Stack up on your cards if you are coming over to do business over here:

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The Future of JAL

According to sources at Japan Airlines, a company wide announcement will be made tomorrow regarding departments that were slated to be dissolved yesterday. Employees in departments likely to be highly affected by the restructuring are also expecting more details regarding their fates to be announced at the same time. While the entire restructuring plan is far from decided, JAL plans to cut 8,600 jobs, around 14% of its workforce. Today, Seiji Maehara, the new DPJ Minister for Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, said bankruptcy is not an option for JAL.

As JAL begins announcing who will go and who will stay, if a healthy chunk of this 14% does not come from the entrenched bureaucracy (which it likely will not), those left behind will be tasked with doing not only the same amount of arguably pointless paperwork, but also their job as well as those of several former coworkers, all why being asked not to request to be paid for overtime. On the other hand, it is not difficult to imagine how a streamlined, efficient airline could navigate the perils of swine flu scares, prodigious pensions, fluctuating fuel prices, and the ever-present threat of terrorism.

Fortunately, Maehara also intends to review the feasibility of JAL’s soon to be released plan. Hopefully under the new DPJ administration, a sustainable plan will be implemented.

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Contributor Bio: Steve has been splitting time between the US and Japan for the past 10 years or so and is now a post doctorate fellow at a large, lumbering University in Tokyo, where he gets paid to play with dirt.

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Nomura employees choose Lehman-style contracts over lifetime employment

Japanese investment bankers are abandoning lifetime employment contracts in favor of an opportunity to earn far higher amounts of money through performance-based bonuses:

Nomura has persuaded half of its jobs-for-life Japanese investment bankers to give up their local contracts and adopt more volatile western deals in the mould of the Lehman Brothers operations it acquired last autumn.

In his first foreign interview, Kenichi Watanabe, Nomura’s chief executive for just over a year, told the Financial Times that “more than 50 per cent” of the 1,600 investment bank staff in Japan had filled out registration forms for Lehman-style contracts that would cut their basic pay and make them easier to sack – in exchange for potentially higher performance-related bonuses.

[hat tip to Joe]

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• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
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A Japanese-style corporate apology

When US Senator Chuck Grassley told the press he wanted to see failed American CEO’s making Japanese-style public apologies for their mistakes, he probably wasn’t thinking about this kind of apology:

The man delivering the dogeza apology in the video is President Tomomasa Fukui, the president who led study abroad company Gateway 21 into bankruptcy. As he bows and apologizes, angry students tell him the apology is meaningless and they want their money back. Knowing that his company was about to go under, Fukui had continued with promotional activities for Gateway 21′s study abroad programs, collecting some 9 million dollars in fees from about 1,300 prospective students. Instead of using that money to arrange study programs for the customers, Fukui spent it on business expenses. It is unlikely any of those customers will see their money returned, so bows and apologies aren’t exactly going to make them feel better.

Japanese Salary Data

A TV special about yearly earnings for certain occupations in Japan aired on Sunday night, and a Japanese blogger recorded some of the figures mentioned. Here is a partial translation of the list (currency converted at 100 yen to the US dollar):

New TV “talent”	$9,000
Stuntman	$20,000
Bicycle taxi driver	$25,000
Shinto priest (27-years-old)	$35,200
Ice cream salesperson	$40,000
Noh actor (25 year veteran)	$45,000-50,000
Truck driver	$45,000
Pharmacist	$45,000
Limousine Driver	$50,000
Portrait artist	$50,000
Nurse	$50,000
Carpenter specializing in temple construction	$60,000
Dentist (1 year after beginning a practice)	$60,000
Beautician/Hairdresser	$65,000
Hostess	$70,000
Creator of food samples	$70,000
Fisherman	$70,000
Calligrapher (7 year veteran)	$90,000
Food coordinator	$100,000
Takoyaki shop owner	$100,000
Handyman	$120,000
Farmer	$120,000
Handwriting analysis expert	$200,000
Gynecologist	$240,000
Politician	$300,000
Ramen store owner	$300,000
Sumo wrestler (Yokozuna Wakanohana)	$324,000
Famous beautician/hairdresser	$450,000
Manga creator	$500,000
Lawyer	$500,000
Prime Minister	$514,000
Dentist specializing in advanced techniques	$700,000-$800,000

I was only able to catch a few minutes of the program, but from what I saw it was obvious that the figures were not averages for each occupation, nor could many of them be considered representative of typical earnings. The TV show just sent a crew to interview one person from each occupation, using that single person’s earnings as an example of how much his/her occupation earns in a year. Some, such as the ramen store owner who actually owns 3 popular stores in downtown Tokyo, probably gave viewers a very skewed image of how much one can expect to earn in such a profession.

Those looking for more accurate salary information might want to check out Claytonian’s latest blog post, which he translates some average salaries he came across in a new book.

Getting Rich In Japan By Buying Court Auctioned Properties

This is a follow-up to an article I wrote more than three years ago on buying distressed properties. I have had so many people who have responded and asked various questions on this subject I wanted to update and address some of these questions here on JP. There have been some changes in the law and court procedures since I wrote this and I feel a strong need to address them, along with the experiences of myself and numerous others who have been kind enough to contact me describing their ordeals and accomplishments.

[Before reading this post, check out the original article.]

THERE HAVE BEEN SOME CHANGES IN THE LAWS regarding disposal and transference of distressed properties that are auctioned by the court. These changes have resulted in making court auctioned properties more attractive to potential bidders in several ways.

THE PROCESS HAS BEEN SIMPLIFIED AND SPED UP so that from application to closure, what used to take months for administration, has been shortened and made more efficient. I understand now that what previously used to require a substantial period of time, from start to finish, now requires only a matter of weeks in some cases. This obviously benefits the buyer eager to get hold of their property.

IT IS EASIER TO EVICT THE DEBTOR/OCCUPANT after the property has been auctioned. One of the biggest worries to many potential bidders has been getting rid of former owner/occupants who will claim possession of their property ’till they drag out my dead bones.’ Formerly occupants rights in Japan favored the tenant who absolutely refused to vacate. Now the process of eviction is simpler and covers the new owners rights in getting access to his property in a timely manner.

PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE OF THE INTERIOR WILL BE PROVIDED to the potential bidder. This is truly a godsend to the potential buyer of a property who up till now has wondered and had no idea of what the interior of the property consisted of. Whether it was left neatly or totally trashed was always a mystery and never known by the winning bidder until after purchase was finished and they finally had access to the inside. Also this evidence will be taken twice by the court once at the beginning and again shortly before closure to ensure that the interior has not been destroyed or gutted by the former occupants.

ANYONE CAN BID a little known fact has been that ANYONE can bid on a property at court auction in Japan, you don’t even need to be a resident of the country. This is great for the potential investor or anyone not currently residing in Japan who wishes to bid on a property. Several enterprises have sprung up in recent years to assist non-native speakers through the process, for a fee of course.

OWNING SOMETHING MAKES IT A LOT EASIER TO GET FINANCING as many have found when trying to obtain mortgages from Japan banks. Any sort of property ownership already demonstrates long term stability and gives the bank something to attach a mortgage to when granting a loan. Some people have used property they purchased at auction to finance their own or other real projects. It also has come in very beneficial for some while seeking Permanent Residency.

Since writing that article, I have had the chance to hear from many happy folks who were able to not only obtain real property for themselves and their families at reasonable prices, but many have taken advantage of the opportunity to greatly increase their net worth. Whether for resale/rental income/retirement, and other opportunities, becoming a real estate millionaire is a dream that has been achievable even over a relatively short period of time (3 years) for some I am glad to be able to say.