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5 lessons I learned from starting a business in Japan

8 points by ian_in_osaka 9y ago

Hey everyone, Not too long ago I quit my full-time job to start some small businesses in Japan. It's been an amazing adventure so far with plenty of ups and downs. I recently wrote a blog post about my experiences which you might find interesting: https://www.innerspeakerconsulting.com/5-lessons-start-business-japan Let me know if you guys have any feedback or similar experiences. Thanks!

deleted 9y ago
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tixocloud 9y ago
Thanks for sharing your experience. I've been to Japan a few times and absolutely love it. I hope one day, I'll get the opportunity to live and run my business from there. Do you an email where I can reach out? I'd love to learn more about your business. My only experience is as a tourist observing the workers and it does look as what you described with longer hours and great importance placed on work but that companies will also reward you with loyalty. I've also heard that hiearchy and respect is important. I feel like there could be certain values that could be extracted as part of Western society - we recently had a retailer reporting bankruptcy and being unable to afford the pensions/severances of employees but somehow the management team was retained and were provided with decent bonuses. Something seems broken there.
- ian_in_osaka 9y ago
  Thanks for reading and that's great you are interested in living and setting up your business here. You can email me from the contact box or from the address on this link: https://www.innerspeakerconsulting.com/contact https://www.innerspeakerconsulting.com/contact Yes the long hours, hierarchy and respect are all true. I used to work for a Japanese company and some of the hours were brutal but it was great experience to be fair. Like you say, Western countries could learn a fair bit from Japanese values (respect, being in control of emotions, integrity etc). It's certainly a very interesting place to live and work and I highly recommend coming over if you get the chance. Feel free to reach out via mail if you have further questions about living and working in Japan. Also check my blog as I'll be posting articles about my experiences over here which might be interesting for you. Thanks for reading!
mycat 9y ago
How is the startup scene now in Japan 2017?
- ian_in_osaka 9y ago
  Yeah I think the start up landscape is slowly changing in Japan with more and more people starting small businesses and trying to make it on their own. They've recently made it easier to create a company (lots of capital was required in the past but not anymore) and it's actually really easy to start a sole proprietor business. A lot of entrepreneurs over here now are setting us as a sole proprietor as it's really easy to get going and also open a bank account under the business name. Also a lot of events happening in the start up scene especially in Tokyo. It's always good meeting with other entrepreneurs, hearing about their experiences and of course expanding your network. Thanks for reading the blog and be sure to check back as I'll have some new content up there soon.

8 points by ian_in_osaka 9y ago

deleted 9y ago

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tixocloud 9y ago

Thanks for sharing your experience. I've been to Japan a few times and absolutely love it. I hope one day, I'll get the opportunity to live and run my business from there. Do you an email where I can reach out? I'd love to learn more about your business. My only experience is as a tourist observing the workers and it does look as what you described with longer hours and great importance placed on work but that companies will also reward you with loyalty. I've also heard that hiearchy and respect is important. I feel like there could be certain values that could be extracted as part of Western society - we recently had a retailer reporting bankruptcy and being unable to afford the pensions/severances of employees but somehow the management team was retained and were provided with decent bonuses. Something seems broken there.

ian_in_osaka 9y ago
Thanks for reading and that's great you are interested in living and setting up your business here. You can email me from the contact box or from the address on this link: https://www.innerspeakerconsulting.com/contact https://www.innerspeakerconsulting.com/contact Yes the long hours, hierarchy and respect are all true. I used to work for a Japanese company and some of the hours were brutal but it was great experience to be fair. Like you say, Western countries could learn a fair bit from Japanese values (respect, being in control of emotions, integrity etc). It's certainly a very interesting place to live and work and I highly recommend coming over if you get the chance. Feel free to reach out via mail if you have further questions about living and working in Japan. Also check my blog as I'll be posting articles about my experiences over here which might be interesting for you. Thanks for reading!

mycat 9y ago

How is the startup scene now in Japan 2017?

ian_in_osaka 9y ago
Yeah I think the start up landscape is slowly changing in Japan with more and more people starting small businesses and trying to make it on their own. They've recently made it easier to create a company (lots of capital was required in the past but not anymore) and it's actually really easy to start a sole proprietor business. A lot of entrepreneurs over here now are setting us as a sole proprietor as it's really easy to get going and also open a bank account under the business name. Also a lot of events happening in the start up scene especially in Tokyo. It's always good meeting with other entrepreneurs, hearing about their experiences and of course expanding your network. Thanks for reading the blog and be sure to check back as I'll have some new content up there soon.