All posts by Daniel

Daimler, Work

Mitsubishi Fuso

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Six months ago I started my new job as a Controller at Mitsubishi Fuso (Daimler Trucks Asia).

The company is nowadays a subsidiary to Daimler, the well known German automotive maker. Further back in time, the company used to be a commercial truck/bus maker that was a part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Fuso is currently headquartered in Kawasaki with a manufacturing plant between Yokohama and Tokyo. The actual name derives from the old Chinese term Fusang, a hibiscus tree said to grow in the East where the sun rises, which is also a reference to Japan itself.

I first heard of this company from a University friend and am glad to have followed his advice to join. The team is international and diverse with 4 nationalities and I get to use English, Japanese, and sometimes even Swedish.

What is standing out for me since I started is the positive attitude towards work-life balance. Having a predictable work schedule with a flextime system and zero overtime goal is something I never thought I would experience in Japan.

Looking forward to seeing where this new direction will take me in my career.

Pasona, Work

Working in a Japanese company

About two years ago I  was fresh out of the MBA and dove right into my new international career in Japan. I`ve come to learn that working for a Japanese owned company was not exactly what I expected.

There have been many ups and downs during these two years.  When comparing to working in Sweden, the things I struggled with most has been keeping the balance of work, sleep and free time. There was an expectation to always be available for the company, even on weekends. Attending social events with existing or future clients to build strong personal relationships was always considered a priority.  The second thing that surprised me was that job assignment and workplace were not pre-determined before joining. There was a membership-based employment system, where duties, location and work hours were non-limited.

Since I joined two years ago, I’ve been placed at multiple locations and worked with many completely different tasks. All from starting up new businesses, leading a sales team or working on an inbound promotion project. I finally ended up in a business controlling like position as team leader of a group of over 10 people from multiple nationalities.

Inbound Tourism Promotion

From this experience have I’ve learned incredibly much and have definitely grown as a person. Especially the time as team leader of a very diverse team is something I will never forget. There were also great benefits, for example, a company cafeteria with tasty, healthy and very reasonable dishes. We were even entitled to a free dinner if we worked late. 

The next step in my career is changing jobs to Mitsubishi Fuso at Daimler in Kawasaki city south of Tokyo. It’s time to take a new leap into what I´ve actually studied for many years, finance. More about this in my next article.

Thank you all the wonderful staff for two rich, learningful and fun years. 

Global Department. Thank you, everybody, for the warm messages. 

Tokyo, Travel, Work

Inbound tourism and Japan

Last month I was invited to speak about Inbound Tourism to Japan at a startup seminar. I got connected to Ms. Asaeda, the CEO of the newly established Andjapan (&japan) through a contact at my current job.  

Andjapan - leaflet

About 60 people had gathered for the event. This made me quite nervous because the 10 minutes speech had to be in Japanese, as almost the entire audience was from Japan. However, I got more comfortable after about half the presentation. This was followed by a discussion and I spoke to cultural practitioners ranging from Japanese traditional theater to kimono experience professionals. 

Andjapan - CEO Mariko

The philosophy behind &Japan is to:

  • Introduce Japanese culture and lore to overseas tourists. In addition to this also give feedback to Japanese people and cultural practitioners.
  • Resolve any mismatches between what foreign tourists actually want and the Japanese hospitality point of view.
  • Revitalize the regional economy in Japan by returning and circulate the money tourist spends back to the cultural practitioners.

先月、私は&Japanが開催するインバウンドツーリズムのセミナーでプレゼンテーターとして発表をしました。&Japanを設立されたCEOの浅枝真貴子さんとは、現在の職場を通じて知り合いました。

このイベントには約６０名が集まりました。観客はほとんど日本人で、１０分程度のスピーチを全て日本語で行なった為、かなり緊張していました。しかし、プレゼンの約半分がすぎた後は、緊張が消えました。スピーチの後はディスカッションの時間になり、能や、着物など日本文化に携わるビジネスをしている人達と話しました。

&Japan 設立理念・組織の目的

  • 海外の観光客に、本質的な日本文化の紹介・伝承を行ないたい
    日本人にもフィードバック・伝承者の育成を行ないたい
  • 訪日観光客が望むもの／日本のおもてなし側のミスマッチの解消を行ないたい
  • 訪日観光客が国内・観光地にお金を落とすことで、地域の経済を活性化させ、その資金を本来の日本文化伝承のホルダーに還元・循環させたい
Pasona, Tokyo, Work

Lessons learned working for a Japanese company

One and a half year has passed since I joined Pasona Art Now, which is a subsidiary company of Pasona. I`m currently working as a team leader for the expanding global department with a team from over 10 different countries. The road has been filled with many discoveries and interesting challenges including business trips to Bali in Indonesia.

Bali business trip

When I joined the company, we had a large-scale initiation ceremony of Pasona Group together with the rest of the group companies’ new employees. We were over 200 people in total and 6 people came from my company. There were strict rules to follow and we had to wear a black business suit every day, even for breakfast! This was followed by days of lectures and tours of Pasona`s facilities on Awaji. There were many presentations from group companies (all in Japanese of course).

Pasona Entrance Ceremony

As a part of my training period, I was placed as an assistant manager at a facility in Tokyo Tower. This was a crash course in Japanese business manners and culture shock in many ways, however, I truly learned a lot about the Japanese service mindset. After a few months passed I got transferred to the newly established global department and got assigned as a team leader.

New staff

パソナグループの（株）Pasona art nowに入社してから1年半が経過しました。現在、世界10カ国以上様々な国籍のスタッフが働くグローバル事業部においてチームリーダーを勤め、社内研修プログラムやインバウンドツーリズムのマーケティングを担当しています。インドネシアのバリへの出張など、多くの発見と興味深い課題がありました。

私が入社した時に、 パソナグループと新入社員の大規模な入社式が行われました。私たちは合計200人を超え、私の会社からは6人が参加しました。そこでは厳しい規則があり、私達は毎日黒いビジネススーツを着用しなければなりませんでした。朝食の時もです！淡路島でのパソナの施設の講演やツアーの日が続きました。多くのグループ会社からのプレゼンテーションがありました。（すべてはもちろん日本語でした）

研修期間の一環として、東京タワー内の施設でアシスタントマネージャーに就きました。外国から来た私にとって、日本のビジネスマナーの短期集中研修になりカルチャーショックでしたが、日本のサービスの考え方について本当に深く勉強する事が出来ました。数ヶ月後、私は新しく設立されたグローバル事業部に移り、チームリーダーに任命されました。

Pasona, Tokyo, Work

New job and how I got a work visa in Japan

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I have been busy this last half-year, let me explain why. A lot of things have happened recently. I accepted the job offer from Pasona Art Now in Tokyo! This is a venture company and a subsidiary of Pasona Group, one of the largest HR solutions companies in Japan. I started my new job as a contract employee last year and joined the planning department shortly thereafter. Pasona Art Now’s mission is aiming to create a society where all people can live rich and happy lives.

Since I started, I’ve been placed at the Tokyo Tower division to receive intensive job training. I’ve immersed myself in Japanese manners, language, and customs, etc. 

However, instead of talking about my new job, I’d like to share my experiences and give some insight into matters I wish I had known at the time I started the work visa process. So before I finally started working, I was facing the visa issue most foreigners do. How smooth would it be to transfer a student visa into a working visa?

Quite smooth it turned out to be. My original student visa was valid for two years and three months. Two years for the master’s degree and then a few months working as a cushion to transfer back to the working life. This has been a stressful time looking for jobs and having a deadline for my student visa to work towards. In the end, I got a work visa just two weeks before the expiration date of the student visa!

Since I graduated with an MBA degree, which is labeled as social science, the appropriate visa would be the “Specialist in Humanities / International Services Visa”. According to statistics, about 90% of all international students that change their residence status from student to working will get this visa. The general requirement is to have a university degree or 10 years of working experience in the field. The salary received cannot be below what a Japanese national would get for comparable work, which means the salary would need to be higher than 200 000 yen per month.

私はこの半年間、とても忙しかったです。その理由をここで説明しようと思います。最近、多くのことを同時に行なっています。東京の株式会社エコLOVEからの内定を受け入れました！これはベンチャー企業であり、日本最大のHRソリューション会社の一つであるパソナグループの子会社です。去年１２月に契約社員として新しい仕事を始め、企画部に入りました。エコラブのミッションはすべての人々が豊かで幸せに生きられる社会をつくることです。

仕事を始めてから、東京タワー内のタワーズダイナーというレストランでトレーニングを受けました。そこでは全てが日本の環境で私は日本のマナー、言語、習慣等にふれることが出来ました。

今日は新しい仕事についての話をする代わりに、自分の経験を共有し、就労ビザを取得する時に知りたいと思っていたことについて、いくつか紹介したいと思います。仕事を始める前に、ほとんどの外国人がビザ問題に直面します。学生ビザを就労ビザに変更するのはどれほどスムーズでしょうか？

昔に比べてかなりスムーズになりました！私が以前持っていた学生ビザの有効期限は２年３ヶ月間でした。修士課程は２年間で、残りの数ヶ月は就職までの準備期間です。この３ヶ月間、今まで心配だった就職のことより、近づいてくるビザの有効期限にもっと緊張しました。結局、ビザの有効期限の２週間前にギリギリ職労ビザを取得することができました！

私の専攻はMBAと呼ばれる社会科学のため、これに適合な「技術・人文知識・国際業務」の在留資格です。統計によると、学生ビザから職労ビザに変更した留学生の約９０％がこの在留資格だそうです。一般的な要件は、１０年以上の実務経験か大学を卒業することです。そして日本の法律では、外国人だからとして同等な職種の日本人がもらう給料より下回ってはいけません。つまり、給料は月額２０万円を超える必要があります。