* * * * * * * * * T E R R I E 'S T A K E * * * * * * *<br>A weekly roundup of news & information from Terrie Lloyd.<br>(<a href="http://www.terrie.com">http://www.terrie.com</a>)<br><br>General Edition Sunday, October 02, 2011, Issue No. 632<br>
<br>+++ INDEX<br><br>- What's New -- BPO in Dalian<br>- News -- Karoshi case ruling sustained by Supreme Court<br>- Candidate Roundup/Vacancies<br>- Upcoming Events<br>- Corrections/Feedback <br>- News Credits<br><br>
SUBSCRIBE to, UNSUBSCRIBE from Terrie's Take at:<br><a href="http://mailman.japaninc.com/mailman/listinfo/terrie">http://mailman.japaninc.com/mailman/listinfo/terrie</a><br><br>BACK ISSUES<br><a href="http://www.japaninc.com/terries_take">http://www.japaninc.com/terries_take</a>, or,<br>
<a href="http://mailman.japaninc.com/pipermail/terrie/">http://mailman.japaninc.com/pipermail/terrie/</a><br><br><br>-------------- PBXL SUPPORTS SMALL BUSINESS ---------------<br><br>MOVING TO A NEW OFFICE? DON'T BUY A PBX! At PBXL, we <br>
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e-mail us at <a href="mailto:info@pbxl.jp">info@pbxl.jp</a> or call us at 03-4550-2557<br><br>------------- PBXL is BUSINESS COMMUNICATIONS -------------<br><br><br>+++ WHAT'S NEW<br><br>If there's one thing we can predict about Japanese <br>
companies, it's that once a trend gains momentum, everyone <br>wants to jump on the bandwagon and thus the trend becomes <br>a rush. High domestic costs and a dwindling market are the <br>drivers for Japanese companies to move abroad, and right <br>
now there is no bigger rush than the one into China. Some <br>are going for outsourced price cutting, thanks to factory <br>wages of JPY10,000/month or less, and others are going <br>because they see China as an undemanding first overseas <br>
market where they can make mistakes and morph their <br>business as opportunities come and go. <br><br>Either way, China is becoming a beachhead for newbies, who <br>want to take a stab at the world at large but who need to <br>
get their feet wet first. This isn't to say that the China <br>market is an easy one. On the contrary, the lack of law and<br>the willingness of local partners to take advantage of <br>their naive new Japanese partners, means that there is <br>
plenty of scope to lose your shirt. And certainly we are <br>hearing many stories of Japanese firms getting robbed blind<br>as they learn the ropes. <br><br>But they are learning, and so far there have been two major<br>lessons. Firstly, if you want to operate in an emerging <br>
market, China just being one of the largest and closest, <br>you need to own end-to-end control of your business -- or <br>be using someone who does. That means your own <br>infrastructure, raw materials, trusted management, <br>
warehousing, and shipping. Thus everything that happens is <br>supervised and quality can be reasonably assured. Luckily <br>this is exactly the way Japanese major firms have <br>developed back home, so layering in lots of vertical <br>
capability comes as second nature.<br><br>[Continued below...]<br><br>-- NAGAMINE & MISHIMA - Securing Your Success in Japan ---<br><br>Starting a new company in Japan? Looking to streamline <br>your current operations?<br>
<br>The team of bilingual experts at Nagamine & Mishima is able<br>to provide high quality accounting, payroll and tax <br>services that both exceed expectations and fit your budget.<br>Our services help customers improve their operations and <br>
bottom line results. <br><br>To find out more about our services and how we can help <br>your business in Japan succeed, please visit our website <br><a href="http://www.nagamine-mishima.com">www.nagamine-mishima.com</a> or reach us directly by telephone<br>
at 03-3581-1975 or by email at <a href="mailto:info@nagamine-mishima.com">info@nagamine-mishima.com</a>.<br><br>---------- YOUR BOTTOM LINE IS OUR TOP PRIORITY------------<br><br>[...Article continues]<br><br>Secondly, you need to be big. Big enough that you can take <br>
the initial hits of learning who to trust and how the <br>political system works. For those companies which are not <br>big enough, there is outsourcing, a business that is <br>expanding by leaps and bounds.<br><br>The Nikkei had a good article last week about Japanese <br>
outsourcing firms in the Northern Chinese city of Dalian, a<br>location they originally picked because of the relatively <br>high concentration of Japanese speakers there. When one <br>thinks of outsourcing the most logical activity to try <br>
first in a place with Japanese speakers is call centers, <br>and sure enough, many major western and Japanese firms set <br>up in Dalian in the early 2000's. But what they found is <br>that there is a dire shortage of Japanese speakers willing <br>
to work at rates much below those available in Japan, and <br>thus the call center efforts floundered. <br><br>While spoken Japanese language outsourcing has been <br>a bust, written language such as processing business <br>
documentation has been a huge success. Sure, the Chinese<br>and Japanese character sets have some differences, but <br>at most an educated Chinese white collar worker needs just<br>6 months to master those differences and become proficient<br>
within a given vocabulary set. Thus the Business Process <br>Outsourcing (BPO) sector has become a leading source of <br>employment growth for Dalian and for the Japanese firms <br>operating there.<br><br>The growth numbers are pretty impressive. Including some <br>
US and European firms, but most of which are servicing the <br>Japan market, over 900 foreign companies have set up <br>operations in Dalian, employing 100,000+ people. About half <br>of these appear to be in the BPO sector. The City of Dalian<br>
knows a good thing when it sees it, and is planning to <br>expand not just BPO but also software outsourcing in <br>general, and has set a target of 200,000 employees. <br><br>There are two types of foreign BPO companies operating in <br>
Dalian: divisions of large multinationals who started off <br>doing company-internal processing and some of which are <br>now offering the same services to customers, and <br>third-party services firms who are doing outsourcing for <br>
smaller companies back home. <br><br>IBM would qualify as one of the first type and the company <br>has about 2,000 BPO employees in Dalian. Now that it has <br>figured out the systems and processes, IBM has just opened <br>
a new office that can house up to 10,000 employees. We <br>don't know how many of these employees are doing Japanese <br>BPO, but given that India and the Philippines can handle <br>English more competitively, our guess is that the <br>
proportion is quite large.<br><br>Also in the first category would be Nomura Securities, <br>which is having to compete with the likes of Citigroup -- a<br>company already highly committed to off-shoring its BPO to <br>China. Nomura opened a data entry BPO office in Dalian in <br>
April, employing just 40 people initially to key in <br>customer accounts and cost-tracking data. However, plans <br>are to grow this number to around 250 people by the end of <br>this fiscal year (2011) and 500 people in 2012. <br>
Interestingly, Nomura is publicizing the BPO center as a <br>back-up center in case the firm's main operations in Japan <br>are crippled by a natural disaster. The reality is that it <br>is so much cheaper to get keyboarding done in China, but <br>
if operational safety can be sold as an added advantage <br>even as people are losing jobs in its two Kanagawa centers,<br>then we guess that's the name of the PR game.<br><br>In the second category, as we reported in TT-580 last year,<br>
are third-party BPO firms such as InfoDeliver, Transcosmos,<br>and PasonaTech. These companies are between them employing <br>more than 2,500 people in and around Dalian, and have plans<br>for significant growth. Now that China-based BPO for data <br>
entry and accounting is mainstream, SMEs back here in Japan<br>are realizing that they can cut manpower costs and still <br>get a reasonable job done using such off-shoring vendors. <br>This point is really driven home when you can travel on the <br>
Tokyo subway system and see ads for off-shoring accounting <br>services and business books about outsourcing to China.<br><br>Actually, Gartner said last year that the Japanese BPO <br>market in 2009 was worth around JPY1.28trn, and they were <br>
predicting a rise to around JPY1.45trn by 2014. Our guess <br>is that with the herd mentality that comes with a <br>realization of huge cost savings, especially now that<br>income tax and social insurance premiums for employees<br>
here in Japan are going to jump more than 10% in the next <br>two years, the real number for BPO will be more like <br>JPY2trn or more. This of course doesn't bode well for <br>Japanese white collar workers, who will correspondingly be <br>
losing their jobs, but it is inevitable when the Japanese <br>government makes it so unattractive to hire staff and China <br>is so much cheaper.<br><br>****************<br><br>Special technology course.<br><br>If you a Unix or web engineer interested in search, you <br>
won't want to miss a special one-off training opportunity <br>being conducted by Basis Technology about Apache Solr.<br>Basis Technology is a software and linguistics specialty <br>firm based in Boston, USA and are trying out this course<br>
as a supplement to their mainstream Japanese-language<br>courses. You can find more about the course in the <br>Events/Announcements section below. As we mentioned, <br>this is only being run once in English, and probably won't <br>
be repeated again for some time.<br><br><br>...The information janitors/<br><br>***------------------------****-------------------------***<br><br><br><br>--------- BIOS - Bilingual IT Systems and Support ---------<br><br>
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small.<br><br>Data Center staff and managed services, Help Desk, desktop,<br>and network support. Server virtualization, cloud computing<br>hosting and solutions, general software development. <br><br>For more information on these and other SI and IT services,<br>
in English or Japanese:<br><br>Phone: (03) 4588-2220, Email: <a href="mailto:solutions@biosjp.com">solutions@biosjp.com</a><br>Web: <a href="http://www.biosjp.com">www.biosjp.com</a><br>-----------------------------------------------------------<br>
<br>+++ NEWS<br><br>- Karoshi case ruling sustained by Supreme Court<br>- There's money in shoes<br>- Foreign tourists into Japan still well down<br>- Pregnancy simulation device for men<br>- Mrs Watanabes dump Brazilian Real<br>
<br><br><br>-> Karoshi case ruling sustained by Supreme Court<br><br>Camera-maker Nikon must have been plenty worried about <br>other employee law suits to have fought the case of Yuji <br>Uendan, who committed suicide due to overwork, for over <br>
11 long years. Well, Nikon got the answer it obviously was <br>hoping to avoid when the Supreme Court upheld a 2009 Tokyo <br>High Court finding that Uendan killed himself due to <br>overwork. Nikon has been ordered, along with a haken <br>
company based in Nagoya, to pay Uendan's mom JPY70m in <br>compensation. (Source: TT commentary from <a href="http://japantimes.co.jp">japantimes.co.jp</a>,<br>Oct 2, 2011)<br><br><a href="http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20111002a5.html">http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20111002a5.html</a><br>
<br>-> There's money in shoes<br><br>We suppose it's logical. In times of hardship, people walk <br>more and so they use a lot more shoes. Certainly that <br>would be one explanation for the 13% sales jump enjoyed by <br>
ABC-Mart, which is blowing past competitors in terms of <br>growth. The company says that its operating profit for the <br>first half (Mar-Aug) will increase 8% to JPY14bn. ABC-Mart <br>is also doing well abroad and has seen sales leap 40% from<br>
overseas stores. Apparently most of the growth is coming <br>from high-end brand name sneakers and ABC-Mart's very <br>compelling product displays. (Source: TT commentary from <br><a href="http://e.nikkei.com">e.nikkei.com</a>, Sep 30, 2011)<br>
<br><a href="http://e.nikkei.com/e/ac/TNKS/Nni20110929D2909A24.htm?NS-query=accounting">http://e.nikkei.com/e/ac/TNKS/Nni20110929D2909A24.htm?NS-query=accounting</a><br><br>-> Foreign tourists into Japan still well down<br>
<br>The high yen and the nuclear power problems at Fukushima <br>continue to dog the inbound tourism industry, with JNTO <br>figures showing tourism numbers down 31.9% over last year, <br>and tourists from South Korea and China down a massive 40%.<br>
It seems that Taiwanese are a bit braver and their numbers <br>are down just 12%. Overall, the sector most fully recovered<br>is business travelers, who are almost back to normal <br>numbers. In terms of spending during the April-June period,<br>
Chinese tourists spent around JPY29.9bn, South Koreans <br>JPY16.8bn, and Taiwanese JPY16.7bn. (Source: TT commentary <br>from <a href="http://e.nikkei.com">e.nikkei.com</a>, Sep 26, 2011)<br><br><a href="http://e.nikkei.com/e/ac/20110926/TNW/Nni20110926FE9TOP01.htm">http://e.nikkei.com/e/ac/20110926/TNW/Nni20110926FE9TOP01.htm</a><br>
<br>-> Pregnancy simulation device for for men<br><br>Well, we can't see them selling many of these, however, <br>researchers at the Kanagawa of Institute of Technology have<br>their hearts... err stomachs, in the right place. They have<br>
invented a pregnancy simulator device that consists of a <br>diaphragm, water pumps, vibrator, and a bunch of valves and<br>tubes feeding into 48 balloons. The idea is that a male <br>subject -- supposedly the partner of an expectant women, <br>
wears the device and feels over a period of hours the <br>weight, baby movements, and heartbeat of a growing fetus. <br>According to the lead scientist he made the device so that <br>men could experience what their partners might, especially <br>
when traveling in the train... ***Ed: Make of this what you<br>will. We suppose it's a better use of state funding than <br>weapons research.** (Source: TT commentary from <br><a href="http://abcnews.go.com">abcnews.go.com</a>, Sep 30, 2011)<br>
<br><a href="http://abcn.ws/nDS9u6">http://abcn.ws/nDS9u6</a><br><br>-> Mrs Watanabes dump Brazilian Real<br><br>Just how big the Japanese FX market has grown becomes <br>obvious when one considers the Brazilian Real. Apparently <br>
Japanese retail foreign exchange investors have fled the <br>Real since it took a big drop at the end of August after <br>the Brazilian Central Bank lowered interest rates to try to<br>fight inflation in that country. Retail investors have <br>
pulled out about JPY52.7bn of currency from Real holdings<br>in just the last month, equivalent to about 20% of all the <br>nation's foreign reserves. On top of that, professional <br>investors from Japan pulled out about another JPY50bn. <br>
(Source: TT commentary from <a href="http://businessweek.com">businessweek.com</a>, Sep <br>30, 2011)<br><br><a href="http://buswk.co/rlJ7xp">http://buswk.co/rlJ7xp</a><br><br><br>NOTE: Broken links<br>Many online news sources remove their articles after just a<br>
few days of posting them, thus breaking our links -- we<br>apologize for the inconvenience.<br><br>***------------------------****-------------------------***<br><br>+++ CANDIDATE ROUND UP/VACANCIES<br><br>=> BiOS, a Division of the LINC Media group, is actively<br>
marketing the following positions for customers setting up<br>or expanding in Japan, as well as other employers of<br>bilinguals.<br><br>** HIGHLIGHTED POSITION<br><br>BiOS is urgently looking for a Service Delivery Manager <br>
with experience managing a company’s network and unified <br>communications system services to meet client expectations,<br>at our client’s office in the Minato-ku area. The candidate<br>will be responsible for acting as the single point of <br>
contact for the client regarding services the company <br>provides to their multiple international clients in Japan, <br>as well as creating, proposing, and managing budget plans <br>to clients by working closely with internal staff from <br>
sales and engineer teams.<br><br>You will also be responsible for analyzing business <br>requirements and inquiries regarding incidents received <br>from the clients, to improve quality of the services..<br><br>Due to the technical nature and demanding work environment,<br>
this position is suitable for someone with solid experience<br>of more than five years as a project leader, team leader, <br>or supervisor of a network or unified communications <br>services team. In addition, since this role requires <br>
frequent coordination with internal staff and clients, <br>business-level communication skills in English and <br>fluent-level communication skills in Japanese will be <br>required.<br><br>Remuneration is JPY8.5m – JPY10m depending on your <br>
experience and skill level.<br><br>** POSITIONS VACANT<br><br>- Tech Support Engr, global medical equip, JPY4M – JPY5.5M<br>- MS Dynamics Specialist, BiOS, JPY6M – JPY8M<br>- Sales Staff, global IT co, JPY 8M – JPY10M<br>
- Field Engineer, BiOS, JPY4M – JPY4.5M<br>- Data Center Engineer, global It co, JPY3M – JPY4M<br><br>Interested individuals may e-mail resumes to:<br><a href="mailto:tomohiro.kimura@biosjp.com">tomohiro.kimura@biosjp.com</a><br>
<br>** BiOS Job Mail<br><br>Every 2 weeks BiOS sends out a regular communication to its<br>job seeking candidates, called BiOS Job Mail. Every edition<br>carries a list of BiOS's current and most up-to-date<br>vacancies, with each entry featuring a short job<br>
description and a direct link to the main entry on the BiOS<br>home page. Regardless of whether you are unemployed and<br>searching, thinking about a career change, or just curious<br>to know if there is something out there that might suit you<br>
better, the BiOS Job Mail newsletter is an easy and<br>convenient way for you to stay informed. If you would like<br>to register for the BiOS Job Mail, or to find out more,<br>please email <a href="mailto:kenji.sakota@biosjp.com">kenji.sakota@biosjp.com</a>.<br>
<br>Interested individuals may e-mail resumes to:<br><a href="mailto:tomohiro.kimura@biosjp.com">tomohiro.kimura@biosjp.com</a><br><br>-----------------------------------------------------------<br><br>***------------------------****-------------------------***<br>
<br>+++ UPCOMING EVENTS/ANNOUNCEMENTS<br><br>--------- Official Apache Solr training in English --------<br><br>For engineers in Japan! (October 25-27, 2011)<br><br>Train in Tokyo to become an expert Apache Solr engineer <br>
with a course developed by the engineers who helped write <br>the Apache Lucene/Solr code. This intensive, three-day, <br>hands-on, classroom course will be delivered in English by <br>certified instructors on Oct. 25-27, 2011 in Tokyo.<br>
<br>"Developing Search Applications With Solr" covers designing<br>Solr applications, indexing, findability, Japanese search <br>support, faceted navigation, admin configurations, etc.<br><br>Training Information: <br>
<a href="http://www.lucidimagination.jp/training-en/">http://www.lucidimagination.jp/training-en/</a><br>Registration: <br><a href="http://fs11.formsite.com/basistech/solr-training-app-form/index.html">http://fs11.formsite.com/basistech/solr-training-app-form/index.html</a>?<br>
-----------------------------------------------------------<br><br>--------- Japan's Most Popular Leadership Training --------<br><br>Japan's most popular leadership training is called Action<br>Learning, and was pioneered by Professor Reginald Revans<br>
of the UK in the 1940's.<br><br>A published expert in the field of Action Learning is Dr.<br>Michael Marquardt, Prof at George Washington University,<br>DC. Dr. Marquardt will personally be in Japan, conducting a<br>series of seminars for major Japanese corporations, and has<br>
agreed to do a single presentation for foreign managers as<br>well. Hear how Action Learning can transform your work<br>force.<br><br>Title: "Impact of Action Learning: What difference are we<br>making in the world?<br>
Speaker: Dr. Marquardt, President of World Institute for<br>Action Learning<br><br>Date: October 27, 2011, 10:00-13:00(13:30)<br>Venue : Tokyo American Club (Tokyo, Japan)<br>Fee : JPY 15,000 @(including lunch)<br>Contact : <a href="mailto:info@ldcjp.com">info@ldcjp.com</a><br>
03-6809-1144(English-Gledis Action Learning)<br>03-6680-2698(Japanese)<br><br><a href="http://www.ldcjp.com/">http://www.ldcjp.com/</a><br><a href="http://www.ldcjp.com/seminar/20111027M.html">http://www.ldcjp.com/seminar/20111027M.html</a><br>
-----------------------------------------------------------<br><br>***------------------------****-------------------------***<br><br>+++ CORRECTIONS/FEEDBACK<br><br>In this section we run comments and corrections submitted<br>
by readers. We encourage you to spot our mistakes and<br>amplify our points, by email, to <a href="mailto:editors@terrie.com">editors@terrie.com</a>.<br><br>*** No comments this week.<br><br><br>***********************************************************<br>
END<br><br>SUBSCRIBERS: 8,401 members as of Oct 02, 2011<br>(We purge our list regularly.)<br><br>+++ ABOUT US<br><br>STAFF<br>Written by: Terrie Lloyd (<a href="mailto:terrie.lloyd@japaninc.com">terrie.lloyd@japaninc.com</a>)<br>
<br>HELP: E-mail <a href="mailto:Terrie-request@mailman.japaninc.com">Terrie-request@mailman.japaninc.com</a><br>with the word 'help' in the subject or body (don't include<br>the quotes), and you will get back a message with<br>
instructions.<br><br>FEEDBACK<br>Send letters (Feedback, Inquiries & Information) to the<br>editor to <a href="mailto:terrie.lloyd@japaninc.com">terrie.lloyd@japaninc.com</a>.<br><br>ADVERTISING INFORMATION<br>For more information on advertising in this newsletter,<br>
Contact <a href="mailto:ads@japaninc.com">ads@japaninc.com</a>.<br><br>SUBSCRIBE<br>Get Terrie's Take by giving your name and email address at<br><a href="http://www.japaninc.com/newsletters/free_sign_up">http://www.japaninc.com/newsletters/free_sign_up</a>, or go<br>
straight to Mailman at:<br><a href="http://mailman.japaninc.com/mailman/listinfo/terrie">http://mailman.japaninc.com/mailman/listinfo/terrie</a><br><br>BACK ISSUES<br><a href="http://www.japaninc.com/terries_take">http://www.japaninc.com/terries_take</a><br>
or, <a href="http://mailman.japaninc.com/pipermail/terrie/">http://mailman.japaninc.com/pipermail/terrie/</a><br><br>Copyright 2011 Japan Inc. Communications Inc.<br><br>----------------- Japan Inc opens up Japan ----------------<br>
<br>J@pan Inc is Japan's only independently published English-<br>language business website. Authoritatively chronicling<br>online the business trends in Japan, each posting brings<br>you in-depth analysis of business, people and technology in<br>
the world's second largest economy.<br><br>Visit <a href="http://www.japaninc.com">www.japaninc.com</a> for the best business insight on<br>Japan available.<br>-----------------------------------------------------------<br>
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