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092012THE MAGAZINE OF THE EUROPEAN BUSINESS COUNCIL IN JAPAN / THE EUROPEAN (EU) CHAMBER OF COMMERCE IN JAPAN

Wolfgang Angyal Riedel Japan

Roundtable – EBC executive women

Desperate measures – Japanese universities must globalise

Farming the rays – Feed-in tariffs launch solar power

Special occasions

2 September 2012

8 RoundtableEBC executive women tackle the diversity issue head-onModerated by Lucy Birmingham

12 Desperate measuresJapanese universities failing globalisation testBy David McNeill

18 Food contact Testing requirements poison some imports By David McNeill

24 Farming the rays Feed-in tariffs launch solar power in Japan By Simon Scott

September 2012 3

The Mission of the European Business CouncilTo promote an impediment-free environment for European business in Japan.

461848

7 From the Editor

17 Executive Notes When flashier socioeconomic models flounder, Japan will endure, according to Dan Slater.

21 Chamber Voice Bernard Delmas, President, Chambre de Commerce et d’Industrie Française du Japon. By David C Hulme.

26 Investing in Japan Riedel stemware is for special occasions, so it is worth a test-drive. By Gavin Blair.

28 In Committee Hefty Japan Post Insurance tilts Japan’s domestic insurance playing field. By Geoff Botting.

31 Green Biz BMS optimises every component of a building’s power system. By Rob Goss.

33 Event Report Economist Corporate Network panelists look at how the Euro crisis affects Japan. By David C Hulme.

34 Culture Shock Manuel Tardits is an architect, author, teacher and savate instructor. By David C Hulme.

36 EBC committee schedule

43 Upcoming Events Events for the European business community in Japan.

45 Shop Window More stores and bigger stores. By Roy Larke.

46 EBC Personality Danny Risberg works hard, plays hard, then works harder . . . instead of just a-wishin’. By David C Hulme.

48 Work Place Restaurateur Angelo Visigalli gives the BiCE brand a good name in Japan.

COLUMNS

Cover photograph Benjamin Parks

26

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Published monthly in Tokyo. All rights reserved. The views and opinions expressed herein (other than editorials by the EBC ) are solely the opin-ions and views of their authors. The EBC is not responsible or liable for any portions thereof.

European Business Council in Japan (EBC) The European (EU) Chamber of Commerce in Japan

The EBC is the trade policy arm of the seventeen European national chambers of commerce and business associations in Japan

Chairman Duco Delgorge

Senior Vice-Chairman Michel Théoval

Vice-Chairman Danny Risberg

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Communications & PR Victoria Fang

Subscription is free for members of the EBC and national European chambers of commerce.Subscription rates are: one year ¥9,000; two years ¥15,000; three years ¥22,000; ¥800 per copy. Rates include domestic postage or surface postage for overseas subscribers. Add ¥7,500 per year if overseas airmail is preferred. Please allow eight weeks for changes of address to take effect. Subscription requests should be sent to eurobiz@paradigm.co.jp

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EURObiZ Japan welcomes story ideas from readers and proposals from writers and photographers. Letters to the editor may be edited for length and style.

Contributors

Lucy is a long-time, Tokyo-based journalist, scriptwriter and editor. She writes regularly for Time Magazine and Time.com, and her articles have appeared in many publications including The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Bloomberg News, and Architectural Digest.

She has worked at NHK, Japan’s pubic broadcaster, since 2000 on numerous programs from news to fashion. She has also published several books.

“Moderating a roundtable of pioneering, executive women is a real treat. The four-some mixed serious discourse on the state of working women in Japan with moments of shared laughter. Their insights and stories are sure to inspire change as they serve as role models for a younger generation of women and men. Stay tuned for more of their dynamic dialogue.”

Simon is a Tokyo-based freelance journalist and Japan correspondent for The New Zealand Herald. He is also a contributor to The Sunday Age, The Japan Times, the Korea JoongAng Daily and other publications

across the globe. He holds a Graduate Diploma in Journalism from New Zealand’s Massey University.

“As journalists working in post-3/11 Japan, we have focused almost entirely on the negative consequences of that horrific disaster and viewed the ensuing energy crisis in a very dark and apocalyptic light. This story about solar energy has shown me that, indirectly, the disaster also created a very real opportunity for Japan to become a world leader in the global pursuit of greener and cleaner energy.”

David has been in Japan since February 2000 and writes for The Economist, The Irish Times and The Chronicle of Higher Education. (His book on the 3/11 disaster, “Strong in the Rain”, co-authored with Lucy Birmingham, is due for publication next month.) David also lectures part-time on media and politics at Tokyo’s Sophia University, and so is particularly interested in educational issues.

“Japan has always seemed a reluctant player in the globalisation game, but in

higher education the moment of truth has arrived. Universities here must embrace the world, or die.”

Lucy Birmingham moderates the executive women’s roundtable, page 8

David McNeill examines urgent

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Simon Scott looks at the latest in solar

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According to the experts, Japan could expand its workforce by eight million and increase GDP by 15% if it allowed women to fully participate in busi-ness and government. The Japanese government recognises this. As the president of BT Japan, Haruno Yoshida, notes in our “Executive women in Japan roundtable” (page 8), the Cabinet has approved the goal (first set in 2003) of increasing the number of female private-sector executives to 30% or so. With the figure now 1.4%, ambition seems to have run well clear of reality.

Japan is not the only country to strug-gle with gender equality. The roundta-ble, ably moderated by respected jour-nalist Lucy Birmingham, shed light on US and European perspectives as well.

Another area that vexes many Japanese in government and the private sector, as well as academia, is the globalisation of higher education. David McNeill (“Desperate measures”,

page 12), a university lecturer who writes for Washington, DC-based The Chronicle of Higher Education, finds that now really is crunch time for putting words into action if Japan is to have any chance of competing globally. The good news is that The University of Tokyo, despite its reputation as a bastion of ivory-tower conservatism, has taken radical steps to lead the way.

McNeill delivers again with his insightful story on food contact regula-tions (page 18). He even-handedly examines whether the rules covering imported food utensils, packaging and containers are skewed enough to be called a non-tariff barrier.

Simon Scott, contributing for the first time, looks at another topic of intense interest to just about everyone in Japan, including businesses seeking an opportunity in the fast-changing energy sector. His story (“Farming the rays”, page 24) examines the effects of feed-in tariffs and other policy initiatives, combined with technical advances, on the near-term future of solar power in Japan.

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Roundtable: Executive women in JapanModerator LUCY BIRMINGHAM Photos BENJAMIN PARKS

Bring together four pioneering executive women from diverse backgrounds, connected through European companies, and you are bound to have an exciting conversation. An hour flew by as the four discussed their insights, recommendations and personal challenges as career women. For Haruno Yoshida, president of BT Japan, Keiko Tamaki-Kuroda, COO of Schroder Investment Management (Japan), Marjet Andriesse, vice-president of Randstad Japan, and Deborah Hayden, managing partner Japan of Kreab Gavin Anderson, the final consensus was: Let’s keep in touch!

8 September 2012

Keiko Tamaki-Kuroda, COO, Schroder Investment Management (Japan)

Deborah Hayden, Managing Partner Japan, Kreab Gavin Anderson

September 2012 9

EURObiZ: There are a thousand or more European companies in Japan, but very few executive-level women, foreign or Japanese. Why is that?Marjet Andriesse: There are not many Dutch expat women in senior execu-tive positions. I’m an exception in the Netherlands. I know it’s the same for Germany. First, a woman needs to have a senior position, and moving abroad has consequences for her spouse and family. But foreign women can offer a good example here in Japan because they bring good examples from Europe. Keiko Tamaki-Kuroda: There’s a kind of natural networking between women in American companies, which I haven’t seen since I moved to Schroder’s. We need to develop stronger

networking among women within the European companies so we can develop this kind of conversation. Deborah Hayden: I would encour-age European companies to bring more female executives here or hire Japanese women for those positions. Sometimes women are able to manage better than men because we manage with a bit more empathy. We’re able to build relationships that men can’t. It helps businesses here reach out more widely to diverse audiences.

How does the overseas percep-tion of Japan influence decisions on hiring women executives here? Haruno Yoshida: In terms of women in leadership positions in the

Asia-Pacific region, Japan is nearly the worst. In addition, Japan is one of the worst countries for adopting foreigners. My point is that I think the time has come for Japan to open up because the workforce is decreas-ing. From now until 2030, the work-force will decrease by 8.5 million. Hayden: To put that number into perspective, it is almost equal to the population of Sweden. There is the perception overseas that Japan is dif-ficult. What we need to do is try and find women role models, like your-selves, to tell some of your stories. Andriesse: Diversity in Japan has usually been a part of American companies like IBM, but I do see a change happening in Japanese

R O U N D T A B L E

Haruno Yoshida, President, BT Japan

Marjet Andriesse, Vice-president, Randstad Japan

Lucy Birmingham,moderator

10 September 2012

companies. One good example is Hitachi.Tamaki-Kuroda: For foreign people, it is very difficult to understand the Japanese concept of kaisha [company]. Japanese men have been working with harmonisation in mind, trying not to create conflict. Many Japanese women believe they create conflict if they’re too focused on their career. This thinking has to change among both Japanese men and women.

How does industry influence hiring women in Japan, expats or Japanese?Yoshida: My industry, IT, is male-dominated. I was the first female president in any of the four major global telecom service providers. So, BT was the first. When I was interviewing for this job, I asked the HR vice-president if it was all right that I was a woman. His response was very nice. He said “We have an image of the executive leader we want and you happen to be a woman.” That summed it up. Their choice was beyond gender. Companies need to have a clear idea of whom they want as a leader. I really admire what BT has done in a very conservative market.Tamaki-Kuroda: I don’t see much difference from 25 years ago when I started working in finance. I still don’t see a culture of accepting “otherness”, people that are different. Whenever I go to meetings, I’m always the only woman.

Should the Japanese government get more involved?Andriesse: Something I think the government should work on more strictly is the Equal Employment Opportunity Law. It’s been in place since 1985, but it’s not really being enforced – equal pay for equal value. In Japan, women have 30% less pay than men for the same work. In Sweden it’s 10%, and in the US it’s 20%. It’s a big problem for women here and not helping their situation.

Tamaki-Kuroda: One thing that differentiates Japan from places such as Hong Kong and Singapore is that at government level, they are encouraging housemaids and babysitters to come from the Philippines and other countries. But we don’t have that in Japan. Babysitting here is difficult to access and the costs are high. Hayden: The government has realised that working women can actually contribute to economic growth. We need to change the thinking within Japanese public companies. This is where the girls get on the administrative track and the boys get on the career track. There’s quite a stereotypical view of how women should evolve in Japanese companies.Yoshida: The Japanese government has established a quota that by 2020, we are going to increase the number of female executives to 30% or near that level. It’s now 1.4%. So there’s a long way to go.

Do you think companies in Japan should establish a quota on hiring women?Tamaki-Kuroda: I’m not so fond of political correctness. But if Japanese companies need this, then it could be a kind of short-term solution.Hayden: I think that at the end of the day, the best person should be doing the job. But perhaps a quota is a way to kick-start better representation for women, and trying to encourage a trickle-down effect. Perhaps there should be a quota on boards, at least to start getting women’s viewpoints. Japanese companies have boards that are predominantly internal people. Getting an outsider into the board is very difficult. Andriesse: Scandinavian countries have hiring quotas and it’s worked very well there. The Netherlands decided not to have a quota because the government provides the right environment for hiring. The key is that women there have a choice. I think that in Japan we’re not at that point yet.

AS A JAPANESE FEMALE EXECUTIVE, I FEEL I CANNOT AFFORD TO FAIL

THE GOVERNMENT HAS REALISED THAT WORKING WOMEN CAN ACTUALLY CONTRIBUTE TO ECONOMIC GROWTH

September 2012 11

What are some of the biggest challenges for career women in Japan?Yoshida: As a Japanese female executive, I feel I cannot afford to fail. We have to become the right role model. I haven’t had many examples before me. It’s been very difficult as a working mother, especially in this global industry, in the sales frontier.

In Japan, work is not just task-oriented, but also about developing personal relationships. Men go out drinking after work and play golf with their bosses, colleagues and clients. Lots of business is done that way. It can be hard to follow that. I don’t drink and only occasionally play golf. Work should be more task-oriented.Andriesse: The big issues that came out during a recent women-in-business event here were: lack of mentoring; lack of leadership roles; inequality and lack of transparency in promotion; and childcare. When asked what are the barriers, the majority of people said, “women themselves”. Women decide to opt out because it’s too difficult juggling their career with their family and spouse. Yoshida: Our ultimate challenge is life-work balance. The job has to be attractive to women. It has to pay enough to offset the babysitting and daycare centre costs, and the emotional toll of leaving your child every day. I had huge babysitting costs when my daughter was young. It was very hard leaving her every morning when I went to work. Luckily she has turned out well and is now in university. Women can be successful with kids and a career. Andriesse: I have some interesting statistics about Japan: 74% of working women who are college graduates, quit their job after they have children. But only 32% leave because of children. Forty-nine per cent feel pushed out because of work-life balance issues, and factors such as fair promotions and working hours. Government and companies need to work together on this.

Would flexible working hours help? Yoshida: Flextime can be a solution for women working in IT. Technically speaking, it’s possible to work at home. The technology allows you to maximise your productivity. But Japan is still operating with the on-site work model.Tamaki-Kuroda: With new technologies, I think most companies in Japan are remote-capable, so why not flexible working hours? But even in big companies, there are hidden factors that discourage this. HR has to develop more advanced thinking about ways that technology can change and improve the working environment.

As mentors, what advice could you give to women or men on their careers? Andriesse: If you want to work overseas, first stay in an industry or a country where you can grow. I recommend that you first be in middle management and then step abroad. You need to be very secure regarding who you are. Also, realise that in some countries it’s not easy for spouses. It’s not easy to find a job in Japan. Yoshida: For Japanese women who want to reach executive levels, it’s still a pioneering time. But I would like to say to any woman following me, including my daughter, if you want to work in a new area, go for it. We ladies have to stop being the victims. We have to shine and live our lives to the fullest. Hayden: I think people need mentors. But it comes down to the basics: You’ve got to be sensitive. You’ve got to sit and listen, and watch and gauge the atmosphere. Tamaki-Kuroda: My message to the younger generation of women is very simple: If you want to be free from male discrimination, you just become the boss. It’s true for everyone. If you want to be free, ultimately you have to work, work, work to get a better position.

R O U N D T A B L E

WE NEED TO DEVELOP STRONGER NETWORKING AMONG WOMEN WITHIN THE EUROPEAN COMPANIES

SCANDINAVIAN COUNTRIES HAVE HIRING QUOTAS AND IT’S WORKED VERY WELL

12 September 2012

One way of gauging the globalisation of Japanese higher education is to test the state of dining at its most prestigious institu-

tion. A little over a decade ago, students and faculty at The University of Tokyo, popularly called Todai, ate in a hand-ful of crowded, tatty canteens. Today, Starbucks, Subway and other multina-tional restaurant chains dot its central-Tokyo Hongo Campus.

By other measures of internationalisa-tion, however, the university is much less impressive. Fewer than 2% of its students are foreign, well below the norm for global competitors such as Harvard or even Hong Kong University. Between 30 and 60 of Todai’s 14,000 undergraduates study abroad every year, according to a survey conducted by the university last year – about 0.4% of the entire student body.

Despite notable exceptions, Japanese higher education as a whole is not much better. After more than two decades and billions of yen in scholarships, fewer than 5% of Japan’s university students come from abroad. The number is 140,000, well below China with 223,000, and the United States with 672,000. Only 5% of its 353,000 university teach-ers are foreign, according to statistics from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT).

Most of those teach English.At the opposite end of the education

spectrum, students here are increasingly staying home: Japanese undergradu-ate enrollment in US universities has plummeted by more than half since 2000, estimates MEXT. Japanese student enrollment in European institutions is also down. The fall is dramatic enough to ring alarm bells right at the top of the Japanese and US governments. Last year, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the US-Japan Council that she was concerned by the figures.

“Frankly, in my view Japan is going backwards,” says Ian de Stains, a former executive director of the British Chamber of Commerce in Japan, and one of many observers who believe that despite government rhetoric about internationalisation, Japan is becoming more isolationist. “The big danger is that Japan will lose touch and fail to compete globally.”

South Korea, with less than half Japan’s population, sends twice as many students to the US. At some US univer-sities, such as Cornell, the number of Japanese students is behind the number not just from China, India and South Korea, but even from Thailand and tiny Singapore. “The drop is without prec-edent,” says Mark Selden, a senior fellow at Cornell University’s East Asia Program.

Japan’s share of global research production, meanwhile, fell from 9.45% to 6.75% over the decade to 2010,

according to the Global Research Report, published by Thomson Reuters. While the report notes “areas of excellence” in Japan’s profile, it blames the country’s faltering performance on a dearth of international collaboration.

Those abysmal statistics directly affect international rankings – one reason The University of Tokyo announced earlier this year that it is switching to autumn enrollment. That shift would align the institution’s academic calendar with the outside world’s and help boost student exchanges, foreign hires and perhaps even collaborative research, says Todai Executive Vice-president Masako Egawa. “Internationalising education and research is a very, very high priority for us, and we must bring Japan into sync with other countries to achieve that.”

Other Japanese institutions are still digesting the implications of Todai’s decision. Some believe it could funda-mentally alter the nation’s entire higher-education system.

“If Todai changes, the other top insti-tutions will follow, and that will change the culture of universities,” says Akiyoshi

Text and photo DAVID MCNEILL

Ian de Stains

Desperate measuresJapanese universities failing globalisation test

THE BIG DANGER IS THAT JAPAN WILL LOSE

TOUCH AND FAIL TO COMPETE GLOBALLY

September 2012 13

Yonezawa, an associate professor in the Graduate School of International Development at Nagoya University.

Discussion of autumn enrolment has been going on for a decade in Japan, but growing competition from Asian rivals and the nation’s deepening demo-graphic crisis finally triggered action. The government forecast this year that the population could shrink by 30% in the next half century. Universities long ago saw the writing on the wall: they have been running low on 18 year olds for years, since enrolment peaked in 1992 at 2.1 million.

According to MEXT, nearly half of the nation’s roughly 550 private universities are missing their recruitment targets. More than 40% are reportedly in debt and many are a bank loan away from bankruptcy. Worst-case scenarios fore-cast that one-third of all private univer-sities could go bankrupt or merge in the next decade unless help is forthcoming.

The government has so far taken a laissez-faire approach, refusing to either rescue or pull the plug on failing tertiary institutions. One obvious way of filling the gap is to attract more students from abroad. Five years ago, the then-prime minister, Yasuo Fukuda, announced a target of 300,000 foreign students by 2020, roughly triple the 2007 figure. Several new initiatives have been launched to help Japan achieve the target, notably Global 30.

Launched in 2009 with an annual budget of ¥3.2 billion, Global 30 envisioned “core” universities “dramatically” boosting the number of international students in Japan and Japanese students studying abroad, according to MEXT. The ministry’s strict selection process, however, meant that just 13 elite universities initially made the grade. A year later, a cost-cutting committee for the ruling Democratic Party of Japan terminated funding for the project.

The need to globalise higher educa-tion is likely to intensify in coming years to meet the march of Japan’s corpora-tions overseas. The fear that Japanese graduates are unprepared to work in international companies has become more urgent since Japan’s currency began to surge against the US dollar and euro last year. Now at a record high, the yen’s strength will push more

Japanese corporations to shift produc-tion offshore, warned Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda recently, increasing the demand for workers fluent in foreign languages.

Japan’s largest business federa-tion, the Nippon Keidanren, took that demand seriously enough to have organised a summer conference last year, bringing together the country’s top universities and corporate bosses. Among the problems discussed was how to bring Japan’s traditionally aloof academic institutions closer to the corporate discussion table. Many corporations also want universities to enrol and train more bilingual foreign students, and have taken a special interest in a handful of Japan’s more globalised institutions, notably Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University and Akita International University.

In a striking acknowledgment that the decline in foreign study must be halted, the Keidanren used the forum to announce a scholarship plan that will give ¥1 million each to 30 students

from the 13 universities now desig-nated Global 30 institutions. Every little bit helps, says William Saito, a venture capitalist and adviser to Japan’s Education Ministry, who himself finances up to four scholarships a year to the US out of his own pocket.

“Awareness of the problem is grow-ing, I think.” He says he sees many more companies using English as a hiring criteria, citing the decision by Japan’s largest online retailer, Rakuten, under the leadership of Hiroshi Mikitani, to make English its working language. He also welcomes the Todai announcement of an autumn semester start.

It remains to be seen, however, whether the lumbering universities will move fast enough for Japan’s compa-nies, some of which are now hiring abroad rather than trying to find fluent English speakers at home. Mikitani is one of an ambitious new breed of foreign-educated entrepreneurs who acknowledges that his companywide edict was a “desperate measure.” It may not be the last.

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September 2012 17

E X E C U T I V E N O T E S

Age of trustJapanese socioeconomic model built to last

The age of economics is dead – welcome to the age of trust.

Figures have lost their magic. After 20 years of the biggest deluge of economic, business and financial data the world has ever been exposed to, thanks to the internet, the unprecedented global slow-down proves that such information was worse than useless.

As I told a Futures Industry Association of Japan event a few weeks ago, the financial sector had either failed com-pletely in its core task of detecting and minimising risk – or it had discovered the risk, but then carefully concealed it for its own benefit, as in the case of dress-ing up usurious mortgage contracts as triple-A. In either case, the monstrously expensive, unequal, politically dominant superstructure of finance has proved itself fit only for ruthless disassembly.

What will fill this information vacuum? I believe it will be filled by something quite different. Sharp inves-tors will look at qualitative and social issues, and to firsthand experience, rather than listen to the shamans of the financial world.

Japan will be one of the beneficiaries of this shift. Japan not only has a rela-tively open and trustworthy information dissemination system, but it also has a much higher degree of trust.

The Japan model may not be as high-octane as the China model, but based on much greater trust, which is itself based on much greater equality, Japan will still be around a long time after the China model (itself a cartoonish copy of all the most extreme parts of the US model) has disappeared in a welter of civil and

international conflicts. It may be a surprise to casual observ-

ers that I laud the availability and accuracy of Japanese government information. I was not aware of this until I started doing comparative research on British government websites. Far from being superior, the UK websites had clearly been organised and designed by outsourced IT workers in the Maldives for tuppence an hour. It was impossible to find anything within a reasonable space of time.

Then of course there is the informa-tion disseminated by the Western financial sector, on which feeble national governments and the media rely so excessively. It is amazing how often this is quoted, despite the rampant self- interest it represents.

At the same time, Japanese PR people are often not professionals. They rotate in from their career jobs. This frequently backfires in terms of failing to make Japan look slick, but outsiders get far higher quality information from these people than from the professional spin-meisters so dominant in the West.

But Japan’s real competitive advan-tage is its equality, which engenders trust, which in turn keeps the country going under trying circumstances. As an excellent book on equality, The Spirit Level, points out, a Japanese CEO is paid on average 16 times as much as a production worker. The multiple for a US CEO is 44; for a UK CEO, 31; and for a Swedish CEO, 23. This relative equality in Japan is under threat from the backward neo-liberal employment policies carried out by former prime minister Junichiro

Koizumi. However, Japan is still far more equal, and therefore mutually reliant and trusting, than much of the rest of the world. This gives Japan an extraordinary long-term advantage over the Western and Eastern economies that are jettison-ing all social restraints in a frantic search for the least sustainable and most unequal way of enriching the top 1%.

As the planet enters a grim and ter-rifying next 10 years, I predict that Japan will emerge far less damaged than its peers, both economically and socially. As the tough and united women of Japan’s awesome Nadeshiko football team know, they did not win their Olympic silver medal despite flying coach to London – they won because flying coach helps to engender a spirit that comes with shared adventure and shared hard-ship. That spirit is quite useful on the football pitch, and will be an ingredient in Japan’s age of trust.

JAPAN’S REAL COMPETITIVE

ADVANTAGE IS ITS EQUALITY,

WHICH ENGENDERS TRUST

DAN SLATERDirector of the

Economist Corporate Network

in Tokyo

18 September 2012

Food contactTesting requirements poison some importsText DAVID MCNEILL

Next time you spoon your morning cornflakes out of a ceramic bowl, consider the ingredi-ents. Is there anything in the glaze that might be toxic? What about that expensive French casserole dish – will it leak poisons when heated? Ditto the Tupperware you just put

into the microwave. Most consumers don’t have to worry about kitchenware

because the authorities do it for them. The EU regulates mate-rials and articles that come into contact with food, ensuring that chemicals do not migrate from utensils and ceramics. A European Reference Laboratory provides scientific and techni-cal assistance. In Japan, the Food Sanitation Law controls and bans the sale of utensils, packaging or food containers that might harm human health.

But does Japan apply its regulations effectively and evenly? “No,” says David Buckley, president of Copyrights Asia, a mer-chandising agent for Peter Rabbit and other cultural proper-ties that has about 300 licensees, including manufacturers of cups and plates. The Japanese authorities are selective,

applying stricter rules to products manufactured abroad than at home, Buckley claims. “A company from England will have to go through the testing process, but a local licensee might not.” Testing is costly – ¥300,000 per item – so that selective treatment puts European firms at a disadvantage, he says. Some sources, speaking anonymously, go further, calling the enforcement of these standards a form of protectionism for local industry.

“To my knowledge, items produced in Japan have to ‘comply’ with the standards, but there is no governmental agency that polices what is produced within the country,” said the former branch president of a European manufacturer in Japan.

A spokesman for Japan Customs calls the claims of selectiv-ity unthinkable. “Food-contact regulations are applied fairly and equally on Japanese and non-Japanese products,” says Koji Konishi, though he accepts that at local ports like Yokohama and Kobe, customs officers may apply special zeal to checking imported items.

Officials in customs and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the bureaucracy responsible for food sanitation, say

September 2012 19

F O C U S

they have no choice but to strictly regulate foreign-made products because of the “unknowable” quality within.

European firms mostly are happy to comply for access to the world’s third-largest economy, but some question what they see as needlessly bureaucratic and expensive procedures. French consortium Groupe SEB, which imports kettles and other products, agrees with Buckley that Japan should con-sider accepting European testing of European products rather than force companies to duplicate testing here.

“In Europe, in most cases, we can bring the same product in anywhere. Here, we have to change some parts,” says the company’s marketing director, Hayashi Satoru, citing the use of a plastic pigment colouring that is not allowed in Japan. “That costs money, of course.”

Groupe SEB’s Japan president, Per Rasmussen, is more critical.

“Materials you can use all over the world, you can’t use in Japan,” he laments. He adds that Japan is well known for inconsistencies in testing procedures. “Some labs ask you to send 100 samples, others ask for five.”

Another much-heard complaint is that Japan only accepts safety test reports from the country of manufacture. That’s a headache for a company like Ikea, which sources products from over 1,000 suppliers in 55 countries, including Vietnam and Indonesia. Ikea would prefer to centralise the testing system – perhaps in China – using a single lab for all its products.

“We’ve asked for this to be considered, but so far there has been no reply from the authorities,” says Sayaka Kida, who heads product requirements and compliance at the Swedish furniture giant. Kida also cites the lack of testing standardisa-tion as a point of concern. “Even when we have already passed the international standard, we have to test the product again to Japanese standards.”

Ikea says that some tests are similar and that EBC has advo-cated for recognition of these test methods, without success.

Japan Customs’ Konishi declines to address the details of these criticisms, insisting instead that Japan’s enforce-ment of its own regulations is perfectly natural, saying: “If Japanese standards are high, that is out of consideration for consumers.”

Not everyone is unhappy with the status quo. Christian Thoma, Japan president of French cookware maker Le Creuset, says his company has few complaints about the way Japan enforces its food-contact rules. German-based Brita, which imports water purifiers and containers into Japan, accepts

that Japanese testing requirements can be “a little compli-cated”, but does not regard it as a major issue.

“When we launch something new, we have to get it tested and that takes some time,” says general manager Onno Jalink. “You have to send the samples from abroad directly to the testing institution in Japan and explain the procedure to suppliers in Europe with quite precise instructions, but we are used to it.”

Many European companies, such as Le Creuset, have their products tested at one of the roughly 4,000 laboratories around the world accredited by Japan’s Health Ministry. The test certificate is presented at point of entry and receives the official stamp of approval. “It’s very smooth; we don’t have any problems,” says Thoma.

But Ikea’s Kida points out that the system forces her company to ask every supplier around the world to submit products to a lab in the country of manufacture.

“We don’t want to use so many testing labs because we consider it’s important that we also know about the testing,” she says, meaning that Ikea would prefer to select a single, reputable lab by itself.

One way around these problems is to submit to testing in a single lab in Japan, but that also presents problems. What language would a company in, say, Italy or Germany, use when communicating with a lab in Japan where hardly anyone speaks a foreign language? Moreover, many companies com-plain that Japanese labs are often unfamiliar with overseas standards.

Most European importers concede that Japan has made great strides in simplifying import procedures by, for example, allowing foreign testing at all, and by expanding the accred-ited list of foreign laboratories. Kida is among many observers who say the problems with food contact rules are manageable – with dialogue.

“Everything is better if it gets more flexible, and we’d like to continue our conversations with the authorities to get their understanding and support,” she says.

MATERIALS YOU CAN USE

ALL OVER THE WORLD, YOU CAN’T USE

IN JAPAN Per Rasmussen, Groupe SEB

IK

EA

・Mac:OS X 10.5.7　・AI:CS4　・CODE No.＿＿＿＿＿＿＿　・SIZE:H136mmW190mm　　 ・color:CMYK

Tsubuku : 090-2454-4906 : CWD/Refuge K 702,5-1-14,Kounan,Minatoku,Tokyo.03-5462-0580■MICHELIN 29.Aug.2012

EURObiz Japan 広告原稿 2nd

September 2012 21

Even now, 18 months later, the 3/11 earthquake and tsunami disaster is a starting point for discussion of the recent history of chambers of commerce in Japan, their activities and membership trends. It is no different for the French Chamber of Commerce in Japan (CCIFJ).

“Just two weeks after the disaster we found that French companies were operating more or less as normal,” says chamber president Bernard Delmas, who also expresses admiration for the resilience of the Japanese people at that time. “There was no panic, no looting, and people quickly carried on as normal.”

For various reasons, says Delmas, who is president and CEO of Nihon Michelin Tire, 2011 turned into “a very strong year, for business and for the chamber”. The CCIFJ organised 111 events for the year, an average of more than two per week. These included events involving politician Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet; Nissan chairman and CEO Carlos Ghosn; and newly appointed (December 2011) French Ambassador to Japan Christian Masset.

“Also, various business sectors experienced a boom because of a sudden increase in demand for such products as food, beverages, building materials and safety devices,” says Delmas, who has led the chamber since early 2010.

The annual gala ball, which seemed under threat immediately following the disaster, went ahead in November as planned, with the guests numbering 800, as in previous years.

“Altogether, I would say that the foreign business community recovered faster after the crisis than it did after the Lehman Shock [2008],” says the CCIFJ president.

A highlight of early 2012 was the inaugural French Business Awards. Delmas proudly ticks off the winners.

Company of the Year was Danone Japan. The Jury’s special award went to fast-growing skincare products company L’Occitane Japon. Retail innovator GLS Japan claimed Best SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) 2012, while Peugeot Citroën Japon took the Innovation category honours. The Environmental Contribution award went to MCDecaux, for its bicycle-hire system.

Now, more than ever, the FCCIJ wants to emphasise that Tokyo is not all there is to Japan. In recent years, its Symposium CCIFJ, bringing together regional officials, Japanese companies doing business in France and French companies with operations in Japan, has been held in Kobe, Yokohama and Osaka.

“This year, in May, the symposium was in Nagoya,” explains Delmas. “It was a big and successful event, with about 150 people attending.”

On the likelihood of Japan-EU talks on a free trade agreement, Delmas believes that progress is being made, and that Japan’s economy will benefit greatly if it finally opens up its markets, but he is not so sure that Japan will be able to remove non-tariff barriers swiftly enough to match any EU tariff concessions.

“There should be balance. We have reason for concern,” he says.

CCIFJ highlights for the rest of this year include the joint European Cocktail Party, scheduled for 18 October at the Hyatt Regency Tokyo, and this year’s gala ball at Chinzan-so, on 12 November.

Most new CCIFJ members are SMEs (the larger French companies are well-established here already), especially in the fashion and cosmetics sectors.

“IT and services are also very dynamic,” says Delmas, who believes strongly that rapid change is occurring in Japan, and that change equates to opportunity. “Small companies can always find niche opportunities.”

He points to L’Occitane as an example of the success that can come with commitment, patience and imagination.

“They were extremely clever in choosing railway stations as their distribution point,” he notes.

As for the Japanese economy, Delmas adds, the second half of 2012 looks very promising. He is impressed by the dynamism of the north-east Tohoku region in recovery mode, and sees plenty of innovation and energy in cities such as Osaka, Nagoya and Sapporo, the prefectures of Hyogo and Fukuoka, and the southern island of Kyushu.

Companies doing business here can find many reasons for optimism about Japan’s future, says the CCIFJ president, but he concludes: “What we need now is more ways to transmit enthusiasm about Japan to Europe.”

Text DAVID C HULME

Bernard Delmas President, Chambre de Commerce et d’Industrie Française du Japonwww.ccifj.or.jp

Small companies can always find niche

opportunities

CCI

FJ

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I T S P E C I A L S E C T I O N

24 September 2012

A year and a half has passed since the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear reactors, and calls for a nuclear-free Japan seem to be getting louder and more persistent by the day. Protests in front of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s official residence have become a weekly Friday event

and the July anti-nuclear rally in Yoyogi Park – attended by an estimated 170,000 protesters – was hailed as the country’s largest political demonstration in decades.

Yet deep anxiety also surrounds the ideal of a nuclear-free future, with fears of power shortages, higher electricity bills, increasing dependence on expensive and polluting fossil fuels, and further long-term weakening of the economy.

Amidst the doom and gloom shines the light of renewable energy’s promise. The long-awaited feed-in-tariff (FIT) system for renewables, which came into effect on 1 July, has posi-tioned solar energy to be the star of the show.

Utilities must now pay ¥42/kWh to buy solar-generated power – twice the rate currently paid by consumers for elec-tricity. This rate is fixed for a 20-year period for solar systems producing over 10kW, and 10 years for those producing less.

The tariff scheme is a legacy of former prime minister Naoto Kan, and pushing the bill through parliament was one of his final acts before resigning in August last year, although the tariff level was undecided at the time.

Feed-in-tariff polices – so far enacted in over 50 countries – are a way for governments to push clean energy by requiring electrical utilities to buy at above-market rates. Japan is set to become one of the world’s leading markets for solar energy.

According to Milo Sjardin, head of Asia analysis at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the feed-in-tariff scheme has the potential to significantly alter Japan’s energy future.

“The country may build enough distributed solar capacity over the next three years to equal the electricity output from almost three nuclear power stations, and do so in a fraction of the development time [of nuclear power],” he says.

Sjardin adds that solar power projects in Japan at the current tariff levels could generate equity returns as high as 44%, which could make the country a potential goldmine for investors in renewables.

Q-Cells was the first European solar power company to arrive in Japan. The German solar-module manufacturer has

Farming the raysFeed-in tariffs launch solar power in JapanText SIMON SCOTT

September 2012 25

been here since 2007, but didn’t enter the market until May 2011. Managing director Steffen Studeny says the strategy is to have a long-term presence.

“You see a lot of companies who come into a market after the introduction of FIT, make some profit and then go out of the market,” he says. “That is 100% not our strategy.”

To date, Q-Cells has largely been focused on the residential market, catering to private home owners wanting to fit solar systems to their houses, but with the FIT, Studeny hopes to significantly increase sales to commercial buyers. Currently, less than 20% of Japan’s solar-panel use is accounted for by factories, offices, mega-solar and other commercial projects. In most countries, the non-residential sector dominates the demand side of the solar panel market. In Germany, the world’s largest solar-energy market, commercial installations (including mega-solar plants) make up 75% of the demand. Introduction of the new FIT scheme is predicted to shift the Japanese market toward increased commercial participation.

Studeny believes the Japanese are conservative and discerning consumers who value quality over cheaper alternatives, and that the excellent reputation of German products has resonance here.

“We are the quality leader in the market and have the highest-quality product,” he says. Companies wanting to sell solar cell products should be registered with the Japan Photovoltaic Expansion Center (J-PEC) so that customers can qualify to receive a government eco-subsidy for their purchase.

Registration is no simple task, however, especially for foreign companies. Q-Cells registered in March 2011, and is believed to be the only European company to have passed the stringent J-PEC requirements so far. Studeny believes a positive side effect of Japan’s strict entry requirements is to prevent market oversaturation, a problem that severely damaged the industry in Europe.

“You need some entry barriers. It is necessary from a long-term perspective to ensure stable market growth,” he explains, adding that wild market fluctuations are not healthy for the solar power industry or for renewables in general.

Domestic telecommunications giant Softbank has confirmed it will build a 110MW solar power plant, the nation’s largest, to become operational in 2014 in the Hokkaido port city of Tomakomai. To coincide with the start of the FIT scheme, Softbank earlier launched two new solar power plants: a 2.4MW plant in Gunma prefecture and a 2.1MW in Kyoto. There also are plans to operate solar power plants in Tochigi, Tottori, Tokushima, Kumamoto and Nagasaki prefectures.

The company’s interest in solar power harks back to the anxious summer of 2011, when fears of power shortages were

high in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear crisis. At that time, Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son, one of Japan’s richest individuals, announced that he would spend close to a billion dollars to build 10 20MW solar farms across the nation. He also said he would chip in $100 million of his personal fortune to stimulate investment in the sector.

Despite these positive signs, the growth of solar energy could still be problematic. Japan is a small country with a high population density – 336 people per square kilometre – and land prices are high. It is also very urbanised, with large populations clustered around the major economic centres of Tokyo and Osaka.

Prof Yoshiaki Nakano, solar energy expert and researcher at The University of Tokyo’s Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, believes that although there is not enough open space to provide electricity for big cities by applying the current level of solar technology, there is an opportunity right now for small, rural towns to be self-sufficient.

Nakano adds that this situation will change for the better as solar cell technology improves. Currently, the average conversion efficiency (amount of sunlight turned into energy) of solar cells worldwide is only around 20%. But at the research and development level, the highest efficiency level is 43% and the target for the next generation of cells is 50%.

Sunlight is composed of a range of waves – from ultraviolet to infrared – and solar cells currently in use convert only in the middle range.

“Our strategy is to expand the range that we can convert into energy, and include as much infrared as possible,” explains Nakano.

FO

CU

S

We are the quality leader in the market

Steffen Studeny

Q-C

ELLS

SIM

ON

SC

OTT

Text GAVIN BLAIR Photo BENJAMIN PARKS

Full of flavour

Riedel Japan

26 September 2012

September 2012 27

Riedel has been in the business for three centuries, and is credited with creating the first glasses designed to suit specific types of wine. The pioneering

Austrian glassmaker is run by the 11th generation of the family whose name it bears. Riedel continues to carve out its niche in Japan, among professionals and discerning consumers, in high-end glassware.

All of Riedel’s handmade, and mouth-blown, glasses are still produced in Austria, while its machine-made products come from Germany.

“We’re proud of being 100% European-made,” says Wolfgang Angyal, head of Riedel Japan.

Riedel has been selling its crystal glasses in Japan since the 1960s, but the market was small until wine culture began to take hold here in the early 1990s, he explains.

Since becoming Riedel’s first representative in Japan, in 1989, Angyal has guided the growth of the business, including the establishment of Riedel Japan in 2000, to make this market one of the company’s top five worldwide.

The Japanese market for glasses designed for European drinks is very similar to the global market, with stemware for Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and Champagne topping the best-seller list. Riedel also makes products specific to the local market, including the Vinum Daiginjo for daiginjo (high-end) sake and a small beer glass designed to suit the way Japanese often pour each other beer from a shared bottle.

One of the company’s newest ranges of glasses is called Swirl, which was inspired by Japanese earthenware drinking cups that are indented to make them easier to grip. A similar indentation in the Swirl glasses makes them more suited to the smaller Japanese hands.

Riedel glasses are designed not in

a laboratory, but in cooperation with sommeliers, vintners and distillers. The process includes blind-tasting of various kinds of wines and spirits with each corresponding glass. Angyal describes the design process as “intuitive” and stresses the importance of the human element.

The shape of a wine glass, especially the rim, affects the way wine reaches the palate, with the response varying according to the balance of fruitiness, tannins and bouquet. For spirits such as whiskey or cognac, the shape also influences the taste. A good glass “tames the alcohol,” explains Angyal. Collaborative ranges of glassware that the company has produced include the Riedel Vinum Cognac Hennessy, created in conjunction with the iconic French distiller.

“Each one of our glasses has a history [of] how it was made and designed. Every one has a unique story,” says Angyal, adding that this is something that appeals strongly to Japanese consumers.

Retail customers account for around three-quarters of Riedel’s sales in Japan, with the rest of the business going to restaurants, bars and hotels. The majority of the trade business consists of small, high-end bars with discerning and demanding clientele, making these bars “motivated more by customer satisfaction than price,” according to Angyal.

Reaching out directly to customers of all kinds can be a challenge in Japan due to the multi-layered distribution system that is common in so many sectors. However, digital media has provided a new avenue for Riedel to communicate with customers through an integrated strategy involving their website, a Facebook page, an official blog and email magazines.

“This is the first time we’ve been able to connect with our end-users in this way,” says Angyal. To satisfy the appetite of Japanese consumers and professionals for detailed information about products, Riedel also has

glass-tasting bars located in its shops, which are all directly operated.

“Customers can come in and test-drive wine from different glasses before they buy them,” explains Angyal. “And we have four people travelling full-time around Japan holding tastings somewhere every day – these include seminars and in-depth explanations about the way the glasses function.”

The latest venture for Riedel Japan, which currently has a staff of around 45, is its first outlet store in Japan, recently opened at Kisarazu, Chiba prefecture. The outlet features discontinued ranges and products returned with tiny flaws, discounted at 30-50% from normal retail prices.

Angyal describes his biggest challenge as “how to communicate and transport Japan-specific circumstances to those without cultural reference points.”

“We often have to do things a certain way in Japan in order to succeed. It’s not just a Japanese issue; it’s part of the globalisation versus localisation clash that occurs in every multinational company in the world. In Japan, though, we’ve been lucky to have been allowed quite a long leash,” he says.

This also means, however, that Riedel Japan cannot always take advantage of global promotions, initiatives or opportunities that Riedel makes available to its subsidiaries.

“A lot of stuff that works outside of Japan just doesn’t work here; sometimes it’s just too hard to make a round peg fit into a square hole,” says Angyal.

I N V E S T I N G I N J A P A N

CUSTOMERS CAN COME IN AND TEST-DRIVE

WINE FROM DIFFERENT GLASSES BEFORE THEY

BUY THEM

Wolfgang Angyal

Tilted fieldText GEOFF BOTTING

Insurance//28 September 2012

k Japan Post reform – The government should ensure a level playing field in the insurance market and reform its policy of giving preferential treat-ment to Japan Post Insurance.

kKyosai– Regulation of all these mutual aid associations should be the job only of the Financial Services Agency, not various government ministries.

k Harmonisation – Japan needs to create a roadmap to speed up its harmonisation of international accounting standards and Solvency II. Further efforts are needed to bring solvency margin calculations into line with Solvency II.

Insurance Committee Key advocacy issues

I N C O M M I T T E E

Japan Post, the world’s largest depository bank, has long been in the sights of the EBC Insurance Committee.

The key issue has been the privatisation of Japan Post Holdings (JPH), an umbrella corporation that includes Japan Post Insurance (JPI). Until quite recently, the committee – in line with the whole of Japan’s private insurance sector – had expected the government-owned behemoth to be sold off to the private sector. In the process, the industry playing field would start to even out, giving private insurance companies a more equal crack at a market dominated by JPI.

That was the hope. The reality is turning out to be something starkly dif-ferent. Earlier this year, Japan’s three big-gest political parties quietly sponsored a bill that rolled back many of the original reform measures, and now the new law will be enacted in October.

“This has left the committee with less room to manoeuvre than before,” concedes committee chairman Kazutaka Matsuda. “We’ve been saying all along that Japan Post should be maintain-ing a level playing field with European, American and also Japanese private-sector insurance players.”

The committee, along with others in the industry, have consistently pointed out that the JPI’s legacy status allows it preferential government treatment, grossly distorting competition. The JPI is subject to light-touch regulation and is able to retail its products through the nation’s vast post-office network of around 24,000 branches.

The original legislation of 2005 sought to end that status, recommending full privatisation of the JPI, as well as of Japan Post Bank and the two other group companies, Japan Post Service and Japan Post Network. The revised proposed legislation recommends that the government maintain at least a one-third stake in JPH.

“This legislation is a major step backwards. It will reduce consumer choice and further distort an economy already overly dominated by this gigan-tic, state-owned enterprise,” said Brad Smith, chief international officer for the American Council of Life Insurers, in a 10 April statement that was backed by the EBC and 13 other business groups.

The signatories to the statement fear that their own businesses will face grossly unfair competition should the JPI gain government approval to introduce new products.

A key issue in the reform measure was the time frame by which the JPH was to sell all its shares in the JPI and Japan Post Bank. That was supposed to happen by 2017, but the new proposal ditches the deadline. Now the industry fears that preferential treatment for the JPI will go on indefinitely. Even so, the government is keen to sell the shares, as it plans to use the proceeds to pay for reconstruction work in the areas devastated by the Tohoku disaster. Matsuda, an executive officer at AXA Life Insurance, is concerned over the use of the word “disposal” in the legislation, fearing that even if the JPI shares are sold, the corporation could remain in the hands of the public sector.

“What does ‘disposal’ mean?” he asks. “From a legal perspective, even a quasi-governmental body could purchase the shares from the government. There is no mention in the law that purchasing will take place in the capital markets.”

Another of the committee’s concerns is that the revised law envisions Japan Post maintaining its public role. That status is maintained by having all of the nation’s post offices serve as a one-stop provider for universal insurance, banking and snail-mail services – almost exclusively from JPH companies.

“Theoretically, we can ask the post offices to sell our own products. In reality they probably won’t, for example, put our pamphlets on the counter in front of Japan Post’s pamphlets,” he explains.

With all the attention focused on Japan Post over the last few years, it’s easy to forget the other issues the Insurance Committee has been tackling. One involves the kyosai, which are mutual aid cooperatives. The committee has called for kyosai to be regulated by the Financial Services Agency. They are, instead, under the supervision of various government ministries.

On another front, the committee wants the government to create a road map to speed up moves to bring Japan more in line with global accounting standards and Solvency II. The 2009

EU Solvency II Directive codifies EU insurance regulation, and mainly concerns minimum capital adequacy for EU insurers.

But Matsuda concedes that, in the looming shadow of postal reform, the committee has been very quiet about those two advocacy issues for the past year or so.

Despite the gloomy outlook, the committee and its insurance-industry colleagues will not drop their guard on the JPH issue. Japan remains a critically important market for insurers. Not only is it the world’s second-largest market for insurance products, but it is also one where demand is expected to remain firm. The country’s rapidly ageing population is putting increased stress on the state healthcare and social-insurance systems, creating more room for private insurance products to operate.

Matsuda says one of AXA’s hit products in Japan is cancer insurance.

“Our field is about finding customers who aren’t going to be satisfied by the benefits provided by the state,” he says.In the meantime, the insurance industry is vowing to monitor the saga playing out at Japan Post. As they see it, serious reform of the massive state-owned enterprise will be needed just to truly bring Japan’s financial system into the 21st century.

September 2012 29

This year our elementary school

students were greeted by a big surprise

on their return to the campus: a brand-

new jungle gym custom-made in the

school colors of blue and gold! In

addition to offering the boys tons of

exercise and play options, the view

from the top is fabulous, as the jungle

gym is set on the rooftop on the North

Campus. When the skies are clear, Mt.

Fuji will be visible in the distance!

Exercise and outdoor activity are

as important for growing elementary

school learners as getting enough rest

and having a good breakfast. We are

confi dent that the jungle gym will prove

very popular among the boys and

enhance their learning – and growing –

experience at St. Mary’s International

School.

In September, the St. Mary’s

Association, our very own parents

support group, gets busy to plan and

organize one of our big fundraising

events: St. Mary’s Bingo. Every year,

this fun and exciting event attracts

hundreds of students, parents and

guests. Details will be on our website,

www.smis.ac.jp, sometime in early

October, so please mark your calendars

to join us for a fun-fi lled night with

great prizes!

St. Mary’s International School,

conveniently located in Setagaya ward,

has been providing quality education

to the international community in the

Tokyo area for over 50 years. The

850 boys attending St. Mary’s – from

elementary school to middle school and

high school – come from 55 different

countries. This international student

body, rich in cultural and religious

diversity, contributes greatly to the

unique educational experience we offer.

St. Mary’s fosters an atmosphere that

allows our students to fully express

themselves through a wide range of

academic and artistic activities.

Back to school

St. Mary’s International School

September 2012 31

What do the Royal Palace in Stockholm, Swedbank head office in Riga, some of Ikea’s EU stores and the Embassy

of Sweden in Tokyo have in common? Answer: they all use the same energy-saving, cost-cutting building manage-ment system (BMS).

The system in question is made in Sweden by Larmia Control and sold in Asia exclusively by fellow Swedish firm BMS & Green Tech Solutions (www.bmsgreentech.com), which entered Japan in January of this year after having been invited to be part of the Swedish delegation involved in post-3/11 rebuilding efforts. Paul Taylor, BMS & Green Tech’s country manager for Japan and director of business development and sales, explains how the system works.

“What the [Larmia] BMS does is allow the operator of a building to control and optimise the performance of every mechanical and electrical component in their building, from the air conditioning and lighting to the security cameras, alarm systems and anything else that gives an electrical pulse,” he says. “With everything monitored and controlled by the system, you don’t need to have a facility manager or maintenance team walking around adjusting and checking settings all the time. A single person on-site, or working remotely, can watch over the system and control multiple buildings via an easy-to-use touch-screen computer unit.”

That means savings on personnel costs. More important, the system also helps operators reduce their usage. Its optimiser tool can analyse the data from all the sensors in a building so that

the system can be fine-tuned to operate the building as efficiently as possible. That might be as simple as program-ming air conditioning to turn off at cer-tain times in specific parts of a building; it could be as refined as air conditioning being set to react to changes in outdoor temperatures and humidity levels.

Exactly how much energy the system can save depends on the building, how energy-efficient it was prior to installa-tion, and the scale of energy consump-tion. The BMS is best suited to industrial facilities and office buildings, where energy consumption is on a large scale, although Taylor says small businesses with heavy power usage could also get a good return on investment. For a non-industrial example, look no further than Kamiyacho. The Swedish Embassy there installed the system 10 years ago and has seen its energy consumption cut by 20% as a result.

Now that BMS & Green Tech has a presence in Tokyo, working out of the Swedish Embassy, Taylor is optimistic that companies in Japan will be keen to get similar results.

“Larmia has been developing the system for nearly 40 years, and it has achieved a triple-A rating, which together with our association with the embassy and the Swedish Trade Council here, gives us and the system a great deal of credibility with potential Japanese clients. Several well-known Japanese companies have already begun using the system,” Taylor says.

Another appeal is that installation is a relatively painless process, even when retrofitting a building. There is no need to tear down walls and rip out kilome-tres of old wiring.

“The system will work with the building’s existing devices and sensors

[such as thermostats], and most of the installation work is performed within the plant-room electrical panel in the facility management office. That com-patibility means that the cost of setting up is basically a third of anything else on the market,” Taylor says.

The BMS is cost-effective to maintain too, because the user doesn’t have to rely on BMS & Green Tech for ongoing maintenance, system expansions or any other after-sales services. Instead, Taylor says, users can be trained to fully operate and maintain the system themselves.

“The standard business model is to lock clients into after-sales business, so users end up going back to the company that sold them the system for expensive maintenance and other services. We aren’t here just as a private company offering a product, but as a country offering a solution, so our aim is to make the system as affordable as possible,” Taylor says. “After all, being green should cost you less. There’s no need to charge someone a fortune for something that doesn’t cost a fortune to produce.”

G R E E N B I Z

Text ROB GOSS

BMS cuts costs for power and personnel

Energy control

A SINGLE PERSON . . . CAN WATCH OVER THE SYSTEM AND CONTROL MULTIPLE BUILDINGS

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WORLDWIDE TRANSPORT AND LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT IN MORE THAN 80 COUNTRIES

a.hartrodt was founded in Hamburg in 1887 as an international forwarding agent, and is still under private ownership.

Our goal is to assist our customers globally, honor our legal obligations and strictly follow governmental rules and regulations, with the same continuity that has allowed us to achieve 125 Years of continuous and reliable service.

a.hartrodt (Japan) Co. Ltd.Mast Life Bldg. 8F 3-6-10 Nishi Shinbashi, Minato KuTokyo 105-003 Tel: 03-4500-9240 Fax: 03-5777-0255

Email: infoint@hartrodt.co.jp www.hartrodt.com

a.hartrodt (Osaka Branch)Orix Bldg 4F #4, 1-4-1Nishi Honmachi, Nishi KuOsaka 550-0005Tel: 06-6533-3623Fax: 06-6533-3733

September 2012 33

WORLDWIDE TRANSPORT AND LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT IN MORE THAN 80 COUNTRIES

a.hartrodt was founded in Hamburg in 1887 as an international forwarding agent, and is still under private ownership.

Our goal is to assist our customers globally, honor our legal obligations and strictly follow governmental rules and regulations, with the same continuity that has allowed us to achieve 125 Years of continuous and reliable service.

a.hartrodt (Japan) Co. Ltd.Mast Life Bldg. 8F 3-6-10 Nishi Shinbashi, Minato KuTokyo 105-003 Tel: 03-4500-9240 Fax: 03-5777-0255

Email: infoint@hartrodt.co.jp www.hartrodt.com

a.hartrodt (Osaka Branch)Orix Bldg 4F #4, 1-4-1Nishi Honmachi, Nishi KuOsaka 550-0005Tel: 06-6533-3623Fax: 06-6533-3733

E V E N T R E P O R T

The Economist Intelligence Unit attributes a “moder-ate risk” rating to the pos-sibility of the euro crisis plunging into a worst-case scenario sometime during

the coming two years. With this as background, the Economist Corporate Network invited three highly informed panelists to address the effects of the current situation on the Japanese economy and companies doing busi-ness in Japan.

Nicholas Smith, Tokyo-based market strategist for brokerage and investment group CLSA, noted Japan’s seemingly contrary position so far, saying: “Every time the credit rating on Japan is cut, the [Japanese government bond] yield goes down.”

Using various charts, he then gave examples showing that economic crises take many years to be resolved and that governments should be much more wary of tightening economic policy.

“The boom, not the slump, is the time for austerity,” he said, reluctantly quoting economist John Maynard Keynes.

Smith was particularly cynical of current plans to further increase the Japanese consumption tax. The 1997 decision by then-prime minister Ryutaro Hashimoto to hike the tax from 3% to 5% triggered a 20-month recession, and Smith noted that a recovering trend in retail sales at that time went into reverse for about a decade.

The next speaker was Atsushi Nakajima, chairman of highly regarded policy think tank, the Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry. He described the direct and indirect effects of the EU crisis on Japan.

Because Japan’s exports to the EU are just 10% of its total exports, he explained, decreases in exports have

a minimal effect on the Japanese economy.

Moreover, exports now account for a mere 20% or so of Japan’s gross national product. This is an extremely low figure. Nakajima displayed a chart ranking 147 countries by exports as a share of GDP, with Japan ranked 137th. Another chart – for inward foreign direct investment as a proportion of GDP over the past three decades – showed Japan at number 184 out of 185 countries.

However, the sheer size of the local market – household and government spending are the world’s second largest – makes it impossible to ignore.

“Isolation limits the effect of the euro crisis, but the figures show that Japan needs to be much more open,” Nakajima said. Indirect impacts, he added, are much more severe than direct ones.

“There is a vertical division of labour in East Asia,” he explained, “and the effect on exports of components sent from Japan to China and other Asian countries is an indirect impact greater than the direct impact on exports of finished goods.”

Of even greater significance for Japan than trade, said Nakajima, are market influences. Yen strength against major currencies, including the US dollar, is costing jobs in Japan. Since September 2008, around one million jobs have been lost from the manufacturing sector. Even then, Nakajima pointed out, Japan’s economy is insulated by being less globalised than other economies.

Serge Goldenberg, Japan country president for French energy manage-ment specialist Schneider Electric, then offered his company as a case study on the effects of a global slowdown.

“The slowdown in China, plus the situation in Europe, takes a big toll on our business, but there are some

compensations,” he said.The main influence is that the com-

pany is forced to accelerate a transition that began about five years ago.

“We used to be very product-focused, with very bad service,” Goldenberg said. “We were completely absent from the added-value solution approach. We have begun that business and it is growing fast.”

Schneider Electric is now positioned to compete for major business oppor-tunities generated by cloud comput-ing, for example, and the company is accelerating investment into new growth areas. Management style is also undergoing major changes.

“Marketing and communications used to be managed on a very country-by-country basis,” said Goldenberg. “Now global campaigns are generating greater efficiency.”

Emphasising that crisis means change, and change means opportu-nity, Goldenberg also described how Schneider Electric’s top global execu-tives were recently invited to Japan for a first-hand experience that helped convince them to increase investment in new capacity and new partnerships. “It is unfortunate to say, in a way, because of the disaster last year,” said Goldenberg, “but there are tremendous opportunities in Japan – in such areas as energy-management services, elec-tricity efficiency for buildings and solar farms.”

E V E N T R E P O R T

Euro crisis – Japan crisis?The effect of the euro disaster on Japan examined26 July 2012, Ginza Ballroom, The Peninsula TokyoText DAVID C HULME

Serge Goldenberg

Portraits and fictions

Text and photo DAVID C HULME

34 September 2012

September 2012 35

C U L T U R E S H O C KC U L T U R E S H O C K

Manuel Tardits is artistic, intensely observant, acutely sensitive, somewhat obsessive and, ultimately, very pragmatic. His recently published collection of 85 essays, Tokyo Portraits and Fictions, records a seemingly

frantic effort, since his arrival in 1985, to unravel the chaos, the “succession of incomprehensibilities”, that is Tokyo. After more than two decades of studying “each subtle mechanism” behind the evident disorder, he arrives at a personal appreciation of the underlying order.

His is the eye of a sculptor, architect and anthropologist, who chose to come to Japan from his native France for further study after obtaining a diploma of architecture.

“As an architect I wanted to go abroad – to anywhere beyond Europe with contemporary architecture,” he says. Of the scholarships available, one from Japan was most intriguing. Studying Japanese “like crazy” for the first six months, Tardits gained a Master of Engineering degree from The University of Tokyo, Department of Architecture, and began a PhD course of study there. In the Master’s programme, he had found the Japanese requirements far more practice-oriented than would have been the case in France.

“We were entering competitions, and then I was invited to design a building,” he recalls. “You have to remember that it was the late ’80s, and the Japanese were keen to have anything foreign.” The work was welcome, but it led to an ultimatum: Concentrate on the doctoral thesis or on projects.

“The opportunity was too good to ignore,” says Tardits. “I chose to do buildings.”

Mikan, the architectural firm that Tardits now runs with four Japanese partners, one of whom is his wife, was founded in 1995 after a group of colleagues entered a competition to design a large new building for NHK.

“NHK told us they wanted to work with a single entity,” he explains. “So we formed this partnership for that purpose.”

Having won that contract, which Tardits recalls as “a major opportunity to grab the limelight”, the partnership flourished and now has a portfolio of extremely diverse projects.

Meanwhile, Tardits spends two days a week teaching, as vice-principal of the ICS College of Arts, a vocational college that was established in 1963 and lays claim to being the birthplace of interior design education in Japan.

“Only in Japan!” Tardits says of his association with the school, which developed from a chance meeting shortly after his arrival in Tokyo.

“I lived in Kiba, a working-class area,” he says, “I often went to a small, dirty gyoza [dumpling] shop there. The gyoza was very good. Occasionally, there was a middle-aged, very well-dressed lady eating there, and we talked using my poor Japanese and a few words of English.”

The young student found himself invited to a Christmas party at the home of the woman, Ritsuko Karasawa, even before he discovered that she was the founding president of ICS.

“When my wife and I opened our first office, we sent her a card,” says Tardits. “Then she invited me to visit the school, and soon proposed that I could be a lecturer.” He began teaching in 1992 and became a vice-director in 2005.

Mikan, which employs some 20 people altogether, is cluttered with installations and models from an amazing array of projects, ranging from small decorative and furniture items to a huge building in Beijing and a 100m-tall tower in Shanghai. There is no search for a comfortable niche.

“We want to do buildings that we have not done before,” says Tardits, “such as a museum or a church.”

For an exhibition, Mikan built a table of sugar and salt. A company in the Netherlands wanted to have it.

“It was too expensive to ship, so we sent them the recipe,” says the architect.

It does not bother Tardits when critics point out that there is no conclusion to his book about Tokyo.

“It is kaleidoscopic,” he says. “You do not need to read it chapter by chapter.”

He says he is interested by the creative actions behind the existence of a city and that Tokyo is especially interesting as one of the largest man-made artifacts on Earth.

“I wanted to understand why the city is like this. It seemed to be a mess, but it had to have some rules and meanings. After all, people always work according to their own logic,” Tardits explains.

“In Japan, you look at things from an anthropologist’s viewpoint,” he adds, noting that he first learned this perspective from his anthropologist father.

Then there is the French boxing school that Tardits runs after-hours in Yokohama. Having been amateur savate (kick boxing) champion of France from 1979–1981, he is happy to have quit the sport before accumulating the crippling collection of chronic injuries suffered by many veterans. He is also proud that a student of his has become the first Asian female savate world champion.

In the small amount of spare time that he has, Tardits is an avid reader. Also, another book is in the works, consisting of short stories about fantastic monsters and ghosts, and mainly set in Japan. Count on it; those stories will be different.

IN JAPAN, YOU LOOK AT THINGS FROM AN ANTHROPOLOGIST’S

VIEWPOINT

Upcoming meetings

C O M M I T T E E S C H E D U L E

Committee meeting dates are subject to change. Please contact the EBC secretariat for confirmation. Tel: 03-3263-6222. E-mail: ebc@gol.com

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28 September, Friday, 12:00 noon-, EBC

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11 October, Thursday, 16:00-, EBC

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Corporate human resources and outsourced recruitment – like the candidates, employees and management involved – are integral to defining success here. Opportunity today and into the future is, in part, defined by what industries thrive in this highly competitive Japanese market and in what fields the country itself is most competitive on a global scale.

EURObiZ Japan | Human Resources Special

Choice choicesMaking informed decisions

September 2012 37

38 September 2012

David Swan, Managing Director, Japan & Korea Robert Walters Japan

Tel: 03-4570-1500 | Email: info@robertwalters.co.jp | www.robertwalters.co.jp

EURObiZ Japan | Human Resources Special

In what industry sectors is your strongest recruitment activity taking place? And why?

Banking and finance recruitment have traditionally been core industries for our business in Japan, but with the emergence

of new growth areas, Robert Walters has expanded to meet these demands. Since our Tokyo office first opened in 2000, we have gone on to cover active sectors such as healthcare, new energy and the online space. We also anticipate growing our service offerings for the professional contract market and the recruitment needs of globalising Japanese firms.

What qualifications must your recruiter possess that are unique to the Japanese market?

Japan is a very candidate-short market, and we have adopted a tailored approach to this unique business environment. We are able to

leverage an extensive global network of 23 countries to access a larger candidate pool of bilingual professionals based overseas. We also seek to foster long-term relationships with companies to fully understand their local strategies and hiring needs. This helps us to consistently match companies with the most appropriate professionals to achieve their businesses goals.

Regarding your own derived research, what does it offer that common global third-party indices lack?

Through our comprehensive network, we have access to the pulse of the business markets in Japan, Asia and worldwide.

Our thought leadership is a trusted source in the market, whether through our annual Salary Survey, or quarterly reports detailing job volumes. We also regularly assess worker sentiment such as our latest survey examining women in business and working mothers.

What areas does your consultancy handle that address where Japan is headed by the year 2020?

Globalisation of businesses in Japan will feature heavily in the future. Companies will increasingly require internationally

experienced professionals with English-language ability to expand operations overseas or improve market share in Japan. We believe this will intensify the competition for strong, bilingual professionals, particularly as the declining population further reduces the number of qualified of workers.

We have access to the pulse of the business

markets in Japan, Asia and worldwide

September 2012 39

In what industry sectors is your strongest recruitment activity taking place? And why?

At Hays we are starting to see a higher level of vacancy activity overall across all of the industry sectors we recruit for,

as well as across our regional offices of Shinjuku and Osaka. While most vacancies are the result of replacements, some organisations are adding new headcount or establishing new offices in Japan, and are therefore creating new roles. A solid sign of this is the willingness of employers to create positions for highly talented individuals where there was previously no open vacancy.

The strongest recruitment activity is taking place at the mid-career to executive level for skilled professionals in accountancy and finance, banking, finance technology, human resources, information technology, insurance, legal, life sciences, office professionals, property, sales and marketing, and supply chain.

Is there such a thing as an ideal candidate, or do you often have to adjust what a company sets as criteria? Or, is there such a thing as an

ideal job description, or do you often have to adjust what a candidate sets as criteria?

No, there is no such thing as an ‘ideal’ candidate or job description since each organisation and role has its own unique

requirements in terms of technical skills and cultural fit. That’s why it is important to manage both a candidate’s and a client’s expectations. At Hays, we offer our expertise and market insights to identify and bring the right person together with the right job. We also share our professional know-how with our clients and candidates, including the skills that are in demand, current recruitment trends and salary movements.

Christine Wright, Operations Director, Asia & Managing Director, JapanHays Specialist Recruitment Japan K.K.

Tel: 03-3560-1188 | Email: inquiry@hays.co.jp | www.hays.co.jp

EURObiZ Japan | Human Resources Special

the 2012 hays salary guidesharing our expertise

hays.co.jp

The annual Hays Salary Guide remains the definitive snapshot of salaries and employment market trends across Asia.It’s your chance to find out exactly what is happening in the market and what employers are expecting in the year to come.

The guide is designed to help you make informed decisions by offering a thorough market overview as well as the salaries companies have paid for over 500 positions across Japan, China, Hong Kong and Singapore over the last 12 months.

The 2012 Hays Salary Guide will be released in February 2012. To request your free copy, visit hays.co.jp/en/salary_survey_2012.

For further information contact us at info@hays.co.jp or 03 3560 1188.

While most vacancies are the result of replacements, some

organisations are adding new headcount or establishing new

offices in Japan, and are therefore creating new roles

40 September 2012

What’s happening in the Japanese labour market?

The Japanese parliament has passed amendments to the labour-related law. One change regulates the use of temporary staffing to a certain extent,

defining the responsibility of both staffing agencies and client companies, and focused on protecting the workers’ interests and job security. This change seems to be in the opposite direction to other countries’ deregulation trends, and we see a mixture of anxiety and expectation in our clients.

Japan has been experiencing years of economic stagnation, but the mindset of people and corporate organisations has not adjusted quickly enough to this change, or to accepting a flexible working style. Flexibility is essential not only to meet an increased volatility in labour demand, but also to support organisations adapting to the impact that each economic cycle has on employment levels. Japan remains far behind countries where flexible labour forces are strategically valued and included in business operations.

Yes, Japan is unique. But having experience with stages of market maturity on a global scale, Randstad is familiar with where Japan is at present. There needs to be a concerted effort by the government, companies and HR service providers to improve the working environment and opportunities for workers.

How are companies coping with the changes?

We do see more Japanese companies looking for flexibility and diversity in their organisation. Some actively look for experienced permanent

employees or temporary workers, while others look to downsize the organisation to accelerate their business in reaching the next level.

Randstad, as one of the leading HR service providers in the world, is here to help client companies negotiate any economic cycle, applying our wide range of human resources solutions. From staffing, permanent placement to outplacement and, if needed, unique outsourcing services, we can bring about organisation flexibility and efficiency.

John Tucker | Chief Executive Officer | CDSTel: 03-4550-6980 | Email: mail@cds-consulting.com | www.cds-consulting.com

Marjet Andriesse | Vice-President | Randstad K.K.Tel: 03-6866-5830 | Email: globalclientsolutions@randstad.co.jp | www.randstad.co.jp

What arrangements involving retainer-based recruitment are more common practice in Japan than elsewhere?

We’ve found a modified retained search model to be effective here.

A contingent approach to management roles that might be filled easily elsewhere often fails in Japan. Clients open a search to many agencies, thinking this will offset the general shortage of candidates and attract a wider range. But all they see is the same set of recycled resumés, as contingent recruiters can’t provide the necessary research commitment.

Clients, however, may be reluctant to undertake such assignments under a full “classic” retainer: one-third of the fee up-front for market mapping, one-third on acceptance of the candidate short list, and the balance on candidate signing.

The modified retainer involves a more modest initial fee to secure our time commitment and research resources, with the remainder based on success. We do provide a full retained service for top-level assignments where thorough market-mapping and benchmarking are essential. But the modified retainer works well for middle to senior roles in Japan.

What qualifications must your recruiter possess that are unique to the Japanese market?

Recruiters here must be exceptionally skilled in identifying and working with Japanese candidates.

The Japanese recruitment market is heavily candidate-driven. CDS’s clients are typically seeking experienced managers who are bilingual, and due to the failures of foreign-language education in Japan, the shortage of qualified candidates is chronic. In addition, mid-career job changes remain less common than elsewhere.

Of course good recruiters must be effective on the client side – that’s essential everywhere. But in Japan they won’t succeed unless they can also connect with candidates despite the lower level of social openness; educate them about the potential career benefits of a move; counsel them on the cultural differences between Japanese and foreign-based employers if they are making that switch; and guide them through the whole process of changing jobs, including family buy-in and resignation, often for the first time.

EURObiZ Japan | Human Resources Special

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Join+ support EBC members can not only learn about important changes taking place in Japan, but also play a critical role in influencing change themselves.

September 2012 43

Many airlines reduced services to Narita International Airport as European business travellers cancelled

trips following the triple disaster of 11 March. But now European airlines are coaxing passengers back to Tokyo.

“We are trying slowly and steadily to get the whole business back to normal,” says Jenny Fürstenbach, passenger sales manager for Japan at SAS, which celebrated 60 years of business in Japan in April.

SAS put a lot of energy into coun-teracting the negative image of Japan following revelations of the meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant.

“For a long time the foreign media portrayed the image that Japan had sunk in the sea, everything was radioactive, and we all lived in shelters,” Fürstenbach says. “So, we realised that we needed to help our crew and sales staff understand that the situation in Tokyo is quite normal.”

In May and June SAS ran a points campaign for travellers looking to visit Tokyo through the end of 2011. Members of the SAS EuroBonus mileage program have the chance to visit Japan for 40,000 points for an economy class seat on a roundtrip basis, compared to the standard 80,000 points.

Leisure travellers remain wary about visiting Japan, but SAS has seen a pick up in business travellers. “That is a good sign, because if business travellers feel safe then leisure travellers will follow,” Fürstenbach says.

Turkish Airlines set up a special fare in April and May, donating part of the proceeds of ticket prices to the victims of the disaster, according to information on the company’s website. A donation of ¥3.9 million was made to the disaster area through the Japanese Red Cross Society.

For Lufthansa German Airlines, which celebrated 50 years of doing business in Tokyo in January, the Japanese market is the second most important intercon-tinental market after the United States. The company intends to focus on Japan during the autumn and winter period, offering attractive prices.

“We want to show that Japan can be one of the more attractive places when it comes to cost,” says Otto F. Benz, general manager for Japan.

Lufthansa also organised a one-week study tour to Japan for about 25 representatives of the German travel industry in early August, allowing deci-sion makers to gather information and get a firsthand impression of the post-disaster situation.

“They got a clear picture that Tokyo is a safe place, and that tourists can visit,” Benz says. “It was important they came here because only when the agents are convinced Tokyo is safe will they gener-ate new programmes.”

For Finnair, 2010 saw Japanese sales overtake Finland-based sales, and it is no surprise that the airline aims to boost the number of Japanese leisure passengers visiting Europe.

Finnair was helped by the fact that, along with Lufthansa, it is one of only two airlines that fly daily services to Central Japan International Airport near Nagoya, and Kansai International Airport near Osaka.

Finnair promotes the shortest flight times to a number of regional European locations where no direct Japan flights exist, such as Manchester. It is also hoping to cash in on the natural beauty of the polar lights.

“We compete with other countries and regions – such as Canada and Alaska – for ownership of the aurora, but this is really something for Japanese people to come and see,” says Sakari Romu, sales director Japan.

Opinions differ on when the Japanese market will fully recover.

Romu believes that European travel-lers are unlikely to return until spring 2012. The Finnair sales director has advised Japanese tourist authorities to conserve all their energies for a market rebound then.

“Next year’s cherry blossom viewing is the next key period for Europeans to return,” Romu says.

But SAS’s Fürstenbach is reluctant to write off 2011 yet.

“Three weeks after I arrived in March 2010, we experienced the Icelandic ash cloud, and we said ‘Oh! This is not a normal year’,” she says. “2009 wasn’t a normal year either as we had the swine flu. So, if you start looking at it that way, you will never have a normal year.

“Tokyo has been back to normal for some time, and we want to mirror that as much as possible,” she adds.

Lufthansa’s Benz asks a rhetorical

question: Is this the country to invest in?

And his answer is an unequivocal Yes! “Japan is in a difficult situation, but

the trend is positive rather than nega-tive,” Benz says. “European business travellers will return in full by next year.”

Upcoming events> Belgian-Luxembourg Chamber of

Commerce in Japanwww.blccj.or.jp

Belux Business Talk: “The New Residence Card”

13 September, Thursday, 12:00-14:00

Speaker: Steve Burson, President, H&R GroupVenue: Restaurant Le Petit Tonneau, Azabu-jubanFee: free (pay for lunch)Contact: info@blccj.or.jp

> French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Japanwww.ccifj.or.jp

Tax Seminar: “Japan’s Special Economic Zones Offer Opportunity for Overseas Companies”

20 September, Thursday, 12:30-14:00

Contact: www.ccifj.or.jp

> German Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Japanwww.japan.ahk.de/en/

Early Bird Seminar* – Japanese and Asia-Pacific Corporate Payment Trends Survey

12 September, Wednesday, 09:00-10:30

Speaker: Jun Sugii, Coface JapanVenue: GCCIJ, conference room, Hanzomon/Kudanshita stationsFee: ¥3,150 (members), ¥5,250 (non-members)Contact: earlybird@dihkj.or.jp* In Japanese with English interpretation

> Ireland Japan Chamber of Commercewww.ijcc.jp

Joint Networking Event with BCCJ

13 September, Thursday, 19:00-21:30

Venue: Irish Ambassador’s ResidenceFee: ¥5,500 (IJCC/BCCJ members), ¥6,500 (member’s guest)Contact: secretariat@ijcc.jp

��

>Italian Chamber of Commerce in Japanwww.iccj.or.jp

“istanze di moda: italy at rooms25”: fashion exhibition

11-13 September, Tuesday-Thursday, 10:00-18:00

Venue: Yoyogi National Stadium, 1st Gymnasium, ShibuyaFee: free on registration Contact: iccj@iccj.or.jp

> Netherlands Chamber of Commerce in Japanwww.nccj.jp

NCCJ excursion: Company visit to Nissan

25 September, Tuesday, 09:00-13:00

Venue: Nissan Oppama PlantFee: ¥2,000 (members)Contact: nccj@nccj.jp

2012 Deshima Business Awards Ceremony and Reception

11 October, Thursday, 16:00-19:30

Venue: TEPIA, GaienmaeContact: nccj@nccj.jp

Polish Festival21-23 Sept, 11:00-19:00 (Fri), -20:00 (Sat), -19:00 (Sun)

Venue: Roppongi Hills, Oyane Plaza

Admission: FreeContact: brhtokio2@inter.net

> Swiss Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Japanwww.sccij.jp

SCCIJ Kansai Autumn Event: Visit to Kansai International Airport from behind the scenes

13 September, Thursday, 17:00- (airport), 20:00- (dinner)

Venue: Kansai International Airport and Swissotel Nankai Osaka (dinner)Fee: ¥8,000 (members), ¥9,000 (non-members)Contact: info@sccij.jp

SCCIJ 30th Anniversary Luncheon

10 October, Wednesday, 12:00-14:00

Speaker: Dr Thomas Jordan, Chairman of the

Governing Board, Swiss National BankVenue: Happoen, Hakuho-kan, Shiroganedai StationFee: ¥8,000 (members and non-members)Contact: info@sccij.jp

SCCIJ 30th Anniversary Celebration Dinner

11 October, Thursday, 19:00-22:00

Guest of Honour: Federal Councillor Johann N Schneider-AmmannVenue: Westin Tokyo, Kaede Room, Ebisu StationFee: ¥12,000 (members and non-members)Contact: info@sccij.jp

> All-chambers event

European Chambers in Japan Cocktail Party – 3rd edition

18 October, Thursday, 18:30-21:00

Venue: Hyatt Regency Tokyo, Crystal Room, Nishi-ShinjukuFee: ¥8,000 (chamber members), ¥9,000 (non-members) (buffet and drinks)

OCTOBERS M T W T F S

1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25 26 27

28 29 30 31

SEPTEMBERS M T W T F S

1

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20 21 22

23 24 25 26 27 28 29

30

E V E N T S

Compiled by DAVID UMEDA

September 2012 45

S H O P W I N D O W

Large stores on the increase

The number of new shopping centres has declined over the past few years, but the number of large stores approved by authorities has risen for two years run-ning. Following a slump in 2009—as regulations from the previous big revision began to bite and the economy floundered—2011 saw a 7% rise, to 620, in the number of new applications for stores of 1,000m² or more.

Although down on the 700 or more applications seen per year between 2003 and 2007, the most recent upturn is only partly due to the replacement of stores fol-lowing last year’s earthquake.

Discount chains, and drugstores in particular, are plan-ning to expand, opening increasingly larger formats. In Kyushu, the number of applications jumped 50% year on year to 120. Direx, the discount chain owned by Sundrug, accounted for 30 of those.

Nationwide, 237 of the applications last year were submitted by supermarkets, about the same number as in 2010. Another 108 applications were for drugstores, an increase of roughly 20% over the previous year. The number for home centres also grew 20%, to 84, with many chains now adding expanded ranges of food items to compete better with supermarkets. There were 15 general-store and 76 consumer-electronics applications,

both numbers unchanged from the previous year.Only 63 applications (14% of the total) were for facili-

ties 10,000m² or larger – stores with 7,000m² or more actual retail-sales space. The average size by retail-sales space last year was just a little over 3,600m², the lowest average since 2002.

Despite the overall increase in applications last year, analysts expect a decline in the current financial year, as more retailers shift to smaller store formats. The leading three convenience store chains are all targeting record numbers of new stores, while the big conglomerates are planning to open small-format supermarkets, mostly under the regulatory cut-off point of 1,000m², so larger developments will be less common.

ROY LARKEJapanConsuming is the leading pro-

vider of intelligence on consumer and retail markets in Japan. The monthly

report provides news about, and in depth analysis of, current trends.

JC JapanConsumingFor more information, please see www.japanconsuming.com or

contact Sally Bedown at subs@japanconsuming.com

Total Number of Large Store Applications, 2001-2011

800

600

400

200

2001 2002 2003

Under 7,000 sqm Over 7,000 sqm

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

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RCE:

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JAPA

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ING

A passion for challenge

Danny RisbergText and photos DAVID C HULME

46 September 2012

September 2012 47

Danny Risberg works hard, plays hard, and then works harder. Gently flick-ing a fly across the surface of a cool mountain stream,

he remarks that he has not been able to go fly-fishing for months. There is a controlled intensity in the way he goes about this activity. He is relaxed, yet completely focused. But it’s just a sport.

“I don’t really care how many fish I catch,” he says. “If I spend all day hiking along a mountain stream and don’t even see a fish, I just enjoy it.”

Don’t expect that attitude to carry over into business. Risberg, CEO of Philips Electronics Japan, is a man in a hurry who expects results and loves the challenge of achieving exceptional success.

“I love work,” he says, “but I would not be here [at Philips] if there was no challenge.”

Risberg insists on personally visiting hospitals and other customers, and as many as possible of the company’s 76 offices and subsidiaries all over Japan.

“I can learn more by going there than I can by having people come to Tokyo or send reports,” he says of the intra-company visits.

Then, how does he divide his time? It turns out to be the wrong question.

“I concentrate on whatever requires attention,” he says. “If I need to work on lighting for three weeks, then that’s what I will do. I look at what’s going on, prioritise it, and spend the time neces-sary for the task at hand.”

Consistency of demeanour is a Risberg hallmark. Meet him at an EBC event, in a Philips headquarters conference room or by a shady, wadey pool in the moun-tains, and the same basic characteristics emerge.

“It helps our staff that I am consist-ent,” he says. “If I am a vanilla cake today, I can’t be a chocolate cake tomorrow.”

One of the things making Risberg work harder is that his job has grown spectacularly in just a few years.

“I left Japan to run a startup com-pany in the US. That company’s assets were acquired by [sleep and respiratory solutions company] Respironics, and I was given the opportunity to come back to Japan and manage the Respironics

business in Japan and Asia,” he explains.That was in 2005. Respironics became

Fuji Respironics, which was a fast-grow-ing company employing over 500 people in Japan when Philips took over global operations a few years later.

“My image was that when you get taken over, someone else gets your job,” says Risberg. Philips defied the stereo-type, however, and soon made Risberg COO of Healthcare for Philips Electronics Japan. Six months later, in January 2010, he took up his current position as CEO of all Philips legal entities in Japan.

The expanding job has eaten into Risberg’s leisure time. He loves the ocean, and sailing, but sailing jaunts are rare these days. There are few chances to head for the hills with the fishing tackle, so he sometimes compensates by playing a little catch-and-release with sea bass where the Meguro River flows into Tokyo Bay, not far from Philips head-quarters in Shinagawa. His wife helps to make sure that their three beloved Italian greyhounds get their exercise, and they need plenty.

But, how did this California-born fisherman and dog-lover get to Japan in the first place?

“I came to learn Japanese,” he says, and goes on to explain the usual reason.

Risberg’s American father and Japanese mother had moved from Tokyo to California before Danny, the young-est of their six children, was born. It was a close-knit family, and Risberg fondly recalls the visits of their relatives from Tokyo.

“It always struck me how nice my Japanese cousins were,” he says. It may be that he presented something of a contrast himself.

“I was a terrible student,” he admits. “If something is not a challenge, it is very difficult for me, and school was not exciting. So I went to work after gradu-ating from high school.”

He built a successful entertainment management company, which he sold for a tidy sum when he was in his mid-twenties.

“When my mother was diagnosed with cancer, I was in a position to be able to look after her,” he says, “and toward the later stages, she told me that one of the great regrets of her life was that her children did not speak Japanese.” The words had a profound

effect. After his mother’s passing, he sold his condo and came to Japan, vowing not to return to the US until he could speak Japanese. That phase of his life, he says, explains his deep passion for everything healthcare-related.

Once here, Risberg found full-time study less than fulfilling, and so took a job with a company importing medical equipment.

“I’ve been in the medical business ever since,” he says.

Two decades in Japan have given Risberg a deep appreciation and under-standing of his mother’s homeland, and he is certain about what is most impor-tant for business.

“I am adamant about this with all our staff,” he emphasises. “In Japan, you really have to understand your customer. Otherwise, your chance of success is nil.”The Japanese customer, in other words, is just about as fastidious as those tran-quil, tantalisingly visible rainbow trout in a quietly flowing mountain pool.

E B C P E R S O N A L I T Y

Title: CEO, Philips Electronics JapanTime in Japan: “Almost 20 years in total”Career highlight: “Becoming CEO of Philips Electronics Japan”Career regret: “Not growing Respironics more aggressively”Favourite saying: “It is what it is”Favourite book: “The Dilbert Book of Management”Cannot live without: “Challenge”Secret of success in business: “Passion and desire.”Do you like natto? “Delicious! Before I got married, I ate natto on toast because it was an easy way to get some nutrition in the morning.”

Do you like natto?

W O R K P L A C E

Angelo Visigalli Angelo Visigalli came from northern Italy to Tokyo in 1998 to open a new BiCE restaurant on the 47th floor of the Caretta Shiodome building in Higashi Shimbashi.

“I never tire of this view,” he says. “That, and the quality of our food, make BiCE very good value.”

The menu, distinctly Italian but accommodating Japanese tastes, reflects Visigalli’s preference for simplicity.

“I don’t like extreme luxury,” he explains, “so as far as possible we keep the dishes simple and classical.”

Representative Director, BiCE Tokyo

Photo BENJAMIN PARKS

48 September 2012

at Pacific Islands Club Saipanleisure and relaxation

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because there’s no place like home,especially when you’re sick.

Hospitals are excellent establishments. It’s just that no-one likes going into them unless

they have to. So why not have the hospital come to the patient instead? Getting healthcare

at home is a simple solution that makes patients

less anxious and hospitals less crowded. Find out

more at www.philips.com/because

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