Interview Article: What is the most Inspired Career Fly in Japan for an international business person at Synclink -vol.1

An interview with an international business person who makes own career at Japanese company as being a professional business expert.
The interview theme is [My Career Fly].
What is the motivation to work for them? Spotlight their career vision and motivation for work itself.

Synclink Mr.Eoin
Meet Eoin, an Irish sales & marketing professional carving his own path towards success in the Japanese corporate world. This honest interview about his life in Japan from the past 5 years is an eye-opener. From his first job to his current job, the one thing that remained constant is his go-getter attitude & his will to do his best, no matter what.

Career Fly had an excellent time talking to Eoin about his life in Japan, challenges & future goals.

From Tochigi to Tokyo: Read the journey of an Irish sales & marketing professional in Japan

CF: Hi, can you give a brief introduction of yourself & why you choose Japan?

Eoin: Hello, I am Eoin, 29 yrs old and I am from Ireland. I studied international business and Japanese in college back in Ireland. Ireland has a different education system which gives a lot of opportunities to students to explore their areas of interest and because of that, I tried my hand at the Japanese language. I tried studying other languages as well as French but found Japanese the most intriguing one. So in my 3rd year while studying Japanese I came to Japan for an exchange program to Takasaki in Gunma prefecture. I spent my one year in Takasaki & totally loved it. Being an Irish man, I have been brought up in farmlands, with horses & cows being my neighbors. So, therefore I loved my new city life in Takasaki. Things were very organized, trains were on time & the culture of the whole city was welcoming.
And then after my graduation in Nov, which was five years ago, I came back to Japan in Dec to continue living here. Back then, I applied for a working holiday visa after my graduation and went back to Takasaki. I simply loved that city.

CF: And after that?

Eoin: I started looking for jobs in Takasaki & learned many things. My first job was an ALT teacher at Tochigi. I taught English language to 6yrs to 16yrs old students. I did bizarrely well in that but I wasn’t able to earn as per my expectations. Plus this is not what I had studied in college.
So after being an ALT teacher, I moved on to a market research firm in Shinjuku, Tokyo. I got an offer from there immediately after resigning from the teaching post.
It was a marketing start-up company providing clients with what they need based on data researched. I did SWOT, PEST, COST analysis and all sorts of other analyses to generate relevant data.
Since it was a rapidly growing company, it was a perfect platform for me to learn a lot. In no amount of time, I was made the head of the virtual reality department within three months of joining. I joined that company in Aug17, was made department head in Jan’18 & in mid of 2018, I could foresee that company was not going in a positive direction. So in Nov’18 I quit, worked as a freelancer until I joined this present company and to everybody’s surprise that company from 2018 stopped existing from Jan’19.
So, things really worked out well for me.

CF: What do you think to lead to the downfall of that company?

Eoin: In my view, the director/ founder of that company was not open to ideas or to try out new things suggested by others. Even though he was very young, he was very adamant. He hired an accomplished staff but didn’t listen to their advice. Which, in my view lead to the company’s downfall.

CF: After having worked with a couple of Japanese companies what do think are the advantages or disadvantages of working in Japan?

Eoin:  As per my experience, in a Japanese company, for better or worse the professional & personal line can be really blurred, which has its positives and negatives. For example, if I wish to share my personal problem with a friendly co-worker, I can easily do it over a cup of coffee or over a beer pitcher. Such an open culture is ok for me but can be problematic for others. For that type of people “nomikai” culture can be a real big problem.
I believe the communication style is very important for any office. One should be familiar with the local language else she/he can have a problem in settling down. Therefore, for a non-Japanese, it is important to learn the language & the culture of Japan.

Second, the surprising thing for me was the system of Taxes, that I have to pay my own taxes on the basis of bills provided by the ward office. Sometimes my tax is decided as per last year's rules & sometimes the current years! There is no streamlining of bills like Ireland, where the taxation is taken care of by the city hall and the employer. The employee gets the salary only after tax deductions.
Third, a thing surprising for me is the kind of benefits a Japanese company gives. It is amazing. From housing allowance, travel allowance, health insurance, pension, and many other such allowances.

The negative I would say is the hierarchy system. Sometimes it is underdefined and that can cause a bit of conflict.

Continuing to the Vol.2.......