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

Meet Oscar, from Hong Kong who found his passion to work in Japan and his motivating story and experience working in a Japanese company and his advice to other foreigners who are considering to come to Japan in the future.

Our interview includes his job hunting, experienced at working in a Japanese company and his Career Fly in the future! 

Chau Wing Kin (Oscar) from Hong Kong
He joined Kontatsu Co Ltd in 2017 and has been working ever since. He currently works as Manager at Marketing Department. His main responsibility involves Global sales aiming toward mainly Mainland China, Hong Kong.

Career Fly Nomin(CF) : Thank you very much for your time today Oscar! We would love to talk to you about your experience working in Japan and how you landed in Japan and everything that is included!

So please tell us when did you decide to come to Japan, did you always wanted to come to Japan and work here?

Oscar(O): No problem, at all! I would love to talk and share my experience with fellow foreigners who are considering to come to Japan in the future.

So, in Hong Kong, it’s not usual for people to come to Japan for work, because they tend to go and work in western countries where they can utilize their English skills.

But for me, I always wanted to work in Japan. I actually started studying Japanese during my university times and I really wanted to work here after my graduation. But I couldn’t speak very well in Japanese, but had my confidence in writing, reading since I’m from Hong Kong. But speaking is very essential in job hunting and working in Japanese companies.

After graduation, I came to Japan for a working holiday in 2014. I initially didn’t have the plan to stay here for a very long time, but I had found a great opportunity to work here before my working holiday was over and joined my first company in Japan. 

CF: I see, how did you do your job hunting during that time?

O: I used mostly websites such as Mynavi and looked for jobs, and I had looked for marketing jobs to utilize my language skill. At first, I was thinking of working in Kyoto, but they didn’t have many opportunities. So I decided to come to Tokyo, basically I was commuting to Tokyo for interviews and paid the commuting fee by myself. As a result, it took me about 1-2 months to find my job at the time.

CF: That sounds rough! Lol

O: Yes, it really was tough! Well, I thought if I have an opportunity like this to work in Japan, I had to take care of the commuting fee and take risks. After that, I had about 2 the interview and got an offer from the company.

CF: I see, please share with us your previous role.

O: My previous company was an Inbound advertising company and I worked there for about 1year and a half. I worked as a consultant, my responsibility was to making solutions, arranging ad plans for clients. But at the time I simply wanted to become a sommelier because I loved alcoholic beverages. 

CF: Interesting! Did that goal influence you to change companies?

O: Yes, but to become sommelier, a person needs to work at an alcoholic beverage association for 3 years and need to get a certification. So I wanted to do a marketing role but also wanted to pursue that goal too. As I was searching on the internet, I found about Career Fly and was given this opportunity to join my current company at Kontatsu.

CF: That’s amazing that you had a chance to be connected with Career Fly.
Please tell us more about your current company!

O: I joined my current company in 2017 May, so it has been over 3 years actually.
My current company I think is a very great place to be working at, not only it matches my interest which is alcoholic beverages.
My role is global sales, especially Hong Kong and mainland China is my responsibility.

But I also have a chance to utilize my know-how from my previous position to challenge myself in this industry and not to mention it enables me to connect foreign countries with Japanese sake and it is very fulfilling and worthwhile for me. 

CF: That’s amazing to hear! Did you face any cross-cultural differences and how did you deal with it?

O: Of course! There’s always a time where I don’t understand certain words or slangs, cultural differences. I think the important part is to have the other person understand you are a foreigner but at the same time, you also have to do your part to understand their part as well.
This way, communication would be smoother while working.

Continue to Vol.2