Housing and Relocation in Japan; Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka and Kobe

Japan Relocation Change- New Residence Card / New Juminhyo Entry

2012-01-27T19:13:00.000-08:00

The following article in italics is a very good outline from my colleagues at GaijinPot on the new immigration system in Japan to be implemented in July 2012 (see below under my commentary).

However, it does interest me how the Immigration Bureau is neglecting to make an official comment about what is going to be required at your local ward office or city / town hall.

For those of you who are unaware, the new residence card system is not going to reduce any of the burden in terms of applications at your local authorities. In actual fact the burden is going to increase;
1. You need to register for your residence card (with the Immigration Bureau)
2. You will need to register at your local ward office or city / town hall

Now, while part of the residence card application is going to be undertaken by your local authority, unlike before, you are also going to be placed in the Japanese "Juminhyo System" (Citizen Registration System), like any other Japanese person. This was never done before! So, while the new residence card has many improvements, please don't forget that you have one other system to apply into, which is another application form at your local authority (and more likely than not, this will differ between authorities).

If you are currently resident in Japan, you may have already received a letter from your local authority checking your details. This is why.

What are the benefits of this?
You are going to be treated more like the rest of the population, on the same system. I don't know of any further advantages at this stage.

What are the disadvantages?
1. Another application you are going to need to make.
2. Each authority is likely to do things a little differently- the lack of uniformity here could cause some issues, as some local authorities don't have many foreign residents, so sometimes just "don't get it".
3. Whenever you move, you have to make an application at the local authority to leave, and then an application at the new local authority to enter their system (under the alien registration card, you only needed to go to the new local authority).
4. The "kisaijikoshomeisho" (Certificate of Details on your Alient Card) will not be issued anymore- so what will take its place?

I am following this closely, and it has been disappointing that the Immigration Bureau has been good about informing everyone about their new system, but has totally neglected to inform everyone of the other requirements that will come about because of this change. Watch this space for further information as I receive it!

GAIJIN POT ARTICLE
On July 9, a new system of residence management will be implemented that combines the information collected via the Immigration Control Act and the Alien Registration Law respectively. Foreign nationals residing legally in Japan for a medium to long term are subject to this new system.

The government started accepting applications for new residence registration cards on Jan 13, which will then be issued after July 9. To apply for the new card, you are required to appear in person at the nearest regional immigration bureau.

The Ministry of Justice says the new system ensures further convenience for such persons by extending the maximum period of stay from 3 years to 5 years. In addition, a system of “presumed permit of re-entry,” which essentially exempts the need to file an application for permission for re-entry when re-entering Japan within one year of departure, will be implemented.

Upon introduction of the new system of residence management, the current alien registration system shall become defunct. Medium- to long-term residents will get a new residence card which they will be required to always carry with them. Children under the age of 16 are exempt from the obligation to always carry the residence card.

Foreign nationals residing legally for a medium to long term with a status of residence under the Immigration Control Act, EXCLUDING the persons described below, shall be subject to the new system of residence management:
- Persons granted permission to stay for not more than 3 months
- Persons granted the status of residence of “Temporary Visitor”
- Persons granted the status of residence of “Diplomat” or “Official”
- Persons whom a Ministry of Justice ordinance recognizes as equivalent to the aforementioned foreign nationals
- Special permanent residents (for example, of Korean descent)
- Persons with no status of residence

Permanent residents, meanwhile, will have to apply for a new residence card within three years from July 2012.

What is the residence card?
The residence card will be issued to applicable persons in addition to landing permission, permission for change of status of residence, and permission for extension of the residence period, etc. The card is equipped with an IC chip to prevent forgery and alteration, and the chip records all or part of the information included on the card. Fingerprint information will not be recorded in the chip. The card will contain a portrait photo of the individual and the following information:
1. Legal items given
2. Name in full, date of birth, sex, nationality
3. Place of residence in Japan
4. Status of residence, period of stay, date of expiration
5. Type of permission, date of permission
6. Number of the residence card, date of issue, date of expiration
7. Existence or absence of working permit
8. Existence of permission to engage in an activity other than those permitted under the status of residence previously granted

New visa and re-entry system
(1) Extension of the maximum period of stay
The status of residence with a period of stay of 3 years under the present system, will be extended to 5 years. As for the status of residence of “College Student,” the maximum period of stay will be extended to “4 years and 3 months” from the current “2 years and 3 months” starting from July 1, 2009.

(2) Revision of the Re-entry System
A foreign national with a valid passport and a residence card will be basically exempt from applying for a re-entry permit in cases where he/she re-enters Japan within one year from his/her departure. In cases where a foreign resident already possesses a re-entry permit, the maximum term of validity for the re-entry permit shall be extended from 3 years to 5 years.

Conditions of Revocation of Status of Residence
Implementation of the new system of residence management includes establishment of the following provisions concerning the conditions of revocation of status of residence and deportation, and penal provisions:
- The foreign national has received, by deceit or other wrongful means, special permission to stay
- Failing to continue to engage in activities as a spouse while residing in Japan for more than 6 months (except for cases where the foreign national has justifiable reason for not engaging in the activities while residing in Japan)
- Failing to register the place of residence within 90 days after newly entering or leaving a former place of residence in Japan (except for cases with justifiable reason for not registering the place of residence), or registering a false place of residence
- Forgery or alteration of a residence card
- Being sentenced to imprisonment or a heavier punishment for submitting a false notification required of medium to long term residents, or violating the rules concerning receipt or mandatory presentation of the residence card

For further information, visit http://www.immi-moj.go.jp/newimmiact_1/en/index.html or call the Immigration Information Center at 0570-013904 (weekdays between 8:30 a.m. and 5:15 p.m.)

Japan Relocation- Solid Recovery in the Economy in 2012

2012-01-24T02:05:00.000-08:00

Jesper Koll, for Morgan Stanley, is very bullish on a solid recovery in corporate Japan in 2012.

While we can't expect a "V Shaped" recovery as Jesper would call it, it is comforting to here that 2012 is looking solid for corporate Japan.

We look forward to servicing corporate Japan as the confidence grows back!

More Than Japan Housing, More Than Japan Cars and Furniture, More than Japan Serviced Apartments, More Than Japan Destination Services, More Than Japan License Conversion, More Than Japan Information!
The H&R Group is MORE THAN RELOCATION!

www.morethanrelo.com

Top Relocation Providers in the World

2012-01-12T03:51:00.000-08:00

HRO Today has identified the top relocation and training providers based on customer survey data. Each respondent was asked about services provided, scope and scale of services, and the quality and satisfaction with the services.

Breadth of Service Winner: Mobility Services International (MSI)
Size of Deals Winner: Paragon Relocations
Quality of Service Winner: NEI Global Relocation

OVERALL WINNER: GRAEBEL

Overall Rankings;
1. Graebel
2. Weichert
3. NEI Global Relocation
4. Cartus
5. Brookfield
6. Prudential (Pricoa)
7. Sirva
8. AIReS
9. The MIGroup
10. The Lexicon Group
11. Paragon
12. ACS Relocation & Assignment Services (Xerox)
13. Mobility Services International

Congratulations to Graebel, Weichert and NEI Global Relocation! The best of the best!!

You can see further details here; http://www.hrotoday.com/content/4838/2011-bakers-dozen-customer-satisfaction-ratings-relocation-providers

www.morethanrelo.com

Washington's Assault on American Expats

2012-01-09T16:56:00.000-08:00

You do have to feel sorry for all our American clients and colleagues who are over taxed by their home country, when relocating overseas. This is for them;

The U.S. is the only developed nation in the world that taxes its citizens on income they earn abroad.
By WILLIAM MCGURN

This new year, spare a thought for that most underappreciated class of citizen: American expatriates.

In a world where 95% of consumers live outside our borders, Americans working abroad serve as the sales and marketing force for Brand USA. All things being equal, people go with what they know: An American engineer will turn to American technology, an American businessman will hire fellow Americans, and an American contractor will likewise prefer American goods and services. In a nation trying to reach President Obama's goal of doubling exports by 2014, that makes the expat a pretty valuable resource.

Alas, the U.S. tax code—the ugliest of ugly Americans—doesn't work that way. To the contrary, new changes in tax law regard foreign financial institutions (banks, pension funds, etc.) as colonial subjects who must be dragooned into enforcing ill-thought-out U.S. regulations, or face huge fines. Indeed our tax code appears to rest on the assumption that the American expat is a criminal and must be treated that way.

This assumption is embodied in the IRS's new Form 8938, which requires Americans who live abroad to report any foreign financial assets from stocks to partnerships to derivatives above a designated threshold. It comes on top of another form (the FBAR, or Foreign Bank Account Report) already required if a citizen has any foreign accounts that add up to more than $10,000. In some cases, you can be fined for failing to file even if you don't owe the IRS any money.

As bad as this is, the burden will fall more heavily on foreign financial institutions. Within the next two years, these companies will be required to register with the IRS and to report information about their U.S. customers to the IRS—or face a 30% withholding tax on securities transactions that originate in the U.S. It's all part of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca), which Mr. Obama signed into law in March 2010 as part of one of his larger "jobs bills."
Now most Americans have never heard of Fatca. Overseas, by contrast, it has become notorious.
Financial associations on several continents are screaming foul, and some foreign banks have responded the way you would expect them to respond to something that makes dealing with American customers more costly and burdensome: They're dropping their American customers.
One reason attention in the U.S. has been so muted is because of the nature of those affected. Though the State Department reckons 6.3 million Americans (not including military) are now living overseas, these people come from all over America and thus have no single voice in Congress. In addition, they are easily demagogued by our political class as fat cats living the glamorous life overseas.

The idea behind Fatca is that by cracking down on Americans abroad, the IRS would bring in $8.7 billion in tax revenue over the next 10 years. Even assuming it works—a big "if"—that's about $1 billion a year. By any measure it's a puny amount, not to mention the damage it does to the U.S. economy by making Americans more costly and difficult to hire.

Last month IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman acknowledged that foreign financial institutions have "major concerns," but he continues to push with the determination of Inspector Javert. That's probably to be expected in an IRS official. Yet surely there's a larger perspective missing here, one that might begin by asking why we are the only developed nation in the world that taxes its overseas citizens, forcing them to pay taxes in America as well as in the country where they are residing.

Yes, collecting tax revenue is important. Far more important in our century, however, is creating an economy capable of attracting the world's most precious resource—capital. That capital is human as well as financial. Frank Lavin, a former U.S. ambassador to Singapore who now serves as chairman of public affairs at the global PR firm Edelman Asia Pacific, suggests that Americans overseas provide a vital component.

"The future," Mr. Lavin says in an email, "belongs to the networkers—those who can bring together ideas, people, products and financing from around the world. The expat community is the human counterpart to the social sites—and they help ensure that the best America has to offer is connected with individuals and businesses around the world."

At the end of the day, after all, the global economy is really about human beings interacting with one another, bettering themselves and enriching their societies as they do. From the Ohio contractor working in Baghdad to feed his family back home, to the American professor teaching in Hong Kong, to the Boston-bred banker working in London, these individuals are overwhelmingly productive and law-abiding. In an ever more competitive global marketplace, their presence provides a critical boost to American fortunes in key parts of the world.
So here's a New Year's resolution for the IRS and its allies inside the Beltway: Maybe it's time we treated these Americans as economic assets instead of criminal liabilities.

Write to MainStreet@wsj.com

Relocation- What's happening in Japan and Asia

2011-12-06T18:18:00.001-08:00

Today, Brookfield announced that they have acquired Prudential / Pricoa's real estate and relocation business in a bold move that puts Brookfield at number 2 behind Cartus. Cartus itself last year acquired "Primacy", and in a bold move from regional to global relocation we have also seen Santa Fe acquire Wridgways in Australia and Interdean in Europe.

So, we are definately seeing some movement in the relocation space, but how do I see things from a relocation perspective in Japan and Asia?

I am feeling 3 strong areas of change.

1. The Big Are Getting Bigger
Cartus, Brookfield and Santa Fe are great examples of the big getting bigger. You can add into their space SIRVA, and you have the big guys in relocation. Large multi-national companies generally will choose one of these big panthers to handle relocation management, especially if you have 1,000 or more people in terms of your mobility population. The big weren't so big, 2-3 years ago, back when we had Primacy, GMAC and Interdean as seperate entities, and weren't so well defined. Other players such as Weichert, MIGroup, Paragon were also in the mix, and although it was known that some were bigger than others, there wasn't a great deal of space between all of these companies back then. Now, there is, and my gut feeling is that the smaller relocation management companies will begin to struggle, unless they have a very focussed area of specialty. I would describe our friends at "Weichert" as doing an excellent job with this- they know exactly who they want to be in relocation, and they are not trying to be Cartus or Brookfield. This is not the case with many of the RMCs I see. In Japan, we are seeing more and more business coming through the big panthers, and less and less business from the smaller global relocation companies.

2. Regional Relocation Increases
In Japan, over the last 12- 18 months, we have felt a definate increase in business from regional relocation providers. Before becoming "global" Santa Fe was a good example of this, but we are now seeing an increase in business from our Asia Relocation Networks, from our European Relocation Networks, and indeed from our US Relocation Networks. Being able to provide a "regional solution" is becoming an important relocation tool. This means belonging to meaningful regional networks; in our case NCompass / Orientations and TIRA in Asia, and maintaining good relationships within the region, and with other regional providers outside Asia.

3. Moving Back to Direct Providers
We knew that the values of a good "direct relationship" would be discovered eventually, and after bad outsourcing experiences that complicated and added little value to the process, we are seeing certain types of clients interested in going back to the good old direct way of doing things; faster, more transparent, more flexible...... good old "relationship" business.

We are gearing up for more and more of 1, 2 and 3 in 2012.

All the very best for the festive season!

www.morethanrelo.com

Mercer Quality of Living Survey- Best Places to Relocate!

2011-11-30T00:37:00.001-08:00

The below details were announced by Mercer today;

MERCER SURVEY SUMMARY
• European cities dominate worldwide quality of living rankings
• Vienna ranks highest for quality of living; Baghdad ranks lowest
• Honolulu and San Francisco are the top-ranked US cities for overall quality of living, but Canadian cities dominate the new personal safety ranking
• Luxembourg ranks highest for personal safety; Baghdad ranks lowest

Vienna has the best living standard in the world, according to the Mercer 2011 Quality of Living Survey. Zurich and Auckland follow in second and third place, respectively, and Munich is in fourth with Düsseldorf and Vancouver sharing fifth place. Frankfurt is in seventh followed by Geneva in eighth, while Copenhagen and Bern share ninth place. In the US, Honolulu (29) and San Francisco (30) are the highest-ranking cities, followed byBoston (36). Chicago and Washington, DC, are both ranked 43rd. Detroit (71) is the lowest rankingof the US cities that Mercer surveys.

Globally, the cities with the lowest quality of living are Khartoum, Sudan (217); Port-au-Prince, Haiti (218); N’Djamena, Chad (219); and Bangui, Central African Republic (220). Baghdad, Iraq(221) ranks last.

Mercer’s Quality of Living index list covers 221 cities, ranked against NewYork as the base city. This year, the survey separately identifies those cities with the highest personal safety ranking based on internal stability, crime levels, law enforcement effectiveness and the host country’sinternational relations.

Luxembourg tops this personal safety ranking, followed by Bern, Helsinkiand Zurich – all ranked at number two. Vienna ranks fifth while Geneva and Stockholm both ranksixth. Baghdad (221) is the world’s least safe city, followed by N’Djamena, Chad (220); Abidjan,Côte d'Ivoire (219); Bangui, Central African Republic (218); and Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo (217).

The highest-ranking US cities on the personal safety list are Chicago, Honolulu, Houston and SanFrancisco, all of which ranked 53.

The top-ranking cities for personal safety and security are in politically stable countries with good international relations and relatively sustainable economic growth. Most of the low-scoring cities are in countries with civil unrest, high crime levels and little law enforcement. AmericasCanadian cities dominate the top of the ranking for this region. Vancouver (5) has the best qualityof living and is followed by Ottawa (14), Toronto (15) and Montreal (22). Honolulu (29) and SanFrancisco (30) are the highest-ranking US cities. In Central and South America, Pointe-à-Pitre,Guadeloupe (63) ranks highest, followed by San Juan, Puerto Rico (72) and Montevideo,Uruguay (77). Port-au-Prince, Haiti (218) ranks lowest in the region.

Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe (40) is again the highest-ranking city in Central and South America followed by Nassau, Bahamas (66); San Juan,Puerto Rico (79); and Panama City, Panama (92). At the other end of the personal safety scale, Caracas, Venezuela (205); Port-au-Prince, Haiti (202); Bogotá, Colombia (196); and Kingston, Jamaica (192) rank lowest in the region.

EUROPE
Vienna is the European city with the highest quality of living. German and Swiss cities dominate the top of the ranking, with three cities each in the top 10. Zurich (2) is followed by Munich (4), Düsseldorf (5), Frankfurt (7) and Geneva (8), while Bern shares ninth place with Copenhagen. In the next tier are Amsterdam (12), Hamburg (16), Berlin (17), Luxembourg (19), Stockholm (20), Brussels (22), Nurnberg (24) and Dublin (26). Paris ranks 30 and is followed by Oslo (33), Helsinki (35) and London (38). Lisbon is number 41, Madrid is at 43 and Rome ranks 52. Prague, Czech Republic (69) is the highest-ranking Eastern European city, followed by Budapest, Hungary(73); Ljubljana, Slovenia (75); Vilnius, Lithuania (79) and Warsaw, Poland (84). The lowest ranking European city is Tbilisi, Georgia (214).

With seven cities in the top 10, European cities also fare well in the personal safety ranking. Luxembourg ranks highest followed by Bern, Helsinki and Zurich, which all rank second. Vienna(5) is ahead of Geneva and Stockholm (both rank 6). In Eastern Europe, Ljubljana (30) and Prague (47) rank highest for personal safety, whereas Moscow (199) and Tbilisi (215) rank lowest.

ASIA PACIFIC
Auckland (3) is the highest-ranking city for quality of living in the Asia-Pacific region and isfollowed by Sydney (11), Wellington (13), Melbourne (18) and Perth (21). The highest-rankingAsian cities are Singapore (25) and Tokyo (46). Hong Kong (70), Kuala Lumpur (76), Seoul (80)and Taipei (85) are other major Asian cities ranked in the top 100. Meanwhile, Dhaka, Bangladesh (204); Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan (206); and Dushanbe, Tajikistan (208) rank lowest in the region.

In eighth place, Singapore ranks highest for personal safety, followed by Auckland and Wellington– both ranked 9. Canberra, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney all rank 25, and all the Japanese cities on the list (Tokyo, Kobe, Nagoya, Osaka and Yokohama) rank 31. The region’s lowest-ranking city for personal safety is Karachi, Pakistan (216).

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
Dubai, UAE (74), ranks highest for quality of living across the Middle East and Africa and is followed by Abu Dhabi, UAE (78); Port Louis, Mauritius (82) and Cape Town, South Africa (88). Johannesburg ranks 94 and is followed by Victoria, Seychelles (95); Tel Aviv (99); Muscat, Oman(101) and Doha, Qatar (106). Africa has 18 cities in the bottom 25, including Bangui, CentralAfrican Republic (220); N’Djamena, Chad (219); Khartoum, Sudan (217) and Brazzaville, Congo(214).
Baghdad (221) is the lowest-ranking city both regionally and globally.

At 23, Abu Dhabi has the highest personal safety ranking in the Middle East and is followed by Muscat (29), Dubai (39) and Doha (67). Port Louis (59) and Victoria (79) are the only African cities in the top 100. Elsewhere in the region, Tunis, Tunisia ranks 140; Casablanca, Morocco is at 147 and Cairo, Egypt ranks 176. At 185, Algiers, Algeria is followed by Tehran, Iran (188) and towards the bottom of the list is Tripoli, Libya (204). In terms of personal safety, Baghdad (221) is the lowest-ranking city regionally and globally along with N’Djamena, Chad (220); Abidjan, Côted’Ivoire (219); Bangui, Central African Republic (218) and Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of theCongo (217).

Creative Thinking in Relocation

2011-11-10T23:30:00.000-08:00

I was privleged to attend a seminar run by Grant Bosnick on CrEaTiVe ThInKiNg last week, and here is a summary of what I learned that might help in creating more innovation in our relocation space;

IMAGINATION
To spark your imagination, you need different "Points of View". You can get these by playing "What if....." games. eg. What if I only had 1 dollar and had to start a business? Or alternatively, you can ask "If I was such and such...." games eg. If I was Jack Welch, CEO of GE, what would I do in this situation?

ASSOCIATION
To spark creativity, a great way is to take 2 different themes and associate them; this helps to create something that is the synergy of two parts, and what you wouldn't have necessarily considered if you just saw them apart. eg. Milk and Lawn Mowers- healthy smoothies from a machine that harvests vegetables directly from your garden- what an invention! This can work great when using the topics as "stepping stones" for brainstorming.

INSPIRATION
Often simple things can inspire ideas. eg. Inflate your goals so they are ridiculously unachievable. eg, We will lease a "Healthy Smoothy Machine" to every senior citizen in Japan, so that they don't need medical attention so regularly. We will ask for government subsidies, as we will be able to lower the medical bill for all Japan.
Or often, inspiration can come when doing some other concentrated activity of focus; eg. when walking around, when in the shower, when driving, when riding your bike and even when sitting on the toilet!

BRAINSTORMING
The idea with brain storming is list as many things as possible, and then go back and;
- Look for the gaps. What is missing, what don't you have?
- How can you group or "cluster" your ideas. How many different themes or focuses do you have?
Doing this, you can create and build ideas, and then take these ideas and compare them, which then enables you to expand the "big picture".

SEEDS AND GERMINATING
It is important to start thinking about things early. Our mind is like a garden, so we need to plant the seeds as soon as possible and then look for synergies.
- Write things down early
- Come back to them and add to them, connect them, and grow them into something much bigger. Then pick the best fruit from within them

REST PERIODS
This is recorded under "inspiration" also, but we need to create "Rest Periods" during our day; relaxtion points when we are just doing one thing and our mind can wander a little; eg. while swimming, while standing in the train, while taking out the garbage, while cleaning your teeth......

Some things to think about to enhance your creative thinking!

The Great Divergence

2011-11-05T02:52:00.000-07:00

This is a very interesting view of the way the world is changing in front of us

www.morethanrelo.com

Mercer Releases 2011 Cost of Living Survey

2011-07-26T03:06:00.000-07:00

- Luanda in Angola is the world’s most expensive city for expatriates
- Karachi is the cheapest city in the world
- The top 10 ranked cities dominated by Africa, Asia and Europe - - 9 of the top 10
- London drops one place to rank 18
- Singapore and São Paolo join the top 10 list
- New York drops five places to rank 32
- Los Angeles drops 22 places to rank 77
- Tokyo remains in 2nd place
- Moscow is in 4th place
- Osaka comes in at 6th
- Hong Kong drops to 9th

Karachi (214) is ranked as the world’s least expensive city, and the survey found that Luanda, in the top place, is more than three times as costly as Karachi. Recent world events, including natural disasters and political upheavals, have impacted the rankings for many regions through currency fluctuations, cost inflation for goods and services and volatility in accommodation prices.

The most expensive city in Asia is Tokyo (2), followed by Osaka (6). Singapore (8) has joined the list of the world’s top 10 most expensive cities and is followed by Hong Kong (9). Nagoya (11) in Japan is up eight places whereas Seoul (19) is down five. Other highly ranked Asian cities are Beijing (20), Shanghai (21), Guangzhou (38), Shenzhen (43) and Taipei (52).

“Most Asian cities have moved up in the ranking as availability for expatriate accommodation prices is limited and demand is high."

Currency fluctuations, inflation, political instability and natural disasters are all factors that influence the cost of living for expatriates. It is essential that employers understand their impact, for cost-containment purposes, but also to ensure they retain talented employees by offering competitive compensation packages." To view Mercer's Cost comparison between 21 major cities worldwide please click here, and for a comparison between 21 U.S. cities please click here. Further information can be found here;

I think it is very obvious that deflationary Japan is high on the rankings due the the very strong yen to the dollar, pound and euro, and not due to the demand for accommodation.......

More Than Japan Housing, More Than Japan Cars and Furniture, More than Japan Serviced Apartments, More Than Japan Destination Services, More Than Japan License Conversion, More Than Japan Information!

The H&R Group is MORE THAN RELOCATION!
www.morethanrelo.com

Leadership in Relocation: What's Holding You Back?

2011-07-04T05:08:00.000-07:00

I read this book, and it was so good that I have summarized it for everyone!

Here are 10 bold steps that define gutsy leaders in relocation; thanks to Robert J. Herbold.

1. Devise a Demanding Game Plan to Confront Reality
You need to lay out a clear vision, develop aggressive strategies to achieve that vision and select actionable measures so that you know you are achieving the strategies. As the old saying goes “You can’t manage what you don’t measure”, so you must measure the vision to make sure the job is getting done, and also make sure that your strategies are actually helping to achieve the vision. If they are not, you may need to change them.

2. Staff For Success
You must maintain a high-quality performance appraisal system. This makes every member of your organization aware of his or her strengths or weaknesses, and maintains a track record over months and years that enable you to defend any decision to move poor performers out. You need to confront poor performance early, and you want to stretch and challenge your best people to prepare them for crucial needs when they arise. It is also advisable to move your people around every 2-3 years.
Use employee surveys to help determine, which managers are strong leaders and which are struggling, and in general to gauge whether you have the right team to achieve your game plan.

3. Clean Up The Sloppiness
You must keep systems and processes as simple as possible. The systems must be robust and not allow endless exceptions, but you also need to make sure they don’t become complicated and complex. Ideally, one person should be held responsible for each process or system, as sharing the burden makes it difficult to keep accountability. You want to have minimal layers of management with maximum spans (up to 8 people per manager?).

4. Institutionalize Tight-Fisted Cost Control
Keep any budgets under your control under constant pressure. Always be looking for ways to decrease cost to less expensive vendors or by outsourcing to another part of the world. Consider outsourcing non-strategic activities, but make sure to choose the right location for strategic activities. You must know your budget well, and you must kill obvious cost mistakes or unsuccessful projects as soon as possible.

5. Insist on Functional Excellence
You must maintain strong functional excellence in areas such as finance and accounting, HR, tax, general administration, etc. Functional excellence comes from driving simplicity, efficiency and effectiveness in the company through these functional areas. Not taking this seriously, or not having strong functional management that challenges business units can fragment the overall efforts of the company or put your company at risk. This means considering not only costs, but safety, worker health and general risk management. Staff in these positions should be tough and stubborn, principled and always strive for simplicity and be on the outlook for new trends.
Furthermore, operations should be given enough flexibility to operate on their own and not be too centralized. There should always be good focus placed on the projects operations is committed to; you don’t want to take on so many projects that there is no focus, Focused projects should be lead by your best people, but they should not further burden already burdened groups. Clearly define what the focus is and report it back often to your employees.

6. Create a Culture of Innovation
You must highly value Innovation. The book refers to “Commodity Hell”; that you never know when your competition is going to launch their next product that will drive your product into commodity hell and you end up competing on price only. To avoid commodity hell and everything depending on price, you need to continuously innovate ideas that make your products exciting and distinctive in the market place. You must communicate the goal of innovation regularly, you must encourage and inspire innovation and you must reward innovation.
Fresh thinking should be rewarded also. However, you do want to define success as being fresh ideas and excellence in execution and you should only reward innovations that have a measurable impact.

7. Demand Accountability and Decisiveness; Avoid Consensus
You should set clear accountability, goals and measures for innovation. However, you want to get away from consensus decision making. You need to clearly make certain people accountable for innovation; put one person in charge. Carefully define what success looks like and agree on the measurement of success, then keep the focus on impact not on internal politics. Some input you receive will be useful, other input could be just to protect the status quo or someone’s position, so you need someone accountable that can work through all of this. However, when you discover that something is not working, you must kill it quickly; once again, not with consensus decision-making.

8. Exploit Inflection Points
This is making use of opportunities that arise due to changes in laws, technology, etc. It is the ability to “trend spot” and find new ways to bring things to market or find an emerging customer trend. Be the first company in your industry to do things; make this part of your culture, and encourage early experimentation.

9. Value Ideas from Anywhere
Everyone should be on the lookout for ideas. Create a culture whereby ideas are shared from the top to bottom of your organization. One important part of collecting ideas is visiting and observing your clients to understand their likes, dislikes, habits and practices. You must understand your customer’s experiences.

10. Shake Up the Organization
In order to be innovative, your organization needs to be flexible and ready to change. You can’t afford your organization to become convinced that everything is OK and there is no need to change. So, you
- Shouldn’t let people get set in their ways- often you need to insert fresh talent to remedy stagnant situations
- Shouldn’t always make the obvious choice; surprise people a little with staffing decisions
- Should always try to evolve and encourage your employees to use new technologies or learn them, etc.
You need to continuously reorganize around your new efforts.

I highly recommend this leadership book; http://www.amazon.com/Whats-Holding-You-Back-Leaders/dp/0470639016

On The Ground in Japan: What am I seeing in the relocation industry?

2011-06-23T05:17:00.000-07:00

Here is what I am seeing from the viewpoint of a relocation company active in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka. After the quake, temporarily many people left. Many overseas, many to Osaka. After GW, most came back; we even had people leaving from Nagoya, but most came back. Looking at international schools as one good indicator, you will see that 90% or more are now back; some nationalities being a little more conservative than others. The German school in Tokyo, for example, didn't open back up for sometime after the quake. But overall, you are seeing 90- 95% of people back.

Now here we are in June. June / July / August is the busiest relocation season. There are always lots of people leaving Japan during this period. Don't forget this! Even without the quake, in any year there is significant movement during this time; some years more than others, and sometimes more inbound than outbound, and vice-versa. The net trend is that outbound is up. Talk to moving companies and they will tell you it is a record year. Yes, there are more people leaving this year than normal. Many are leaving a little earlier than they would have. However, amongst this we are also seeing people coming to Tokyo also. Real estate is moving. If you don't put an application on popular properties immediately, someone else gets the property and you miss out. There is inbound activity, so it is not all outbound!

Now, we are seeing resistance from families. This is too be understood considering the nuclear issues. Some are leaving their families at home or somwhere else for the interim. Some companies are choosing to send more single and married employees without children, or more senior members.

With regard to Osaka and companies moving their headquarters, there maybe one or two companies that have moved their plans forward quickly. However, on the ground there is no evidence or sign of a huge influx of companies into Osaka, nor Nagoya. Companies are certainly talking more about contigency plans and spreading the risk, and there are definately companies seeking information on the options, but any rumor that hordes of companies are deciding to get out of Tokyo and set up in Osaka is completely unfounded right now.

It is my view that over the next 12- 24 months some companies will choose to spread their risk and move operations around a little. However,
1. As time goes by the focus on spreading the risk will shift to the next "crisis" or the next "priority" and a high percentage of talks will stop just there AND
2. The economy in Japan is not in good shape, and therefore when many of these companies do the cost analysis and see the size of the bill to move their operations (moving offices is the easy part..... moving employees away from where their families and homes are is more difficult) many talks will stop right there too. This is off course assuming that as time goes by that the reactor issues are slowly brought under control. I would be interested in hearing of others predictions.....

The H&R Group is MORE THAN RELOCATION!

www.morethanrelo.com

Relocation Volume By Country in 2010

2011-06-01T04:18:00.000-07:00

A recent survey by Cartus shows that the relocation volume to Japan has dropped away a little since 2006. According to the Cartus survey, Japan used to sit in 6th place in the world in terms of global relocation volume, but in the 4 years since 2006, Japan has dropped to 9th place.

Of those countries in the top 10 in 2010, the countries who have jumped up positions are Singapore, India (both of whom were in the top ten in 2010 but are now ranked higher) and Hong Kong that has jumped into the top 10 from 11th position in 2006.

Dropping out of the top 10 is France, and then dropping out of the list of 25 countries entirely is Saudi Arabia, Austria and Thailand.

New to the list of 25 countries with the most relocation volume is Panama, South Korea and Poland.

Read more here!! http://mwne.ws/mUpX4t

Let’s move Japan’s capital to Tohoku!

2011-05-24T19:40:00.000-07:00

I have borrowed this entry on a discussion board dated May 14, 2011 from Shigehiko Togo, Former Correspondent of the Washington Post Tokyo Bureau, as I really liked this out of the box initiative (his entry is in italics). Japan will probably never do it, but this is the kind of thinking Japan needs in this age.
　
Based on the experience which Japan has suffered by the 3.11 disasters, how about relocating our capital to Tohoku, Northeast area of the Honshu island?

There are three reasons why I am writing this.

First, from safety perspective:

From southern Chiba Prefecture toward Miyazaki Prefecture coast of the Pacific, three major gigantic quakes parallel to the Honshu islands are anticipated by scholars. The possibility of an earthquake with an epicenter directly under Tokyo is often discussed.
The future possibility of a big earthquake in Tohoku, both plate type and active fault type should be seriously examined by scholars but after 3.11, isn’t it Tohoku itself an area relatively safe from earthquake and tsunami disasters in coming next several centuries ?
Furthermore, we now know from the experiences of 3.11, where are the areas relatively safe or more dangerous within Tohoku regarding earthquake and tsunami disasters, including the danger caused and to be caused by nuclear reactors.
These are the reasons why I think it is adequate to propose Tohoku as a place of new capital of Japan from safety point of view.

Second, from recovery perspective:

Needless to say, if we will relocate the capital in Tohoku, it will be the very core of the recovery project. Both material and mental impact will be tremendous. The scale of the project will be immense. It will be incomparable to any of already proposed plans by the national and local governments, parties and city planners etc.

Third, from historical perspective:

Looking back the history of Japan, I think we cannot deny the fact that some political group or tribe located in the Kyushu island had moved toward east and located its political and cultural center in Kansai area sometimes in an ancient days. Since then, many capitals such as Fujiwara, Nara or Kyoto had been located in Kinki area in Kansai. After the Meiji Restoration, the capital again moved toward east and Edo became Tokyo, which literally means something like “East Center”.
Tohoku area was never a center of Japan. By moving the capital again toward east, can’t we say that for the first time in history, all Japanese islands would have fulfilled its historical responsibility?

I will try to write down a concrete plan of how to realize this proposal so that it would not end just as a dream.
The relocation must start as a step of recovery project, must take a step by step process and must maintain a reasonable relation with Tokyo.
Now, what is a capital for the Japanese. In one word, that is a place where the Emperor resides. So the construction and the declaration of the new capital must start by moving the Imperial Palace to Tohoku. The Palace includes the residence of Their Majesties, imperial office and the Three Holy Shrines.

Diets, governments, other national functions and diplomatic core would move eventually with careful balance between the existing Tokyo. From that perspective, it may be desirable if the new capital would be placed somewhere not too distant from Tokyo.
The basic character of the new city will be “coexistence with nature” and “revival of Japanese tradition” as is already stated in many proposals. We should not try to rebuild gigantic buildings such as in Kasumigaseki in Tokyo. It should be designed based on a concept of “low rise buildings in a forest”. I expect scientists, engineers and construction companies to develop a new material for housing, a light, tenacious and not too expensive one in harmony with maximum utilization of wood and other “natural” resources.

At the end of the last century, the government had seriously examined to move the Diet from Tokyo and construct a city of 100.000 populations. As for the candidate area, one, Tochigi and Fukushima group and another, Aichi and Gifu group had been nominated. The fee was estimated to be about four trillion yen. If we would move the capital in Tohoku, it will be sure to cost more, but recent estimations of the recovery fee from 3.11 disasters indicates that the amount would not be unreachable. It should be necessary that the central government would take a strong leadership such as prohibition of land speculation and temporal restriction of private right.

Ken Matsumoto, an active businessman who lives in Ishinomaki City in Miyagi Prefecture who runs a precision machines factory which was heavily damaged by the tsunami of 3.11, strongly asserts that the recovery must take place from a bottom up energy of local inhabitants. But for the new capital idea, he said “Our place, Tohoku was never a center of Japan. It will be a historical miracle if the capital would move here. Nothing would encourage us more than that. It would stimulate for sure all Japanese people to stand and to work for the new dream.”

In the media, I have seen and heard, Yoshimi Watanabe, President of Your Party(Minna-no-To) mentioning about the relocation of the capital. Their party homepage writes that the Diet should move to Fukushima Prefecture. Jitsuro Terashima, a prominent scholar-commentator referred to the partial relocation of the capital to Tohoku. But as far as I know, there are no serious, comprehensive proposition on this subject.

The H&R Group is MORE THAN RELOCATION!

www.morethanrelo.com

The Situation in Japan- Friday 8th April

2011-04-09T02:51:00.000-07:00

This information is a few days old, as I have been travelling, but as I have done several times already, please allow me to share with you the UK's Chief Scientific Advisor, Sir John Beddington's of April 7th. It is a good overview, and shows that things are slowly getting better with regard to the nuclear plant issue;

Fukushima:Overview
Sir John begun the briefing by saying that we should not relax completely on the subject of Fukushima - the situation is still serious – but that there has been significant progress. This “progress” is the reason why the FCO travel advice was relaxed last night. Sir John explained that the Japanese have now established power to the nuclear plant and are using fresh water to cool the reactors. These two facts, coupled with the natural progressive decay of iodine, mean that any effects of radiation are significantly reduced. From time to time, Sir John went on, there will be small releases of radiation into the environment, but this will be nothing like the radiation produced by the meltdown of a reactor or an explosion in a fuel pond. TEPCO is now injecting nitrogen into the main containment unit – mainly unit 1 – in order to cut down the possibility of hydrogen based explosions. Sir John says that the UK supports this move and urged that people should not be alarmed by resultant steam that will sometimes emit from the plant. This is a natural side effect of the hydrogen injections. In summary, the practical actions taken by the Japanese – connecting power and using fresh water – coupled with the natural processes of iodine 131 decaying, mean that the situation at Fukushima is improving in general. Sir John assured that the threat of radiation to the Tokyo region has significantly reduced.

Q: Can you say something about the continuing concerns about food and water from the area?
Sir John and his colleagues from the UK’s Health Protection Industry and the Department of Health, reiterated that significant amounts of radiation have been released into the water, and that seafood from the Fukushima area should not be eaten; the risk to Tokyo has disappeared. People are urged to take their lead from the guidance of the Japanese government.

Land contamination
The briefing went on to cover the issue of land contamination – there are high concentrations of radioactivity on agricultural land. It might be possible for people to live in certain areas, but the soil there might be contaminated for months or years to come. Sir John and colleagues continued: the Japanese will put legislation in place to make sure that food from these areas does not get into the food chain. We were reminded that it is “still early days” but that Japanese regulations are more stringent than those of other countries.

Q: There is concern over milk, eggs, dairy products, etc. Is there anything you can say about that?
Sir John reinforced the fact that the Japanese will continue to test food, and that their regulations are stringent; this means that any detection of radiation will quickly become apparent. The primary concern was radioactive iodine; cesium getting onto the soil is also an issue. But the latter is easy to detect and regulate, it was assured. Milk may be banned in a wider area, even in areas that people can live quite safely, but this is yet to be announced.

Q: Can you explain more about the Nitrogen injections by TEPCO?
Sir John explained that these will go on for a few more days. He continued: reactors are surrounded by containment vessels. At present, the potential for explosions is being kept as low as possible, so there is a drop in the chances of explosive activity. The Japanese are moderating the situation.

Q: Parents and children have returned to school in Toyko – should they receive iodine tablets?
Iodine should only be taken when a radioactive plume comes overhead, Sir John said, so the need to take it is probably over. Common sense tells us that there is no need for iodine at present. Sir John expressed that you shouldn’t take these tablets unless it is suggested by Japanese authorities. The UK is not recommending that people take them. David Fitton from the British Embassy in Tokyo said that the Embassy is still providing the tablets to those who would like them, but that this operation is being kept under review.

Q: Why is “new” iodine 131 not being produced in the reactors?
It just isn’t, Sir John said. Iodine is only produced when a reactor is producing electricity. When reactors are switched off, all iodine will start decaying and the amounts will naturally go down. There is no iodine in the storage ponds at all, he assured.

Q: For people who are volunteering in the quake affected area, is the 80km exclusion zone still in force?
Sir John said that the UK will be reviewing this at the next SAGE meeting. At present they are monitoring the worst case scenarios, including the impact of bad weather conditions, and calculating what the likely dosages would be. Sir John and his team will then provide advice into COBRA; it is a “work in progress”.

Q: The amounts of radiation dumped into the ocean seemed large, are there implications for seafood on a larger scale?
They do seem like large volumes but in relation to the size of the Pacific Ocean they are miniscule, said Sir John. From a practical perspective, larger scale impact is enormously unlikely because the Pacific Ocean is so large. Sir John assured that the Japanese are monitoring levels in fish and food and have banned produced from the region.

Q: Any comments on the ongoing seismic activity in Eastern Japan?
Sir John acknowledged that aftershocks are natural after such a major earthquake, but that their intensity will decay over time. Sir John stated that he is a biologist and not a geologist. The conclusion of today’s briefing was that “things are getting better” and that the Japanese are now making progress on what is a difficult problem.

Stay calm! Our thoughts, prayers, and hopes for a quick recovery are with all those who have been affected by this crisis.

What Really Happened at Fukushima

2011-04-05T11:01:00.001-07:00

This is the best account I have seen of the events at Fukushima. Sorry guys and gals, Tokyo and the rest of the world are not about to be affected. This is a "local" nuclear disaster...... This is an E-mail from the Dean of the University of Washington College of Engineering to the students - March 17

*What happened at Fukushima*
I will try to summarize the main facts. The earthquake that hit Japan was 5 times more powerful than the worst earthquake the nuclear power plant was built for (the Richter scale works logarithmically; the difference betweenthe 8.2 that the plants were built for and the 8.9 that happened is 5 times,not 0.7). So the first hooray for Japanese engineering, everything held up.

When the earthquake hit with 8.9, the nuclear reactors all went intoautomatic shutdown. Within seconds after the earthquake started, the controlrods had been inserted into the core and nuclear chain reaction of theuranium stopped. Now, the cooling system has to carry away the residual heat. The residual heat load is about 3% of the heat load under normaloperating conditions.

The earthquake destroyed the external power supply of the nuclear reactor. That is one of the most serious accidents for a nuclear power plant, and accordingly, a “plant black out” receives a lot of attention when designingbackup systems. The power is needed to keep the coolant pumps working. Sincethe power plant had been shut down, it cannot produce any electricity byitself any more. Things were going well for an hour. One set of multiple sets of emergency. Diesel power generators kicked in and provided the electricity that was needed.

Then the Tsunami came, much bigger than people had expected when building the power plant. The tsunami took out all multiple sets of backupDiesel generators. When designing a nuclear power plant, engineers follow a philosophy called“Defense of Depth”. That means that you first build everything to withstand the worst catastrophe you can imagine, and then design the plant in such away that it can still handle one system failure (that you thought could never happen) after the other. A tsunami taking out all backup power in oneswift strike is such a scenario. The last line of defense is putting everything into the third containment, that will keep everything, whateverthe mess, control rods in our out, core molten or not, inside the reactor.When the diesel generators were gone, the reactor operators switched to emergency battery power.

The batteries were designed as one of the backups to the backups, to provide power for cooling the core for 8 hours. And they did. Within the 8 hours, another power source had to be found and connected tothe power plant. The power grid was down due to the earthquake. The diesel generators were destroyed by the tsunami. So mobile diesel generators were trucked in. This is where things started to go seriously wrong. The external power generators could not be connected to the power plant (the plugs did not fit). So after the batteries ran out, the residual heat could not be carried away any more.

At this point the plant operators begin to follow emergency procedures thatare in place for a “loss of cooling event”. It is again a step along the “Depth of Defense” lines. The power to the cooling systems should never have failed completely, but it did, so they “retreat” to the next line of defense. All of this, however shocking it seems to us, is part of the day-to-day training you go through as an operator, right through to managing a core meltdown. It was at this stage that people started to talk about core meltdown. Because at the end of the day, if cooling cannot be restored, the core willeventually melt (after hours or days), and the last line of defense, thecore catcher and third containment, would come into play.

But the goal at this stage was to manage the core while it was heating up, and ensure that the first containment (the Zircaloy tubes that contains thenuclear fuel), as well as the second containment remain intact andoperational for as long as possible, to give the engineers time to fix the cooling systems. Because cooling the core is such a big deal, the reactor has a number of cooling systems, each in multiple versions (the reactor water cleanups ystem, the decay heat removal, the reactor core isolating cooling, thestandby liquid cooling system, and the emergency core cooling system). Which one failed when or did not fail is not clear at this point in time.

So imagine a pressure cooker on the stove, heat on low, but on. Theoperators use whatever cooling system capacity they have to get rid of as much heat as possible, but the pressure starts building up. The priority now is to maintain integrity of the first containment (keep temperature of the fuel rods below 2200°C), as well as the second containment, the pressure cooker. In order to maintain integrity of the pressure cooker (the second containment), the pressure has to be released from time to time. Because theability to do that in an emergency is so important, the reactor has 11 pressure release valves. The operators now started venting steam from time to time to control the pressure.

The temperature at this stage was about550°C. This is when the reports about “radiation leakage” starting coming in. I believe I explained above why venting the steam is theoretically the same as releasing radiation into the environment, but why it was and is not dangerous. The radioactive nitrogen as well as the noble gases do not pose a threat to human health. At some stage during this venting, the explosion occurred. The explosiontook place outside of the third containment (our “last line of defense”), and the reactor building. Remember that the reactor building has no function in keeping the radioactivity contained.

It is not entirely clear yet what has happened, but this is the likely scenario: The operators decided to vent the steam from the pressure vessel not directly into the environment, butinto the space between the third containment and the reactor building (to give the radioactivity in the steam more time to subside). The problem isthat at the high temperatures that the core had reached at this stage, watermolecules can “disassociate” into oxygen and hydrogen – an explosive mixture. And it did explode, outside the third containment, damaging thereactor building around. It was that sort of explosion, but inside thepressure vessel (because it was badly designed and not managed properly bythe operators) that lead to the explosion of Chernobyl. This was never a risk at Fukushima. The problem of hydrogen-oxygen formation is one of the biggies when you design a power plant (if you are not Soviet, that is), so the reactor is built and operated in a way it cannot happen inside the containment. It happened outside, which was not intended but a possible scenario and OK, because it did not pose a risk for the containment.

So the pressure was under control, as steam was vented. Now, if you keep boiling your pot, the problem is that the water level will keep falling and falling. The core is covered by several meters of water in order to allow for some time to pass (hours, days) before it gets exposed. Once the rodss tart to be exposed at the top, the exposed parts will reach the critical temperature of 2200 °C after about 45 minutes. This is when the first containment, the Zircaloy tube, would fail. And this started to happen. The cooling could not be restored before there was some (very limited, but still) damage to the casing of some of the fuel. The nuclear material itself was still intact, but the surrounding Zircaloyshell had started melting. What happened now is that some of the by products of the uranium decay – radioactive Cesium and Iodine – started to mix with the steam. The big problem, uranium, was still under control, because theuranium oxide rods were good until 3000 °C. It is confirmed that a very small amount of Cesium and Iodine was measured in the steam that wasreleased into the atmosphere.It seems this was the “go signal” for a major plan B.

The small amounts of Cesium that were measured told the operators that the first containment on one of the rods somewhere was about to give. The Plan A had been to restoreone of the regular cooling systems to the core. Why that failed is unclear. One plausible explanation is that the tsunami also took away / polluted all the clean water needed for the regular cooling systems. The water used in the cooling system is very clean, demineralized (like distilled) water. The reason to use pure water is the above mentionedactivation by the neutrons from the Uranium: Pure water does not get activated much, so stays practically radioactive-free. Dirt or salt in the water will absorb the neutrons quicker, becoming more radioactive. This has no effect whatsoever on the core – it does not care what it is cooled by. But it makes life more difficult for the operators and mechanics when theyhave to deal with activated (i..e. slightly radioactive) water.

But Plan A had failed – cooling systems down or additional clean waterunavailable – so Plan B came into effect. This is what it looks like happened: In order to prevent a core meltdown, the operators started to use sea water to cool the core. I am not quite sure if they flooded our pressure cookerwith it (the second containment), or if they flooded the third containment, immersing the pressure cooker. But that is not relevant for us. The point is that the nuclear fuel has now been cooled down. Because the chain reaction has been stopped a long time ago, there is only very little residual heat being produced now. The large amount of cooling water that has been used is sufficient to take up that heat. Because it is a lot of water,the core does not produce sufficient heat any more to produce anysignificant pressure. Also, boric acid has been added to the seawater. Boric acid is “liquid control rod”. Whatever decay is still going on, the Boronwill capture the neutrons and further speed up the cooling down of the core.The plant came close to a core meltdown. Here is the worst-case scenario that was avoided: If the seawater could not have been used for treatment, the operators would have continued to vent the water steam to avoid pressure buildup. The third containment would then have been completely sealed to allow the core meltdown to happen without releasing radioactive material. After the meltdown, there would have been a waiting period for the intermediate radioactive materials to decay inside the reactor, and all radioactive particles to settle on a surface inside the containment. The cooling system would have been restored eventually, and the molten corecooled to a manageable temperature. The containment would have been cleaned up on the inside. Then a messy job of removing the molten core from the containment would have begun, packing the (now solid again) fuel bit by bit into transportation containers to be shipped to processing plants. Depending on the damage, the block of the plant would then either be repaired or dismantled. Now, where does that leave us? My assessment:

§ The plant is safe now and will stay safe.. § Japan is looking at an INES Level 4 Accident: Nuclear accident with local consequences. That is bad for the company that owns the plant, but not for anyone else.

§ Some radiation was released when the pressure vessel was vented. All radioactive isotopes from the activated steam have gone (decayed). A very small amount of Cesium was released, as well as Iodine. If you were sitting on top of the plants’ chimney when they were venting, you should probablygive up smoking to return to your former life expectancy. The Cesium and Iodine isotopes were carried out to the sea and will never be seen again.

§ There was some limited damage to the first containment. That means that some amounts of radioactive Cesium and Iodine will also be released into the cooling water, but no Uranium or other nasty stuff (the Uranium oxide doesnot “dissolve” in the water). There are facilities for treating the cooling water inside the third containment. The radioactive Cesium and Iodine willbe removed there and eventually stored as radioactive waste in terminal storage.

§ The seawater used as cooling water will be activated to some degree. Because the control rods are fully inserted, the Uranium chain reaction is not happening. That means the “main” nuclear reaction is not happening, thus not contributing to the activation. The intermediate radioactive materials(Cesium and Iodine) are also almost gone at this stage, because the Uranium decay was stopped a long time ago. This further reduces the activation. The bottom line is that there will be some low level of activation of the seawater, which will also be removed by the treatment facilities.

§ The seawater will then be replaced over time with the “normal” coolingwater

§ The reactor core will then be dismantled and transported to a processingfacility, just like during a regular fuel change.

§ Fuel rods and the entire plant will be checked for potential damage. This will take about 4-5 years.

§ The safety systems on all Japanese plants will be upgraded to withstand a 9.0 earthquake and tsunami (or worse)

§ (Updated) I believe the most significant problem will be a prolonged power shortage. 11 of Japan’s 55 nuclear reactors in different plants wereshut down and will have to be inspected, directly reducing the nation’snuclear power generating capacity by 20%, with nuclear power accounting forabout 30% of the national total power generation capacity.. I have not looked into possible consequences for other nuclear plants not directly affected. This will probably be covered by running gas power plants that are usually only used for peak loads to cover some of the base load as well. I am not familiar with Japan’s energy supply chain for oil, gas and coal, and what damage the harbors, refinery, storage and transportation networks have suffered, as well as damage to the national distribution grid. All of thatwill increase your electricity bill, as well as lead to power shortages during peak demand and reconstruction efforts, in Japan.

§ This all is only part of a much bigger picture. Emergency response has to deal with shelter, drinking water, food and medical care, transportation and communication infrastructure, as well as electricity supply. In a world of lean supply chains, we are looking at some major challenges in all of these areas.

" Thank you.

Additonal Update on Japan's Nuclear Situation- Friday 25th May

2011-03-25T06:08:00.000-07:00

This excerpt was taken from a "Japan-US Discussion Forum" and is care of Mr. Peter Ennis. This should further put you at ease;

"The formulation by the writers/editors can easily convey the wrong impression. The plutonium oxide used in MOX is not pure plutonium, with nothing close to the toxicity of weapons-grade plutonium, and only marginally more dangerous than uranium oxide, the other key fuel component of MOX.And what about those "fires" and "explosions" that that could spread plutonium through the air? Extremely low probability under any circumstances, but even lower still with cooling procedures working, as they are at especially the storage pond for Unit 3, where pumps are now functioning. Under the worst of circumstances, experts estimate that the radiation exposure of people in the vicinity of the plant would increase by the equivalent of one CT scan, and would decline rapidly the further people are from the plant.BTW: Authorities have lifted the warning concerning tap water in Tokyo. And those three workers injured with radiation burns? They were hospitalized for precaution. They were exposed to 170 millisieverts of radiation, which is far below the 250 allowed for workers in an emergency in Japan (the same rule applies in the US), and below the 500 that the WHO says is the danger level for humans. That's not to take away from their heroic actions. But it should be clear that cold-blooded authorities are not dispatching these guys on near-certain death missions. Their exposure is being very closely monitored, and not one worker has experienced any symptoms of radiation sickness. Some day, an enterprising graduate student will research a paper on the accuracy of US media coverage of the troubles at the Fukushima plant, and I suspect the results will be quite a black market on the profession."

Let's pray the affected in Tohoku get some warmer weather and good hot food over this coming weekend.

Update on Japan's Nuclear Situation- Friday 25th March

2011-03-25T04:08:00.000-07:00

It is great that there have been few surprises or significant changes in the nuclear reactors at Fukushima this week. There are some concerns with water and the food chain, but this following update from the UK's Chief Scientific Advisor, Sir John Beddington, should put you a little more at ease.

"Reactors: Current Situation
Sir John explained that the situation is still extremely serious, but that the Japanese authorities are making quite good progress at keeping things regulated, especially with regards to reactors 5 & 6. He went on to say that the "worst case scenario" imagined by the UK last week, is now very unlikely indeed. Although there is still a cause for concern, Sir John related that there are real indications of some progress. An example of this is that the Japanese have started to substitute seawater with fresh water in the cooling process, which will help the situation, because sea water evaporates more quickly than fresh water. Sir John said that this development is "very good news". Another example of progress is the restoration of power to the reactors.
While steam releases may be worrying to look at, Sir John said that the Japanese authorities are closely monitoring radiation levels and there is no indication of harmful radiation entering the atmosphere, "they are making steady progress". We can't forget about the dangers and are not "out of the woods yet" but there is a definite improvement to the situation. Advisors in the UK and nuclear experts also think that what the Japanese are doing is appropriate.
Water and food: Current Situation
Water: The advice being given by the Japanese authorities is sensible and people should follow this advice, Sir John said. He explained that the Japanese are very cautious in comparison to the UK and Europe in general and that any warning levels are based on cautious assumption, and dosage accumulated over a period of time. It is completely safe to wash in the water, he said. There is no need to buy bottled water to bathe children, for example. Also, there is “no point whatsoever” in taking iodine tablets at the moment, as there is no threat and the effects of the tablets only last for 24 hours. If a radioactive plume was due to come over Tokyo, Sir John assured attendees that the British Embassy would give advice about when to take the tablets. Giving the tablets was an "entirely precautionary" measure by the Embassy. The levels of radioactivity that were found in water were below anything we would issue a warning about in the UK, he said. In addition, the warning is based on two whole months of consumption. Sir John reconfirmed that the Japanese authorities "get onto these things within a matter of hours or days" and there is a big level of precaution involved. In conclusion, it is unlikely that something would go amiss for 2 months when the authorities are being so vigilant.
Food: Sir John stated that the basic advice is that people should “absolutely avoid” all food from the affected area. In particular, shellfish and seaweed should be avoided as they accumulate higher levels of radioactivity than other seafood. He said that fish from the area should be avoided too, although fish do not accumulate as much radioactivity. The situation and advice regarding food will be changing as time goes on but Sir John advised; "if in doubt, do not eat it". He mentioned that longer term contamination in the area will be a problem, but that levels of radiation in food are easy to monitor and that this would help the Japanese regulate the situation.
Q: What would be the trigger for current travel advice to be lowered for Brits?
Attendees were urged to understand that Embassy travel advice is not predicated on radiation alone "Japan is a disturbed place just now". There is no reason from radioactivity point of view why you couldn't live happily in Tokyo, Sir John said.
Q: What is the area of contamination?
The Japanese authorities are taking highly precautionary measures; quite how far the area will spread out cannot be monitored from the UK, said Sir John. Experts in the UK recommend that you follow the Japanese advice. The contaminated area may in fact be wider than the current evacuation area and will probably cover a significant area around the plant, but dependent on wind direction and rainfall. He went on to say that plants will be affected, as will rain and seawater, but is confident that the Japanese authorities will monitor this.
Q: There has been natural cooling in the reactors - how does this affect your outlook?
Every day that passes sees a drop in radioactive levels trough natural processes, Sir John said, so "it will get easier over time", but he stressed "I don't think we can relax yet". It will take a matter of weeks before we can relax; the food situation will take longer than a week; the clean up will take several years. As an aside, it was mentioned that clean up depends on the fertility of the soil in the area.
Q: What are the dangers to those living closer to the plant?
Sir John said that in the event of a meltdown of reactors, people should stay indoors, take iodine tablets, as directed by the authorities, and follow advice given by the authorities.
Q: Can you comment on Cesium in the water?
Authorities will be measuring this but there is no evidence of anything that poses a problem now, said Sir John, however, vegetation could suffer for months.

In conclusion, Sir John urged attendees to use the monitoring being done by Japanese authorities as a guide. He is confident that if there is an alarm, the Japanese will keep people informed. He stressed that he doesn't think the UK’s worse case scenarios are plausible now, but that calculations are continuing to be done every 3 to 4 hours. Finally, Sir John emphasised that he is happy to keep up a dialogue with British nationals in Japan and will make himself available for another briefing next week if desired. For now, the UK will monitor changes, hold regular meetings and keep the Embassy informed."

Keep safe and stay calm!

Our thoughts, prayers, and hopes for a quick recovery are with all those who have been affected by this crisis.

Relocation Update on Tokyo- Wednesday 23rd March

2011-03-22T16:56:00.000-07:00

It has been a pretty emotional couple of months. First my home town of Christchurch was smashed in a huge earthquake, and then within a month my second home of Japan has been devastated with the earthquake and tidal waves. My thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected. Luckily, my family, all the people I work with and their families have come through this with no problems. I am truly blessed.

This brought a tear to my eye last night. If you don't get a little bit worked up by this beautiful message from Satomi-san, you are a better person than I am....

You will notice I left the nuclear reactor out of the introduction of today's message and there is a reason. In the big picture, in my mind, the nuclear reactors are 10% of this disaster. A large part perhaps, but the other 90% has caused the deaths of probably near 20,000 people, and 350,000 people have been evacuated; most of whom don't have a home to go back to. The deaths related to the nuclear reactors at this time are in single figures, and while some have been evacuated from the 30km radius of the plant, outside of this area there really is little concern for one's health.

Here is an entry from a "Japan-US Discussion Forum" thanks to Peter Ennis. I quote "Here is the situation: The reactor at Fukushima Daiichi Unit #3 uses a fuel mixture of uranium oxide and plutonium oxide. Some analysts have argued that since plutonium is such a toxic substance, this means that any radioactive particles that escape into the atmosphere from the plant will be especially dangerous. But Professor John Lee, a professor of nuclear engineering and radiological sciences at the University of Michigan, and author of the forthcoming "Risk and Safety Analysis of Nuclear Systems,"says it is not that simple. Even in the unlikely event the containment mechanisms at Unit #3, especially the reactor pressure vessel that contains the reactor core (the fuel rods), were to breach, the plutonium product released into the air would not be severely toxic like pure plutonium. The fuel is actually plutonium oxide, which would not be much different from uranium oxide. Bottom Line: No significantly greater risk. And how big a danger is a worst-case scenario? Dr. Lee says that for people outside the boundary of the Fukushima plant, the increased exposure to radiation would be equivalent to, at most, a CT scan (which is about 100 chest x-rays). In other words, no threat to human health."

I have just arrived in Tokyo this morning and if you didn't know about the earthquake up north, you would not know the difference. The Shinkansen was on time. The Yamanote Line was as packed as it has ever been. And, I just called into the convenience store, and while there were a few items missing here and there, 80% of those convenient items we are used to are back on the shelf.

If you left last week in fear of your safety, my advice would be to wait this week out (once this week passes without further event, word is that the risk of anything happening at the nuclear reactors signifcantly drops) and make travel plans to be back next week. We are all waiting, and the people up north need everyone's financial and moral support.

Finally, if you have space and can offer a family a room, please do check this site out (Japanese only) and get yourself registered to help; http://roomdonor.jp/top.html

DON'T GIVE UP TOHOKU....

Update on Japan's Nuclear Position- Friday 18th March

2011-03-18T03:26:00.000-07:00

This is the lastest update from the UK's Chief Scientific Advisor, Sir John Beddington.

Over the past few days, there has been continuing concern about the situation at Fukushima, particularly in light of yesterday's amendment to British travel advice to "consider leaving" Tokyo, which has also been the advice of many other countries.

"Sir John Beddington explained: At the beginning of this week, our concerns were mainly about possible meltdowns in the reactors. What the Japanese were doing was entirely proportionate to the situation and, even in our worst case scenarios, such as extreme weather conditions, there was nothing remotely to worry about. There were two main reasons why we changed the British travel advice.

1. Fuel Ponds
If the fuel ponds that hold spent fuel rods were allowed to dry out, especially the pond in reactor number 4, the emissions would be highly radioactive. We worried that radiation would start coming out as a result of fire or minor explosions and this would cause more radiation than that coming from the reactors themselves. This is one of the reasons it was more important to be more precautionary around the Fukushima plant, and that was why the recommendation was adopted to extend the evacuation zone to 80km. We discussed this with our scientific colleagues in America and they agreed. There is STILL no massive danger but we wanted to be precautionary.

2. Worst Case Scenario
The British Prime Minister asked us to look at the plausible "worst case scenario" combined with unfavourable weather conditions, particularly with regards to Tokyo. I repeat that this is HIGHLY UNLIKELY. Even if our plausible worst case scenario happened, the danger to Tokyo would be modest. Although radiation would increase for a short time - no longer than 48 hours - the effects on human health would be mitigated by staying indoors not opening windows. For people living in Tokyo, immediate concerns can be allayed. If the UK were to find any traces of radiation, they would inform Tokyo of when the plume is due in order for people to take precautions. This is NOT the current situation; this is only assuming the worst case scenario. Both of our worst case scenarios (explosions in reactors and extreme weather conditions) are unlikely.

To sum up, regarding the precautionary zone around the plant it was sensible to be precautionary, but even in worst case scenario, we are not worried about the human health risks. The US and France have heard these conclusions and they share our opinion.

Q: Is there any chance of contamination in Tokyo?
Sir John: Implications to people in Tokyo - none.

Question from the BritishSchool: Given that the reactor was contained but then suddently there was an explosion, how long do you foresee a dangerous situation continuing for?
Sir John: The key issue is whether or not the Japanese can get sufficient water into the holding pond on reactor 4 and continue to get water into other holding ponds. In the case of reactors, adequate water is needed to keep them cool. That is critical. In terms of when we can all relax - this is dependent on how successful the Japanese are at cooling the reactors and ponds. When that begins to happen we can relax. In a week or so we will know if we really have to worry or not. In addition, afterwards, there are enourmous problems of clean up and that could take years.

Question from David Warren: Can you clarify about the contamination of food and water?
Sir John: We have been working with our colleagues in DEFRA and the food standards agency in the UK. The message is to avoid food grown around the region of the plant of course. Normal sewage filtration processes take out radioactivity. If this was dangerous to anyone outside of Fukushima, the Japanese authorities would react and advise. In Chernobly the risks were significant - more dramatic and worrying, but even the risks were negliible for water because of filtration. Bottled water is always safe. Any problems related to tap water will not be connected with radiation but rather the sewage coming from broken pipes. In conclusion, microbiology is more of a concern than radiation. As for food in shops - in cartons, tins, bottles or boxes, there is no problem whatsoever. It would be unwise to eat food produced from gardens in the region. Anything left in the open air in Fukushima, dont eat.

Q: You now advise to "consider leaving" - at what stage would you change that to "leave"?
Sir John: Only in the worst case scenarios. The reason we said "consider leaving" - there are major disruptions to transportation and supply chain in the whole of Japan. We are NOT advising that people leave due to the risk of radiation. Even IF a plume were to reach Tokyo, it would not pose major health risks.

Q: What does plausible worst case mean? Is there an implausible worst case?
Sir John: Implausible - all reactors and all ponds go up at the same time and extreme weather conditions bring the plume to Tokyo; it's not sensible to consider this.

Q: How do we know if the Japanese government is telling the whole story?
Sir John: There would be a series of explosions at the reactors - the Japanese government cannot hide that if it were to be the case.

Q: Why is the French giving different advice?
Sir John: Their advice is not based on science.

Q: Any reason for people in Tokyo to take potassium iodide? Children, pregnant mothers?
Sir John: The Health Protection Agency is on the line. If we are looking at the "worst case scenario" it would be sensible for pregnant women, children and nursing mothers to take stabilising drugs as their thyroids are more sensitive radioactive iodine. However there is no need for anyone in Tokyo to take these drugs now. If necessary, there would be plenty of warning for people in Tokyo to take the tablets.

Finally, we are continuing to monitor this situation every day, with nuclear and health experts."

Keep safe and stay calm!

Our thoughts, prayers, and hopes for a quick recovery are with all those who have been affected by this crisis.

Update on Japan's Nuclear Position- Wednesday 16th March

2011-03-16T05:18:00.000-07:00

This is a statement issued through the British Chamber of Commerce (BCCJ) from the British Government's Chief Scientific Officer Professor John Beddington with regard to the developments following the explosion at Fukushima nuclear plant. It is long, but very much worth reading

"What I’m going to do is go into a bit of a stream of consciousness about how we see the situation and then I’ll talk about what would be a reasonable worst case, what we think is the most likely case, but also, you know,[unclear] all the time. The basic situation is, you know, is the Japanese are trying to keep the reactors cool by pumping sea water that will keep the temperature down; that’s their first line of defence. And up to now that’s been working… reasonably well. Basically the reactor lies within a large containment vessel. But if it isn’t cooled particularly well, then the pressure in the containment vessel goes up and it reaches a level where it can’t cope. At that stage the Japanese authorities deliberately release a mixture of steam and hydrogen gas and so on into the atmosphere. This is really quite modest amounts of radioactive material and it’s not likely, by and large, one shouldn’t be concerned about it.
It appears however that from this morning’s results that one of the containment vessels may be somewhat cracked. That’s new information that came through I think like 5 in the morning Japan time. The situation is still much the same. What they’re going to continue to try to do is keep the temperature low, keep the pressure within the containment vessels within those tolerance limits. That will involve very limited amounts of radioactive material going out. Now that’s what is I think is happening at the moment. Now the first thing to say about that is do we have any concerns now in terms of human health. Well the answer is yes we do, but only in the immediate vicinity of the reactors. So the 20 kilometre exclusion zone the Japanese have actually imposed is sensible and proportionate. If they extended out a little bit more to 30 kms, that is well within the sort of parameters that we would think are extremely safe.
Let me now talk about what would be a reasonable worst case scenario. If the Japanese fail to keep the reactors cool and fail to keep the pressure in the containment vessels at an appropriate level, you can get this, you know, the dramatic word “meltdown”. But what does that actually mean? What a meltdown involves is the basic reactor core melts, and as it melts, nuclear material will fall through to the floor of the container. There it will react with concrete and other materials … that is likely… remember this is the reasonable worst case, we don’t think anything worse is going to happen. In this reasonable worst case you get an explosion. You get some radioactive material going up to about 500 metres up into the air. Now, that’s really serious, but it’s serious again for the local area. It’s not serious for elsewhere even if you get a combination of that explosion it would only have nuclear material going in to the air up to about 500 metres. If you then couple that with the worst possible weather situation i.e. prevailing weather taking radioactive material in the direction of Greater Tokyo and you had maybe rainfall which would bring the radioactive material down do we have a problem? The answer is unequivocally no. Absolutely no issue. The problems are within 30 km of the reactor. And to give you a flavour for that, when Chernobyl had a massive fire at the graphite core, material was going up not just 500 metres but to 30,000 feet. It was lasting not for the odd hour or so but lasted months, and that was putting nuclear radioactive material up into the upper atmosphere for a very long period of time. But even in the case of Chernobyl, the exclusion zone that they had was about 30 kilometres. And in that exclusion zone, outside that, there is no evidence whatsoever to indicate people had problems from the radiation. The problems with Chernobyl were people were continuing to drink the water, continuing to eat vegetables and so on and that was where the problems came from. That’s not going to be the case here. So what I would really re-emphasise is that this is very problematic for the area and the immediate vicinity and one has to have concerns for the people working there. Beyond that 20 or 30 kilometres, it’s really not an issue for health."

View the full transcript here;
http://ukinjapan.fco.gov.uk/en/news/?view=News&id=566799182

Keep safe and stay calm!

Our thoughts, prayers, and hopes for a quick recovery are with all those who have been affected by this crisis.

Further Update on Japan's Nuclear Position

2011-03-15T17:18:00.000-07:00

Following on from my message yesterday evening, please see US Ambassador Roos statement below, that is in line with the BCCJ report in my previous posting;

"March 15, 2011 02:30

Today our hearts remain with our Japanese friends who, after suffering this devastating tragedy just four days ago, have to undertake recovery and reconstruction and address the ongoing nuclear emergency.

We understand that many of you are anxious and have questions in the shadow of the Fukushima emergency, since we are in the midst of a complex, constantly changing, and unpredictable situation. In this fluid situation, our commitment to our citizens is to accumulate accurate information and assess it sufficiently in order to make important judgments.

Since the first reports of trouble with the reactors, American nuclear experts have worked around the clock to analyze data, monitor developments, and provide clear assessments on the potential dangers. While at times we have had only limited access to information, I am personally committed to assuring that our experts have as much access and information as possible, and the necessary resources to understand the situation. I have personally been deeply engaged in these efforts.

After a careful analysis of data, radiation levels, and damage assessments of all units at Fukushima, our experts are in agreement with the response and measures taken by Japanese technicians, including their recommended 20kms radius for evacuation and additional shelter-in-place recommendations out to 30kms.

Let me also address reports of very low levels of radiation outside the evacuation area detected by U.S. and Japanese sensitive instrumentation. This bears very careful monitoring, which we are doing. If we assess that the radiation poses a threat to public health, we will share that information and provide relevant guidance immediately.

The United States will continue to work around the clock to provide precise and up-to-date information supported by expert analysis to ensure the safety and security of our citizens and to help Japan in its time of great need. U.S. citizens in need of emergency assistance should send an e-mail to JapanEmergencyUSC@state.gov with detailed information about their location and contact information, and monitor the U.S. Department of State website at travel.state.gov."

Keep safe and stay calm!

Our thoughts, prayers, and hopes for a quick recovery are with all those who have been affected by this crisis.

Update on the Japan's Nuclear Postion

2011-03-15T03:38:00.000-07:00

Over the past 24-48 hours in the Expatriate Community in Japan we have witnessed an exodus of our clients to overseas locations in light of the situation with the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plants. We are also now witnessing an exodus of people (both foreign and Japanese) out of the Tokyo region towards Nagoya, Osaka, Kobe and other Kansai areas. All of this is to be expected, and is perhaps sensible behaviour on the part of the companies and people involved, to move quickly in a very uncertain situation.

However, I have just received the following report through the British Chamber of Commerce and the British Embassy that dispells any need to panic or any threats of catastrophic disaster. Please take a look at the following and feel at ease that things are slowly being brought under control;

"Update on Japan’s Nuclear Power station situation

March 15th 2011, 17.00

Telephone briefing from Sir John Beddington, the UK’s Chief Scientific adviser and Hilary Walker Deputy Director Emergency Preparedness at the Department of Health.

“Unequivocally, Tokyo will not be affected by the radiation fallout of explosions that have occurred or may occur at the Fukushima nuclear power stations.”

The danger area is limited to within the 30 kilometer evacuation zone and no one will be allowed to enter this area other than those directly involved in the emergency procedures currently being undertaken at both Fukushima 1 & 2.

Sir John went on to answer a series of questions including a comparison between Chernobyl and Japan. He said, “they are entirely different. Chernobyl exploded and there was a subsequent fire with radioactive materials being launched 30,000 ft into the air”. The maximum height of any Fukushima explosions would be no more than 500 metres.

“The amount of radiation that has been released is miniscule and would have to be in the order of 1,000 or more for it to be a threat to humans” This was confirmed by Hilary Walker.

Sir John went on to say that the Japanese authorities are doing their best to keep the reactors cooled and that this is a continuing operation. All workers on site dealing with the emergency are being fully decontaminated at the end of each shift.

When asked how reliable the information coming from the Japanese authorities was as to radiation levels he said, “this cannot be fabricated and the Japanese authorities are posting all the readings on the recognized international information sites which they are obliged to do. Independent verification shows that the data provided are accurate”.

In answer to a specific question from the Head of the BritishSchool in Tokyo, Sir John Beddington and Hilary Walker said that there was no reason at all for the school to be closed unless there were other issues such as power outages and transport problems.

David Fitton, First Minister at the British Embassy in Tokyo moderated the teleconference and confirmed that a transcript of the briefing will be available on the Embassy website later today."

Keep safe and stay calm!

Our thoughts, prayers, and hopes for a quick recovery are with all those who have been affected by this crisis.

New Resident Card for Japan Relocations in 2012

2011-02-20T17:56:00.000-08:00

Early in January this year, I visited the Counsellor of the Immigration Bureau within the Justice Ministry to deliever the EBC White Paper and explain our concerns with the upcoming change from the current Alien Registration Card to the new "Resident Card".

For information the EBC White Paper, you can view our recommendations here; http://www.ebc-jp.com/index.php/committees/list-of-committees/759

Or for the whole white paper, please download here; http://www.ebc-jp.com/downloads/2010-WP-E.pdf

I was very encouraged by both the attitude of the Counsellor Koide in terms of listening to our concerns and the way in which the Immigration Bureau is genuinely looking for the best system for not only their ease of management, but also for the convenience of all foreigners in Japan. Here are some points that came from the meeting;

- Most visa categories will have their validity length extended from 3 years to 5 years. Re-entry permits will be extended in line with this too (more on re-entry permits below). Good benefit for most foreigners here.

- The date of implementation of the new system will be announced in autmun of this year (2011). As per the bill passed with regard to these changes, implementation must by made by July 2012.

- Residential address updates will be made at your local ward / city / town office. Updating your local office will result in automatic updating of your Immigration Records held with the Immigration Bureau.

- On implementation of this system, all foreign residents will be placed into "Jumin Toroku (Resident's Record)" like any other Japanese. This will result in all new foreigners to Japan having to submit a "Jumin Toroku Application" to their local ward / city / town office on arrival, in addition to anything required for the "Resident Card Application".

- The new system will see "Re-Entry Permits" exempt as long as you re-enter Japan within 12-months. The Immigration Bureau has confirmed that 99% of foreigners leaving Japan on the current Re-Entry Permit system return within 12-months. They forsee few issues with what happens after exceeding 12-months if you don't have a re-entry permit.

- The bill passed that will change the "Alien Registration Act" keeps the re-entry permit system. While we are not sure to the meaning behind this, it would appear that for long terms out of Japan and for some "special cases" (that no doubt concern those of Korean and Chinese descent) re-entry permits will still be required.

- The Counsellor confirmed that the Immigration Bureau will be reducing the information placed on the new "Resident Card" to about half the number of categories as the current version, and that only these displayed categories will be kept in the IC Card within the Resident Card. They have indicated that they completely understand the privacy issues related to the Resident Card, and will be making sure that a high level of security is maintained for the new card.

Things look very promising for a more convenient system to be introduced in 2012. However, for arriving foreigners there are still going to be the same initial visits to your local authorities to get yourself registered!

Vulnerability in Relocation

2011-02-10T22:47:00.000-08:00

I have worked with many people on their relocations to Japan. A variety of personalities, situations, backgrounds; every relocation is different. What I hadn't thought much about was vulnerability; the fear of shame, not be accepted or not being able to connect.

The following is one of the most thought-provoking TED presentations I have seen.

As relocation consultants and supporters of people's lives in Japan, we all need to consider vulnerability more.

Cognitive Surplus and Relocation

2011-02-06T12:12:00.000-08:00

I have recently read Clay Shirky's book "Cognitive Surplus" that is good background to social media and "creativity and generosity in a connected age".

For anyone who can't quite get their head around social media and its place in our chaning society, I would highly recommend the read; Buy from Amazon

Shirky describes 4 necessary components for social media to exist;

1. Means- The growth of the Internet and the new ability to "publish" content publically at little or no cost.

2. Motive- In any field, for any hobby or interest, amateurs have always existed. ie. People that love their particular activity for the beauty of the activity, not money or any other phony motivation, but for the pure love of doing whatever they do. Like minds with the motive to do what they love can now connect with each other so much easier.

3. Opportunity- Digital networks make sharing cheap. In the old days, if you wrote a book and wanted others to read it, you got it printed through a publisher....... at a very high cost. Now you can offer your digital book to thousands of people for almost nothing. In past lives, people didn't share, but not because they didn't want to, but because the opportunity did not present itself. Social media has changed this, and amateurs now have the opportunity to share their works.

1, 2 and 3 above, are basically about "community", "cost" and "clarity". An increase in the size of communities, a decrease in the cost of sharing and clarity in the presentation of information make it possible to increasingly combine information and knowledge like never before. But there is a 4th ingredient needed to make social media work.

4. CULTURE- People's beahaviour toward one another isn't fully defined by the market or just the motive or opportunity, but also by the culture that exists within that community. A community needs a set of shared assumptions about how it should go about their activities; in order to be fully functional a group has to do more than just understand what its members care about or love. The book uses the example of groups within "PatientsLikeMe.com"; basically people with like illnesses who share their experiences, feelings, fear, etc. Hospitals, doctors and the like have not been able to cultivate such groups in the past, as the culture of their profession is to maintain the "privacy of information" and not share the records of their patients. The groups on "PatientsLikeMe.com" have a different culture; they are willing to share their medical records for the benefit of others.

It is in this way that Social Media not only requires culture as an ingredient to success, but Social Media is also changing the culture of many things that could not be changed in previous worlds. It is my desire to, likewise, change the culture in relocation for the better of the industry.

Senior Citizens and Relocation

2011-01-22T00:17:00.000-08:00

Increasingly, senior citizens are relocating. "Really?" I hear you saying, but Japanese seniors are really active and they travel quite extensively. There are those that just do the regular 5 night 6 day travel package, but what is an increasingly growing market is Japanese going overseas to "live" or at least to "stay in one location" for 2 weeks or more.

In Japan this kind of travel is known as "Long Stay". ie. Not the short stay of a regular travel package, but a "longer stay". Recently, I have actually heard this referred to as "Medium Stay" or "Mid Stay", as a good part of the market are not really "living" overseas for any extraodinary period, but simply for 2-6 weeks.

Our organization, not wishing to miss the boat has set up www.LongStayer.com and "Club H&R", as we are interested in the senior citizen market and how we can assist retirees and their famalies with their wish to spend some extended time overseas. Our initial services concentrate on fun language classes, and providing Japanese senior citizens with a variety of opportunities to interact with foreigners in Japan. We feel that many senior citizens needs some preparation / help with achieving their wish to "Long Stay" to other countries, and we also feel they need a space to share their experiences when they return. Watch our space!!

I read with interest an article in the Nikkei Newspaper last week that shared the following data on Japanese travellers in 2010;
- Of male travellers of all ages leaving Japan, the number of travellers in 2010 dropped by 10% compared to 2009.
- Of female travellers of all ages leaving Japan, the number of travellers in 2010 increased by 5% compared to 2009.
- Of men in their early 60s travelling overseas, the numbers grew by 3% compared to 2009
- Of women in their early 60s travelling overseas, the numbers grew by 15% compared to 2009

This just shows that senior citizen travel is outgrowing the average amount of travel of the rest of the population.

The same Nikkei article refers to 3 ways that senior citizens spend their days;

"W Days"- Are days that seniors spend their time around home. "W" stands for "walking"; quite often a stroll with their partners or their dogs.

"T Days"- Are days that seniors have "tea" with their friends and chat. There is good business here for coffee shops and cafes.

"C Days"- Are the days seniors venture the most. "C" stands for "culture". These are the days when seniors attend their favorite activities, go to movies, learn a language, teach a skill from their child hood, etc.

What is important here is that on these 3 types of days, the senior citizens are not about "buying stuff", but instead they are about purchasing experiences and enjoying the passing of time. This is something to keep in mind if you are interested in this market!!!

The H&R Group is MORE THAN RELOCATION!

www.morethanrelo.com

Is Tokyo Real Estate Back? Is Japan Relocation On The Way Back?

2011-01-21T02:47:00.000-08:00

Condominiums put up for sale in the capital and surrounding region grew 22% in 2010, indicating that the real estate industry might be on the way out of a 6 year stint of falling prices.

You can read further here;
http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2011/01/19/tokyo-real-estate-back-and-bubbling/

In the rental housing market in Tokyo, while things are better, it is still possible to obtain 10- 20% discounts on listed prices. There is still an abundance of availability, but we are seeing things moving much faster in 2011 than tha later months of October, November and December 2010.

There is a vibe coming into this year that wasn't there in 2010. Things are generally moving in a faster pace in 2011 from what I feel.

In our relocation sphere, there is still a net flow out of Japan, but I feel the net number is decreasing in Tokyo. Hopefully, by the end of 2011 we will see the net flow change into Japan, which should see a firming up of rental housing prices in Tokyo.

For Nagoya and Osaka, the cycle is still 6-12 months behind Tokyo, so a positive improvement in Tokyo in 2011 will no doubt see a chain reaction in the other main centers in 2012.

There is still a long way to go, but I like the feel of 2011!!

Housing and Relocation with I-Pads

2011-01-11T01:11:00.000-08:00

Our housing and relocation organization, H&R Group, is pleased to announce the launch of I-Pad development that will enable us to conduct Home Finding, Settling In and Orientation Services using the hand held tablet.

For “Home Finding Services”, the I-Pad allows us to show the housing tour “on-line”, including external and internal pictures, floor plans, property details, comparison charts of the properties in the tour and of course maps that show the location. All at the touch of a button!!

For other relocation related services, the I-Pad allows us to have immediate access to a wide range of information on the web. Resources such as train timetables and travel times, cross cultural applications on Japan, conversion tools for currency and measurement, and everything else the World Wide Web has to offer. The I-Pad allows us to offer so much more out of the office.

In addition, our offices are currently digitalizing all the information we have internally, and we are placing this in a secure, log-in protected area of www.ReloJapan.com. This will not only enable our clients to access our internally prepared relocation materials at any time, but it also enables us to immediately be able to show our clients this information on the I-Pad when we are out of the office. The I-Pad allows us to immediately refer to all the information we have, even if we are in the car, viewing a property or conducting an orientation of a local area.

Finally, in conjunction with these developments, we would also like to announce the launch of our e-book “Japan Living”. With more than 400 pages on every aspect of Japan, you can view this on your PC or I-Pad here; www.paradigm.co.jp/morethanrelo/

The “H&R Group” is MORE than Relocation!

www.MoreThanRelo.com

Child Allowances in Japan

2010-12-02T18:35:00.000-08:00

For those of you who have relocated to Japan with children, please do be aware that you are eligible for the same "Child Allowances" that Japanese citizens receive.

There is no income cieling set on the Child Allowances; just a very complicated application process at your local ward office.

The allowance is a flat 13,000 yen fee for each child under the age of Junior High School (15 years of age). Furthermore, it was just announced that for children up to the age of 3, an additional 7,000 yen will be paid, or 20,000 yen per month.

For more details about yesterday's announcement for children up to the age of 3 years, please see the following; http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20101203a7.html

If you would like help with making an application or would like to know more, please take a look here; http://www.japaninfoswap.com/blog/index.php?/archives/199-Changes-to-child-benefit-laws-in-Japan-will-benefit-foreign-families-as-well!.html

Might be time to make a baby or two!!

The Future of Japan: What Can Be Done?

2010-11-18T00:37:00.000-08:00

I was priveleged to be part of a delegation of executives today, through the European Business Council (EBC), that visited the Ministry of Economics, Trade and Industry (METI) for an open discussion on 2 issues surrounding the future of Japan;

1. Human Capital- How can Japan build human capital that the Japanese business community needs to take part in the global economy

2. Foreign Direct Investment- What can Japan do to incentivise it

METI and the Japan government appear to be genuinely concerned about Japan's position in the global community.

The fundamental basis of the argument was set early in the meeting by the Japan President (a Japanese gentleman with a glowing presence) of one of the world's largest and most successful multinational companies commented that "The Government of Japan is only ever considering how to get in the game, but they are never considering how to WIN THE GAME".

This CEO went on to say that Japan needs to stand up and do something extra-ordinary. If Japan's corporate tax rate is 42%, and the rest of the world is around 25- 30%, then how about Japan standing up and offering a corporate tax rate of 15% to any foreign direct investment in Japan?

Or, he suggested "If you want research and development in Japan, why not offer a multi-national company 100 million dollars to move their facility here?"

As this CEO quite rightly mentions, 100 million dollars or a 15% tax rate is a game winner. A mediocre 5% reduction in the corporate tax rate will not incentivise anyone to shift their business to Japan.

The delegation then openly asked METI to consider a number of other points;

- Female participation in the workforce is essential. How about being the world leader in "Childcare Facilities", so females can go back to work? Reform is needed to incentivise females back into the workforce, and a mind change is required in Japanese child raising that placing your children in facilities is OK!

- A mind change is needed in Japan with regard to having the young youth of Japan get overseas experience. Overseas experience needs to be seen as the "thing to do". The Japanese government has got to send this message. Why not incentivise US and European universities to come to Japan, or fully fund them here?

- Young Japan needs to be encouraged to challenge things. There is a lack of urgency in understanding that if the young of Japan don't stand up, they won't have a future at all. Once again, someone needs to send this message, and someone needs to encourage entrpreneurship.

- Japan needs a silicon valley. There are a number of leading industries in Japan that could lead Japan into the future; mobile technologies, data center offerings, senior citizen business, self health care, and many more, but they need a "silicon valley" to assist in their development

- Japan needs to sell itself better to the world. There is an incredible amount of potential in tourism and other industries if only Japan can market themselves professionally to the world. This means being strategic with advertising such as "Yokoso Japan" that was incredibly poorly coordinated with each part of the process done independently by a different vendor (a review from the Japan President of one of the world's leading advertising agencies).

The summary being that while the Japanese Government is finally seeing that they have to do something, they are NOT "getting the point". To win the game, you have to stand up and be different. Be bold. Do something that nobody is thinking of doing. It was a pity that such a great discussion was only heard by a couple of "kacho" from METI / JETRO. That alone just shows the extent of the urgency...... there is still not enough urgency......

It really does start with the young of Japan. They are the future, and the Japanese government has to start sending the message to get them out of Japan to learn other languages and cultures. This coupled with some "BIG INITIATIVES" that shock the world and actually are game changing "FDI bringers" would really turn Japan around.

More Than Japan Housing, More Than Japan Cars and Furniture, More than Japan Serviced Apartments, More Than Japan Destination Services, More Than Japan License Conversion, More Than Japan Information!

The H&R Group is MORE THAN RELOCATION!
www.morethanrelo.com

Success in Relocation Team Work

2010-11-17T03:37:00.000-08:00

I was priveleged to attend a seminar held today by Michiko Achilles, Chief Human Resources Officer at Aozora Bank, and be able to apply what I learnt to our real estate and relocation industry.

Ms. Achilles ended her presentation today with 7 pointers to sucessful interpersonal relations with a view towards "diversity in the workplace"; something that Japan seriously needs to look at to revive their economy.

1. Test your assumptions (may be what you think is right isn't....)

2. Respect differences (different opinions, different personalities... etc.)

3. Understand yourself (you can't understand others until you understand yourself)

4. Demonstrate empathy (in Japanese; 相手の立場から考える）

5. Find things in common (what do you have in common with the people you work with.....?)

6. Don't shoot for perfection

7. Enjoy differences (make good of a diverse work place!)

Not bad advice for anyone looking to improve their teamwork!

Data Protection in Relocation

2010-11-06T19:08:00.000-07:00

I attended a session on “Data Protection” with a view to doing what is right for our Japan (Tokyo and Nagoya) Real Estate, Relocationa and Leasing Company. I would like to share what I learned.

1. While the security provided on by “systems” is important, staff awareness and training on data protections is often overlooked.

ie. It is good to have passwords, timeout functions, firewalls, spam protection and keys for cabinets, but if we are not aware of what data protection is required, and security training is not provided, then any systems we have don’t have much meaning.

2. The main steps in understanding data protection properly are;

Creating Values, Educating, Discussing, Training and Re-Training.

3. Independent items of data provide little risk. For example, a list of names has no particular risk if leaked alone. However, if the list of names also gives corresponding address information, phone numbers, email addresses, birth dates etc., then it quickly becomes a high risk in terms of data security. It is therefore the combination of data that is important. You need to correctly protect your combinations of data.

4. Within our offices, it is a good idea to consider the kinds of combinations of data that exist.
eg. Names, addresses, birth dates, mobile phone numbers, bank account details, work permits / visas, passport copies, registration card documents, medical histories, what else?

5. It is also best to consider where else we have the data mentioned in 4 above. Do we have it in our cars? Do we have it at home?

6. There are two types of data to consider;
a. Data At Rest: Data that is sitting in one stationary place
b. Data In Motion: Data that is moving from place to place

7. Data protection is all about reducing opportunistic events. One often implemented policy is a "Clean Desk Policy", as messy desks with a lot of diffirent information on them can create the "opportunity" for information to get into the wrong hands.

8. Even for small companies it is recommended to build a "Security Policy", to train employees on it, and then regularly re-train them.

Trends in Global Relocation

2010-11-03T13:59:00.000-07:00

Having just attended the Worldwide Employer Relocation Council (WERC) Conference in Seattle, here a summary of the trends that were reiterated throughout the 3 days.

- Policy is becoming increasingly global and emphasis is going on flexibility to meet business needs
- Mobility administration within companies are outsourcing more, but there are now less internal resources and therefore more emphasis on regional centers taking responsibility
- There is continued pressure on cost control. and through this a lot of emphasis on how you can “add value”.
- All companies are under pressure to financially perform, so expansion continues in terms of responding to new patterns, M&As and new country start ups. It is different activity, but there is vibrant new activity out there.
- Suppliers / vendors must demonstrate their value.
- There is now a never ending race to keep your business! It is all about MORE FOR LESS, so you continually need more innovation, more efficiency and less cost.
- Innovation is needed on a local and regional level, not just at the level of relocation management companies or global HR.
- There is a continuing need for cost saving initiatives
- More diversity in programs is being demanded in the "new norm". Things are changing fast, so flexibility is key. eg. There are tighter tax restrictions in some countries, many companies are placing more emphasis on consistency of programs across locations and there are more short term assignments now- up to 18 months in length.
- There is a reluctance to relocate, mainly in the US, due to the decline in house values, as people are scared to sell as it will realize large cash losses to them.
- There is a re-assignment of workplace mobility within talent management going on, and talent management people now often at the table when making decisions
- Assignment management services are a large market; only 14% of this outsourced in the US vs 60- 70% of other services
- RFP and RFI activity is the highest ever. Companies are out to bid, so there is a natural rate of attrition; vendors / suppliers will change
- Contract renewal periods for supplier / vendor contracts have been shortened
- Turnover in decision makers within companies is high; multiple relationships need to be managed to maintain business
- Master service agreements and “one vendor”agreeements are becoming popular; ie refined supplier relations and less suppliers are wanted in some cases.
- There is a strong need to manage data on everything you do
- There is a strong need to use this data and show your value

Some of these repeat the same message, but it is obvious that our industry is a much different place compared to pre-Lehman days.

The H&R Group is MORE THAN RELOCATION!

www.morethanrelo.com

Turning Up Sales in Relocation

2010-10-16T01:39:00.000-07:00

I was privileged earlier this week to attend a seminar by a Japanese gentleman, Vice President Yokoyama-san of “Attack Sales Associates”.

His presentation was one of the better I have seen from a Japanese person, because he kept it very simple. There were 3 basic points on how to increase our sales in real estate and relocation.

1. You must find a place to make the sales happen; this is done by “Sales on Foot” and by saying “Yes”. You have to visit your clients as much as possible (by foot) and you want them to say “Yes” as many times as possible in front of you, even if you are just talking about the weather. ie. You have to get out there and keep the conversation positively “yes”.

2. You must make a habit of things. Habits are created by the following formula;

IMPACT x FREQUENCY = EXTENT OF HABIT
ie. To really change something is to make a habit of it, and do it without thinking about it. In order to make a habit of something, the impact of the change and the frequency it is repeated determines if it becomes a habit or not. If it doesn’t become a habit, it is likely you have actually changed.

3. You must understand things correctly. Understanding comes from the following formula;

WORDS / EXPLANATIONS x EXPERIENCE
ie. In order to really understand something you have to hear about it and then experience it or do it.

If you want to increase your sales you therefore need to implement these things into your sales delivery. Yokoyama-san drummed home the follow things;
- You must find a way to touch your clients many times
- You must meet them regularly (frequency is everything, not the length of the meeting)
- Talk about yourself. By doing so you will naturally find common points / interests with the person you are selling to, and that will help you build a relationship
- Of meeting with someone, phoning them and emailing them, only meeting and phoning have impact
- Once you have built trust through a relationship based on frequent visits and finding commonalities with the person/s you are working with, you must understand what they need
- Once you truly understand, you then must lead your client to making the sale

Japan Housing Starts Climb Dramatically

2010-10-03T13:04:00.000-07:00

Japan's housing starts rose 20.5% year on year to 71,972 units in August, expanding for the third straight month, the Land Ministry said on September 30, according to Nikkei. The increase was the steepest since the 54.2% jump in September 2008.

The increase appears to be due to the mortgage loan tax break as well as inventory released by condominium sellers.

Here are the main 3 areas of increase;

1. Starts for owner-occupied houses grew 15.5% to 29,036 units, up for the tenth straight month.

2. Rental housing starts climbed 16.9% to 25,892 units, marking the first increase in 21 months.

3. Starts for condominiums for sale soared 44.6% to 6,617 units.

While this alone doesn't signify the return of a healthy economy, it is encouraging that things are on the way up, and it is these kind of reports that slowly help to build business confidence.

Building Trust in Relocation

2010-10-02T00:51:00.000-07:00

I have recently been quite involved in a project to "build trust" or re-build it, and today I would like to share some of my findings. Business, well good business, is all about trust. For example, if you can build good trust pricing doesn't become the priority in the business conversation. For these kinds of reasons this has been a really useful exercise for me.

WHAT IS TRUST?
- Although trust sometimes seems invisible, it is the result of continuous attentiveness and activity.
- Trust is not a medium or glue that holds relationships and societies together, it is not a lubricant, it is not an atmosphere, nor is it “stuff”.
- Trust is dynamic; it involves personal responsibility, commitment and change
- Trust is social practice; it is not a set of beliefs. It is not just a matter of individual psychology or attitude
- Thinking and talking about trust will not only influence our beliefs, but will also change our behavior in the world and with one another
- Breaches of trust do not mark the end of trust, but are part of the process of trusting
- Trust is not only earned, it must be given. ie. It is not just about trustworthiness and who can be trusted.
- Trust is a matter of reciprocal relationships, not of prediction, risk and reliance
- Trust is transformative. It is not a matter of trusting or being trusted so much as it is a matter of changing each other and the relationship through trust.
- Trust is a matter of making and keeping commitments and the problem of trust is not loss of confidence, but the failure to cultivate commitment making.
- Trust is a matter of mood and emotional skills; a function of the imagination as well as the product of negotiation and understanding.
- Moods and emotions are engagements in the world, not just feelings. Trust is therefore not a feeling.
- Our emotional practices can change and be cultivated. We can (and must) learn to trust.
- Trust involves sincerity, authenticity, integrity, virtue and honor (a matter of ethics).
- The worst enemies of trust are cynicism, selfishness and a naive conception of life in which one expects more than one is willing to give.
- Trust goes hand in hand with truth. Lying is always a breach of trust.
- Authentic trust can never be taken for granted, but must be continuously cultivated through commitments and truthfulness.
- Competence is the ability to perform as expected, according to standards appropriate to the role or the task in question. To trust people involves, amongst other things, assessing the level of competence.
- Trusting is a decision (or a sequence of decisions) that opens up the world for us, builds and deepens our relationships and creates new possibilities.

TYPES OF TRUST
SIMPLE TRUST: The trust that infants have for their primary caretakers. Trust that is taken for granted or assumed. It cannot be recovered if it is lost.

BLIND TRUST: Is denial. Evidence for distrust has been presented, but it is denied. With blind trust one sees but refuses to see. Blind trust always has an element of self-deception, or at the least the will to be self-deceived.

CONDITIONAL TRUST: Trust is conditional, focused and limited. To recognize these limits is part of authentic trusting. Eg. You trust your dentist to fix your teeth, but not to look after your house.

AUTHENTIC TRUST: Trust need neither be blind nor simple. Simple trust is unreflective. Blind trust is self-deceptive. Authentic trust is both reflective and honest with itself and others. All forms of trust involve counting on other people and as such they are vulnerable to betrayal. All trust involves vulnerability and risk and nothing would count as trust if there were no possibility of betrayal. However, betrayal is not surprising or devastating to authentic trust. Authentic trust is trust that is well aware of the risks, dangers and liabilities of trust, but maintains the self-confidence to trust nevertheless. Authentic trust, like true love and genuine faith, is possible only in the light of a breakdown in trust. One cannot authentically trust unless one has experienced disappointment, loss or betrayal.

AUTHENTIC TRUST
Authentic trust is self-scrutiny, caring about the long-term relationship and not just the outcome, negotiation and mutual understanding, a willingness to make and stand by one’s own commitments, a keen awareness of the risks and liabilities and the recognition that taking on these risks and liabilities is above all one’s own responsibility.

Canada Means Business- COP10 and The Environment- August 25th 2010

2010-08-21T02:50:00.000-07:00

On behalf of the TJCS Business Committee, I am proud to announce the third installment of the 2010 event series Canada Means Business on August 25th, 2010.

As Nagoya will host the COP10 in October, three speakers will specially focus on environmental issues. Not only in business, but also in our daily lives, much attention toward the environment is important. Such useful information will be offered to you at this event. This event will bring you the opportunity to communicate with many different companies. By doing so, it expands your business network and eventually will lead to develop international business relations between Japan and Canada.

We look forward to seeing you there!
When: August 25th (Wed) 19:00 - 21:00 (Registration starts from 18:30)
Where: Hotel Coms Nagoya, Cafe Lento
Address: 2-23-22 Higashisakura, Naka-ku, Nagoya
Hotel Coms Contact: Tel: 052-931-5811, Fax : 052-931-5808
Price:
TJCS Corporate Members: 5,000 Yen
TJCS Regular Members: 5,500 Yen
Affiliate Assoc. (ACCJ, ANZCCJ): 6,000 Yen
Non-Members: 6,500 Yen

Spaces are limited, sign up today to guarantee your spot. Click here to sign up now!
The Canada Means Business series continues throughout 2010 and 2011 with the following dates.
August 25, 2010 Canada Means Business, Meet and Greet
October 27, 2010 Canada Means Business (TBD)
January 26, 2011 Canada Means Business (TBD)
If you are interested in organizing business event with Tokai Japan Canada Society business committee, please contact business@tjcs.jp

New Ownership for H&R Group in Tokyo and Nagoya Relocation

2010-08-21T00:35:00.000-07:00

NEW OWNERSHIP FOR H&R GROUP

Effective August 20th, Oak Lawn Marketing, Inc. has finalized the sale of its 100% owned subsidiaries H&R Consultants K.K and ReloJapan K.K. (known as the H&R Group) to private equity investment company Appreciate Co., Ltd. (“Appreciate”) and owner Hiroyuki Kurihara.

Through the acquisition, Appreciate has established a 100% subsidiary “H&R Group K.K.,” which will act as the parent and holding company of H&R Consultants K.K., and ReloJapan K.K.

H&R Group and Appreciate will make every effort to enhance the service provision of H&R Consultants and ReloJapan in real estate and relocation services to fully meet the global mobility needs of corporations in Japan.

Detailed information is as follows:

Background

H&R Consultants is an officially licensed real estate company that provides real estate and relocation services to both multi-national and Japanese corporations. ReloJapan is the sister company of H&R Consultants, and is 100% devoted to destination service provision and management of the entire relocation process for assignees destined to Japan.
Appreciate is a private equity investment company that focuses on small to medium sized investments across all industries in Kanto and Chubu.

Comments from Stakeholders

Harry Hill, President, Oak Lawn Marketing Inc.
“I have tremendous affection for the H&R group of companies, as this was one of the first businesses I started in Japan. As per the evolution of Oak Lawn Marketing joining NTT DOCOMO, INC. in April of 2009, this transaction is “win-win” for all parties and will empower the H&R Group management to seek further growth in an environment that fully supports their culture and core business. I am incredibly proud to be involved in another entrepreneurial success story here in Japan.”

Scott Reid, Operating Officer, Oak Lawn Marketing Inc. (Former President of H&R Consultants and ReloJapan)
“I have great faith in Steve Burson and his management team and I believe this is a great step for the H&R Group. I am sure it is the consistent performance over many years that has made this possible. This move can only make the H&R Group greater and allow them to take things to the next level.”

Hiroyuki Kurihara, President, Appreciate Co., Ltd.
“My instincts told me from the first meeting with Steve Burson that this was an organization I wanted to invest in. Ultimately, the international feel of H&R Group’s culture, the consistent financial performance through different economic times and the potential for continued growth into the future are the factors that determined the value of this investment. I really look forward to working with all the H&R Team.”

Steve Burson, President of H&R Consultants K.K. and ReloJapan K.K.
“We owe so much to Oak Lawn Marketing for their support and guidance over the last 18 years. Furthermore, I am very grateful that we have been able to find a great home with Appreciate and Hiroyuki Kurihara.
While we will seek improvements in all areas of our business into the future, I am also happy to report that H&R Consultants and ReloJapan’s operations and staff, in its entirety, will remain unchanged.
None of this would have been possible without the support of our clients, vendors and friends, so I would like to take this opportunity to portray my sincere appreciation to you all and to ask for your continued support and guidance into the future. We look forward to working with you and your teams to forge even stronger relationships and provide even better service.”

Outline of H&R Group (as of August 20th, 2010)

Parent Company: H&R Group K.K.
President: Hiroyuki Kurihara
Location: Yokohama, Kanagawa (will later be moved to Aichi)
Capital: 40 million yen
Date of Establishment: August, 2010

Name of Company: H&R Consultants K.K.
President: Steve Burson
Location: Nagoya, Aichi
Capital: 40 million yen
Date of Establishment: 1993 (Nagoya), 2000 (Tokyo Branch)

Name of Company: ReloJapan K.K.
President: Steve Burson
Location: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Capital: 10 million yen
Date of Establishment: June 2001

Inquiries

Human Resources and Administration Division
H&R Group K.K.
TEL: 052-973-3957
E-MAIL: InfoRequest@MoreThanRelo.com
ATTN: Yuki Yamada / Aki Kamiya

Breakfast With The American Consulate In Nagoya

2010-08-21T00:22:00.000-07:00

I am pleased to organizing the following breakfast on September 3rd for the ACCJ. Please join if you can! Just 15 seats available, so book fast!

***********************************************************************
BREAKFAST MEETING WITH U.S. CONSULATE NAGOYA

DATE: Friday, September 3rd, 2010, 7:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.

VENUE: Hilton Nagoya, 28F, White Room

MAXIMUM ATTENDANCE: 15 people

COST: Members: 3,000 yen Non-Members: 4,000 yen

REGISTRATION AND CANCELLATION DEADLINE: Wed 1st September
***********************************************************************

Come and join us for an informal breakfast with all of the officers (andprobably a few of the local staff) at the U.S. Consulate in Nagoya.Nagoya's three American diplomats are Jonas Stewart, who was the Director of the Nagoya American Center (part of the U.S. Consulate) since 2007 and extended a year to be Principal Officer during the gap created by Max Kwak's retirement and the arrival next summer of Max'sreplacement.

Stephen Wheeler just arrived in Nagoya last month as the new Nagoya American Center Director, and Commercial Consul Edward Yagi (who also arrived in 2007) still has a couple of years left on his assignment as well.

Edward and Jonas are keen to update us on what theyhave seen and heard during their last three years in Nagoya and tointroduce Stephen to us. All three diplomats have agreed to give us their honest take on U.S.-Japan affairs, offer us their insights on business, cultural, and political issues, and answer any questions we have about U.S.-Japan relations, consular issues, or anything else of interest to the ACCJ community.

I am sure this will be a reallyinformative gathering, and also a rare and ideal opportunity to meet theentire U.S. Consulate diplomatic corps in one place, at one time.

Steve Burson and Andy Boone
Business Program Committee - Chubu

TO REGISTER: Visit <http://member.accj.or.jp/> and log in with yourmember ID and password.

If you have any questions, please contact NorikoKato at 052-229-1525, nkato@accj.or.jp, or fax to ACCJ Chubu Office: 052-222-8272

Cultural Differences in Providing Relocation Services

2010-08-02T17:43:00.000-07:00

I was priveleged to attend a seminar by Rochelle Kopp last week on bridging cultural differences as a leader in Japan. I found the session incredibly useful, not because it was incredibly new content, but because it refreshed me on the different backgrounds westerners and foreigners come from. We often forget the below when we are working with our Japanese colleagues, but when you think about it, it can be attributed to many of the problems.

The following is a summary of the seminar from my eyes on how Japanese people tend to be different from us in the West. It is a bunch of generalizations, but gives a good overview of how things happen in a Japanese office.

DECISION MAKING
- Decision making is very consensus driven.
- Decisions tend to take a long-time to make, as much “ne-mawashi” or (individual discussion with each stakeholder to gain their buy in) is required, before the formal decision is made
Different ways of approaching decision making, but in the long-run neither method is faster or slower (perhaps). For Japanese people, the time taken in the “lead-in” means that they are able to implement quicker when the decision is made.

WORK DELEGATION
- In the west we “delegate” work, but in Japan “delegation” takes a different form; it is not so much “delegation” as “working together”, and it looks like “micro-management” to the west
- The basis to delegation is “Hoo-Ren-Soo” (report, touch base and seek advice) and if this happens properly, there is a lot of back and forward on the delegated work, which would be regarded as micro-management in the west.

JAPANESE STAFF VALUE THESE THINGS HIGHLY
- Good company profile, prestige and recognition; often this can be done through CSR activities
- Group social events, group meetings, group coordination
- “Kikubari” or consideration for others feelings. There is an expectation for managers to be on the look out for how their staff “feel” about things, and that they understand how staff will feel under different circumstances.

GROWING TRUST WITH JAPANESE
- Be consistent in what you do. Act consistently.
- Spend time with your Japanese colleagues. Do lunches with them, do social events and dinners

SEEKING OPINIONS
- As Japanese communication is often “in-direct” or “non-verbal” seeking opinions can be difficult.
- Japanese typically don’t like conflict, so you need to be careful in how you ask for opinions; asking directly will not work in many cases (eg. Don’t ask “What do you think” or “What is your opinion”)
Advice for seeking opinions
1. Don’t say what you think first or don’t give your ideas first (particularly if there is hierarchy and you are of a higher level than the other Japanese members)
2. Be clear with what you are talking about; write things down as you go, use visual aids and use agendas
3. Once the topic is clear and set, use questions such as “Do you have any advice for me?” or “Do you see any difficulties with this?”

RECOGNITION
- Giving feedback in public is often counter-productive in Japan, as Japanese feel uncomfortable being singled out from amongst their peers. Giving feedback to teams in public is a better way to go.
- Japanese people generally dislike general positive feedback such as “I think you did a great job”, so you need to give concrete examples of what you like about them or what they are doing.
- Japanese are typically not good at providing “positive feedback” as it is not something taught in Japanese society historically (in fact many look down on positive feedback, as there is a saying “home-goroshi” or “killing by praise”). It is therefore recommended that training is undertaken on how to give positive feedback.
- Often Japanese prefer a different form of positive feedback such as being given a different status (job title, etc.) or being asked to join special projects, etc.

MOST RECOMMENDED WESTERN WAYS OF DOING THINGS (things you should implement!)
- Performance based reward systems
- Making an office fun
- Shorter working hours
- Hiring of those generally not respected by Japanese companies; female staff, staff over 50 years of age, and staff without “official qualifications"

TYPICAL JAPANESE BEHAVIOURS TO BE AWARE OF
- Japanese are often uncomfortable to tell you about things you don’t want to hear (ie. bad news) - Japanese are very harsh with each other when it comes to their level of English. They can be very un-accepting of other Japanese members with English levels better or worse than their own
- Japanese often believe there is “one best way to do things” through proven methods. This explains why they can be stubborn about doing things differently, if they believe they know the “one best way” and it is “proven”. In this case, the following wording can be useful; “I have a suggestion that would be even better”.

The above blows away some of the business theory suggested in Western business literature.... and makes you think!

Relocation from Japan to India

2010-07-28T05:24:00.000-07:00

My Brief Relocation from Japan to India......

I was recently privileged to visit 3 cities in the north of India; New Delhi, Lucknow and Dehradun in a whirlwind 5 day trip that involved lots of travel, a number of meetings, lots of heat, a crook stomach and a great experience that a normal tourist couldn’t get on a regular trip. Much of the enjoyment of the trip was thanks to my friend and colleague Anudeep who did all the planning, coordination and then took me around everywhere. Thanks, Anu.

There were two main things that struck me while I was in India;

1. The Middle Class- I was expecting a lot of poverty, and of course compared to Japan it exists in abundance. However, the poverty wasn’t to the extent I expected and I was presently surprised by what looked to be a very well educated and reasonably affluent middle class. While the middle class may not have the big house with back yard yet, they appear to have a reasonably good income and seem to be leading a good level of lifestyle.

2. The Lack of Infrastructure; In Particular, Water and Electricity- More than recognizing what India did not have, it was a more a recognition of how lucky we are in Japan and the Western World for unlimited amounts of water, a power supply that hardly ever goes down, and phone / data network that allows uninterrupted movement of information. India doesn’t have that, but in a good way they are not expecting it either. They are happy with the infrastructure they have, because it is what it is and they just go ahead with what they have. Buildings aren’t pristine anywhere you go and generally look shabby on the outside, but inside they are nicely decorated and internally designed, and for India the norm is 5 levels below what we are used to in developed countries..

What then struck me was the positive nature of all of India. Despite the above 2 points, most people understand that their economy is going to continue to grow and with it are coming a whole bunch of chances and changes. This attitude is sadly missing in Japan. Change should be a time to celebrate the chances it brings, but all I feel in Japan is people holding on for the old days to come back.

India is on the way up. I hope Japan is sensible enough to join with India and help it grow. Japan needs to work with the rest of Asia, and here is a perfect partner.

The H&R Group is MORE THAN RELOCATION!

www.morethanrelo.com

Quality of Living Rankings- Japan in Top 50 Cities for Relocation

2010-06-28T14:43:00.000-07:00

Mercer has just recently announced their "Quality of Living Survey" for 2010, which ranks 221 cities in the world against the base city New York set at 100. Japan ranks pretty well, with all major cities falling in the top 6o.

Here is the summary for Asia Pacific;

Auckland (4) retains its position as the highest-ranking city for quality of living in the region. Sydney follows at 10, Wellington at 12, Melbourne at 18 and Perth at 21. At 26, Canberra is new to the index. Singapore remains the highest-ranking Asian city at 28, followed by Japanese cities Tokyo (40), Kobe and Yokohama (both at 41), Osaka (51) and Nagoya (57). The region’s lowest-ranking cities are Dhaka in Bangladesh (206) and two cities new to the list – Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan (209) and Dushanbe in Tajikistan (210).

Mr Parakatil commented: “Quality of living declined in a few countries in Asia between the start of 2009 and 2010. Increasing threats of violence and terrorism, coupled with natural disasters such as earthquakes, typhoons and cyclones have had a negative impact on the quality of living in Asian cities. This may result in higher hardship allowances for expatriates sent to these countries.”

With a score of 138.9, Wellington (5) is the highest-ranking eco-city in the region followed by Adelaide (7), Kobe (9), Perth (12) and Auckland (13). Dhaka in Bangladesh (220) ranks lowest with a score of 30.9.

It is also of note that there is an "Eco Ranking" in this years survey. The eco-ranking is based on water availability and drinkability, waste removal, quality of sewage systems, air pollution and traffic congestion. Kobe is the highest ranked Japanese city at 9th, followed by Yokohama at 37th and Nagoya / Osaka tied for 50th.

For further information, please see the following;

SURVEY SUMMARY: http://www.mercer.com/qualityofliving
DETAILED REPORT: http://www.mercer.com/qualityoflivingpr#City_Ranking_Tables

Swimming Lessons; Learn It From Someone!

2010-06-28T00:18:00.000-07:00

The H&R Group is MORE THAN RELOCATION!
www.morethanrelo.com

When I was young, I used to hate swimming as much as I hated piano lessons. I disliked both of them with a passion, until of course I got into my twenties and then realized that I was an idiot.

I never went back to the piano, as I am literally tone deaf, but I have always enjoyed a variety of sports. So, with an ever expanding waist line, I decided it was time that I actually did learn to swim properly once and for all.

I initially tried to teach myself. Dumb idea…… this is where I learned a lesson that will stick with me for a long time. If you don’t understand something or want to learn a new hobby or sport, don’t just read about it or watch it on a DVD, get someone to teach you about it. Find a coach, a mentor, or attend a seminar where someone will teach you in a language you understand….. Trust me, learning things this way will speed up the process ten fold.

How do I know this? Well, I have started taking swimming lessons, and it is embarrassing how much I have learnt in 3 weeks, and the lesson is a group one!! It all seemed so easy looking at everyone else swimming in the pool, and it actually isn’t that difficult with practice, but you do need to learn the “how” from someone who knows and can point out what you are doing wrong, or how you improve what on what you have. I have made so much progress in 3 weeks that swimming has now become so much fun!

I now realize now why the best players in world sports have coaches, and having thought about this for a number of weeks, I strongly believe that “coaching” is not just for sports, but in fact for business and whatever you are challenging. A great example of this is the Entrepreneurship Mentor Initiative (EMI) being undertaken by the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ); an opportunity for budding entrepreneurs to learn things from others (see more at www.accj.or.jp).

If you need to get somewhere fast, learn from people that are doing it now!! Books are great, but they are not good at teaching you the “how” part, which is the difference between good implementation of your challenge and poor or no implementation. Learn it from someone!

Relocated to Tokyo? Need a Doctor?

2010-06-24T07:54:00.000-07:00

A good Doctor is hard to find, and a recommended doctor is gold. Here is a list of Doctors that were recommended by relocation specialists and other Expats in Tokyo. If you are not feeling so good, get things checked out early!

General Resources
Tokyo Metropolitan Health and Medical Information Center
This is a municipal site featuring a database of English speaking medical professionals searchable by location and Station.

The following are links to medical professionals who were recommended by others in the community.

Dentists
Shinagawa Seaside Dental Clinic Kaku　and Kaku2 Dental Clinics (2 separate locations)
Nishieifuku Dental Clinic
Roppongi Hills Nishibori Dental Office

Clinics
Tokyo Medical & Surgical
"Doktors" International Medical Clinic
"Shane Clinic" American Clinic in Tokyo
An actual American Doctor practicing in Japan since 1954
Primary Care Tokyo Clinic
Koganei Tsurukame Clinic

Pediatrics
National Medical Clinic
Dr. Che is very popular with expats for ob/gyn and pediatric care.
National Center for Child Health and Development
24 hour emergency room

The H&R Group is MORE THAN RELOCATION!

www.morethanrelo.com

Marketing Relocation Services

2010-06-21T17:21:00.000-07:00

I am a big fan of Seth Godin. He makes sense of the new norm we are in, and speaks simply in terms we all understand.

We need to learn his lessons in the Relocation Industry.

8 Marketing Lessons From Seth Godin

1. Spamming People Doesn’t Work Like it Used To – People who spam others have determined that it doesn’t pay for itself like it used to. If you look at companies that are growing (e.g. Zappos), they don’t do a lot of advertising. They do just a little bit of advertising to keep their investors happy, but have realized that personalized messages will always do better than spam.

2. People Like Doing What Other People Are Doing – We like to be like each other. People strive to fit in and find their own groups, so marketers who facilitate this will win.

3. Ideas That Spread Win, and Free Ideas Spread Best – Godin explained that he made more money by giving away his book, Idea Virus, than he made on his previous New York Times best-seller. Free ideas create demand, and demand can always be monetized.

4. Remarks Make Something Remarkable – When people comment on something, then it is remarkable. The old model, which focuses on companies making average products for average people, is not remarkable. Companies that aren’t remarkable can’t grow quickly. By making products worth talking about, then companies can become remarkable.

5. What We Make and How We Make It Has Changed – In today’s economy, people are buying experiences and conversations. Godin provided the example of LittleMissMatched, a company that sells unmatched socks that provide a point of interest and conversation for young girls.

6. You Have the Opportunity to Lead a Tribe – Tribes exist today, and they’re looking for leaders. You don’t have to have charisma to be a leader. Leading gives leaders charisma. The internet is the ultimate extension of communication to help organize tribes. Don’t waste time trying to convert non-fans; instead, work to strengthen existing tribes.

7. Lots of Alternatives Exist – Choices are now rampant, so people or companies that are perceived as the best or the leaders are more successful. People have been trained to be good at a lot of things, but not to be the best at one niche skill. Difficult opportunities are the ones worth doing.

8. Don’t Be Afraid to Be Indispensible – Lots of opportunities exist to be a linchpin, but most people and companies are scared of being great and indispensible because it’s hard and scary. By overcoming this fear, marketers can become critical to business success.

I am looking for ways to use these in our organization, seriously.

Real Estate Trends in Japan- Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya

2010-06-20T13:33:00.001-07:00

The following report doesn't look to put smiles on the faces of the Japanese construction industry, which is still reeling due to the state of the economy. There are few industries in worse condition, but the report doesn't paint a pretty picture for any of us;

The global economic recession impacted Japan severely and especially affected the real estate industry. A weak economic recovery is now underway, helped by government stimulus spending and tax reforms. We expect growth to remain weak, just managing to stay in positive territory, to reach about 1.2% year-onyear (y-o-y) in 2012 and 2013. However, the economy has racked up chronic fiscal deficits and a huge public debt worth around 200% of GDP. The outlook is not bright, as the country moves from net saver to net debtor status. The real estate market is also problematic. Japan’s residential sector is suffering from record low levels of new construction. According to the Japan Real Estate Institute (JREI), residential land prices have slid more than 40% from their 1991 peak and land prices in Japan’s six largest cities fell 7.8% (9.2% in real terms) y-o-y in H109. The Tokyo office market has reached its highest vacancy level for six years. There were dramatic rental falls in Tokyo office space to late 2009: Tokyo (Inner City) rents plunged 23.3% y-o-y, while Tokyo (Outer Central) rents dropped 21.9% y-o-y. Osaka saw a similar tale of increases in vacancies. In Tokyo, retail rentals dropped by about 50% y-o-y in 2009, and industrial rents were down by 10-20% y-o-y. In Osaka, retail rentals dropped by 15-20% y-o-y in 2009 and industrial rents were down by 10- 20% y-o-y. In Yokohama, rental rates for all types of commercial property fell by 20-30% y-o-y in 2009. In the longer term, while the weakness in the economy and the lack of funding seem likely to keep housing prices under downwards pressure, demand – driven by population necessity – will pick up, requiring supply to meet it. In general, commercial real estate rents and prices also seem likely to soften further, given the rising vacancy rates and the tendency for companies to downsize. Also, there is little scope for improvement in the industrial sector, given the likelihood that the economy will remain fairly stagnant over the next year or so. However, there are signs that retail property may be on the rebound, as a result of increasing consumer spending as the economy recovers.

Taken from CompaniesAndMarkets.com; "Japan Real Estate Report Q3 2010".

Looking at the above, how much do we believe the newspapers about how the economy is recovered and that the outlook is much brighter?

Relocating to Japan- Your New Resident Card!!

2010-06-19T02:16:00.000-07:00

As my role of Chair of the European Business Council (EBC) HR Committee, I was priveleged last week to have Matsuno-san of the Immigration Bureau of the Justice Ministry talk to the EBC membership about the new immigration system. A summary of his presentation is below;

- The new law has been passed by the diet, but many of the details remain undecided.

- Under the former system there used to be 2 acts; the Immigration Act（入管法）and the Alien Registration Act（外国人登録法）.

- Under the new system, the Alien Registration Act will be abolished, and the Immigration Act will be amended. The Immigration Act is administered by the Ministry of Justice, and therefore of the big change here is that information will be managed entirely under this “one law”, rather than under two acts as before.

- Under the former system, while foreigners could receive documents that recorded the details of their alien registration（記載自己証明書）, they were not registered like Japanese under the Juminhyo（住民票）system. Under the new system, people that are eligible for the new system (medium to long term foreign residents) will be able to apply for Juminhyo like their Japanese counterparts.

- Under the former system, even if you were an illegal immigrant, you could apply for and receive an alien registration card. Under the new system, illegal immigrants will not be able to receive the new “Resident Card”, as it is basically the same as the stamp (sticker) in your passport.

- The new “Resident Card” will record fewer details than the current card, although all details required now, including the name and address of your employer will be required.

- Under the new system, for people who have received the COE and had it converted to a visa in their passport, you will arrive have your “Residence Card” issued at the airport. At the time of arrival, it is unlikely that you would have a finalized address, so you would be given 14 days to report to your local authority (ward office, city or town hall) to register your address.

- How the address will be recorded on the new registration card is currently not yet decided.

- Basically, any changes that need to be made to your living quarters in Japan must be reported to your local authority, as before.

- However, any changes to your name, date of birth, sex, nationality and most importantly employer and their address must be reported to the immigration bureau. Currently, this means reporting in person, but whether a proxy will be allowed or if reporting can be done by post or by internet (etc.) is currently being investigated (not yet decided, but the Immigration Bureau understands that locations are limited and travel for some people will be extensive, so they are considering all the options).

- Maximum fines for not reporting you details, reporting incorrect information, adjusting or falsifying your “Residence Card, etc. will be JPY 200,000. Such fines would be administered through the Japanese court system, so without being arrested and your case being taken to court, it is highly unlikely that first offenders or minor offenders will be fined for such things as not renewing your details within 14 days of a change, etc. There is no other authority administering the penalties other than the Japanese police and the regular judicial system, so things are unlikely to be any different from what they are now.

- The new “Residence Card” will replace your “status of residence” stamp in your passport. ie. there will be no need to have your status of residence stamp (sticker) changed from one passport to the other, as the Resident Card itself will replace this.

- The maximum visa period of 3 years will be extended to 5 years for certain visa categories. Which categories this will apply to is currently being worked on and is not yet decided.

- The re-entry permit system will remain, but under the new system if you are leaving for Japan for periods of less than 12-months, you will be exempt from needing a re-entry permit.

- However, care is needed if you plan to leave Japan for a long period of time, as if you are out of the country for longer than 12-months, you would automatically lose your status of residence, regardless of the reason. The immigration bureau therefore recommends obtaining a re-entry permit for longer periods of time out of Japan.

- The new system is scheduled to be implemented in July of 2012.

- Once the new system is implemented, there would be a 3-year grace period to change you old alien registration cards to the new “Residence Card”. However, on the implementation of the new system, the alien registration act would be abolished, and therefore an “old registration card” would be treated as being a “Resident Card” in terms of immigration law; ie. just because you continue to have an old alien registration card, it doesn’t mean that the new law wouldn’t apply. The old card would simply be treated as a new “Resident Card” under the new law.

- Further information is available here; http://www.immi-moj.go.jp/english/newimmiact/newimmiact_english.html

Should you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me on Steve_Burson@MoreThanRelo.com

First Impressions in Relocation- New Leader for Japan

2010-06-04T23:22:00.000-07:00

Well, I told you so; http://real-o-cating-japan.blogspot.com/2009/08/dpj-government-and-prime-minister.html. I could never see Prime Minister Hatoyama lasting. I called him a puppet 8 months ago, and I believe I was correct.

First impressions in the relocation industry, and any service industry for that matter, are vitally important. What our organization seems like or feels like when we send that first email, make the first phone call or meet a person for the first time, is a big deciding factor in the remainder of the client interaction. If we get off on the wrong foot, it is hard to get back on track. You must make a good first impression. Did Mr. Hatoyama give you a good first impression?

I attended a seminar of a Japanese "morning group" who get together from 6:30am- 7:30am every Tuesday, last week in Nagoya. The main presenter was a very impressive Japanese "Training Coach" that obviously did a lot of consultations with high level Japanese shachos and other executives. What were the things that he pointed out as being the keys to success?

1. Aisatsu. He measures the success of organizations if they can say "Good Morning" to each other, or not. Do employees say "thank you" for things.... (funny thing here is I hear this all the time in Japanese companies as being the key)

2. First impressions. He believes 90% of sales is decided by first impressions. This is actually related to one above. You greet people when you make a first impression.....

3. Engagement with the people you work with. ie. Client engagement; treating them as a person and not a figure or the next sales target
He told a great story about the secret of a "House Salesman". A young gentleman that sold 50 houses in one year. Almost unheard of, as most house sales people are doing well to sell 1 house per month. What did this sales person do? Basically 2 things. After he got the sale, he would go back to the site of the house, before it was built, while it was being built and after it was built and he would take photos. He would put all the photographs together in the album and once the house was built and the owners moved in, he would present them with the album he put together. The second thing he did was from the point he gave the album, he would go back to the house once a month and ask if everything was OK. That was it. His clients introduced him to all the next business; either through showing the album to others, or just through word of mouth. Think about it. He engaged like not other house salesman you or I have heard of.

Of course, he probably made a good first impression to get the business initially......

I have never really been moved by Japanese speakers in the past (as they tend not to be good presenters of information), but those 3 points above really stuck. And then I heard Prime Minister Kan speak on the TV last night.

I think Japan, finally, could have picked the Prime Minister to make it work. He is down to earth. He doesn't appear to have the arrogance of Koizumi, but there is an "awe" surrounding his speech. He selects his words, but speaks with authority. He appears relaxed in his speech, which means he is being himself in front of everyone; he is not forcing something he doesn't believe in, nor trying to be someone he is not. You can't do this if you are not confident, and his confidence admist the job ahead is something to be praised. My first impression is the Mr. Kan is a genuine leader. He is there for the right reasons, and he has the charisma lacking in the last 3 prime ministers in Japan. Watch this space, my gut tells me he is the man for the job.

Walkathon Rocks in the Wet!

2010-05-31T05:50:00.000-07:00

Nagoya was struck by a rouge day of wetness for the Walkathon this year, but the rain certainly didn’t dampen the hearts of the more than 2,000 people that walked through green Tsuruma Park to help the needy of the Chubu area. The smiles in the photographs say it all; foreigners, Japanese, school kids, corporate employees, senior citizens and all walks of life, getting together to give back to the community we live and work in.

This was the 19th Annual Walkathon, and while attendance levels did suffer in the rain, we set a record for the largest volunteer attendance yet; more than 250 people that volunteered their time on the day to make the event a success (volunteers are in the yellow T.Shirts).

Participants were encouraged to walk for charity by completing 4 x 1.25 km laps of Tsuruma Park, while receiving different colored wrist bands for each lap. Proceeds taken from the 2,000 yen tickets for walking, from which you receive the famous “Walkathon T. Shirt”, go to local organizations including orphanages, the homeless, victims of child abuse, service dogs, the physically and mentally challenged and many other needy people. Fourteen of the recipient charities also participated in the event this year, and helped us to educate the Chubu Community about charity work and its importance.

This year’s special addition was IBM Japan’s “IBM on Demand Community” that enabled kids to enjoy science in the park, and as per tradition, Boeing Japan had the boys and girls making paper planes and “fizzing” rocket launches.

Further kids activities were available in terms of a stamp rally amongst the charities, face painting, a beads corner, Bingo in English, animal balloons and generally just a bunch of fun for all.

This is not to mention the stage that was packed action from start to finish; with the best musicians and performers in Nagoya and then with 3 raffles that drew in the audience for their chance to win return air tickets overseas.

What a truly fantastic day. Great people, in Greater Nagoya, supporting great causes and great smiles….. all day long. The result should be 6-7 million yen in contributions to local Chubu Charities and we are all lining up to be involved again next year for the 20th Nagoya Walkathon!

More Than Japan Housing,

More Than Japan Cars and Furniture,

More than Japan Serviced Apartments,

More Than Japan Destination Services,

More Than Japan License Conversion,

More Than Japan Information!
The H&R Group is

MORE THAN RELOCATION!
www.morethanrelo.com

The Last 10 Percent

2010-05-19T03:55:00.001-07:00

I just read this quote from Seth Godin. It sums up what is necessary in the real estate and relocation industry in Japan in order to be the best;

In most fields, there's an awful lot of work put into the last ten percent of quality.

Getting your golf score from 77 to 70 is far more difficult than getting it from 120 to 113 or even from 84 to 77. Answering the phone on the first ring costs twice as much as letting it go into the queue. Making pastries the way they do at a fancy restaurant is a lot more work than making brownies at home. Laying out the design of a page or a flyer so it looks like a pro did it takes about ten times as much work as merely using the template Microsoft builds in for free, and the message is almost the same...........Except it's not. Of course not. The message is not the same.

The last ten percent is the signal we look for, the way we communicate care and expertise and professionalism. If all you're doing is the standard amount, all you're going to get is the standard compensation. The hard part is the last ten percent, sure, or even the last one percent, but it's the hard part because everyone is busy doing the easy part already.

The secret is to seek out the work that most people believe isn't worth the effort. That's what you get paid for.

What a fantastic message!

Relocation Outlook- Shrinking Japan Market

2010-05-08T03:34:00.000-07:00

I have seen some surveys recently that indicate that 2010 is potentially going to be much more healthy than 2009.

In AIRINC's recent survey, they reported that 47% of respondents that their expat populations would decrease in 2009, but in 2010 88% of respondents are confident that numbers will remain the same or increase this year. This result is shown in the below graph.

The above is encouraging for the industry, but will it hold true in Japan?

Much of the increase in assignments will probably be attributed to the growth in China and India, which are the destinations for huge volumes of exaptriates even now.

What is interesting however, is that India and China are also considered to be 2 of the most challenging destinations for administrators, and also 2 of the locations that see the most assignment failures.

A Brookfield survey indicates that on average 6% of assignments fail (it is higher in China and India) as a result of spouse / partner dissatisifaction, inability to adapt, other family concerns and poor candidate selection.

For Japan, I would say that the risk of assignment failure is considerably less that the average, and that our destination is probably becoming one of the least challenging locations, unless you are perhaps living outside of Tokyo.

From a relocation company perspective, this is not good news for us in relocation in Japan, as relocation companies actually thrive on locations being very challenging. I envy our partners in India and China who have many problems to solve. Here in Japan are problems are less, and the Japanese economy is on a decline. Our market is certain to shrink over the coming years.

The H&R Group is MORE THAN RELOCATION!

www.morethanrelo.com

Japan Immigration Policy Changes

2010-04-30T23:47:00.000-07:00

Immigration policy is going through some changes in Japan. Within the next 3-years, we will supposedly see a change in the "Alien Registration" system. Details are still unclear, but it appears that a new card containing an "IC Chip" will be issued by the Immigration Bureau that will replace the current card, which is issued by your local city or town authority. Where you will go to do things is not yet clear, but at least under this new system the "Re-Entry Permit" will be abolished (well, effectively, it will be issued with your status of residence).

In the meantime, however, some changes have already been made. Were you aware of these 2 changes that have already taken effect??!!

1. Revision of Supporting Documentation for Visa Applications

Immigration forms required for the Certificate of Eligibility (COE), visa renewal, change of status and other visa related applications were revised last year, which in turn directly impacted the supporting documents requirements.

One of the more significant changes is that immigration bureau now requires the Japan office of large companies who pay 15,000,000 yen or more a year in income tax deductions from all its employees (foreign and Japanese nationals)to submit the official certificate of income tax deducted from all employees as a supporting document for the application of COE, visa renewals, etc.

Through this change, large companies who provide this tax statement will not have to provide company registration, profit/loss, organization charts, and other documents that have been required up to now. Additionally, the applicant will not have to provide his/her resume, employment contract, university diploma, assignment letter, etc.

The document requirments for applicants working for companies whose tax deductions are less than 15,000,000 yen per year, will have to provide most, but not all, of the supporting documents required prior to the policy change. One of the documents no longer required, in most cases, is the copy of the employment contract.

The above is good news for large Multi-National Companies, as this simplifies much of the application process for "intra-company" and "business manager" visas which make up the main stream of expatriate visa applications for working in Japan.

2. Additional Documenation Requirement for Company's not using "Gyosei-Shoshi"

Until recently, only the applicant’s and/or a company employee’s (usually human resource personel's) signature was required on immigration forms. ie. If you were an employee of the company, you could easily complete the visa application for another employee of your organization without question (third party applications can only / could only be made by legal scribes or "Gyosei-Shoshi). However, the new forms have an additional page that must be filled out by the President or top Human Resources Manager with the official company seal or stamp.

Most of the questions asked of the company on the application form is the same as the previous forms, but this change is obviously an inconvenience to HR administrators in Japan, as receiving the company stamp on forms usually is a time-taking process within large Japanese entities.

So, under these new implemented changes, large international companies have gained some convenience in terms of the required supporting documentation for applications, but have also lost some inconvenience in making those applications, as any old "Joe" from the company can no longer submit an application....... without the official stamp from the big boss upstairs!

Airlines Continue to Amaze Me!

2010-04-28T21:24:00.000-07:00

I got caught up in the iceland volcano saga in Europe, which appears to have "blown over" rather quickly this week. However, it has made me think about a couple of things;

1. How Reliant We Are On Mobility
The iceland volcano just showed us how important transportation systems are to getting relocated to where you need to be for work or pleasure. We take for granted that there are thousands of flights per day that get not only people relocated to where they need to be, but get things where they are needed. We are so globally dependant on each other, if planes don't fly and trucks don't drive, everything falls apart. All the fresh vege and dairy products made for the markets in Europe during the volcanic ash disaster had to all be thrown away. Talk about a waste of resources! If transport systems go down, despite how much CO2 they might be responsible for, there is an incredible waste of resources somewhere else....... Food for thought.

2. JALs Pull Out Effect
As we see JAL restructure everything they do due to 20 years of complete mis-management, the ripple down effect on others is quite stricking. JAL just announced more closure of routes here; http://www.japantoday.com/category/business/view/jal-to-cut-45-more-overseas-domestic-routes. As an example, JAL will be pulling out their subsidiary "J-AIR" from Nagoya Airport as per an announcement last week. The ripple down effect here; this decision will basically shut down the prefectural operations of the Nagoya Airport. Half of Nagoya Airports services just got cancelled; this has a huge effect on the economics of the airport and related suppliers.

The above just really highlighted to me how reliant an economy is on the airlines, and in fact how reliant our relocation industry is on airlines and transportation systems. We all need to understand just what mayhem occurs when people and freight can't move.

Relocating to Tokyo? Tokyo Ranked Number 1 Most Expensive City

2010-04-25T18:00:00.000-07:00

The rank of the overall international cost of living indexes is reported as at April 2010 using New York as the base city.

The rank for the top 10 most expensive locations is as follows:
April 2010 Rank Country, City (Jan 2010 Rank)[Change in Rank]
1 Japan, Tokyo (1) [0]
2 Switzerland, Geneva (2) [0]
3 Brazil, Brasilia (3) [0]
4 Switzerland, Zurich (4) [0]
5 Norway, Oslo (6) [-1]
6 Denmark, Copenhagen (7) [-1]
7 Venezuela, Caracas (8) [-1]
8 China, Hong Kong (5) [3]
9 Liechtenstein, Vaduz (9) [0]
10 Australia, Sydney (15) [-5]

The indexes are calculated using the prices for specific quantities of the same goods and services in each location, based on expatriate spending patterns across 13 broad categories (Basket Groups). The cost of living studied is the cost of maintaining an expatriate standard of living.

Tokyo is the overall most expensive place in the world for expats. Tokyo is also the most expensive place in the world for accommodation, while it is the fourth most expensive place in the world for groceries.

For the full list of all 282 global locations see here; http://www.xpatulator.com/outside.cfm?aid=240

If your are relocating to the most expensive city in the world, make sure you see us at H&R Group. We will make sure you keep your relocation bill to the minimum through our experienced international team.

The H&R Group is MORE THAN RELOCATION!

www.morethanrelo.com

Touching Your Clients Brilliantly

2010-04-23T20:15:00.000-07:00

I spent the last week under the influence of nature.

After 3 days in the US at a Planning Meeting for the coming Worldwide ERC Relocation Conference, my plans to travel to Europe were struck down by that Volcano in Iceland. After changing my flights 3 times, I simply gave up and came back to Japan!

Well, everything is an opportunity, and this gave me an opportunity to think about somthing....
Our groups lofty goal is to become the most reputable relocation company in Japan to Japanese and Foreigners. I have mentioned this before, but I use "Singapore Airlines" repuation in the Airline Industry as an example of who we want to be in our "Relocation" Industry. When I fly back home to NZ, I always use Singapore Airlines as they are just so great to travel with. I would rather fly 20 hours with Singapore Airlines than 11 hours with poor service.

For this reason, I am always comparing other airlines to Singapore. On my recent trip I flew with ANA, US Airways and United. United were particularly unmemorable. Not bad, but nothing jumped out as being fantastic. US Airways were similarly ordinary. I didn't get to fly with them to Europe, but as a domestic airline they were average. ANA, however, I thought were great. Good service that probably gets close to Singapore, nice friendly staff, and they seem to get it; the little things like coming back to pick up your empty coffee cup that they left with you when they took away your dinner tray (simple, but US carriers don't do it unless the cup falls out in the aisle). The meals were tasty for economy class and the aircraft was new with the TV built in. This is ANA that is not funded by Japanese tax payers, but a company that has worked out how to provide a top quality service in their industry in a competitive fashion (unlike JAL who has to rely on 3 government cash infusions and then still can't get it right).

However, what did catch me is somthing else. I spent alot of time on the phone in the US; calling US Airlines and ANA to change my flights. Their customer service over the phone, both companies, was fantastic. They listened to your needs, gave you the options and executed things really well; no being hung up on and it was generally a good experience. Then there was the time I spent at the check in counter. My US Airlines experience is mentioned in my previous blog entry, basically the front line staff were great, but the experience I had from the front lines's superiors was less than memorable. ANA check in staff were friendly and I had a good experience there.

What did this teach me? Well, taking the flight is just one part of the service. The experience you have on the phone and at the check in counter happens before you get on the flight. ie. Your impressions of the airline are set before you even experience flying with them.

For us in the service industry, this is really important. Every point of our service that touches our clients, even before we meet them to assist with their relocation sets the scene for how our clients will judge our service. One bad piece of communication, one poor phone call and we have already set the parameters for how our clients will judge our service.

To be the most reputable company in relocation in Japan for foreigners and Japanese, we need to be brilliant at every touch point with our clients! Impressions are everything!

My impression of US Airways is forever marked by a bad experience at the check in counter. However, my experience with ANA at the check in counter, on the phone and on the flight was all great. At every touch point, they were brilliant. Impressions count!!

Super Duper Service

2010-04-16T16:12:00.000-07:00

The big lofty goal of our organization at H&R group is to become the relocation company that has the number one reputation with Foreigners and Japanese. To our staff the example I use to explain who we want to be is "Singapore Airlines" that have a record unheld by anybody else as the most "awarded" airline in the world. Singapore Airlines signifies service greatness; they have been selected as the best airline in the world for something like 20 of the last 21 years. That is who I want H&R Group to be in relocation.

It was in great contrast to this that I experienced US Airways in the last few days. Unfortunately, I am still experiencing them, as I am stuck in Philidelphia due to the ash created by the volcano in Iceland. I must admit that US Airways on the phone have been great. They even rescheduled all my flights this morning, so that I can hopefully fly out of here tomorrow. Their customer service on every occasion has been wonderful everytime I called customers services.

It is a pity therefore, that I came across John F in Washington DC yesterday. Due to John F, I will never choose to fly US Airways again. This is much like Northwest Airlines that did the same dis-service to me in Japan a few years ago. I swear I will never use them again, and I will tell the John F story until I am blue.

I arrived in Washington DC two days ago oblivious to the fact that some volcano in Iceland was spitting ash. I swiped my passport in the machine, which immediately told me "See an attendant, your flight has been cancelled". The lady that attended to me was really nice. It was not her problem that a natural disaster prevented me from flying and I accepted that. She kindly looked into all the options and booked me into the nearest available flight, about 4 days away. Not over the moon at the 4 day part of things, I asked her what other options I had, and she suggested that "standby" was the only other option, and that to do that I needed to be in Philidelphia where my international flight departed. I took this advice on board and asked for the next flight to Philly, so that the next day I could be at the airport.

She kindly re-arranged my flights and then asked me to place my luggage on the scales. As per the flight into the US, my suitcase was 30kgs due to the company brochures and other work material I was carrying. However, now that my flight was just a domestic one to Philly, and not the International linked flight an alarm comes up about my suitcase being over weight.

So here I am. I have been standing at the counter for about 60 mins now getting everything re-done. Granted; it is a natural disaster over which nobody has control, but my departure date has been put back by 4-days. US Airways offers no compensation, no hotel stays, no meals, abosolutely zip, which is accepted; not US Airways fault. In order to get out of the US and get to the business meetings scheduled, I need to be in Philly to see if I can get an earlier flight on stand by. My choice yes, but I have paid for that flight and I have just chosen to take it without the international piece until it can be confirmed. My suitcase is no different to when I arrived in the US and took a domestic flight to Washington DC from Chicago.

So, up rolls John F and looks at my over weight suitcase. Sorry sir, you are overweight, and this will be a $75.00 charge he says. But please, I said, this is the same suitcase for which I came to DC with. I was not charged in coming here, and so why should I be charged on the way out? Sir, you choose to change your flights, he says. So what?, I replied. I changed my flight because my international flight has been delayed 4 days, and I need to be in Philly to try and get an earlier flight. Oh, you may have a very valid reason sir, but our system can't just over ride this, as you have chosen to change your flights. You're joking I say. No, I have made my decision he says. Hold on a minute John F I say; you have made your decision or your system cannot allow the change, which one is it? Oh, well um..... it is both, but that's it, you can pay the 75.00 dollars and take your bag or leave without it.

What fantastic customer service. Do you think this is how Singapore Airlines became number one? This was an opportunity to win me over. It would have cost US Airways nothing, and I would have been a fan. Result; I was so pissed off that not only did I take John's name to report to customer service, but I will never take US Airways again, and I will not ever recommend them to anyone else.

So, John F. I hope you enjoyed your power play yesterday. Maybe one day you will wake up and realize what the role is you have in building your companies reputation. Let's face it, it doesn't matter how good the people on the front line are, and it doesn't matter how good the US Airways executive team is, if middle management of your airline is all like you, your airline doesn't stand a chance. It is a pity that you can't see it, because one day it is also likely to be the reason that someone takes your job. Happy future fella, the writing is on the wall.

The Relocation Industry Club; Worldwide ERC

2010-04-16T15:20:00.000-07:00

Much to the surprise of many "Relocation" has an industry of its own and there are a couple of organizations around the world that are set up to facilitate dialogue and mutual business opportunties in relocation related areas.

The largest of these organizations is the Employee Relocation Council (ERC) or what is known today as the "Worldwide ERC"; www.worldwideerc.org

The ERC is the relocation organization for both domestic US relocations and for international relocation and holds conferences in USA, Asia and Europe, and is the organization that everyone turns to for information, benchmarking and networking on relocation topics.

The H&R Group, and in particular our relocation brand "ReloJapan" has been a member of Worldwide ERC for over 10 years, and is proud to be associated with our industries most prominent organization.

I am also proud to have been nominated onto the ERC Planning Committee of the "Global Workforce Summit" to be held in Seattle towards the end of October 2010. The planning committee consists of about 25 relocation professionals who are tasked with the organization of the summit and the preparation of some 20 different seminars / sessions on a variety of relocaton topics.

In particular interest to me is a session that I have been allocated to facilitate on "360 Degree Communication in International Relocation". While I have very few ideas on how to move this session forward right now, I am particularly motivated by the topic, as I see the worst of it being a "Destination Service Provider" in Japan.

There is definately no 360 degree communication in terms of the work we receive through Relocation Management Companies as per my entry of February 9th; http://real-o-cating-japan.blogspot.com/2010/02/who-is-client-in-relocation.html, whereby nobody appears to have the same "client" and therefore the focus goes on different people in the process depending on who you are; resulting in communication to about 45 degrees and not 360.

It will be a welcoming concept to invite some speakers on 360 degree communication to my session, and I really hope that all the Relocation Management Companies attend it!

The Cult of Done..... "Just Do It"

2010-04-13T07:31:00.000-07:00

I have always been a great fan of Nike's "Just Do It" slogan. In fact, I think these are the 3 words I like most in the world after the word "Balance".

I am currently reading "Linchpin" (http://www.sethgodin.com/) and he quotes Bre Pettis in his book to have quoted this about "The Cult of Done" or what I would call the art of "Just Do It";

1. There are 3 states of being. Not knowing, action and completion.
2. Accept that everything is a draft. It helps to get it done.
3. There is no editing stage
4. Pretending you know what you are doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so accept that you know what you're doing, even if you don't, and do it
5. Banish procrastination. If you wait more than a week to get an idea done, abandon it.
6. The point of being done is not to finish, but is to get other things done.
7. Once you're done, you can throw it away
8. Laugh at perfection. It's boring and keeps you from being done
9. People without dirty hands are wrong. Doing something makes you right.
10. Failure counts as done. So do mistakes.
11. Destruction is a variant of done
12. If you have an idea and publish it on the Internet, that counts as a ghost of done
13. Done is the engine of more

I really like this. Especially 8 and 9, as they are so right and I often get caught on them myself. Increasingly, I believe life and what you learn from it, is all about implementation or what you "do". They more you implement, or the more you "do", the more you learn and the more you succeed.

If you lead a life of "balance" and have an attitude to "Just Do It" all the time, I think you will live a pretty rewarding life!

The H&R Group is MORE THAN RELOCATION!
http://www.morethanrelo.com/

Meetings and Conflict

2010-03-31T01:37:00.000-07:00

The H&R Group is MORE THAN RELOCATION! http://www.morethanrelo.com/

I have been doing a lot of reading recently on topics such as "Death by Meeting" and how to hold meetings that are both productive and enjoyable.

There are two things that have really stuck with me that are really simple, but things that we often neglect and don't sit down and discuss.

1. UNDERTSTAND FIRST, THEN AGREE
I was priveleged to be part of a mission building exercise at Nagoya International School (NIS) a few weeks ago. The school was smart, and employed a very experienced facilitator to help them build their mission, and subsequent strategic objectives and strategies.

What was really interesting amongst a very long 2 day session, was that 1.5 days were spent understanding each other, before things were decided. 30 people in a room with different views on the way the school should go, and we spent just half a day actually deciding on the missions and other details. The rest of the time was spent thoroughly trying to understand everyone's positions and opinions. If you had something to say, you had to explain why and get everyone's understanding.

From there, getting agreement on the best direction to go was amazingly easy amongst a group of 30 people. How tough do you find it getting agreement between 5 people in a meeting?

LESSON 1: You must get everyone to understand each other. Most people just want to be understood. They are not necessarily inflexible to doing things differently from the way they would do them; if they are understood. This makes incredible sense, but someone in a meeting needs to facilitate getting everyone to put out their feelings and opinions and explain "why". If there is no "why", it is not an opinion, but simply a blocker tactic. You can easily get rid of blockers by putting them on the spot and asking "why". No reason; the opinion gets thrown out.

2. CONFLICT IS A GREAT THING
The book I was reading talked about a meeting being like a movie. Movie's are exciting, but meetings generally aren't. Why? Well movies are made by smart people who know how to build conflict. Conflict creates tense situations and engages people in the story.

Meetings on the other hand, often don't have conflict at all. People generally try to end a meeting without conflict, so they can get out of there quick! So, in order to have meaningful meetings, ones that engage people, you need to have conflict!

LESSON 2: You must have disagreement in meetings to make them enjoyable. This means you must have people challenging each other, or as per above, you must have people initially not understanding each other. This means creating an environment where people can share their actual opinions on things and allow others to ask questions about those opinions. Once again, sounds really simple, but it is amazing how often it doesn't happen.

These two simple things, if better understood by all members of your organization, are invaluable to creating a environment whereby both opinions are shared and decisions are made. The ground rules need to be explained, and people need to be "adult enough" with each other to know that sharing a different opinion and not likeing a person are completely different. If you can have your staff understand that others are entitled to their own opinions and that understanding them is a great thing, you have won half the battle, and can have really engaging and exciting meetings rather than death.

More Than Japan Housing, More Than Japan Cars and Furniture, More than Japan Service Apartments, More Than Japan Destination Services, More Than Japan License Conversion, More Than Japan Information!

The H&R Group is MORE THAN RELOCATION!

http://www.morethanrelo.com/

The Origin of Hanami

2010-03-31T01:36:00.000-07:00

I am not sure if anyone out there has heard of the origins of "Hanami" or "Cherry Blossom Viewing" as it is known in English, but here is the version I heard.

The "Hanami" of "Sakura" (cherry blossoms) is said to originate from farmers, who used to judge how their crops were going to be in that year based on the way the "blossoms" had come out, their color, configuration, length of bloom, etc. In ancient Japan, obviously alot depended on crops, nothing more than that seasons rice harvest. It is said that in the old times, experienced farmers could "read" what their rice harvest would look like based on a viewing of sakura (the literal meaning of Hanami).

From there, there were obviously some farmers who were looking for a good excuse to get the beers out, and before you know it, we have the "Hanami" we know today; basically a good excuse to have a picnic in the park with your basket full of beers and good company.

If you are looking for a fun "Hanami Event" to attend, here is one this coming Saturday.

Pot Luck Hanami in Tsuruma Park

A chance to meet up with new and old friends under the picturesque Cherry Blossoms.

Saturday 3rd April
12:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Tsuruma(i) Park

Please feel free to come anytime. The food will be arriving at 12pm
Access: Tsurumai Station; Tsurumai subway and JR Chuo lines.

Price: Adults 1,500 yen, Kids 500 yen
(includes food & 1 free drink)
Drinks will be sold at very reasonable prices.
We ask that everyone bring 1 dish to share!

LOOK FOR THE ACCJ, ANZCCJ & TCJS signs!
Or call Will Keating on 080-3619-6774, Jeff Genet on 080-3066-3263, or Steve Burson on 090-9942-8292.

Reservations can now be accepted by contacting the following people;
ACCJ Noriko Kato: nkato@accj.or.jp
ANZCCJ Steve Burson: steve_burson@morethanrelo.com
TCJS Jeff Genet: events@tjcs.jp

No drinking and driving, please, but enjoying eating and drinking!!

!! Happy Hanami !!

H&R Group. MORE THAN JAPAN RELOCATION!　www.morethanrelo.com

The H&R Group is MORE THAN RELOCATION! www.morethanrelo.com

Rest in Peace

2010-03-01T23:51:00.000-08:00

There have been two occasions recently when I have been reminded of the importance of life and how those of us here are so lucky to be living it.

In our busy real estate and relocation industry, it is so easy to lose sight of the important things in life; our families and our friendships.

The first occasion was a few weeks ago, when cruelly the life of a 4-year old son of our clients was taken suddenly by influenza or a related kind of virus. What a tragedy for a family during their assignment in Japan. My heart goes out to them and how much they are missing Robin.

The second occasion was last Friday when the life of my host mother was taken at the age of 56 (she is pictured below with her husband at our wedding). She collapsed at her elementary school, after a hard day doing what she loved; teaching and looking after children. Even she was not to know about the massive brain hemorrhage that struck her down at around 5:30pm in her classroom, while she was alone, only to be found 3-hours later when someone noticed her bag was still in the staff room.

Michiyo Ozawa never recovered from the surgery, and after 10 days in hospital with little consciousness, she passed away on Friday 26th February at 2:30pm.

The Ozawa's were my first introduction to Japan. Michiyo, my host mother, taught and looked after me like all the other students in her life. All of the Japanese I speak, the culture I understand and the customs I now behave, furthermore the job I have, the house I live in and the family I have can truly be associated to this great person and her husband. There is no questionning that if it was not for Michiyo Ozawa I simply would not be here in Japan today. Like we are reminded each time someone passes before us, we never say thank you enough. I didn't thank her enough, and I regret it so much.

Thank you my Japanese Mum. You will live me with forever, and the only way I can probably thank you enough is to make Japan a better and more international place. I owe it to you for what you have given me and will not give up. Thank you so much again. Please rest quietly.

Best Job in the World- Housing and Relocation?

2010-02-22T01:21:00.001-08:00

Today I was priveleged to meet Ben Southall, who was the winner of the "The Best Job in the World" offered by tourism Queensland. Ben was chosen from amongst 35,000 other applicants for the position that involved marketing the Great Barrier Reef to the rest of world. Under the contract he won, he received a salary of 150,000 Australian dollars and a free 3-bedroom holiday house that looked out on the beauty of the Great Barrier Reef for the entirety of the 6-month contract.

Here is the video that got Ben the job.

What was interesting with Ben at the lunch today, is that it made me realize that not only do I have the best job in the world for me, but that I should be aiming to create a company whereby everyone else considers that they have the best job in the world too.

Ben made me think about;

- How we tend to get too caught up in ourselves and "life as it should be", which has been defined by our parents, friends, society....when there are other ways to live it

- There is much more to life than just do a job. You gotta make it fun and you gotta believe it's the best job in the world

- How what you experience by travelling and meeting different people equips you with many skills that are necessary in business

- How we should live everyday like its our last, but also live with a purpose.

- How the world around us is changing so much in how a company should market its products or services. Just look at how Ben got his job, and how he is promoting Queesnland Austrlia around the world on http://www.islandreefjob.com.au and through other mediums such as Twitter, You Tube, etc.

- How far Japan is behind on the marketing of its Tourism Industry

Ben is continuing his position with Queensland Tourism as thier Toursim Ambassador. We should all continue to be Ambassadors ourselves and make our companies into the places with the best jobs in the world!

H&R Group. MORE THAN JAPAN RELOCATION!　www.morethanrelo.com
More Than Japan Housing, More Than Japan Cars and Furniture, More than Japan Service Apartments, More Than Japan Destination Services, More Than Japan License Conversion, More Than Japan Information!
The H&R Group is MORE THAN RELOCATION! www.morethanrelo.com

Food for Thought

2010-02-19T04:56:00.000-08:00

I enjoyed this. A British dude who has decided that he will dedicate his life to teaching Americans how to eat properly.

Such fantastic presentations skills.

Terry Small taught me this in his brain seminar and Breakfast Toastmasters in Tokyo has also taught me that presenting is all about giving simple messages in a way that everyone understands them. Using images to back up what you are saying and to make the point and connect all the points.

Keep your message to 3 points. Keep it simple!
LESS IS MORE.

H&R Group. MORE THAN JAPAN RELOCATION!　www.morethanrelo.com
More Than Japan Housing, More Than Japan Cars and Furniture, More than Japan Service Apartments, More Than Japan Destination Services, More Than Japan License Conversion, More Than Japan Information!
The H&R Group is MORE THAN RELOCATION! www.morethanrelo.com

Brain Power in Relocation

2010-02-19T04:37:00.000-08:00

I was privleged to meet Mr. Terry Small last week. He taught me all about my brain and how to look after it. In such a busy relocation industry, I have ignored alot of things that are good for my brain. Time for change!

1. Your brain thinks in pictures, not words

ie. In order to remember something, or in order for people to remember something, you have to convert things to pictures; either in your head, or when you present things to people. Your brain simply does not remember words.

2. The No. 1 priority of your brain is to remain alive

3. Learning happens when your brain checks something exists and creates a connection with some previous event

Related to number 2, the first thing your brain does to stay alive, is check whether the information received already exists and if so, it creates a connection. This connection is how learning occurs. If there is no connection, nothing is learnt and probably not remembered.

4. Laughter increases the performance of your memory, and extends your life span by many years

This is something about the chemical release when laughing happens, but basically the more you laugh the better, and the healthier your brain becomes.

5. The best breakfast food for the brain is orange juice

Your brains fuel is glucose. Orange juice is the perfect provider of glucose.

6. Remaining hydrated is important for your brain
Drink lots of water all day long!

7. The best drink for your brain is “tea”

Green tea, brown tea or oolong tea. Indians are said to have the healthiest brains due to all the oolong tea they drink all day long.

8. The 20 best foods for your brain are (in order of goodness);

Prunes, raisins, blueberries, blackberries, kale, cranberries, strawberries, raw spinach, raspberries, brussel sprouts, alfalfa sprouts, steamed spinach, broccoli, beets, avocado, orange, red grapes, red pepper

It is also said that fish is good for the brain, and it is recommended that you have fish at lease one a week. Salmon and sardines are best.

9. Your brain needs the right foods and drinks!

Your brain is made up of 80% water, and it burns 30% of your calories. Make sure you take notice of the foods and drinks mentioned above.

10. Your brain needs the right information

You should never stop learning (never stop creating connections)

You should never stop reading things

* The number one factor in student intelligence is proved to be “How much children were read to in their childhood”. Reading is very important to the health of our brains.

11. Your brain needs the right music

Baroque music (Vivaldi, Bach, Handel, etc) is said to increase your learning by 25%- 40%

It is said that Baroque music soothes your heart beat and body into the correct “atmosphere” for learning.

Time to get a healthier brain!!

H&R Group. MORE THAN JAPAN RELOCATION!　www.morethanrelo.com
More Than Japan Housing, More Than Japan Cars and Furniture, More than Japan Service Apartments, More Than Japan Destination Services, More Than Japan License Conversion, More Than Japan Information!
The H&R Group is MORE THAN RELOCATION! www.morethanrelo.com

Accomodation in Tokyo- Stay with Bureau!!

2010-02-09T23:15:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I spent some time in Tokyo with my friends at Bureau Serviced Apartments.

Ruth Shiraishi was kind enough to let me have a trial stay in their fantastic Shinagawa location. My wife Mayumi and daughter Kate joined me on Friday night in Tokyo and we had a fantastic weekend out of our second home in Shinagawa. And thats how they made us feel there at Bureau in Shinagawa; at home. All the staff we met were so friendly, and the room was equipped with everything you need for a weekend stay or a 6-month stay.

Take a look here;

The Shinagawa location is great if you are spending time in Tokyo. There is quick access to Tokyo Station, Shibuya, Shinjuku, Roppongi and all the good parts of inner Tokyo.

The facility itself is fantastic. One the top floor there is a nice little bar and lounge area that is open until 23:00 most days, and even a Japanese "daiyokujo" or large public bath. It is just superb! And the views from the 24th floor are wild!

If you need to spend time in Tokyo, get in touch with our friends at Bureau. They have locations all over Tokyo and even in Yokohama! Go here for more information!
http://www.space-d.co.jp/en/

Who is the Client in Relocation?

2010-02-09T19:20:00.000-08:00

As the world becomes a more global place, the relocation industry has also become more global. Multi-national companies hold global relocation contracts with "3rd Party Relocation" companies or what we commonly call in the industry "Relocation Management Companies" or RMCs.
Our business receives quite a large amount of business through RMCs to provide relocation services in Japan; Tokyo and Nagoya.
However, recently the way RMCs are handling this global business is getting out of hand and on the ground here in Japan, we see the client being forgotten.
For us, when an RMC is involved, we can have up to 5 clients for each relocating person.

1. The RMC is our client. Regularly they have their head office in the US, and we maintain communication with this US Office.

2. The RMC will often have another office in Asia, to manage business on the same time zone as us. We have to maintain communication with this office. Naturally, they are also our client.

3. The Global HR Department of the Multi-National company is our client. The RMC will often dictate this relationship and not want us involved, but ultimately we do need to communicate with them.

4. The local HR Department of the Multi-National company is our client, as they are responsible for the person once he relocates to Japan. We have to maintain this relationship.

5. The relocating person, often called a "transferee" or an "assignee" in our industry is also naturally our client. We have to manage their expectations, make them happy with their relocation to Japan and make sure that their life is set up smoothly here.

Increasingly, we find we are placed in a very awkward positions between our 5 clients. The RMC on paper is our direct client, so they like to push us around. Often the communication between the RMCs offices is not up to scratch, so we take the burden of mixed messages that contradict each other. The RMC in the US tells us one thing, but the RMC in Asia tells us something else. The RMC is the client, so we do our best to get things done, while the RMC offices take days to sort out their message into a consistent one.

Communication between Global HR and Local HR in Japan is often poor. Often the Japan Office is playing off the Global Office because they don't agree with policies that don't fit Japan, and we become the scape goat for anything that gets missed in between their power battle. The RMC tries to ignore that this power struggle exists, and conducts their business with no consideration of the local HR (which is also their client) and tries to push global policy through us onto the local HR and the transferee, and we get blamed for anything that doesn't work inbetween.

In the middle of all this, all of the parties lose focus of who their client actually is. We lose focus, because we receive demands for all 5 clients, not just one. The RMCs are completely missing clients 4 and 5 on my list above. They appear to forget that our job in relocation is to manage employee expectations, make them happy with their relocation to their destination and make sure that their life is set up smoothly in that location.

I highly recommend that everyone in our industry steps back and thinks a bit harder about who the client actually is in our industry. Ladies and Gentleman, the client is the person who is moving country, moving their family, moving their home, moving their office. Let's not lose focus of what we are all working for in this industry.

Can You Believe Japan Right Now?

2010-02-09T08:10:00.000-08:00

The concern that many of us have had with regard to Japan has come to light in recent weeks. I ask the question, does Japan really understand what is necessary in the new norm? Can they see the world around them? A world that is moving forward while Japan sits still and acts if as 1980 is going to come back.....?????

POLITICS
Does the new government get it? Do they understand what drives trust in their voters. Primeminister Hatoyama receives 13M dollars from his mother, claims he didn't know that she was giving it to him, but then agrees to pay the 6M dollars in tax. Hatoyama might have some money, but can you honestly say you knew nothing about 13M dollars from you mother? Come on. We are not stupid.

Ozawa claims he is innocent. Three of the people who worked for Ozawa have been arrested and charged. Ozawa is their leader, but insists he is innocent. Lets put this in terms of a company in Japan. The President claims he is innocent. Three of the people who worked for the President have been arrested and charged. The President is the leader of the company, but he insists he is innocent. Make sense? Wouldn't you see the President bowing prefusely to apologize for his staffs action? So, what is Ozawa doing? Think about it. Guilty secretary, guilty Ozawa. Get the dirt out of Japanese government. What will he lie about and brush under the covers next? Your pension? Your job? The next building he buys and the money he shifts around to disguise its purpose. Get the dirt out of Japanese government.

BUSINESS
JAL: Can you believe it. Everyone in favor of their own pension to the extent they bring down their own company. Are you proud to be a former JAL employee? Basically, Japan's former employees have ruined it for their current employees. Fantastic guys! What a company! You have really done Japan proud in the global community. Time to wake up!
TOYOTA: Having spent the last 12-months concentrating on how to bring down their costs after over capitalizing themselves in the US, Toyota forgot that the quality of what they produce is actually more important than their costs..... Shocked by their loss of profits, their internal focus shifted straight to internal issues..... they forgot their customers and how important their brand is. It was all about reducing the red as soon as possible in an economy when everyone was losing money. They had the reserves to get through without a problem, so it should have been about protecting their clients interests with a view to how to make profits in a better economy. But no, they went for creating black in a non-performing economy. Greed is the term that comes to mind. It wasn't good enough to make profit every year since they started. They wanted more every year, forever. Well, even the best have lesssons to learn, and Toyota now knows they are not invincible.

Ladies and gentleman, the above are examples of public and private decision making in Japan. Does it make you confident about the future of Japan?

We have entered a global era. Look at the above. Nothing within the above, public or private, suggests that focus has shifted from what is going on domestically to what is going on globally (Toyota is still viewing the current situation from Japan; the President of Toyota should be in the US right now feeling out just how much damage has been done to his brand........where is he? Reading the newspaper in Japan?). It is the global situation that is important, not the domestic situation. Get your head out of your arse Japan, what you are doing in the world is important, what you are doing domestically is irrelevant in the long run. Get with the global economy or lose big time quickly.....but is anyone listening.......

H&R Group. MORE THAN JAPAN RELOCATION!　www.morethanrelo.com
More Than Japan Housing, More Than Japan Cars and Furniture, More than Japan Service Apartments, More Than Japan Destination Services, More Than Japan License Conversion, More Than Japan Information!
The H&R Group is MORE THAN RELOCATION! www.morethanrelo.com

Car Leasing / Car Purchase in Japan; Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Kobe

2010-01-29T20:19:00.000-08:00

I am pleased to announce that Lease Japan, a division of H&R Consultants K.K., my company, is now providing vehicle services in Kansai to add to our current service offering in Tokyo (Kanto) and Nagoya (Chubu).

At Lease Japan, we are not "Car Dealers". We are car service providers, and we are ready to help you find a car for purchase of for lease. We are all about providing you a good service.

We do all the coordination, all the paperwork, all you need to do is confirm the car you want. There is almost nothing we can't source for you.

Here are some common areas that we help people;

- Lease Japan can arrange leases for any time period. Not just 3 years. If you want something for 17 months, we can do it.

- Lease Japan can arrange your insurance. We work with 3 of Japan's largest insurance companies and can get you the best rates.

- Lease Japan offers ETC cards. ETC cards are usually linked to credit cards, so if you can't get a credit card, you can't get an ETC card. At Lease Japan we can give you an ETC card tomorrow. No applications, no credit cards necessary, and you just pay your ETC fees at the convenience store.

- If you have an accident, you call Lease Japan. Not the insurance company, not someone you don't know, but you call us. We will coordinate things for you; talk to the police officer at the accident site, talk to your insurance company.

- Lease Japan provides corporate leasing programs. Discounted fees are available for multiple lease oontracts, and we will manage your fleet and take all the burden off your staff!

Come talk to us for more details. Every situation is different, so we want to know yours!

H&R Group. MORE THAN JAPAN RELOCATION!　www.morethanrelo.com
More Than Japan Housing, More Than Japan Cars and Furniture, More than Japan Service Apartments, More Than Japan Destination Services, More Than Japan License Conversion, More Than Japan Information!
The H&R Group is MORE THAN RELOCATION! www.morethanrelo.com

The Beginning of a New Era

2010-01-23T00:25:00.001-08:00

Having said goodbye to 2009 and welcomed in 2010, I must admit that there is a lot of uncertainty in front of us. I have just submitted our budgets for the financial year of 2010, and I found it even more difficult this year than last.

Last year it was obvious, sales budgets had to be cut, and with that you needed to cut your costs to say in business. Well, it is great still to be in business, but do you increase your sales budgets this year and ramp up your resources again.....? I suppose it wouldn't be any fun if the answer to that question were known, but it sure ain't easy to see what is in front of us in Japan in 2010.

On the up side, I am beginning to see recruiters again. There is very easy entry into the recruiting industry in Japan, so when you start running into more and more of them at networking functions, you know that companies are employing again. New employment means there is growth in certain industries. From what we see, medical related industries, low end consumer products and those investing in environmental development are moving forward quite rapidly, but with banks not eager to lend and the finincial sector not back, there seems like there is still alot of snow to be cleared before many industries can back out of their parking losts and get back on the road. Once on the road of course visibility is poor, and conditions make it difficult to get to the highway of growth quickly.

Futher on the dark side, bankruptcies were up 2.1% in December 2009 compared to November, although they are down compared to Dec 2008. For those of us in Nagoya, things appear to be going for bad to worse, as 138 cases of bankruptcy from a total of 1,021 were reported in Chubu in December, which is an increase of over 30% for the second consecutive month.

Well amongst all the uncertainty, one thing is for certain. We need to change. Last night, I was priveleged to attend a presentation by David Meerman Scott, who introduced a bunch of us to the new rules of marketing and PR. In a nutshell, it was all about getting "attention" on the web by using social media; getting your company on YouTube, creating an eBook and using "word of mouse" to reach your clientele directly.

This YouTube video was one David used to make his point

This new era calls for us to be creative and sell ourselves through social media. This is one of my new challenges for 2010.

H&R Group. MORE THAN JAPAN RELOCATION!　www.morethanrelo.com
More Than Japan Housing, More Than Japan Cars and Furniture, More than Japan Service Apartments, More Than Japan Destination Services, More Than Japan License Conversion, More Than Japan Information!
The H&R Group is MORE THAN RELOCATION! www.morethanrelo.com

Being Relentless: It Is Not the Critic Who Counts

2009-12-27T18:14:00.000-08:00

I read the following in a magazine recently. I believe it is the words of Roosevelt.

IT IS NOT THE CRITIC WHO COUNTS:
Not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again.....who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best, knows in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly.

The relocation industry and the people performing services within it receive their fair share of criticism. When we get it right; it is a great industry to be in and the rewards in terms of "thank yous" from our clients really makes our work worthwhile. If you don't get off on receiving those "thank yous", you probably don't belong in our industry, but even for the best service providers in the world there is always the down side; the criticism of not doing enough, not understanding enough, being too pushy, not being pushy enough, not reading the situation, reading too much into the situation, being expected to control the impossible.....etc., etc. For those with experience in the industry, you know what I am talking about. It is at times like these, that you need to read the above words.

In the end, if you hold your on policy, you own wish to help people in this industry, the criticism does not matter..... but only if you don't give up.

Let's not give up in 2010! Lets make more happy clients and receive more thank yous in the best way we can.

Thank you to everyone that I have worked with in 2009! I am only as good as the people around me, and you are all fantastic.

H&R Group. MORE THAN JAPAN RELOCATION!　http://www.morethanrelo.com/
More Than Japan Housing, More Than Japan Cars and Furniture, More than Japan Service Apartments, More Than Japan Destination Services, More Than Japan License Conversion, More Than Japan Information!
The H&R Group is MORE THAN RELOCATION! http://www.morethanrelo.com/

Obama and Hatoyama- When will they create jobs?

2009-12-18T20:32:00.000-08:00

Rental housing in Tokyo or Nagoya? Serviced Apartments in Nagoya? Relocation in Tokyo and Nagoya? Car / Furniture Leasing and Purchase in Tokyo or Nagoya? www.japanhomesearch.com, www.leasejapan.com and www.relojapan.com. We want to help you in Japan!

I have been observing Obama and Hatoyama closely over the last months, and I must admit I am pretty disappointed with what I see. Obama makes a great speech, Hatoyama indicates that the new government will finally do things differently........ but what has actually happened?

Both leaders have been either bailing out companies using billions of tax payers money or throwing money around claiming that "stimulus packages" are going to boost our economies.....

One of the only ways to improve both the US and Japan economies is to create jobs. Bailing out companies saves jobs, it doesn't make them. Throwing money around allows people to spend it; ONCE; this does not create new industries, new companies and growth. Yes, due to an increase in demand for items, there maybe a short-term increase in demand for jobs, but lets face it, it is not a long-term economic strategy.

Japan and the US need to create jobs. Making flowery speeches about reducing CO2 emissions is important, but company owners, executives and entrepreneurs are waiting in their respective countries for their governments to support small, medium and large businesses to grow and create jobs.

These are uncertain times. Business leaders want to get ahead in this downturn, but the risks are unknown and confidence is low. Why can Hatoyama and Obama not see that offering packages that reduce risk and create confidence is what our countries need? There are people everywhere with new ideas, creative beliefs about new markets, and competitive models that could revolutionize industries. All they need to do is support what is out there......

For example,

- Tax breaks for new companies / projects
- Incentive programs for taking on new employees
- Incentive programs for certain industries or new markets

Private industry creates jobs and healthy economies, not governments. Can these guys not see that their beautiful speeches and social support policies will never grow economies? These policies are gong to bankrput Japan. Japan's debt is getting close to 200% of its GDP. Pull it together Hatoyama, you need companies to grow so you can pay the debt off. Start supporting what made Japan what it is; small and medium sized companies.

New Real Estate and Relocation Brand

2009-12-12T05:49:00.000-08:00

H&R Consultants K.K. and ReloJapan K.K. have brought their services together under one brand to form the "H&R Group".

The group consists of 6 divisions that provide real estate, car and furniture leasing / sales, serviced apartments, relocation, drivers license conversion and Japan information exchange services for the foreign community of Japan.

.........................................................................................................................................................................

For more information on our services, please see our new website;

www.MoreThanRelo.com

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The H&R Group looks forward to helping you in Japan with your housing, relocation and furniture / car needs.

Health Insurance and Visa Applications

2009-11-24T02:01:00.000-08:00

I have some updated information on the glowing topic of the new "rule" in Japan that will see the immigration bureau ask for health insurance enrollment documentation in order to approve visa applications and extensions.

It has been reported that as of April 2010 that the Immigration Bureau will begin asking for documentation on foreigner enrollment in the national health system as part of the process of receiving permission to live in Japan. This is caused an uproar in the foreign community, because;

1. There is no enforcement of enrollment in the health system of Japanese nationals, and therefore can be regarded as a discrimination against foreigners

2. Many foreigners don't want to be in the system anyway

3. Many companies would prefer their employees not to be in the system, as it reduces their labor spend

However, new information from a reliable source has arrived on my desk today in the form of answers to the following three questions from the Immigration Bureau themselves (answers in red below);

A. What is the purpose of the new immigration guideline?
B. Would the new immigration guideline be implemented in April 2010?
C. What would be the best way to express our organizations concerns regarding the new guideline

The answers received from the Immigration Bureau were as follows;

A. The purpose of the new guideline is to encourage all citizens to join a national health scheme.

B. The new immigration guideline would definitely NOT be a factor in processing visa applications from April of 2010. Until the guideline becomes a law the immigration office will not actively use the guideline as a criteria to accept or deny visa applications. The immigration office may recommend to applicants not enrolled in a national health plan that they enroll, but they will not use the lack of enrollment as a criteria for denying or approving visas.

C. Both the immigration office and Ministry of Justice have already received numerous concerns from large organizations, including Keidanren, regarding the implementation of the new health certificate guideline therefore it is very likely the DPJ and the Ministry of Justice will review the guideline prior to making any further recommendations as to how it should be implemented or whether it should become a law.

It therefore seems that this guideline will not be a big issue initially after all.

Don't rush out and get enrolled for the Japanese health package yet!!

Rental housing in Tokyo or Nagoya? Serviced Apartments in Nagoya? Relocation in Tokyo and Nagoya? Car / Furniture Leasing and Purchase in Tokyo or Nagoya? www.japanhomesearch.com and www.relojapan.com. We want to help you in Japan!

Relocation Industry Trends

2009-11-02T18:35:00.000-08:00

Housing Insurance in Japan

2009-10-26T17:31:00.000-07:00

I'm sure most people out there in Japan have experienced the need to get housing insurance when entering into a rental property contract. I work in Nagoya and Tokyo, so I am writing this based on my experiences in these two cities, but we have run into a wall when it comes to housing insurance recently.

In Japan, in 80-90% of cases, owners will ask tenants to take our a simple "housing insurance" to protect themselves (and therefore the owner) from 3rd party incidents. Common ones are "flooding the apartment below you by forgetting to turn off your bath tap when filling the bath" and fires that start in your apartment (maybe due to that cigarette) that gut your neigbors property too. Sensible insurance to have, and it can also protect you from things like floods, riots (tons of them here!), mystery flying objects, but not usually typhoons or earthquakes.

Well, the situation is that Japan has tightened its laws on insurance, and the payment of insurances.
1. Insurance policies must be read and understood by the person taking them out
2. Payment of the insurance premium must be made by the individual and 3rd parties cannot make payments for that individual, unless they have received payment from that individual.

So this leaves our organization in 2 predicaments;

1. Most owners offer only policies in Japanese. We work with the foreign community in Japan, who, for the most part, don't or can't read legal documents in Japanese. For this reason, it is becoming really difficult for foreigners to sign up for Japanese policies; as the insurance agent requires them to read it back to them to make sure they understand.

2. Often our clients are coming from overseas to live in Japan for the first time. Our job as a real estate and relocation company in Nagoya and Tokyo is to coordinate things like housing insurance policies for our clients. However, even if we can get over the language hurdle, next we are not able to pay in advance for our clients, who AREN'T yet here in Japan!! We have to wait for everyone arrive, and have them make payment after arrival themselves.

The solution is obviously having an Insurance Company that provides policies in English. We used to use "Kyosaikai" a popular housing insurance company, but on the change of the insurance law they withdrew their English translation of their Japanese contract, and now refuse to work in anything other than Japanese. "ACE Insurance" is about the only company in Japan offering "English Policies", but their agents tend not to be customer orientated or able to explain the policy and answer questions about it.

This would be an excellent chance for someone else to come into the market. Furthermore, the regular "housing insurance package" that owners wish tenants to take out can normally not be added to. ie. You can't add insurance for your mountain bike and your diamond ring onto these packages. If anyone can offer such a service in Japan it just might be a hit......

In the meantime, foreigners out there need to be able to read more kanji......

The Environment and Our Future

2009-09-19T23:11:00.000-07:00

Rental housing in Tokyo or Nagoya? Serviced Apartments in Nagoya? Relocation in Tokyo and Nagoya? Car / Furniture Leasing and Purchase in Tokyo or Nagoya? http://www.japanhomesearch.com/ and http://www.relojapan.com/. We want to help you in Japan!

The environment is a topic of conversation where ever you go these days. In my travels, I see a lot of people just turning away and ignoring it, and others who claim that global warming is a natural phenomenum and therefore "why all the fuss, as it was going to happen anyway".

Well, here are a few reasons why we should be fussing.

The environment isn't just about global warming and CO2. There are many other factors to consider and they need to be looked at with each other. I have listed some of the big issues facing us below.

1. CO2 Emissions (Let's start here)
The interesting thing here that alot of people don't understand is that CO2 emissions have historically never been reduced. They continue to increase. Even now!! And most of the time what you are hearing on the TV is not political parties claiming to "decrease" CO2 emissions, but them claiming to "decrease the increase". However, if we don't actually decrease emissions soon, our planet is going to get hard to live on (see 2 below).

2. Global Warming
Scientists have a term "no point of return" with regard to global warming. At "no point of return" weather turns volatile and our planet would become unstable; floods, typhoons, storms, heat waves, cold snaps, etc. in extreme terms. Right now weather patterns are often strange compared to the past, but they are not volatile, nor unstable. The point of no return, is thought to be where earth's temperature increases by 2 degrees. Current scientific studies show that temperatures have increase by 0.70 so far, and at the current rate, we will reach a 2 degree increase in 2029. That is why we have to decrease CO2 emissions, because our planet will go nuts come 2030 if we don't do something now.

3. Energy
The world's energy is provided mainly by oil, coal, natural gas and nuclear power. While there is much debate, oil is a limited resource, and depending on who's research you look at we are going to run out of it between 2030 and 2050. Oil is what we are most dependent on; 30- 35% of the world's energy. When it runs out, it needs to be replaced by something. There is more than 200 years worth of coal left on the planet, but in order to turn it into energy, it increases CO2 emissions by 1.6 times. Natural gas is not dependable enough yet to fill the energy gap left by oil, so that leaves nuclear power. Right now in the world there are about 450 nuclear power plants. In order to cover the gap left by oil, an additional 2,000 will be required by 2030- 2050. Is that possible?

4. Water
We all take this for granted, but if we continue to use water like we do, it will run out. It takes hundreds of years to make good water, but we use it like maniacs. Nobody has found a way to "make water" yet, so if it does run out, we are stuffed. It is hard to calculate this one, but as 3rd world countries become more affluent, the worlds population will turn from "crop eaters" to "meat eaters". What is interesting is that there is a exponential increase in the amount of water you use when you change from a crop eater to a meat eater; the sooner the poor of the world get richer, the sooner our water reserves are in trouble. By 2030 the worlds population will probably have doubled again......

5. Precious Metals
If you care to look up all the parts that are contained in your mobile phone you will find that many precious metals are involved. By 2030, 10- 20 of the precious metals in your phone, will have been used up. Lithium needed for batteries won't exist any more. Right now there is no alternative to these metals, so some invention is going to be needed soon!

6. Biodiversity
I am an amateur on this one, but this is all about natures cycle and "natural balance". Human behaviour is irrational and is destroying the "balance" of natures cycle on earth. There is a limit to how much nature is going to absorb, before it's broken cycle retaliates.

There are other factors such a food production, food safety and population (all closely related), but I think the 6 points above give you the idea. This is what we are talking about when we talk about the "state of the environment", and as you can see from above, the year 2030 is sticking out as perhaps a very important point in the future. That gives us 20 years to do something.

IF WE DON'T MOVE SOON, WE ARE GOING TO LEAVE A MESS FOR OUR KIDS!

DPJ Government and Prime Minister Hatoyama

2009-08-31T01:18:00.000-07:00

Japan is to get a new prime minister (again) in the form of Mr. Hatoyama. There have been some pretty charisma lacking leaders in Japan in the past, so it surprises me that the population of Japan has decided to elect a pussy cat as the leader of their country.

"[Mr Hatoyama] has a very free point of view. From morning to night, he always wants to do the right thing. The problem is he doesn't know what the right thing is." (Mure Dickie).

I can't help but think that in a hurry to get rid of a poorly led LDP party that the citizens of Japan have rushed to elect an even further incompetant DPJ with a puppet as a leader. Time will tell, but I have a feeling that some people will soon regret their voting decisions!

Leading a country is not just about offering the common people money and free highways.....

Social Insurance Crackdown

2009-08-31T00:09:00.000-07:00

In addition to my previous entry on the Alien Registration System, it is worth noting that this is not the only area of "change" or crack down with regard to foreigners and foreign workers.

As of April 2010, the regional immigration bureau will start requesting proof of tax payments (ie. tax certificates) and proof of Japanese social insurance coverage (from the local authorities) in order to approve applications for either an extension of period of stay or a change of residence status.

Local employment insurance authorities have already started requesting lists of foreign national employees from employers.

This is going to be a big blow for companies that have encouraged foreign employees to take out their own health insurance and not pay pension dues (nenkin) in order to maximize their monthly take home pay. I can see a number of English schools trembling in their shoes, as they realize they will now have to convince their teachers that they will have to be enrolled accordingly and then themselves take responsibility for half of the cost of the social insurances, like the remainder of companies in Japan.

It would appear that both national and local authorities are going to police foreigner residential and working details more strictly going forward. Therefore, if you have been dodging the bullet at your company, it might be time to come clean before it is too late!

Rental housing in Tokyo or Nagoya? Serviced Apartments in Nagoya? Relocation in Tokyo and Nagoya? Car / Furniture Leasing and Purchase in Tokyo or Nagoya? http://www.japanhomesearch.com/ and http://www.relojapan.com/. We want to help you in Japan!

Foreigner Registration and Re-Entry Permit Change

2009-08-30T23:38:00.001-07:00

The Alien Registration System will be changing. It is going to take at least 3 years to implement, but it might pay to take a look at what is going to happen now!

The major changes are as follows:

1. The current Alien Registration Card will be replaced by a new Residence Card, called a Zairyu card.

2. The maximum period of stay on your status of entry will be extended from 3 to 5 years

3. The Re-entry Permit will no longer be required (as long as you are not leaving Japan for longer than 12-months)

FURTHER DETAILS

Residence Card
The current Alien Registration Card will be abolished, and a new Residence Card system will be implemented by the Immigration Bureau of the Ministry of Justice. The Residence Card will be issued by Regional Immigration Offices and Immigration Inspection office at the airport (ie not your local ward office / city or town office as before). The contents of the new card will be similar to the current Alien Registration Card including information such as name, nationality, address, type ofimmigration status, date of expiry, place of work, work restrictions and a photograph, but an IC chip will be added to the new card as extra "card security" (so your card can't be forged).

If there is a change to any one of the items listed on the card, it must be reported within 14 days to the regional immigration office. Changes in home address must also be reported within 14 days to the local government office.

The local authority will maintain residence information using the same system as is currently in place for Japanese nationals.

Duration of Stay and Re-Entry Permit
This is the big benefit to foreigners of the new system. The maximum period of stay will be extended from 3 years to 5 years, and accordingly, the maximum valid period for a Re-Entry Permit will also be extended to 5 years. However, a Re-Entry Permit will only be required if a foreign resident travels away from Japan for a period exceeding one year.

Enforcement of Penalties
Although penalties already exist in the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act, the penaltiesavailable under this Act are not really enforced currently. Under the revised immigration laws, further penalties are included and expected to be enforced.

The three main categories of penalties and the reasons for imposing them are as follows:

a. Revocation of Status of Residence
- False or fraudulent application for status of residence
- Failure to report a change of marital status within six months
- Failure to report a new home address within 90 days or reporting a falsified address.

b. Deportation
- Posession of a forged Residence Card
- Illegal employment
- Imprisonment due to forged documents or breach of duties with respect to the Zairyu Card

c. Imprisonment or Fines
- Failure to report information as required by law; subject to imprisonment up to 1-year or a fine up to JPY 200,000
- Failure to report a new address within 14 days; subject to a fine up to JPY 200,000
- Encouraging illegal employment; subject to imprisonment up to three years or a fine up to JPY 3,000,000

Get ready for a crackdown in a few years time!

Rental housing in Tokyo or Nagoya? Serviced Apartments in Nagoya? Relocation in Tokyo and Nagoya? Car / Furniture Leasing and Purchase in Tokyo or Nagoya? http://www.japanhomesearch.com/ and http://www.relojapan.com/. We want to help you in Japan!

The General Election and Real Estate

2009-08-18T07:56:00.000-07:00

Rental housing in Tokyo or Nagoya? Serviced Apartments in Nagoya? Relocation in Tokyo and Nagoya? Car / Furniture Leasing and Purchase in Tokyo or Nagoya? http://www.japanhomesearch.com/ and http://www.relojapan.com/. We want to help you in Japan!

There is certainly a lot of talk about the General Elections going round. Who are you backing? The incumbent LDP with Asso (drop the "o" for effect) or the DPJ who are promising cash for everyone?

Well from a Real Estate perspective, there are alot of agents out there that going to be voting for Asso to get back in. Yes, anyone involved in buy and sell is probably sensible to vote LDP.

Why? Well, the good old DPJ, in an addendum to their "manifest", are claiming to "clean up" the real estate industry by making it illegal to take commissions from both the buyer and the seller in a real estate transaction. Under the current Japanese law, real estate agents in a buy/sell transaction are able to take 3% + 60,000 yen from each of the buyer and the seller in a transaction. The DPJ have probably read an article on how things are done in the US, and are claiming to put a stop to this, and only allowing a qualified real estate agent to work one side of the transaction.

This is wonderful news for agents involved in buy / sell transactions that make up about 90% of all transactions in Real Estate in Japan. Not only are agents struggling to get by in the current economy where currently there are very few transactions as banks are not willing to finance anyone, but now the DPJ is taking away potentially half of their revenue in a transaction......Even when the property market does begin to recover, what does this do for the Real Estate industry of Japan? Pretty much nothing....... It doesn't create any benefit to anyone, as the pie remains the same. It just increases the hands in the pie, which we all know creates nothing but inefficiency (and already there are enough hands in the pie in Japan!).

What will happen if such a new law is passed? Well every real estate company is going to run around and set up an additional dummy company to get around the law. More companies...... less profits in each, less tax collected from the Real Estate industry.....Does the end user or buyer win? No, they still pay the same fees. Does the seller win? No, they still pay the same fees..... Sounds like an incredibly good idea from the DPJ! Certainly not a win, win, win situation!

From what I understand from the information available, this law won't effect us in the rental sector. However, if the DPJ ideas extend to residential property and commercial office rental and Japanese Real Estate Law is policed more strictly so that payments can only be received on one side of the transaction, we are going to see significant movement and changes in the market for real estate agents from each end of the spectrum. Significant negative movement, which will result in further unemployment.

Are the DPJ really thinking of the future of the Japanese economy? I would question any party that makes increasing "domestic demand" a priority, when the population of Japan, working population in Japan, birth rates, and the number of households (will decrease last) are all falling or will fall considerably in the near future. What possibility is there of raising "domestic demand" in Japan under these circumstances? Surely, Japan is better to look to the rest of the world, and how they can use their technology and R&D to meet demand in developing countries through exports and producing product in those countries. Sorry, but the DPJ is dreaming and Japan is in danger of further digging a hole for themselves by voting for this party. I just don't feel good about any of Japanese politics!

My Favorite Camping Ground

2009-08-07T21:25:00.000-07:00

This camping ground is one that our family use at least once a year.

It is called "Komagane Kogen Kazoku Ryoko Mura Arupusu no Oka", or more literally in English; Komagane Family Village on Top of the Alps.

http://www.chuo-alps.com/village_alpes/index.html (Japanese)
http://www.chuo-alps.com/en/index.html (English- about the area)

I am not sure of the on top of the Alps piece, although it certainly well up in a valley. You access the camping ground facility from "Komagane IC" on the Chuo Expressway. It is about 2.5 hours from Nagoya or 3- 3.5 hours from Tokyo (before the heavy traffic).

So, what is great about this camping ground;
- The facilities are new
- The camp sites are a good size and all have a picnic table included
- There is an Onsen (Hot Springs) within the facility
- There are many activities to enjoy; go-carting, mini golf, mallet golf and much more
- The facility is 5 mins drive from the Komagane IC
- It is beautifully green, full of nature, quiet and has great views of the valley below

What's more, the Komagane Village nearby has more Onsen, shops, a river (and nice park along the river), and you can also take a ropeway to the Komagatake Mountain.

Also, don't forget to take a look at the Kozenji Shrine that is a 15 min walk from the camp site too!

Rental housing in Tokyo or Nagoya? Serviced Apartments in Nagoya? Relocation in Tokyo and Nagoya? Car / Furniture Leasing and Purchase in Tokyo or Nagoya? http://www.japanhomesearch.com/ and http://www.relojapan.com/. We want to help you in Japan!

Camping In Japan

2009-08-07T21:17:00.000-07:00

Do you enjoy camping but don't have the gear to head out to the country side and spend a few days in nature? Now there is no need to sit around and only dream of adventure. LeaseJapan is now offering Camping Gear Packages for rent. For more information on available items and pricing, as well as some information on local camp grounds in the Chubu Area, head over to www.JapanInfoSwap.com and look for LeaseJapan's information in the blog. You'll be glad you did!
If you are interested for the Kanto Area, let us know, and we will look into camp sites in this area too!

For all your car and furniture needs, contact http://www.leasejapan.com/; car and furniture lease, car and furniture purchase, car registrations, car navigation systems (English and Japanese), ETC and ETC car rental..... Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka and remotely to other areas. Contact us now; ContactUs@LeaseJapan.com

Is Toyota Really in the Red?

2009-07-30T06:45:00.000-07:00

Do any of you find it difficult to comprehend how Toyota is in the red? Just last year Toyota was bathing in billions of dollars of profit. How could things turn around so quickly, and is it true? Surely you can't go from earning billions to losing them?

Well the truth is you can, and it happened. Here are the main points; simplified.

Firstly, lets make Toyota's sales 100.

- In 2007, Toyota's cost of sales was 80. Take out overheads and R&D and its profits were 6.5 (ie. sales to profit ration of 6.5%)

- Where were the bulk of profits made? A: Mainly in the US, and definately not in Japan

- In 2008, Toyota's cost of sales rose to 89. Keep overheads and R&D constant, and what does that do to profits? A: 6.5- 9 = - 2.5

- What did Toyota report as its profit ration in 2008? A: - 2.2%; the difference between 2.5 and 2.2 being 0.3, which is the costs Toyota managed to cut in a frenzy towards the end of last year.

- So, why did cost of sales rise to be 9 more than in 2007? Well, bunch of reasons;

1. Rising cost of materials in 2008 (they did drop off later in the year)
2. Huge cost of making cars and holding stock in the US that couldn't be sold (and still isn't)
3. Huge drop in the exchange rate; Japanese yen strengthening against the dollar
4. Huge fixed cost of plants that couldn't be reduced, as sales in Japan, the US and the rest of world dropped dramastically

- In summary, Toyota was basically far too dependant on profits driven from their US businesses, and when the floor dropped out of the market in the US, out the window went all their profits.

So there you are, Toyota is now said to be operating at about 50% or less of its capacity. The share cost of holding onto that other 50% of capacity that isn't being used is HUGE, and is likely to drive Toyota into the red again this year.

There is talk about what Toyota will do with "NUMMI" the plant they shared with GM, now that GM have pulled out. Will they hold onto it? Well, I don't think they can; they have far too much capacity and fixed costs, so NUMMI is going to get the boot.

Finally, and something that dispells a bit of a myth; Toyota has a bunch of debt to finance. We all hear about Toyota and its rich cash reserves, but if you take a close look at their balance sheet, the car financing they do at Toyota Finance leaves them with a very large amount of debt on their books!

But, they are still a great company!!

Economy Predictions

2009-07-26T00:46:00.000-07:00

Where is the economy going?

2009-07-15T22:39:00.001-07:00

Free International Dialling!

2009-07-15T22:27:00.000-07:00

I have just been introduced to a new phone service called "FLAT TALK". Yes, believe it or not, there is now a phone calling service that you can use to call internationally free. Yes, that is right FREE!

What is more, you require no registration, no up front fee, nothing. All you do have to do is dial a local number, for which you will bear the domestic phone calling charges for the length of the call, listen to a 15 second advertisement, and then your call is put through.

The countries are limited, but growing steadily; USA, China, Hong Kong, Canada, Singapore, UK, with the following countries to be added soon; Thailand, Germany, France, Denmark, Ireland, Australia (Sydney only at this stage) and Russia (Moscow only at this stage).

Some countries do restrict calling to landlines.

The dial in numbers are as follows;
Tokyo 03-4530-6868
Chiba 03-670-6868
Nagoya 052-456-6868
Osaka 06-4560-6868

You simply dial in, listen the 15 second advertisement, dial in the country code and number, and you are on a free call!

Websites and phone calling cards with the information are on their way and will be launched soon!

Try out "FLAT TALK" !!

Rental housing in Tokyo or Nagoya? Serviced Apartments in Nagoya? Relocation in Tokyo and Nagoya? Car / Furniture Leasing and Purchase in Tokyo or Nagoya? http://www.japanhomesearch.com/ and http://www.relojapan.com/. We want to help you in Japan!

Housing Negotiations in Tokyo

2009-07-06T20:09:00.000-07:00

When looking at a property, don't just ask about the rent! Ask about what type of contract the owner is offering!

Rental housing in Tokyo or Nagoya? Serviced Apartments in Nagoya? Relocation in Tokyo and Nagoya? Car / Furniture Leasing and Purchase in Tokyo or Nagoya? http://www.japanhomesearch.com/ and http://www.relojapan.com/. We want to help you in Japan!

Over the past 6-months we have witnessed a large part of the Expat Community relocate back to their home lands and home offices. Our Tokyo Office has been flooded with assisting repatriations out of Japan, and we now have many owners in Tokyo begging for the opportunity to show their properties to potential tenants.

Naturally, the rental prices are falling quickly. On average I would say rental prices for properties over 700,000 yen per month have dropped by 20- 30% compared to when Lehman was still around. Yes, that means that there are savings to be found. At http://www.japanhomesearch.com/ we would be happy to assist you find a new house / apartment at a much discounted price per month. We have helped a number of people; rent of JPY 1,500,000 back to JPY 1,200,000 in a new property, rent of JPY 900,000 back to JPY 700,000 in a similar property, etc. There are moving costs and the costs of renovating the previous property and paying the up front fees for new properties. However, when you are saving 200,000, 300,000 or sometimes up to 500,000 yen per month on rent, the cost of moving into a new property is very quickly recovered. Food for thought!

ONE WARNING; There is something you need to be aware of in doing this!! Large savings can be found, but there is a trade off involved in many cases. There is a high potential that you will be asked to sign a fixed term contract.

In Japan residential rental properties are generally offered under one of two types of contract. One is a "Ordinary Contract" (普通契約）and the other is a "Fixed Contract" (定期借家契約）. Ordinary contracts are typically 2-years in length and often automatically renew, or sometimes you pay a 1-month renewal fee. Ordinary contracts very much protect the tenant under Japanese Real Estate Law and once a tenant is in the property, owners often have not even a leg to stand on. This is therefore the contract you want to be signing if you are a corporate company signing for your expat tenant in Japan.

The second kind of contract is the "Fixed Term" contract. This is virtually no different to the ordinary contract during the term of the contract, but the big difference is that once the term is up, the contract does not renew. A new contract needs to be signed. Effectively, this means that as the contract finishes, unless the owner wishes to sign a new contract, the tenant doesn't have a foot to stand on. If the owner says "no" to a new contract, they can demand you leave the property.

So, what are owners doing these days in Tokyo. Well, they are offering you 200,000- 500,000 yen off the monthly rent for a "fixed term". ie. they are asking you to sign "Fixed Term Contracts", which means when the 2 or 3 years is up, they can renegotiate with you on a new contract. The tenant is pretty well protected under real estate law for the ordinary contract, so it is difficult to do for this type of contract. However, fixed term contracts are just that. You need a new contract to continue living in the property, and owners have every right to negotiate with you when this happens. They also have every right to say no to a new contract if you don't agree to their terms. Yes, in 2 or 3 years time, they may come back and ask you to pay the extra 200,000- 500,000 yen or more! Just beware!

Owners mayn't be willing to discount rent so much if you are looking to sign an ordinary contract, so the moral of the story is;

When looking at a property, don't just ask about the rent! Ask about what type of contract the owner is offering!

"Tokaname Yaki"- Cera Mall!

2009-06-30T00:20:00.000-07:00

CERA MALL is a Tokoname Pottery Wholesale Industry Park. It is a comprehensive pottery-ceramics shopping zone, which is the largest in scale and variety on Chita Peninsula for ceramics. Within the premises are a few small cafes, a nice park for kids and lots of freee parking where people can leisurely shop in a cozy environment.

99 Kamisunahara, Kanayama-Aza

Tokoname City, Aichi

0569-43-7125

The ceramics on sale range from top-of-the-range handcrafted masterpieces, through to 3 for 100 yen type pricing for slightly defected or older items. The items available also range from cups, sauces and plates right through to umbrella stands, large pots for outside gardening and even decorations for Christmas and the New Year (obviously depending on the season).

I am not a great shopper at any time of the year, but this is one of the places I really enjoy wandering around. I especially enjoy the bargains available on alot of rice bowls, plates (small and large) and it is a common place to go to pick up an omiyage to take back to New Zealand for my family. I have also introduced newly wed couples to Cera Mall on many occasions, as it really is a great place to fit out your kitchen if you don't have one yet..... cheaply, but nicely!

If you have a little time on your hands, this is a perfect place to visit before or after the beach in Utsumi, or some of the fish markets in the south of Chita Peninsula.

If you are stuck for directions, please see the below!

This is a overall map showing the location on Chita Peninsula;

http://www.ceramall.or.jp/images/map1b.jpg

This is a more detailed map;

http://www.ceramall.or.jp/images/map2b.jpg

This is the google map;

http://www.google.co.jp/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=ja&geocode=&q=%E3%80%92479-0003+%E6%84%9B%E7%9F%A5%E7%9C%8C%E5%B8%B8%E6%BB%91%E5%B8%82%E9%87%91%E5%B1%B1%E5%AD%97%E4%B8%8A%E7%A0%82%E5%8E%9F99&sll=36.809285,136.40625&sspn=35.479488,60.908203&ie=UTF8&ll=34.911977,136.842613&spn=0.07151,0.118961&z=13&iwloc=A

Happy shopping!

Jesper Koll in Nagoya

2009-06-29T22:21:00.000-07:00

It is not so often that you get to have dinner with one of Japan's leading economists. So, join us on July 16th to welcome Jesper Koll to Nagoya! Details below.

The American Chamber of Commerce in Japan Presents:
***********************************************************************
"Japan - from Kamikaze Capitalism to Smartpower Dynamism"
JESPER KOLL, PRESIDENT AND CEO, TANTALLON RESEARCH JAPAN

DATE: Thursday, July 16, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.
VENUE: The Westin Nagoya 1F Chambord
COST: Members: 5,000 yen, guests: 6,000 yen

REGISTRATION AND CANCELLATION DEADLINE: Tuesday, July 14
HOST: Business Program Committee - Chubu

***********************************************************************

EVENT OVERVIEW:

Japan has what it takes to emerge a winner from the global crisis a
powerful technology base, low financial leverage, huge savings and a
diligent labor force that can easily compete with almost any global
competitor.

Against this, a massive fiscal deficit, very adverse demographics and
fragmented policy making threaten to ensnare Japan in domestic stagnation.
Which force will win? Where are the industries and companies that will take
the lead? What strategies will the new political leadership promote? Will
the Yen ever stop rising? How can your company benefit from the emerging
global economic order and Japan's force in it?

Over the past decade, Jesper Koll has been consistently ranked as one of the
top Japan strategists. He has written two books in Japanese, "Towards a New
Japanese Golden Age" and "The End of Heisei Deflation." He has been a member
of several government advisory panels, including the MoF council on global
capital flows and PM Koizumi's ad-hoc group of private sector experts.

<>
Jesper is the President and CEO of our new Tokyo office, Tantallon Research
Japan KK.

Jesper has been researching and investing in Japan since becoming a resident
in 1986. For the past eight years he was the Chief Economist of Merrill
Lynch Japan. Prior to that, he had worked for the Tiger Fund. He was also
the head of research for JP Morgan in Tokyo (1994-1998) and the chief
economist of SG Warburg (1989-1994). His analysis and insights have earned
him a spot on several Japanese government advisory committees. He is also
one of the few non-Japanese members of the Keizai Doyukai, the Japan
Association of Corporate Executives.

He has a masters degree from SAIS The Johns Hopkins University and was a
research fellow at both Tokyo University and Kyoto University. He is a
graduate of the Lester B.Pearsn College of the Pacific.

TO REGISTER:
Contact Noriko Kato
052-229-1525, or nkato@accj.or.jp
Or fax to: ACCJ Chubu Office: 0052-222-8272

"Japan - from Kamikaze Capitalism to Smartpower Dynamism" on July 16th.

See you there!

"Habitat Japan"- Free Reading!!

2009-06-26T07:09:00.001-07:00

There are plenty of books out their on where to go in Japan, what to do, how to eat and what to choose, how to get a traditional experience and how to get a hold of the Japanese language and culture. Go to Maruzen and there is a huge selection to choose from.

However, there are very few books that cover the mental aspects of preparing yourself for time in Japan, and getting the best out of your experience. We felt that something was missing in this context, and have spent 2 years putting together "Habitat Japan" to guide foreigners in Japan on how to have a great time here.

With each chapter written by a different Japan Guru, you get a fantastic insight into what experiences await you in Japan and how to deal with them best.

Download your free copy on http://www.japaninfoswap.com/

Things Are Picking Up in Japan

2009-06-26T06:37:00.000-07:00

There is a definate surge in confidence in the Japanese economy, and word on the street tells us the worst is over.

At a chamber of commerce meeting earlier this week, members of the financial industry, small business owners, government representatives and even companies in the recruiting and HR services industry noticed a definate pick up in business during June. Hotels have also indicated better results in June, so it does really appear that demand is going to return for goods and services to a reasonable level of where things were before.

For us at H&R Group also, we have seen the return of inbound housing and relocation clients at a quite significant pitch in June. June has probably been the most positive month we have experienced since things hit the wall in October / November of last year.

There are a couple of areas of concern, for which only the future can tell;

- What is going to happen to globalization? Have companies reached their peak with globalization and are now going to back to a more locally driven model? ie. Are all managers going to be locally hired now, or will Expats continue to come to Japan?

- What is going to drive the relocation industry into the future? Price or quality of service? It definately looks like price has been the driver in a globalized economy and world, but it will be interesting where this takes us if local HR departments and offices begin to take more power back from the global model.

Have a nice weekend!

Property vacancies in your area?

2009-06-19T03:21:00.000-07:00

Take a look around you in whatever city you abode in? Do you notice any differences lately? Being in real estate for so long, I have this habit of looking at buildings all the time. Recently in both Tokyo and Nagoya, I am noticing lots of vacancies....... Lots of buildings with very few lights on.

Our company was talking with Leo Palace earlier this week. It would appear that there are some residential buildings around in Nagoya with occupancy at 0%........ Alot of these were buildings cancelled by the recruiting companies of Toyota and other manufacturers at the downturn of the economy. The recruiting companies would sub-lease whole buildings to house the people they were dispatching to the factories. Not a laughing matter for a number of owners these days, who are now eating up their reserves in order to meet loan payments.

Office rents are ready to come down significantly in Nagoya, with what would appear to be a ridiculously silly number of brand new high end offices popping up all over the inner city in recent months. Something has to give way!

Love Hotel Business!

2009-06-19T03:12:00.000-07:00

If you have been in Japan long enough you will have often wondered about love hotels and the mystery that surrounds this hotel business. If you want to know the details, there is a great event coming up! See below for details!

The American Chamber of Commerce in Japan Presents:
***********************************************************************
LABOR OF LOVE: THE PLAN TO REVOLUTIONIZE AN OVERLOOKED JAPANESE INDUSTRY Stephen Mansfield, CEO, New Perspective (asset manager for Japan Leisure
Hotels)

DATE: Thursday, June 25, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.
VENUE: Hilton Nagoya 4F Fuji
COST: Members: 3,500 yen, guests: 5,000 yen REGISTRATION AND CANCELLATION DEADLINE: Tuesday, June 23
HOST: Business Program Committee - Chubu
NOTE: This meeting is OFF THE RECORD
***********************************************************************

EVENT OVERVIEW:

There are approximately 25,000 love hotels in Japan, and with typically
25 rooms per hotel, the industry accounts for an estimated 0.75% of Japan's GDP or over $40 billion. Yet it remains a backwater: no single operator or owner controls more than 100 hotels, and in fact 90% of all owners have five or fewer properties. This means few, if any, operators have the size and financial resources to achieve the scale, transparency and accountability to develop a more mature business and realize the potential of the strong underlying fundamentals.

Japan Leisure Hotels, which listed on the AIM section of the London Stock Exchange in January 2008, plans to make its brand, Bonita Hotels, the first nationally-recognized name in short-stay accommodation and lead the impetus for consolidation in the industry. Just as investment by major developers in the 1980s and 1990s changed Las Vegas from a town of questionable repute into a mainstream holiday destination, Japan Leisure Hotels believe it can bring what is perceives to be a fringe business into the mainstream. Success would bring huge rewards, but it's a daunting challenge. Can Bonita Hotels revolutionize this overlooked Japanese industry? Decide for yourself at what promises to be a lively presentation and discussion.

Steve Brown and Mike Wright
Business Programs Committee - Chubu

TO REGISTER CONTACT:
Noriko Kato
Operations Manager - Chubu
The American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ) Tel: +81 52 229-1525
Fax: +81 52 222-8272
Email: nkato@accj.or.jp

*************************************************************

And remember! Rental housing in Tokyo or Nagoya? Serviced Apartments in Nagoya? Relocation in Tokyo and Nagoya? Car / Furniture Leasing and Purchase in Tokyo or Nagoya?
See H&R Consultants or ReloJapan! We want to help you in Japan!

Mt. Fuji Climb

2009-06-16T15:05:00.000-07:00

If you are in Nagoya and are looking for a challenge this July, how about climbing Mt. Fuji.

H&R Consultants / ReloJapan are once again sponsoring Hope International's charity climb of Mt. Fuji, to be held on July 10th and 11th. We will pay for you to get up there, so that you can concentrate on challenging the mountain and raising some funds so that Hope Interternational can provide clean water to those in Laos, and also support refugees in Sri Lanka.

I was a climber last year. We had terrific weather, and I forgot my suncreen. I came down a very burnt man!! It was a really great, but trying experience. We left Hongo in Nagoya at 11:00pm, arrived at the base of Mt. Fuji at 3:00am, and started climbing at 3:30am. There was about 1-hour in the dark, but the rest was in the light. It took 6-hours for me to get up to the top, arriving at 9:30am. I spent 1-hour at the top resting, and then came down in about 3.5 hours. Your shoes are very important. I had shoes that were a little tight, and ended up losing both of the toenails on each big toe. Going up is tough and requires alot of energy. Coming down is however worse, as you are tired, and it puts alot of strain on your legs and indeed your feet and toes.

Anyway. We have 37 people booked to challenge so far. The bus takes 50 people, so there are just 13 spots left. Contact Hope International on challenge@hope.or.jp to reserve your spot!

Have a great week!

And remember! Rental housing in Tokyo or Nagoya? Serviced Apartments in Nagoya? Relocation in Tokyo and Nagoya? Car / Furniture Leasing and Purchase in Tokyo or Nagoya?

See H&R Consultants or ReloJapan! We want to help you in Japan!

2009-06-12T21:32:00.000-07:00

Well it is two years later, and I happy to announce the relaunch of Japan Info Swap, and interactive website for the foreign community. We have made some changes and will be incorporating our "Xpat Files" on this site for all to see. Our monthly newsletter that has been produced and edited by Sue Conolly will now be placed on Japan Info Swap in real time. We will then take the best of the entries on Japan Info Swap and will create the monthly newsletter from these.

Yes, Sue Conolly our old faithful is still going to be involved, and yes, the Xpat Files newsletter will continue. It is just going to be in a slightly different format.

I am also pleased to announce that "Habitat Japan", a book written for Expats in Japan in order to get their best out of their time in Japan is also available on www.JapanInfoSwap.com. Go get your copy!! Once again edited by Sue Conolly, and written by a number of experienced "Japaners", this really does give you a great insight in how to get the most out of your time here in Japan.

Good reading da yo!