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

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

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

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?

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

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.

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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

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

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!

I recently spent two weeks in the US visiting some clients and checking out the world housing and relocation industry to get some insight into how things will be for Japan moving forward. The good news is that for US Relocation companies international relocations look to be quite stable; volume is down, but while watching costs, multinational companies are still moving people. The same can't be said for the US domestic market, which appears to be in alot of trouble. Home inventories are large on someone's books (someone has the inventory, but obviously nobody wants to say they do), people are scared to move, and companies are not moving people, as they continue to lay off staff.

So the bad news is that US companies, which contributes the most to the international relocation industry, are still not employing people; alas many of them are still laying people off. This will be detrimental to any projected increase in volumes moving into 2010; probably not going to happen until US companies start growing again. There is some light at the end of the tunnel in terms of European countries entering the relocation industry; finally we are seeing European companies looking to outsource some of their HR functions as they look for cost reduction solutions.

However, on my US trip, there was one unanimous opinion across all relocation professionals and that was we are now looking at a "NEW NORM". Things are not going to be as they were. The "new norm" is still to be figured out, but here are some trends from a Global Relocation Company in the US in terms of what is important to companies in 2009 when selecting their relocation vendors;

1. Global footprint (ie. are you located throughout the world)
2. Total spend (what is the total cost of the supply chain + relocation management)
3. Pricing
4. Funding capabilities (ie. can you pay in advance for us)
5. Stability of the organization
6. References
7. Service Quality

Our organization has continuously battled to make sure we maintain "service quality" as our number one priority. It appears it maybe time for many in the industry, including H&R Consultants and ReloJapan, to re-think their stratey.......