Japanese Companies Lack Two Success Factors to Win in the Global Age
A 28-year-old Chinese entrepreneur is on a mission to change that
Japan, it is often said, is an insular country. The gulf between Japan and the world appears to be a massive chasm that is extremely difficult to bridge.
First, most Japanese businesspeople do not possess sufficient English skills to navigate the global market. The Japanese language must seem to be insurmountable for many foreigners who want to work with Japanese businesses.
Secondly, it is also well-known that Japanese decision-making processes sacrifice speed for consensus. They often present a challenge to non-Japanese companies that partner with them.
A 28-year-old Chinese entrepreneur is working hard to change that. Zhou Ruyi, CEO and Founder of WeGlobal, Inc, believes that Japan has a lot to offer to the world, and the world to Japan as well.
Her mission: to connect Japan with the rest of the world.
I sat down with Ruyi to understand her story and her vision.
Moving from China to Japan at the Age of 13
Ruyi was born in Fujian, China. In 2007, she moved to Japan with her family. At the age of 13, while most people growing up are still trying to figure out their own identities, Ruyi was plunged into an environment where she couldn’t even speak the language.
While the Japanese language is partially written with Chinese characters and about half of its vocabulary is made up of words of Sino-origin, it is a very different language from the Chinese language.
Ruyi had had to learn the Japanese language from scratch.
She went to a local school, just like any other Japanese teenager.
Today, she is trilingual in English, Chinese, and Japanese, no simple feat even for someone with a natural gift for language.
Working in Singapore Ignited Her Entrepreneurial Fire
After graduating from the University of Tsukuba (she studied Medical Science), she joined a medical device company and worked in Osaka for two years as a medical representative. She then joined a startup until she got the chance to move to Singapore.
In Singapore, Ruyi worked as a recruitment consultant. Inspired by the openness of Singapore, she returned to Japan and started a professional services company specializing in recruitment in late 2021.
“After coming back to Japan from Singapore, I felt that Japan is really isolated from the global world. People here — especially younger people — they are really depressed. I feel that they do not really have a lot of hope.
“That is why I wanted to make people around me — anyone — feel that they have the potential and the possibility to achieve their dream.
“That they can be successful in Japan or anywhere else.”
Japanese Companies Need to Speed Up
“These days, business moves really fast. The world is changing every day. There is no time to wait. There is no time to waste.”
It is clear that Ruyi’s time spent working in Singapore has influenced her thinking. She highlights the more open-minded culture, and the straightforward style of communication as the key reasons why things move faster in Singapore.
Singapore is a fast-paced, pragmatic society.
A postcolonial, immigrant society made up of a Chinese ethnic majority, the government’s no-nonsense, anti-corruption, pro-business stance has made it into an economic powerhouse and one of the original “Four Asian Tigers.”
Ruyi believes that Japan has a lot to learn from Singapore.
“In Singapore, the culture is more open-minded. People care more about what you think. The distance between you and your manager — it’s closer. People tend to have more direct conversations. It makes things move faster.”
This is in contrast to the tendency for Japanese business communication to be ritualistic. The perfectionistic inclination that Japan is famous for also hinders decision-making.
“Japanese tend to make everything perfect. They prepare. Then, they confirm. If there is anything wrong, they take it back and do it again.
“In Singapore, they are more results oriented.
“In Japan, people are more focused on the process. This takes one week. This takes one month. Sometimes, people forget what this project is for.”
Ruyi points out that today, every country in the world is competing aggressively in the global economy.
“These days, business moves really fast. The world is changing every day. There is no time to wait. There is no time to waste.”
Japanese Companies Must Speak English
“Japanese companies shouldn’t think that speaking English is an excellent thing. It is the norm. It is the standard.”
It’s no secret that Japan struggles with English. According to the 2021 results of the EF English Proficiency Index, the country has one of the lowest levels of English competency globally.
The reasons are multiple. For one, English education in Japan is focused on rote learning, translation, and memorization to pass entrance exams.
More fundamentally, most people in Japan have no real need to use English in their daily lives. Part of this is economic. As the third-largest economy in the world, the domestic market is large enough for most Japanese firms to remain domestic players.
For more global Japanese companies with foreign operations, international operations are often handled by a separate international business division.
Ruyi, however, believes that Japanese companies need to get serious about English communication to stay relevant to the global economy.
“Previously, Japanese companies had really good products. Like refrigerators, or TVs. They were the best ones in the world. So, they didn’t have to make so much effort to let other people buy their product.
“Now, times have changed. Every country is trying very hard. To promote to a global market, speaking English is necessary to get to the global market. Even if they have a good product, they need to put in the effort to get their global customers.
“Japanese companies shouldn’t think that speaking English is an excellent thing. It is the norm. It is the standard.”
Specializing in the Tech Sector
Ruyi is under no illusions about the difficulty and the competition she faces in the industry. To differentiate her business and set her apart from other firms, she is targeting a very specific segment.
“We target bilingual professionals in tech-oriented global companies. We provide a specialized service. Japanese, English, and professionals with technical and specialized skills. For example,
- Business Development / Sales / Marketing
- Human Resources, Finance, and General Affairs (IT, AI, R&D)
- Business Administration (CXO, Country Manager, Management)
“We focus on tech companies because they are growing, and they have innovation.
“I believe that bilingual professionals are the people who can connect Japan to the global market. And also, to bring global companies to Japan.”
Still, joining a tech startup is not a popular move in Japan. In risk-averse Japan where lifelong employment was for many years, the corporate ideal, many young people still aspire to get stable jobs at large companies.
According to a 2021 survey of 41,731 graduating students in Japan by MyNavi Corporation, 43％ of respondents answered that stability was the most important thing they were looking for in a company.
In contrast to that, only 35% of respondents said that “being able to do what I want to do” was important.
No doubt, the COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the preference for stability. This figure was the highest since 2001.
Another reason why joining a tech startup is not a popular move could also be cultural. Unlike the Silicon Valley ethos of “move fast and break things,” Japanese culture tends to venerate the cult of the craftsman.
The Difficulty of Hiring Tech Workers in Japan
It is no surprise then, that there is a shortage of skilled IT workers — software engineers and developers, and other specialized roles.
In 2018, the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) predicted that the shortage of IT workers in Japan will reach 450,000 in the medium case scenario by 2030.
The solution is often to bring tech workers from overseas, but the difficulties for both sides soon become painfully obvious.
For one, many Japanese companies prioritize language skills. Having technical skills is not enough; foreign technical staff must also be competent in the Japanese language.
Moreover, the Japanese language is one of the hardest languages to learn, especially for native English speakers. It’s not something one can pick up in a couple of months.
Furthermore, since the tech industry has been growing strongly, most skilled tech workers do not lack jobs.
The number of tech workers who are motivated enough to add the Japanese language to their repertoire of already very specialized skills must surely be few and far between.
There is no strong motivator for them to work in Japan for a substantially lower package unless they are keen on living in Japan.
Still, Ruyi agrees that technical professionals also need Japanese language ability, but for a different reason.
“Maybe you are a (software) engineer. You may not need language or cultural skills. But if you really want to experience living in Japan you really need to have the cultural skill. But that is why I emphasize bilingual — English and Japanese.
“I don’t think they will be really happy if they don’t appreciate this culture.”
Bridging Japan and the World
Ruyi stresses that WeGlobal Inc. is not just a recruitment company. Her vision is to create a platform that brings together professionals interested in Japan and other countries, to help them succeed in business and their careers, and ultimately their lives.
She hopes to create an environment where English/Japanese bilingual professionals can get the resources they need to propel their careers forward.
“Before I left for Singapore, I was in the same situation as many Japanese people. I worked hard but I couldn’t really see what I should do, where I should go, where I was headed. It was really difficult to maintain the motivation.
“Now, I want to help create an environment that lets people try hard so they can be better. The goal is to help these people to design their career and their life. No matter where they are — Tokyo, Japan, or other countries.”
Connect with Ruyi via LinkedIn
Learn more about WeGlobal Inc.
© Alvin T. 2022
The author is an editor of Japonica and also writes on a wide variety of topics. His key topics are society, culture, modern work, and cryptocurrency, with the occasional fictional story, creative piece, or reflective essay. Discover his most-read stories here.
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