'About Japan' webinar series 233: Building a Professional Network in Japan

What are best practices to build a professional network in Japan?

Networking is important for expanding your business in Japan or anywhere else in the world. When developing networks in Japan, a country with a unique business culture, Europeans may encounter dozens of barriers and differences. This Webinar aims to remove such obstacles.

Many Europeans who have worked with Japanese people often point out their observation that it takes much longer for Japanese to make a decision. This webinar explains why it may take a long time for Japanese to make a decision and also suggests tips on what you can do to accelerate the decision-making process.

In the first part of the Webinar, you will understand the demography and characteristics of the Japanese working population. You will learn about the tendencies by age and how each generation perceives work-related networking.
In the second part, you will be introduced the online and offline environments where networking is possible in Japan. This includes the information from interviews with an expatriate living in Japan and a marketing person from Europe to find out the latest trends on how they conduct networking.

The online section includes commonly used social media networks such as X, Facebook and LinkedIn, in order of the largest number of monthly active users in Japan. By understanding and analysing their user demographics and functions, you will understand who to network with and how they are being used by each company's target consumers.

Offline networking opportunities include Chamber of Commerce events, industry trade shows and seminars, as well as coworking spaces where you can effectively seek out new contacts.

In the last part, best practices for professional networking in Japan are summarized.

The webinar is targeted to

1) expatriates who reside in Japan with an interest in accelerating networking in the country, and

2) marketers, business developers, and customer relations officers who sometimes travel to Japan and who would like to create more opportunities for both offline and online networking.
 

In 40 minutes from your desk, you can discover:

• The demography and characteristics of the Japanese working population.
• Commonly used social media networks in Japan, in order of the largest number of monthly active users and their user demographics and characteristics.
• Offline networking opportunities include Chamber of Commerce events, industry trade shows and seminars, as well as coworking spaces.
• Best practices for professional networking in Japan.

Program:

• Introduction
• Expert’s presentation
• Q&A Session

Speaker: Reiko Yoneyama / Manading Director /  Orange Global Consultancy.
Reiko has a total of 15+ years of business experience between the EU and Japan, including 6 years in a German SME as a marketing manager for new market in the Asia region. For the last 7 years, she has been a director at Orange Global Consultancy. The company conducts business research and consulting focusing on marketing and statistics. Their clients are European SMEs, major Japanese manufacturers such as Panasonic and Honda, and Japanese governmental organizations like Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and JETRO, Japan External Trading Organization.

Moderator: Sofia Smerzi, Business Support Coordinator, EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation
Organiser: EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation - Brussels Office

Deliverables: