I was born and raised in Japan until the age of nineteen. After failing the entrance exam for university in Japan, I decided to study abroad. At that time, though, I couldn’t speak English at all.

During my junior year at the University of Washington, my family’s finances changed, and I had to return to Japan. Noticing that most Japanese students at UW came from affluent backgrounds, with parents who were business owners or high-ranking executives, I realized the importance of running my own business to prevent future generations of my family from facing similar challenges.

How did you get into helping
companies establish their brands in
the Japanese market?

At university, I met a Japanese senior whose parents were highly successful. I joined their family business to learn how to run a business. Their core business was trading consumer goods. I also worked for a global cosmetics brand, L’Occitane, for three years. As a marketer, I managed many projects and learned the dynamics of global business. So far, I’ve helped establish three Canadian consumer brands in Japan. It was all coincidental, but I love working with Canadians and would like to bring more Canadian brands to Japan.

What are your areas of expertise?

I specialize in e-commerce & B2C marketing, focusing on high-end goods with rich brand stories. Offline sales channels often require interaction with multiple stakeholders such as landlords, distributors and department stores, and also require more capital than online channels. The effort you put into selling an item worth 10,000 yen is not 10 times that of an item worth 1,000 yen. Affluent customers respect you as long as you meet their expectations, and the gross margin should be sufficient for marketing unless you’re a multimillion-dollar company with nationwide supply chains.

You also run a venture that deals in smart home lighting and design. What’s that all about, and how did you get into it?

I’m the country manager for Nanoleaf Japan, a smart lighting brand from Toronto, and this is the main reason I joined the CCCJ. Our main products are light panels that attach to walls with double-sided tape. They light up in the color of your screens and react to music and touch. I discovered their job posting on LinkedIn; initially, it wasn’t for a country manager position. I just had a gut feeling that I could successfully market this product in Japan. With its premium price point of 30,000 yen, ease of installation, unique design and cutting-edge technology, Nanoleaf has become the only successful smart-light brand in the Japanese market within two years. All other global competitors are struggling due to unique aspects of the Japanese market related to distribution and marketing. Japan is now one of the most important and fastest-growing regions for our group.

What’s your best piece of advice for foreign firms entering the market here?

Find the right partners. Don’t assume your best practices will work here. This country is unique and isolated in both good and bad ways.

When you’re not in business mode, what are you doing?

I have many hobbies: going to the gym, playing mahjong and poker, enjoying craft beer, smoking hookah, using cosmetics, and collecting watches and cars. For me, there is no boundary between business and life. My goal is to sell whatever I enjoy as a consumer.