which business?

[tino from germany]

I am Tino from Germany. I don't earn much money with teaching german. Do you have any idea what i could do in the future. my japanese knowledge is not perfect but its good.

I wish to have my own business, but i have no idea what i should do. I live in Fukuoka. Here are not many foreigners like in Tokyo. And here are only very few Germans. Do I have a special chance?

Should i import or export articles?

Thanks for your advice.


Tino

[trip_hop]

What do you like to do besides teaching German?
What other skills do you have?
What are you interested in?
Where would you like to be in 3/ 5/ 10 years time?
Do you have family here? If so, what do they do?

Help us help you......

[tino from germany]

What do you like to do besides teaching German?
At the moment i work in a cafe/restaurant. i am waiter.
But i don't want to do this work. Maybe i want to import products from germany or maybe i could work as a interpreter in the future. i have no real idea. this is the reason why i post here.

What other skills do you have?
I worked 5 years as a fitter.
and i can speak german, english and japanese (not very good, but i work hard).

What are you interested in?
... i have no special interest. i am interessted in many different things.

Where would you like to be in 3/ 5/ 10 years time?
i want to stay here in fukuoka.

Do you have family here? If so, what do they do?
I live together with my japanese girlfriend. she sell cosmetics.

Any idea what i could do?
Is it a good idea to open a shop or is it better to work as an interpreter (i think i need 2 years more studying) ?

[paulh]

What do you like to do besides teaching German?
At the moment i work in a cafe/restaurant. i am waiter.
But i don't want to do this work. Maybe i want to import products from germany or maybe i could work as a interpreter in the future. i have no real idea. this is the reason why i post here.

I dont know anything about this but my guess is you would have to do market research find out what people are willing to buy. Where will you sell products. How will you import, store and distribute them? How do you know there is a demand for German products? Do you need an import licence?

and i can speak german, english and japanese (not very good, but i work hard).

Dont want to burst your bubble but to be an interpreter you not only need to know Japanese you need to have specialised knowledge e.g. a court interpreter needs to know legal terms and understand what is going on in a court case. Speed and accuracy are important too.Japanese by itself is no good if you have no knowledge of the subject matter.

Learn japanese first and then think about what you can do with it and perhaps develop some technical skills.

Where would you like to be in 3/ 5/ 10 years time?
i want to stay here in fukuoka.

On what visa, doing what? Again you need to have skills that you can offer people. people only pay you for things that Japanese can not do. You must be able to service a need somehow.

Do you have family here? If so, what do they do?
I live together with my japanese girlfriend. she sell cosmetics.

a girlfriend is not family unless you got married and needed a spouse visa.

Any idea what i could do?
Is it a good idea to open a shop or is it better to work as an interpreter (i think i need 2 years more studying) ?

No idea. German cooking, sauerkrauts? Bratworst?

[Glenski]

I think you need at least 3 million yen to open your own business. Trip Hop runs her own business, so perhaps she can tell you what is involved in getting yourself set up.

What sort of visa do you have now that permits you to work, and when does it expire?

Do you have any kind of college degree?

What are you interested in?
... i have no special interest. i am interessted in many different things.

You will need more than market research. You need a lot of introspective thinking. Dwell on this a long time and think what your skills are and your potential. Couple that with some specific liking and see what sort of job you can come up with.

[starrats]

I think you need at least 3 million yen to open your own business.

now you don't need 3 million yen to start own business as a form of LLP, and next year all minimum capitalization requirement will be waived under revised company act. we have talked about that in the other thread below. it may help...
http://www.gaijinpot.com/bb/showthread.php?t=13172

[CuriousII]

Tino,
Have you ever given thought to the brewing industry in Japan? Even though Japanese beer is good, German beer is still better.

[tino from germany]

i didn't go to university. i have no degree.

in the moment i have the working-holiday-visa. it expires in december.

[paulh]

i didn't go to university. i have no degree.

in the moment i have the working-holiday-visa. it expires in december.

Well I guess you will have to marry the girlfriend and get a spouse visa if you want to stay here. Not many options without a visa here.

[MarvinS]

Tino,
Have you ever given thought to the brewing industry in Japan? Even though Japanese beer is good, German beer is still better.

Actually Japanese copied the European brewing techniques more than a century ago. So the beer brewed in Japan is very similar to European beer, including German beer.

Have you tried Kirin larger from the tap? I enjoy a couple of beers now and again and up until this point I have not tasted a better beer. And I have tasted a few.
Try it, you may be surprised.

[CuriousII]

A few years ago in Yokohama, I remember trying a microbrew called something like Hidemi or Hideki. It was the best beer I've ever had, and I spent a number of years in Germany drinking only the best.

Yes, I've had the Kirin and Sapporo, etc. They are all good. But if you know what you're doing, you can brew an even better beer.

[MarvinS]

A few years ago in Yokohama, I remember trying a microbrew called something like Hidemi or Hideki. It was the best beer I've ever had, and I spent a number of years in Germany drinking only the best.

Yes, I've had the Kirin and Sapporo, etc. They are all good. But if you know what you're doing, you can brew an even better beer.

OH really!? Will you be kind enough to instruct us how to make a better beer that Kirin lager or Sapporo? (upon which personally doesn't do a lot for me). i.e. Sapporo that is.

[Andi in Saitama]

Do you have any idea what i could do in the future. my japanese knowledge is not perfect but its good.

I wish to have my own business, but i have no idea what i should do. . Do I have a special chance?
Thanks for your advice.
Tino

I see you work in a cafe/restaurant.

I have a German friend in Osaka who open his own sausage restaurant there . This guy could not fry an egg or earn a crust in Japan 25 years ago , he had to do something. Now he is quite successful manufacturing his brand of sausage.I have approached him to market his product on the net to foreigners in Japan but he is not interested.

just a thought.

[MarvinS]

I see you work in a cafe/restaurant.

I have a German friend in Osaka who open his own sausage restaurant there . This guy could not fry an egg or earn a crust in Japan 25 years ago , he had to do something. Now he is quite successful manufacturing his brand of sausage.I have approached him to market his product on the net to foreigners in Japan but he is not interested.

just a thought.

I think German sauages, cold cuts, pate's etc would do very well in Japan!
However, that being said, I believe it would be a rather difficult business to undertake.

[Andi in Saitama]

MarvinS

what's difficult about buying a mix/mincing/machine from The Joyful Honda DIY center for 40,000 yen top of the range stainless machines, running up a batch of sausage and inviting a few people over to criticize a recipe. What's difficult about about buying a smoker machine for 10,000 yen and smoking a batch of sausage ?

What's difficult ?
What's difficult ?
What's difficult ?

Tino is asking for ideas , can you help out with some of your ideas . Master minding an idea, who knows Tino could offer you a job.

peace.

[MarvinS]

MarvinS

what's difficult about buying a mix/mincing/machine from The Joyful Honda DIY center for 40,000 yen top of the range stainless machines, running up a batch of sausage and inviting a few people over to criticize a recipe. What's difficult about about buying a smoker machine for 10,000 yen and smoking a batch of sausage ?

What's difficult ?
What's difficult ?
What's difficult ?

Tino is asking for ideas , can you help out with some of your ideas . Master minding an idea, who knows Tino could offer you a job.

peace.

hmm... so you could offer me a job? Plz stipulate your working conditions/terms etc. and annual salary including bonuses so that I may consider your proposal.

Tino.
Difficulties doing business does not lie in the manufacturing or importing stages. Anyone or any company that is financially stable and in good standing can do that. Difficulties lie in the sales and distribution process. If you can master that in Japan and considering there is a demand for your product that you can sell at workable price to JP wholesalers or directly to the end user then you'll have a successful business.
I wish you good luck on your endeavours.

[Andi in Saitama]

hmm... so you could offer me a job? Plz stipulate your working conditions/terms etc. and annual salary including bonuses so that I may consider your proposal.

I think you were replying to me and not Tino

Did I say i "could" offer you a job.

let's say, i said to myself talking my thoughts out loud "consider MarvinS for employment" just for the heck of it and based on how much I know about you so far.

Conditions would be comfortable and terms would be fair based on your ability to read and understand what has been said in a communique , so far you have not shown that ability, as you fail to understand the post directed at you and have assumed I "could" offer you employment and have asked me to provide you with remunerative information which would add comfort to your existence by my supposed proposal.

Also I think you would agree with me your use of space on the Internet is overly wasteful with the large amount of quote quotes you quote asking in short sentences for posters to explain themselves (example) what is a flapping toy.

Yes Marv,

There must be something you could do in my outfit. I will try hard and continue to consider all possibilities,

peace

[Glenski]

tino,

With no degree and a working holiday visa that's about to expire, you have almost no chance of staying here.

You will have to marry a Japanese or set up your own business or enroll in school.

Kind of hard to imagine you doing the first two by December, but those are pretty much your only choices.

[MarvinS]

I think you were replying to me and not Tino

Did I say i "could" offer you a job.

let's say, i said to myself talking my thoughts out loud "consider MarvinS for employment" just for the heck of it and based on how much I know about you so far.

Conditions would be comfortable and terms would be fair based on your ability to read and understand what has been said in a communique , so far you have not shown that ability, as you fail to understand the post directed at you and have assumed I "could" offer you employment and have asked me to provide you with remunerative information which would add comfort to your existence by my supposed proposal.

Also I think you would agree with me your use of space on the Internet is overly wasteful with the large amount of quote quotes you quote asking in short sentences for posters to explain themselves (example) what is a flapping toy.

Yes Marv,

There must be something you could do in my outfit. I will try hard and continue to consider all possibilities,

peace

Babble babble babble.
What was that about wasting internet bandwidth?

[tino from germany]

I live in Fukuoka. And here is allready an other german who sell his sausages in a restaurant.

But my father found somebody who works at a big german company. they speak about japan. and the looking for some japanese-speaking worker. maybe i have a chance.

in december i will try the jlpt 2 exam.

i hope it works. the mother dont want that i marrie her. she want that i go back to germany. i should go to university and then i should come back.

[paulh]

i hope it works. the mother dont want that i marrie her. she want that i go back to germany. i should go to university and then i should come back.

If there is no way that you can support yourself with an independent income or you cant stay in the country except for a spouse visa there is no way that you would be able to support a wife and any kids that would come along. This is speaking from experience. Japan is an expensive place to support a family.

Unless you can get a visa that allows you to stay here or you have marketable skills that people are willing to pay you a living salary for, getting married to stay in the country or basing your whole future on a visa stamp on it is not a good idea. P.S. if the marriage broke up because of financial difficulty or lack of job prospects etc you would lose your spouse visa once it expires also.

I dont imagine your current lack of a long term working visa and job skills inspires much confidence in her parents at any rate.

Having a degree will at least get you an interview or sponsored work visa at any rate, even working at one of the language schools.

japanese is nice to know but not much use unless you have something else to offer employers such as professional or technical knowledge in a particular field. Plenty of bilingual Japanese people around, and a few speak German.

[donpaulo]

yes in my small circle of friends I know 3 german speaking japanese. One even teaches it at one of my language schools.

No degree, that is tough

No visa, that is impossible to overcome

go home get a degree, learn more japanese and return.