Businesses in Japan?
 

Do you know a successful story happened around you? Sure we know a lot super stars like パナソニック株式会社， but is there any such stories around you? Doesn't have to be very successful ones.

I heard some interesting sayings about Japan:

It's not really a good idea to start a business in Japan, because anything that can be done are pretty much already been done, and giants/monopolies keep nudging new comers out of their market shares.

Things in Japan are usually quite expensive because they starts from manufacture A to wholesaler B, then to wholesaler C, then to wholesaler D, then to retailer E, and the retailers just don't bother to skip a few intermediates because customers are Okay with the prices.

Is it also true that the money that can buy 1 can of coke in Japan can buy 3 cans in the States?

The last question is the easiest, so I will start with that. I never bought a can of coke in Japan before, but on average, a can of soda from the vending machine runs for about 150-250 yen. So thats $1.5 to about 2.5. Not quite three cans... but close. HOWEVER, you can pay the same money and get a large bottle at a convenience store un-chilled, so a lot of the overhead went towards the admin fee of operating the machine itself

My uncle told me an interesting story, which explain why FOOD (I am only talking about food here) is expensive, here goes. Japanese people are obsessed with food quality, as such, the retailers (Supermarket, food market etc) need to work on attracting their customer by displaying a form of quality, they decide that uniformity is a good way to do this, so when supplier ship them goods, they ask that all goods are in equal shape, size and color. This may be simple for canned or bottled food, but its impossible for agricultural produce to meet this criteria. Using watermelon as an example, farmers may only be able to sell 20 out of 100 watermelon to the store, because they were only able to sort out 20 of them that are in the same size, shape and color. As such they have to sell them to the supermarket at a high price.

BUT, they can sell their produce to restaurant without having to worry about such silly criteria. Thats why, in some cases, its cheaper to eat out in Japan than to cook at home (Taking into consideration the time and resource involved)

As for the other products, I actually don't find it that expensive, it is about 10% more than what I would have pay for in Canada, but about it, so I don't think its really that expensive....

If you can provide a service/product and can undercut the competition by a decent percent, or you can convince your audience that your service/product is better, then you're rich, end of story, country is irrelevant.

I buy my cans of coke at the supermarket for 38yen a can, which is pretty cheap imo.
From the vending machine in front of my office and my house they are 100yen a can.

yeah i think, the japanese are really into the quality of food they buy. im not making this up, but when i was in the Philippines, i had a japanese patient. and she said.
food in japan can be expensive, although there are cheaper ones, (from china) thats what she said, they (her family and most people she knows i guess), try to avoid them.

I have a small business in Japan. I am not super-successful, but my lifestyle has improved a lot over the last year. My business is an internet-based retail store from which I sell goods I purchase in Japan to foreign markets.

I started the store to make a little extra money to pay for a nice vacation each year, but it's been more successful than I expected it to be, and I often have trouble finding enough things to keep my store stocked. The income from my first month matched my regular income from my teaching job, and in subsequent months it has surpassed it.

At the moment I am on track to make 10 million yen in 2011, which is much more than I ever expected. Were the exchange rate better than it is, I would be doing even better.

It feels good to have the ability to support myself without needing an employer if need be, and the success has motivated me to keep an eye open for other opportunities.

Many foreigners in Japan own their own businesses, be they restaurants, bars, or English Schools. Since foreigners are pretty much shut out of traditional employment with typical Japanese companies, many see their own business as the best (if not only) way to get ahead.

And life is about getting ahead, not merely existing.

First, Congratulation.. I'd say thats a success story.. you got into the right business... In Canada, it is very difficult to access Japanese goods. I am not talking about products that is manufactured in Japan, but items that have some cultural significant.... even small items... people are willing to pay quite a bit for them.. i am one of them... I shop like crazy when I am in Japan each year, but the perishable items will eventually ran out, so i turn to online shopping and pay twice or three times as much to pay for goods sometime...

My hat off to you... you are a very successful story, you are nailing over 100,000 USD a year in japan...with an online store, just think about how great you will do when going full pro.

I'm also happen to be running a small business, care to get in touch a little bit more? I kinda know a little abc about how to ship large quantity of goods to companies in other country, maybe we can learn from each other a little bit, although in this case I'm gonna learn much much more from you:p

Are you an immigrant or Japanese native? Either way, you are a legend of some kind, haha:D

Congratulations!

ラムネ？LOL.

I don't know much about Canada, but is Japanese culture related stuff more popular than other asian countries?

What Lemon??? I think its definitely more "popular".... We have 2 major asian mall in my area... Both are Chinese dominant, but I'd say 90% of their stuff are from japan or design and made in HK/China/Taiwan WITH japanese influence

We should really get in touch... I was trying to start something small myself too.. like a ebay operation... I emailed a couple of supplier in Japan with no result.. so if you guys are up for starting something, i am in...