Mike Rogers, President of Universal Vision Japan

May 9th, 2011By Category: Work Tips

Making a successful living in Japan as a foreigner is certainly no easy task. Foreigners working for Japanese firms oftentimes hit glass ceilings and leave out of frustration. Others, perturbed by the difficulty of the language and of the customs of the people, are unable to move up because of limited communications skills. It’s tough to establish a successful career as a foreigner in Japan.

It seems, then, that Mike “In Tokyo” Rogers is an anomaly – a notable one at that.

As the President of Universal Vision, a successful marketing research company based in Tokyo; the Founder and Owner of Wazoo.jp, one of Japan’s few online ticketing services; the Author of bestselling book Schizophrenic in Japan and the former General Manager of TV Tokyo-owned 76.1 InterFM, the California native is one of the few foreigners to have established a long and accomplished career at a Japanese company.

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Mike over the phone to ask him a few questions about his career and his views on the Japanese economy as a whole.

As the first and only foreigner to have served as general manager of a major Japanese broadcasting station and as the current president at Universal Vision, you certainly are in a unique position in Japanese society. Tell us more about your story and how it led to where you are today.

It’s kind of a long story, actually. (Laughs) In 1981, I was a communications student in college and had worked for Prudential Bache, one of the largest insurance and investment management corporations at this time; to this day, still is. Now, I was one of the younger guys there and was making a lot of money. Gradually, however, I became disillusioned with what I was doing at work. It kept getting worse and I got fed up with it. Eventually, I found a job in Japan during the time of its economic boom. I quit my job, moved to Japan with my wife and stayed there.

At first, I thought that I was only going to stay for a couple of years, and go to Hong Kong, Singapore or Italy just to see what I liked. Eventually I liked it here, settled down and stayed; eventually, I got to work with clients like Cirque Du Soleil, Fiat, Air New Zealand, Sony Music, and Pirelli Tires…that was fun.

With regard to how I moved up the corporate ladder and became the general manager of InterFM, that’s an interesting story as well. Though I had been an outside producer at InterFM for a while, I wasn’t really involved until TV Tokyo bought the station out. And though the station had lost $140 million over the last ten years, the president of TV Tokyo asked me if I would be general manager. I said no three or four times, though in the end I bent to pressure. We basically restructured things at the company. Pay was cut twice by a quarter. Since then, I was able to push InterFM to number one in the ratings (12 – 29 male/female demographic), wiped out the red ink, created a station brand and image and even showed a profit by April of 2007 for the first time in the station’s history.

Recently, however, I’ve begun Wazoo, which is an online ticketing service that I believe is ground breaking in Japan. You can check it out at http://wazoo.jp.

You’ve worked with both Japanese and international clients over the course of your career. From your experiences, what differs Japanese clients from international ones? How does your firm approach international clients looking to establish a solid foothold in Japan?

Foreign companies fail because they take services, convert them into Japanese and think that this strategy will work in Japan. This is why they fail. Pepsi, for instance, tried that approach at the beginning and failed. Coca Cola, however, was smart in tying up with a Japanese company when they came, who knew the nuances of the market and how to market their products effectively to the Japanese public. You need an experienced, well connected public relations and marketing department, and you have to get it right the first time, else risk not succeeding here in, well, ever. There are different rules and different marketing strategies for Japan; culture plays an extremely significant part here. Knowing how Japan’s mass media and advertisement world works is critical knowledge, and knowledge that I think many foreign companies overlook in their attempts to set up shop here. They just can’t understand how different Japan is from the rest of the world.

Now, as for the differences and similarities between Japanese clients and international ones, Japanese clients tend to favour European products not only because of their perceived luxury status, but rather because of some similarities that both Western European culture and Japanese culture have, especially when it comes to style and fashion. Otherwise, however, they’re completely different.

The rising economic might of China is already making ripples in the global economy. How do you perceive China’s current and future role in Japan’s economy?

Generally speaking, China has an image problem; that Chinese exported food products are not safe to eat, that Chinese products are dangerous. It’s going to take at least a decade for Chinese exporters to change from this image they have. Personally, I think that China can and will make things better for everybody once this issue is rectified. I think that Japanese companies can help in that department, and that China can play an extremely beneficial role in the development of Japan if and when it is resolved.

At the same time though, Japan is not a free market. We can see this in Japan’s agriculture industry. The farming lobby is strong, and it would be political suicide for anybody to try to battle them, to say that Japan should liberalize the rice market. Still, for individuals in Japan fighting to make ends meet, they should have the option to buy the cheaper, imported goods, and regular people are buying expensive rice because they simply don’t have another option. That I think has to be changed, and probably one that China has a role in the near future.

Foreigners and foreign-born Japanese in Japan oftentimes have a hard time breaking through the glass ceiling at Japanese firms. How did you manage to do this?

In my case, it’s difficult for me to say and to be totally fair about it. Back to the InterFM case, I’d like to believe that the president hired me because he thought that I had ability and that I knew how to run a company. On the other hand, it dawned on me that a Japanese person will not go in and get rid of a bunch of other Japanese people because of relationships and ties and whatnot; the types of connections which are very strong in Japanese society. I had no qualms about getting rid of people, though eventually they just left by their own accord because of the pay cuts. It’s not an enjoyable thing, cutting people’s jobs, but it’s the easiest way to increase profitability in the short term.

Top photo credit: Esby / Wikimedia

Author of this article

GaijinPot

GaijinPot is an online community for foreigners living in Japan, providing information on everything you need to know about enjoying life here, from finding a job and accommodation to having fun.

Related articles that may interest you

Comments

  • Ne01952 says:

    I wish to convey my affection for your generosity giving support to persons that absolutely need guidance on this important question. Your very own commitment to passing the message throughout has been extremely powerful and have in most cases helped those just like me to reach their desired goals. Your own important tips and hints denotes a whole lot a person like me and much more to my peers. Thank you; from everyone of us.

    Visit my blog tramadol pill id!

  • Blatta1992 says:

    I must express some thanks to the writer for bailing me out of this particular condition. After scouting through the world wide web and seeing thoughts which were not powerful, I believed my entire life was gone. Living minus the solutions to the issues you’ve fixed as a result of this report is a serious case, and the kind which might have badly affected my career if I had not discovered your site. That talents and kindness in touching all areas was helpful. I’m not sure what I would have done if I had not discovered such a stuff like this. I can also at this time look forward to my future. Thank you very much for your impressive and result oriented guide. I will not be reluctant to suggest your web sites to any individual who would like care about this problem.

    Visit my blog asprin headaches children

  • Thanks for all your valuable hard work on this web page. My mother really loves conducting investigation and it’s obvious why. We hear all about the lively manner you offer reliable tricks via the web site and strongly encourage participation from other ones on the area plus my daughter has always been studying a great deal. Enjoy the rest of the year. You are performing a splendid job.

    Visit my blog get adipex

  • Zoomtokyo says:

    How is Starbucks different? A manager there told me a group of Japanese consultants had earlier told them that a no-smoking coffee shop where people carry around their coffees in portable mugs was alien to Japanese consumers and would surely fail in Japan.
    Head office totally ignored the advice, launched its purely US business model in Japan, and within weeks Starbucks Shibuya Crossing and South Shinjuku had the highest turnover of any Starbucks on the planet. I’ve been to Starbucks in about a dozen countries worldwide, and they’re all based on the US Pacific Northwest-inspired approach.

    A BMW regional manger once told a newspaper: NEVER tie up with a Japanese company in Japan, which will then try to control/hamper you. Motorists in Japan and worldwide are in love with German cars, so give them something that’s purely German.

    As for “advanced to be accepted.” You don’t need to be “advanced” to be in Japan. Just drop into your local 100 yen shop or Don Quiote. They’ve got tons of cheap and wonderful Chinese-made electronics goodies, like keyring LED flashlights. When I need something cheap and simple, I’ll look for it first in Japanese retailers before looking overeas.

  • Bkniel says:

    I would say that Apple, Starbucks and Google market themselves in a different way in Japan. Though I don’t have firsthand experience in Japan from what I understand Starbucks in Japan is not the same as Starbucks in North America, at least not in how it’s run. Google has quite a few ad campaigns that are targeted specifically for the Japanese market because it needed to build a presence, Google had always been a fun, interesting company but they really had to take their campaign to the next level. Apple might be similar if only because the technology of the phones and computers was advanced enough to be accepted into the market.

  • Zoomtokyo says:

    “Foreign companies fail because they take services, convert them into Japanese and think that this strategy will work in Japan.”

    That strategy certainly works well for Apple, Starbucks, Google and a host of other foreign companies I could name. The Coca-Cola case is ancient, ancient history, back when foreign companies had not choice but to tie up due to the tightly regulated and protected market.

Top