Hello everyone. Please allow me to introduce myself as the new Editor-in-Chief of your ACCJ Journal. My name is Mike DeJong and I’m a journalist. Please don’t hold that against me! Seriously, on the scale of the world’s most disliked professionals, journalists rank slightly higher than politicians, tax collectors and those annoying people who come ...
This issue is rather special in that it marks the first time we’ve featured a non-resident of Japan on the cover, the recently deceased co-founder of Apple, Steve Jobs, and it marks my departure from the magazine after two years of hard work and good times. I always tell my writers “never bury the lede,” ...
The final stages of this issue came together during the 10-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on America in 2001, an occasion that saw former President George W. Bush and President Obama stand together for the first time at Ground Zero to honor the memories of those we lost on that terrible day. It’s now ...
Recently, many business associates here in Tokyo seem to be all atwitter (pun intended) about Google’s new social network Google+. The excitement is quite interesting considering that the social networking behemoth known as Facebook, with over 750 million users worldwide, still hasn’t managed to crack the code on Japan’s SNS space dominated by the likes ...
When we relaunched the ACCJ Journal nearly two years ago, we immediately set about constructing a list of business leaders for potential coverage in the magazine. The goal was to seek out not only the standard bearers, but also the trailblazers pushing Japan forward into an era of global competition. For those acquainted with the ...
During the course of production, in nearly every issue our various contributors manage to deliver ever more surprising jewels of insight and analysis that help us all understand the Japanese market a little better. In this issue, real estate expert Seth Sulkin writes about the steps that can be taken to preserve Tokyo as one ...
Living through history is an incredibly revealing process. I’ve been an editor of one sort or another since 1995, and while I’ve become quite familiar with the delicate and often rigorous process of translating humanity’s currents to readers as they unfold before our eyes, one never gets used to the nervousness and excitement that accompanies ...
The month following the Great East Japan Earthquake has been filled with a myriad of personal revelations, changes in business strategies, disruptions to our family and social circles, and in the case of those closest to the disaster in northeast Japan, profound pain, loss and hardship. The earthquake registered a historic number on the Richter ...
The month following the Great East Japan Earthquake has been filled with a myriad of personal revelations, changes in business strategies, disruptions to our family and social circles, and in the case of those closest to the disaster in northeast Japan, profound pain, loss and hardship. The earthquake registered a historic number on the Richter ...
A few months ago I had dinner with a business associate at one of Tokyo’s better Thai restaurants and as the empty plates stacked up, the conversation turned to the topic of life strategies and execution. Specifically, how life treats those who specialize in one area to the exclusion of all others, as opposed to ...
In January, the award winning film titled “The Social Network” finally made its way to Japan. Based on the life of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, the film chronicles one writer’s take on the company’s meteoric rise from a tiny Harvard dorm room in Cambridge, Massachusetts to capturing the patronage of over half a billion people ...
When we began our journey as the new publisher of the ACCJ Journal last year, I recounted an instance of extraordinary customer service I experienced at a local Starbucks here in Tokyo. A year later, I never imagined I would find myself relating yet another anecdote from the same business that trumped the previous one, ...
Closing out the year is almost always a bit of a cathartic experience. Taking stock of where we were this time last year, assessing accomplishments, lamenting any setbacks, and planning the new year’s business and life strategies turns the season into a festive time for the optimists among us. While 2010 was a year in ...
The after-effects of the financial crisis of 2008 continue to linger, coloring nearly every business decision being made in Japan, and in the world’s other leading economies. Scaling back initiatives, recalculating earnings projections, cutting various resources and reevaluating human resource matters have all been touched by the looming specter of a global market still in ...
This month the attention of the ACCJ Journal returns to a brand and its unique properties mentioned back in January: Starbucks (“Brewing Success,” page 24). Barbara Le Marrec, Senior Vice President, Chief Retail Officer at Starbucks Japan, sat with us and offered invaluable insights into the brand’s strategic approach to the Japanese market. Capturing the ...
As we put the finishing touches on this issue, Tokyo gradually slowed down and emptied out as the annual Obon season got underway. The vacation exodus, leaving the city at half its normal volume, served as a quiet reminder of how much the people of any city are the true pulse and spice that make ...
In this issue we direct our focus to something many had assumed was a relic of a bygone era: A new, pioneering American car company. Indeed, as the continued economic tumult has largely chastened the global entrepreneurial marketplace, American companies like Tesla (“Plug & Play,” page 26) continue to boldly innovate their way into the history ...
Although football (otherwise known as soccer in the U.S.) isn’t such a big deal for most Americans, for those living abroad it’s rather easy to become swept up into the frenzy surrounding the international event. The same passion and intense focus we Americans bring to the World Series, the Super Bowl or the recently completed ...
As economic global events continue to unfold in ways that indicate we are likely in the midst of a pivotal moment in business history, now seems like an opportune time to look back to the history books for some indication of how business leaders of the past approached the ever-changing dynamics of the marketplace. The ...
It’s a widely held belief that sometimes your office mates can know you better than even some of your most well worn friends. In my case, this may indeed hold some kernel of truth, as nearly everyone in my office during the last two weeks has knowingly greeted me with, “So…how’s the iPad?” Even during ...
The topic of intellectual property and copyright has become a rather charged issue in Japan in recent years primarily because of the mainstreaming of the Internet. Whether you’re considering downloadable books, digitized music, streaming movies, or television shows being traded on video sharing websites, the struggle to manage and protect the rights of content creators ...
Over the last 24 months, some of my closest friends in Japan, who happen to be recruiters, have personally revealed the subtext narrative that is the recently tumultuous field of sourcing and placing mid-level and executive talent locally and from abroad. The picture hasn’t been pretty. As banking collapsed in the U.S. and the general ...
Most globetrotting American businesspeople are aware that the current chatter in many airport executive lounges throughout the world revolves around predicting the decline of America as the world’s richest nation and standard bearer for the future of business. Of course recent events involving convulsions in the U.S. financial system, massive bank failures and bailouts, and ...
As of this issue, the ACCJ Journal has undergone major changes in its management, direction and appearance. Crafted by a new team of experienced editors, designers, account executives and publishing professionals, these changes have a very specific purpose and goal. In order to illuminate the reasons behind some of those changes it may be helpful ...
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