How to acquire English skills even if you don’t want to. 　Chapter 5 Work and English (3) 　5-2 Support for overseas companies into Japan, E-Mail, Internet

　With English skills, it is not only possible for Japanese companies to enter overseas markets and provide technical guidance and do other jobs overseas, but it is also equally possible for foreign companies to come to Japan to do the same. Today, daily communication is possible via e-mail and Skype, so global business that transcends time and space is possible even if you live in a small rural town in Japan.

　Historically, Hiroshima Prefecture has enjoyed strong economic and technological exchange with China's inland Sichuan Province for more than 20 years. In recent years, there has also been active exchange with Europe, particularly with Switzerland. The long period of excess exports of technology and goods from Japan had led to a persistent balance of payments surplus. But under Prime Minister Koizumi's administration, there was a movement to correct this imbalance, which led to a movement to attract companies from Europe to Hiroshima Prefecture.

　My own overseas work began in July 1990, when I provided planning support for a local woodworking company's entry into the Philippines. This was only 20 years ago (as of the time when I was writing this), but at that time e-mail and the Internet had not yet been developed, so as I mentioned above, we communicated daily in English using an amateur radio. The person with whom I communicated was attorney J. G. Chung, who was the Philippines' receptionist.

　Later, in March 1994, Hiroshima Prefecture dispatched me as an overseas technical advisor to Nanchong in Sichuan Province to provide technical guidance in the local silk industry, and two years later, in March 1996, I provided technical guidance in the silk industry in Chengdu in Sichuan Province for the second time. Although both visits were in China, due to the unreliability of Japanese interpreters, all communication during the work was conducted in English with local engineers, and everything went very smoothly. There are many people in China who speak good English.

　Furthermore, in 2005 and 2006, I participated in the Hiroshima Prefecture's Regional Support Project for Attracting Overseas Businesses (sponsored by JETRO and Hiroshima Prefecture). I visited many companies in Switzerland, France, the Netherlands, Germany, and Italy, and spent many days using English to negotiate and coordinate mutual visits between companies in Hiroshima Prefecture and European companies in order to attract their business and technology to Hiroshima Prefecture.

　Later in 2007, at the request of Seiran Corporation (Okayama and Shanghai), I accompanied them on a technical survey in Switzerland.

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