Advertisement
Published: November 30th 2007
On October 29th I started my new job at Eishin Foods Co Ltd in Tokyo. Eishin Foods was founded in 1994 and since then it has established itself as one of Japans leading crab meat and sushi neta suppliers. It is currently the 10th largest supplier in terms of volume dealing with over 200 traditional sushi restaurants, large restaurants, supermarket chains and individual customers through the online shop.
The office is located in central Tokyo, next to Otemachi subway station. This is only 2 stops from my house at Suitengumae on the Hanzomon (purple) line so I'm door to door in 20mins! Eishin Foods is a very small company, on an average day there are only 10/11 people in the office. This breaks down to 1 CEO, 2 directors, 2 full time members of staff and 5/6 student trainees/contractors.
(Click here to see the trainee and contractor profiles on the website http://www.eishinfoods.co.jp/recruit/intern/index_e.html some of them are a bit funny/strange!)
Because the office is so small theres a really nice 'family' atmosphere. Everyday the company buys lunch and we all sit together around the dinning room table (which is in the middle of the office!). We also have a kitchen in
Subway map
adapted from http://www.tokyometro.jp/rosen/rosenzu/pdf/rosen_eng.pdfthe office, next to the boardroom table! Most days someone is cooking something tasty up with some of the Eishin Foods products!
We often go out to dinner after work, which is brilliant as it means that i get treated to some of the more expensive restaurants that i probably wouldn't go to on my own/with friends, and i get to try all maner of 'interesting' foods! I have consumed, amongst other things, raw sea urchin guts, blowfish, raw tuna, squid, scallops,and shrimps, deep fried eel bones, chicken guts, and probably i few other things i wasnt told about!
Work wise, my job is to expand Eishin Foods presence into Europe. This involves rebranding and repositioning the products for the European market, developing an export strategy and creating an international customer base. No easy task, even for a genius like me!
On my 1st day at work i was shown a short presentation on the company and then told that I should plan and organise my own work for the 6months I'l be here. Since then I've just been left to it, which is great because I've never really liked being told what to do!
So 5
My business card
with my name written in Katakana weeks on and I've learnt all about how to import products of animal origin into Europe. I could tell you all about customs procedures, boarder inspection posts, tariffs and tariff preferences etc. Ive read through reams and reams of EU Directives on microbiological criteria for foodstuffs, hygiene rules, HACCEP procedures, aquaculture processes blah blah blah....
I have collected HACCEP certificates from our factories (all outsourced) and made sure that they have been approved by the EU to supply to the EU. Ive read up on international trade paperwork and contracts and written documents on our terms of trade. I have also rewritten the product catalogue and letters from the CEO etc.
At the moment I am talking with freight forwarders and shipping companies and gathering quotes for shipment to the EU. Once all of my costing are in I'll start my sales role. So as you can see, my jobs pretty dam interesting!
The only down side is the hours. I knew the Japanese worked hard but I didn't think they went to these kind of extremes! The working week is 6 days!!! Monday to Saturday with only 1 day off. I am fortunate that i get special
treatment and only have to work every other Sat. But to be honest, this is bad enough! Everybody works from 9am until about 8pm! Although again, I have to be honest, I do leave by 7pm everyday - i just don't quite have that 'I'll sacrifice my entire life for my job' mentality yet! I'll tell you what, its no wonder all of the permanent staff are single and familyless!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.097s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 15; qc: 81; dbt: 0.0548s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Rachel Murphy
non-member comment
Laura the Manga
Hi Laura, can't believe it, you're actually starting to look like a Japanese person! You kind of look like one of those cartoon characters. Good to hear about your job. Working for a food company is such a good idea...for the free meals of course. Posh Rach (not feeling very posh anymore - did I tell you I got asked if I was going home to Liverpool over Christmas??!!) Anyway,