Selling Into Each Region Is Different In Japan The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show

Japan is a big small place.  It is about the same size as the UK, but is covered in mountains, the latter making up 70% of the land area.  We have very few of those horizon stretching field vistas like they have in England.  This mountainous aspect has led to quite strong sub-regional differences here, especially reflected in language, customs and cuisine.  England has these too, but I think Japan is more pronounced in this regard.  These differences pop up when you are selling here as well.  The following are my experiences having sold in all of these cites and having lived in Kobe/Osaka, Nagoya and Tokyo and having made sale’s calls in other provincial centers.
If we go from south to north and start in Kyushu in Fukuoka, there is a local dialect and basically everyone went to school there and graduated from the local colleges and universities.  Foreigners are not calling on companies all that often down there, so there is still something of a rarity factor at play here.  Back in the good old days, when companies had generous entertainment budgets, the local staff were really glad to meet you.  This was a grand occasion to use you as the excuse to have a big night out on the town on the firm’s dime.  My ego took a bruising when I finally worked out it wasn’t the Story charm, that was generating this great enthusiasm for a night out on the town.  That big spending night out culture has gone by the wayside, but the rarity interest factor is still at play. Language is an issue though, because the English speaking capability is still underdeveloped in most of Japan.  The local burghers are quite cautious and conservative too.  It will take a lot of patience to do business here, but it can be done.  It just normally requires a lot more time than your company’s leaders or shareholders are prepared to give you.
Kobe was opened as an international port on April 1st, 1868, so it is one of the most open minded towns in Japan regarding international business.  They have had foreigners living in their midst for a very long time, so there is nothing special about us from a uniqueness point of view.  Trade has meant dealing with the outside world and being flexible about it in the process.  The denizens of Kobe often have a better level of English than other parts of Japan and they enjoy being seen as one of the most international cities in the country.  I always found people there open to discussing business.
Osaka is an ancient merchant town with a merchant mentality.  It was the center of the great commodity markets in Japan for salt, rice and soy beans.  One of the great things I like about this city is they will give you a “yes” or a “no”. Often, the reluctance to tell you “no” in Japan, leaves the whole decision piece dangling, without any clear idea of where we are going with this.  Not in Osaka.  If they like it, they will explore if there is a deal to be done and some money to be made.  They are proud of their local dialect and this is a big divider between insiders and outsiders.  As a foreigner, we are so completely outside of all consideration, that in a way, we are probably better accepted than their despised rivals from Tokyo.
Kyoto I always found very closed.  The aristocratic capital of Japan for centuries, it features a defined smallish city area hemmed in by mountains.  The interconnectivity of the local people is pronounced.  Their families have lived here for centuries, they know each other and they know who is a “blow in” and who isn’t.   Even for other Japanese salespeople from out of town, Kyoto is a hard market.  If you are from the outside, you are “out” for the most part.
The area around Nagoya has produced the three most famous warrior leaders in Japanese history, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu. The Tokugawa family Shoguns, closed the country off from the rest of the world. When I say “closed”, this was upon pain of de