Hi! My name is Taiyo Kasamatsu. I was born and raised in Japan by an American mother and a Japanese father in Fukuoka. I graduated from Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in 2010, and since then I have been working for BEENOS Inc. It has been 10 years now since I have started working. I did 就活 (Job-hunting) on both the US and Japan. I find out about my company when I was doing an exchange program in the US and applied through the Boston Career Forum. 

The most memorable or proudest thing during college (Activity, club, competition etc)

I was an average student at APU but I did participate in a lot of extracurricular activities. I was a    member of the 和太鼓 (Wadaiko Drum) circle for 3 years and even went to Taiwan for an overseas show which was a really great experience. I was also a member of the horseback riding club that consists of 10 members. We would often go to this small town called Kokonoe, which was an hour’s drive from Beppu and practice there. For school-related activities, I supported job hunting （就活）  for both International students and Japanese students.

My most memorable experience and the most impactful activity that contributed to my career was joining an organization called the Beach House Project. It was an event planning organization that hosted a beach party in Beppu where we invited artists from Tokyo to perform. It was such a great entrepreneurial experience especially because me and the team started everything from scratch. Aside from coordinating with the artists, we had to go to companies for sponsors, and also communicated with food vendors for pop-up shops during the event, not to mention promoting the event itself and selling the tickets. Eventually, we had profits more than the sponsorship we received and donated the profits to the Philippines. Overall it helped me learn a lot of organizational skills and project management because me and my team didn’t have prior knowledge about event organizing beforehand.

What I wish I had done during college

I’m not the type of person who regrets because I try to live in a way so that I don’t have regrets. But if I had a chance to go back to my college days in APU with the memories and knowledge that I have now, I would do exactly the same thing that I did before and definitely do more. I might start my own cafe or even start a company. Anything that would add more value towards me as an individual and of course, as a professional. I mean if anyone is given that chance who wouldn’t?

Understand the Local Culture

Towards international students, I would seriously recommend them to understand the difference between their cultures and the Japanese culture. It does not mean they should be obedient to Japanese culture and forget about their own, but instead, understanding the local culture will come in handy in the work environment. Approximately 20% of our employees at BEENOS Inc. are from overseas, and I sometimes witness miscommunication and misunderstanding between employees. Eventually, you are going to work with the Japanese people if you plan to work here, so I suggest students coming from overseas to try to be accustomed to the culture during college. By doing so, it allows you to understand “why people reacted that way”, “why are people doing it this way”, “why is he/she saying things like that” and so on. This goes for Japanese students as well. Understanding each other’s way of doing things will make the transition from college to work much easier and ultimately make the working conditions much better.

Use the Job hunting Web Services Available in Japan!

Utilize Job-hunting web services that exist in Japan. There are lots of services that are free for students to use and I advise students to try to use them even though it might be hard because most of them are in Japanese. I would like to highlight wantedly as a recommended app to use because they provide rich detailed information regarding companies that other websites don’t provide.When you apply for jobs, it’s not just about looking at the job description or the company’s “about” page. Especially in Japan, you have to dig deeper. Knowing the working environment, the company culture; all those details will help you find out if a company will be a good fit for you and of course, ease your application process.

Communication Skills (Language and Interpersonal)

In any position you are applying for, communication skills are fundamental. In this case, I’m talking about 2 types of communication skills which are interpersonal and language capability. 

Interpersonal skill means the ability to interact and talk to people at any level because talking with your personal friends compared to talking with co-workers is very different, let along with your boss. I believe international students would not have a hard time adjusting interpersonally because you already have the general knowledge to do so. But most of the time, language is the difficult part for international students. Language skill is needed for you to express yourself by knowing the right words and the ability to speak fluent Japanese with proper grammar. I advise students to take the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) because companies see that as the basic - by paper - standard during the application process. More so, most companies in Japan look for a high level of Japanese from candidates therefore international students should try to reach that level.

Understanding SQL for E-commerce/IT Industry

For other specific skills, there is not something in general skills that I recommend for students to have because it differs from each industry / position of interest. But if you are interested in working in the E-commerce/Internet industry, understanding SQL is a great plus on your resume. By “understanding”, it does not mean to learn by only reading textbooks but also dive in on practices to know thoroughly how database structure works and how the internet works. You don’t have to be a professional at it although a clear grasp on the general idea of doing programming, database language, and the internet will be very helpful.

BEENOS Inc. revolves around the e-commerce and Internet industry. Our main business is called “Buyee”, which is a global shopping cross-platform that allows major e-commerce sites to conduct international sales. Basically, we support online marketplaces or e-commerce sites in Japan to connect buyers from overseas to be able to purchase goods from them by providing an address to consumers to make the payment. We have partnerships with around 90% of e-commerce companies in Japan and we ship to over 120 countries all over the world. I am the Chief officer for the investment strategy office (執行役員) at BEENOS Inc. Currently, I am in charge of investment activities for our company with over 80 startup investments from 10 different countries in our portfolio. We invest in startups that have a relation to e-commerce or logistics because our main goal is to collaborate with these start-ups/platforms in the future when they become the key player in their country. The following is the portfolio of our investment: https://beenos.com/company-portfolio/investment/

The Meaning Behind BEENOS

We have a flat organization, meaning a hierarchical structure of conduct between employees is non-existent. Unlike most companies in Japan, we evaluate our employee’s wages through ability and performance instead of seniority. Moreover, 20% of our employees are international which comes from various nationalities. 

The name BEENOS comes from the word BEE as in honeybee and NOS is the Japanese word for “hive” ( NOS=蜂の巣). The name resonates with our vision as an IT company that wants to connect the world together to create a better place. If you look upon the internet, you will discover how the existence of honeybees are so valuable for our planet and how much people depend on the species. That is where our name comes from; envisioning to make a large and positive impact on the world.  

I would love to invite whoever reading this article to come and visit us at our office. You can see our office up close and personal to see how our working environment is like and feel how our culture is all about real-time which I highly recommend in order to really feel the BEENOS Inc. company.

How BEENOS Inc. support the on-boarding process to adapt to the working culture?

Don't worry too much! We have a 1 month on-boarding training for fresh graduates. (Not for mid-career hiring) We teach business manners and fundamental mindset for working with BEENOS.

What are the main challenges that fresh graduates or young employees have when they first start working at BEENOS? 

So maybe the main challenge will be that the fresh graduate will have to think and act by your own decision. If this person is used to do this then it is not a problem. From my point of view, many Japanese student does not have the experience of doing so in their college years. For Example expressing their thoughts and ideas, making decisions by their own. I think this is a matter of practice. 

How can a candidate request to visit BEENOS Inc. Office?

Very simple. You have 2 options. You can access BEENOS's corporate page and send us a message from the contact button. Or you can visit our wantedly page and request visit / apply. Please feel free to visit us! We would be happy to talk to you.