Hi, my name is Phillip. I have a Japanese mother and an American father.  I was born in California and grew up in Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture in Japan. I went to Japanese local elementary school until the 3rd grade and transferred to an international elementary school in Japan. I went to the international school until the 5th grade and then transferred to a middle school in the U.S. I came back to Japan and got into an international high school. After graduating from the international high school in Japan, I decided to go back to the U.S. for college and went to San Diego State University. As you can see, I spent my student life both in the U.S. and Japan and experienced two completely different cultures.

Work in a variety of fields

I spent a lot of my time on internships and part time jobs during college. I worked in a variety of industries such as banking industry, real estate industry and recruitment industry. Working in several different fields as a college student was a great opportunity for me to interact with different industrial cultures as well as learning the working style in the US. It also helped me to acquire customer service skills and general skills needed in the office setting. Having plenty of working experiences surely gave tremendous impact on me to be confident even after I started working.

I also did an internship in Japan at an HR and technology company, “Adecco” to learn about Japanese working style. I worked at both Japanese and American companies and became aware of the pros and cons of each corporate culture. Americans value friendly, open-minded and flexible communications in the working field. On the other hand, Japanese value fidelity such as following orders and rules. Understanding such corporate culture differences in the US and Japan helps me now to build a team at Plug and Play Japan. 

Building Global Networks

Building networks within foreigners in Japan is beneficial. Foreigners who have lived in years know useful information from a foreigner's point of view. Such a community is usually small, and people know each other most of the time. It makes it even easier to access the information you need by joining events and communities that match with your interests. Indeed, if you are an international student in Japan, it is important to make connections with Japanese people but it is as important to be connected with other international students in Japan.

Putting Yourself in New Environment

You should definitely try to do internships and part time jobs in different fields. You can gain basic knowledge and skills of the industry by participating in internships. If you have the basic knowledge of the industry, you can also compare industries and identify which field is the suitable one for your future career. In other words, having as much social experience as possible in a different environment will help you to foresee and choose your future career path. Participating in internships in one certain industry which has a similar corporate culture and occupation will not help you grow as much. The difference between these two kinds of students will become clear in the long run so always try to put yourself in a new environment.

The previous advice does not only apply to work but also friendships, communities and club activities. I went to a college in the U.S. and met many friends who are completely different from my friends in Japan. Meeting new people in the U.S. was a great opportunity for me to recognize the American culture and to compare it with Japanese culture. American culture is open-minded and active in communication and Japanese culture is more polite and honest. I always try to take in those good features of each culture and apply them to my work and private life.

Corporate Value Fit

As the Managing Partner of Plug and Play Japan, it is essential to fit the corporate value. Our corporate value is to innovate Japan so we are looking for people with entrepreneurial mindset, willingness to face challenges and strong communication skills. Furthermore, employees will meet a lot of new people through activities at Plug and Play Japan so members have to be able to enjoy meeting new people. Each company has different corporate values and missions so it is essential for you to work at a company with a suitable and agreeable value and mission in order to make the best out of your ability and to work on projects smoothly. 

Respect for Japanese Culture

Understanding Japanese culture is necessary in order to work in Japan. Working in Japan means you will work with Japanese people. Showing your Japanese colleagues that you are trying to adapt to the culture will help you to make a good working environment. You can start from learning small things like taking a bow and business card exchange manner. The key is to show the attitude of respecting the culture. It might take some time to get used to the culture and to read between the lines in Japanese. There might be occasions that may be frustrating for you, but respecting the culture and trying to adapt to it will definitely make your life easier in the long run. Also, understanding different cultures will be a good opportunity to establish your own identity.

Plug and Play Japan is a company that supports Japanese and non-Japanese start-up companies by providing a variety of resources such as acceleration programs, investment, mentoring, introducing other companies and advisors. As the Managing Partner of this company, I mainly create long-term corporate strategies and management direction and support start-up companies to make business partnerships with big companies. I am also in charge of team building as the company gradually grows.

I was originally working at the headquarter of Plug and Play in the US. The world is paying great attention to start-up companies in recent years and many big companies around the world asked Plug and Play to make branches internationally. We opened branches in Germany, Singapore and China but Japan was never one of them. I realized how behind Japan was at the time in terms of supporting start-up companies with a bright future, so I directly talked to the top management team of the headquarter to make a branch in Japan. Eventually, they made the decision to open a branch in Japan, and I was appointed to start up a branch in Japan.

Before launching a branch in Japan, I actually had negative impressions about Japanese working culture. I think it is really hard to keep the right life-work balance and people are too serious about work in Japan. My goal as the Managing Partner of Plug and Play Japan is to make the Japanese working environment flat and flexible. I believe such an international company like Plug and Play can change the way of Japanese working field.

Plug and Play Culture

I am familiar with both American and Japanese working culture since I have working experiences in both countries. I always try to combine the good features of each working culture and apply them to our corporate culture. We don’t have top-down style relationships among the members but instead, we have flat relationships so everyone can keep challenging on the projects that each of the members is particularly interested in. We always give feedback and help each other to improve one another as a team so the atmosphere of the company is really easy to work in. Moreover, members are encouraged to challenge and fail to gradually grow as a unit. I believe considering failures as opportunities can accelarate the growth of the company itself.

Managing Partner

This is my first experience of being a Managing Partner, there are a lot of things I can learn from.  I am learning new lessons everyday such as how to create good teams and corporate culture and ways to spread our brand. Originally, the team member was only myself but we currently have about 40 members onboard. The leader of the team needs to change its characteristics as the team gets bigger. Indeed, it is important to be myself as a leader but I need to be flexible to change at the same time so I can adapt to the growth. As the team size expands, I learned the importance of prioritizing the happiness of the team, and this was something that I did not think about when I started the company in Japan. Recently, I can think about the team even  before thinking about myself so I think I am growing as the general partner of Plug and Play Japan.