Into the industry.

[naturaljax]

So, I'm college, pursuing a degree (hopefully) in International Business with a minor in Japanese.

I want to relate this someway to a company who does business (obviously) with Japan, and I thought, what better way then the fashion industry?

But I thought about it more, and many companies must not be that big, employee-wise. Does anyone here have any experience with companies that work both domestically (US) and overseas (Japan)? I was thinking possibly something like Stussy, for example. Anoyone know if they offer internships, or if they are impossible to catch a job with?

Just thought I'd ask the future.

[Kane]

Usually, companies like that won't offer internships. They try to run pretty lean and Intern = disposable position.

[werdtoyourmoms]

the only way to find out is to try.

[naturaljax]

the only way to find out is to try.

that's what I thought, too.

we'll see what happens.

[Kasper]

i had some friends (all french) working for some luxury brand in Tokyo. but they were doing intership (although the french internship are different than american ones, they usually last a year and you're poorly paid...). as i was doing my last year at a university in tokyo, i was of course very interested (i majored in finance with a minor in japanese so we have similar background). your japanese needs to be pretty fluent (bare minimum is 2-kyu, but most firms will ask for 1-kyu). problem with most big clothing brand is that they are european (LVMH etc..) and smaller ones, like stussy, won't really have a lot of staff so i'll be pretty hard so find something. your best bet is to try to find something in the states first at a firm like Ralph Lauren or Calvin Klein and then ask for a transfer.

about my friends, they were all doing something called a VIE, which was kind of like doing a civil military service back when it was mandatory and it stayed. basically, french firms sends new graduates abroad in one of their overseas office for 12 to 18 months. i'm not 100% sure, but i think the firms get subsidies from the french government so that's how they can afford to send peoples like this. they are usually very poorly paid (most french graduates will have to go through at least a year of internship, sometimes more and they are very very poorly paid). for exemple, my friend did an intership for Calyon (a small french investment bank) and got paid 1200 euros a month trading derivatives in Chicago, which is about a quarter or a fifth of what other assistant traders get. most of these interns don't get full time offer abroad after the internships, actually, a large % doesn't even get an offer. anyway, just to say that according to them, there isn't that many foreigners working in the fashion industry in japan and that's it's pretty hard to break through.

sorry for the long rambling and good luck

[dismalfuture]

This is just my outsider opinion, but interest in Japan isn't really enough to get you into Japan, I feel like you really need something to offer, and then Japan will bring you over... and for the brands like Stussy, streetwear, etc, you're looking at a real scene-y bunch, where I think who you are and where you're seen in Japan is more important than what you studied. In addition, there are tons of cool kids in Japan who'd like to work for those companies, are reliable to count on for extended service, have studied English and have a reasonable command of it, and above all, require far less in compensation. After all is said and done, the 22 year old college grad in a normal salaryman job makes something like 1000-1500 yen an hour for their work. That's $10-15 in one of the most expensive cities in the world. Most of those kids have the luxury of living rent-free in their parents houses, whereas a foreigher would not.

As someone else said, most people advise those wanting to work in Japan to end up working domestically and applying for a transfer. The downside to that is you will wait indefinitely and maybe never get what you want, but the upside is that if you do indeed get your job, you'll get a very cushy package and it'll make your life in Japan and your work life very nice indeed. The difference between living off your paycheck and living off a company allowance should be enough to make those serious about it want to do it. You don't want to try living off 20 man yen a month at a salaryman job if you're paying for your rent in Tokyo, you won't make it out of Japan alive.

BTW, I too majored in Business and minored in Japanese. I'd like to live in Japan someday but I'm neither using my degree as I had imagined, and I'm not really moving towards living in Japan at this point either, it's really something hard to chase after, as many people want to live in Japan for many superfluous reasons and it can't accomodate all.

[poly800rock]

i think those who are intersted should also get used to the asian work ethic, long days and such