About two years ago I  was fresh out of the MBA and dove right into my new international career in Japan. I`ve come to learn that working for a Japanese owned company was not exactly what I expected.

There have been many ups and downs during these two years.  When comparing to working in Sweden, the things I struggled with most has been keeping the balance of work, sleep and free time. There was an expectation to always be available for the company, even on weekends. Attending social events with existing or future clients to build strong personal relationships was always considered a priority.  The second thing that surprised me was that job assignment and workplace were not pre-determined before joining. There was a membership-based employment system, where duties, location and work hours were non-limited.

Since I joined two years ago, I’ve been placed at multiple locations and worked with many completely different tasks. All from starting up new businesses, leading a sales team or working on an inbound promotion project. I finally ended up in a business controlling like position as team leader of a group of over 10 people from multiple nationalities.

From this experience have I’ve learned incredibly much and have definitely grown as a person. Especially the time as team leader of a very diverse team is something I will never forget. There were also great benefits, for example, a company cafeteria with tasty, healthy and very reasonable dishes. We were even entitled to a free dinner if we worked late. 

The next step in my career is changing jobs to Mitsubishi Fuso at Daimler in Kawasaki city south of Tokyo. It’s time to take a new leap into what I´ve actually studied for many years, finance. More about this in my next article.

Thank you all the wonderful staff for two rich, learningful and fun years.