'Made in Japan' engineers find second life in China

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#1
How I wish I can find my 2nd life too..;p

Nearing retirement age, they find their skills in demand

Moulding expert: With 30 years' experience, Mr Aida now supervises a production line at a factory in the township of Zhangan near Dongguan in Guangdong province

[DONGGUAN, China] Their technical skills helped Japan's corporate giants sweep all before them in the 1980s, and now thousands of ageing Japanese engineers are finding a new lease of life in booming China.

"My profession is going out of business in Japan," said 59-year-old Masayuki Aida, who made moulds for a Tokyo-based firm for 30 years but has spent most of his 50s in Dongguan, a gritty manufacturing hub in southern China's Pearl River Delta.

For Mr Aida and many like him nearing the national retirement age of 60, the choice was simple: face a few years without an income as Japan raises the age at which employees get their pension or work for mainland Chinese and Hong Kong companies.

"People aren't making products in Japan anymore," said Mr Aida, who makes moulds for goods ranging from toys and earphones to coffee machines. "I wanted to pass on to younger generations all the knowledge and technology about moulds I had obtained."

For Japan, marred by two decades of economic stagnation, the little reported exodus of engineers means rival Chinese firms are getting an injection of the technology and skills behind "Made in Japan" products.

Japanese government data shows 2,800 Japanese expats living in Dongguan alone, a city of more than 8 million people.

"From Japan's perspective, emerging countries are getting a free ride of the benefits we nurtured. So yes, it is a problem," said Yasushi Ishizuka, director of the intellectual property policy office at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (Meti).

Japan suffered its first tech brain drain about 20 years ago when South Korean firms such as Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics Inc poached scores of front-line semiconductor and white goods engineers from big Japanese electronics firms.

Since then, South Korean electronics manufacturers have bounded into the global top ranks, helped along by this human technology transfer.

Japan's tech giants, meanwhile, have floundered. Sony Corp, Panasonic Corp and Sharp Corp - Japan's three main TV makers - are expected to have lost US$21 billion among them in the fiscal year that ended March 31, partly because of Korean competition.

Many of the Japanese engineers finding a second life in China do not have the cutting-edge technology that would deal another crushing blow to Japan Inc yet, analysts say, but the long-term impact could be severe because they will give Chinese manufacturers the skills to make high- quality goods efficiently.

China has pushed its own companies to innovate, but many experts cite an education system that prizes rote learning as an obstacle. For many firms, buying talent is the quickest fix.

"Skills related to production, like making moulds, are something that companies obtained after years of trial and error," said Morinosuke Kawaguchi, associate director at management consultancy Arthur D Little in Tokyo.

For example, the slightest tweak to a mould could lead to mass production of faulty items, said Mr Kawaguchi, himself a former Hitachi engineer who used to make household appliances.

"This exodus of Japanese engineers will raise the quality of products made by Chinese companies and allow them to produce efficiently," he added.

Mr Aida said the skills of Chinese engineers have improved over the past 10 years.

"When I first came to China, a product was considered good as long as it didn't fall apart," said Mr Aida, one of seven Japanese engineers in Dongguan interviewed by Reuters. "They've caught up rapidly since then."

That shows in recent trade numbers. China's exports of higher-valued machinery and electronic products rose 9.1 per cent in the first quarter from a year ago, when they gained 7.6 per cent, to US$253 billion, according to trade data.

In addition to the large companies, there are thousands of smaller manufacturers across China. While not all have the deep pockets to hire expat engineers, some might find the cost of importing technology may not be as high as it used to be.

For one, there is no shortage of supply. Millions of Japan's "baby boom" generation - which makes up nearly a tenth of the country's population - are starting to retire, with many engineers among them.

It is not just financial considerations, but a desire to keep working beyond the rigid retirement age in Japan that prompts many to take up the offer of a move to China. - Reuters
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#2
(19-04-2012, 10:41 PM)pianist Wrote: How I wish I can find my 2nd life too..;p

Continue to hone your Stocks Analysis & Investment skills. That'll be the best 2nd life ever...

No need to face any unpleasant customers, bosses, colleagues,.. Flexi Hours.. Work at any time you like and whenver you like.. Pleasant work environment of your own choice.. Can be at home, at MacD, Lying on a Deck Chair,... No Physical hard labour, just need to either be able to tap some keys or make phone calls... Tongue
Luck & Fortune Favours those who are Prepared & Decisive when Opportunity Knocks
------------ 知己知彼 ,百战不殆 ;不知彼 ,不知己 ,每战必殆 ------------
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#3
Japanese people are real hardcore high skilled workers typical work week is about 70hrs, perfectionists these people are but mostly you can tell that they take pride in their work and everybody in their society understands this from top to bottom and people are well compensated when they produce good work that's why everything there 3-4 times more expensive but the result of that is everybody has high wages. While on the other hand we including the rest of asia work mostly for money and not pride that's why our standards can never match theirs.

Try even walking down an odd backlane you will notice that it is impeccably clean free of debris and windows are gleaming even a lowly Japanese cleaner takes pride in his station. try compare their worker to ours. The best thing is there's hardly any rubbish bins around and no "fine" signs about but nobody litters because people take pride in being who they are, that's what I call culture while in singapore there's rubbish bin every 10 meters and it's still damn dirty. You want to see a nation's culture look at the little things they do you can tell, graciousness is cleanliness We are not a gracious society thats for sure even though we read often in the papers about graciousness.

And their trains are impeccably on the dot and hardly fails unlike ours is no longer considered reliable and giving all bloody excuses lately. The press have been saying all things break down with time is rubbish. Look at the tokyo subway map there are more than 1 train operator, each color represents a rail line operator and each day hundreds of rides criss-cross stations all over tokyo and the system hardly fails. I was in Japan recently I was very impressed. The recent memory when there was a major disruption was the east japan earthquake which they shutdown for a full day inspected the entire system the very next morning was up and running. Compares that to what we call our "mass rapid" system now. Huh

Tokyo Subway Map
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#4
(19-04-2012, 11:06 PM)KopiKat Wrote:
(19-04-2012, 10:41 PM)pianist Wrote: How I wish I can find my 2nd life too..;p

Continue to hone your Stocks Analysis & Investment skills. That'll be the best 2nd life ever...

No need to face any unpleasant customers, bosses, colleagues,.. Flexi Hours.. Work at any time you like and whenver you like.. Pleasant work environment of your own choice.. Can be at home, at MacD, Lying on a Deck Chair,... No Physical hard labour, just need to either be able to tap some keys or make phone calls... Tongue

This is exactly my dream "job" after retirement, when i reach official retirement age or earlier if i am lucky Tongue
“夏则资皮,冬则资纱,旱则资船,水则资车” - 范蠡
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#5
(20-04-2012, 09:42 AM)CityFarmer Wrote:
(19-04-2012, 11:06 PM)KopiKat Wrote:
(19-04-2012, 10:41 PM)pianist Wrote: How I wish I can find my 2nd life too..;p

Continue to hone your Stocks Analysis & Investment skills. That'll be the best 2nd life ever...

No need to face any unpleasant customers, bosses, colleagues,.. Flexi Hours.. Work at any time you like and whenver you like.. Pleasant work environment of your own choice.. Can be at home, at MacD, Lying on a Deck Chair,... No Physical hard labour, just need to either be able to tap some keys or make phone calls... Tongue

This is exactly my dream "job" after retirement, when i reach official retirement age or earlier if i am lucky Tongue

After more than one and a half decade in the corporate world travelling here and there, sucking up to customers and bosses , I finally quit to do that a few years back, sitting back at home, digging into reports and tapping those keys away.

But frankly speaking, it does get quite boring at times...
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#6
Flexi hours not easy to work, project targets and deadlines are still the same but because you don't meet people face to face there's going to be a lot of coordination activites with many people via email and frequent concalls even into the night.

If you thought you could escape the nasties in your office when you work from home then you're wrong it will be even worse. In the office if you require resources or input urgently from someone you're not on good terms can just walk over to his cubicle and just dump it on his desk, you cannot even get hold of them if work from home.
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#7
(20-04-2012, 10:16 AM)sgd Wrote: Flexi hours not easy to work, project targets and deadlines are still the same but because you don't meet people face to face there's going to be a lot of coordination activites with many people via email and frequent concalls even into the night.

If you thought you could escape the nasties in your office when you work from home then you're wrong it will be even worse. In the office if you require resources or input urgently from someone you're not on good terms can just walk over to his cubicle and just dump it on his desk, you cannot even get hold of them if work from home.

Their flexi hours are referring to - quit job and devote full time into personal stock investment or trading.
A lot of people want to do that.

But hor, if everyone do that, then what happen?
Although realistically speaking, only a small group of astute investors can do that.
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#8
Hi Yeokiwi,

you are right on the nail. It takes money to make money.

It's one thing to do personal online internet trading while at the same time having a job with regular income, you drop a few k trading but still get your pay not much pressure there.

It will be totally different to do it full time when you no money coming in from a regular job, at the end of the month have bills to pay and mouths to feed, you're playing with your money you could win you could also lose a big difference in the ball game.

unless you already work many years as a career trader and have the confidence or you are an astute investor as yeokiwi says Big Grin
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#9
(20-04-2012, 10:09 AM)gutman Wrote:
(20-04-2012, 09:42 AM)CityFarmer Wrote:
(19-04-2012, 11:06 PM)KopiKat Wrote:
(19-04-2012, 10:41 PM)pianist Wrote: How I wish I can find my 2nd life too..;p

Continue to hone your Stocks Analysis & Investment skills. That'll be the best 2nd life ever...

No need to face any unpleasant customers, bosses, colleagues,.. Flexi Hours.. Work at any time you like and whenver you like.. Pleasant work environment of your own choice.. Can be at home, at MacD, Lying on a Deck Chair,... No Physical hard labour, just need to either be able to tap some keys or make phone calls... Tongue

This is exactly my dream "job" after retirement, when i reach official retirement age or earlier if i am lucky Tongue

After more than one and a half decade in the corporate world travelling here and there, sucking up to customers and bosses , I finally quit to do that a few years back, sitting back at home, digging into reports and tapping those keys away.

But frankly speaking, it does get quite boring at times...

It need a courageous man like you in order to make that step. I am still building up my confidence via enhancing skill and exposure via experience. I am average joe, not gifted, so have to put in a lot of hardwork, like chinese saying "以勤补拙" (compensate the lack of gifted skill with a lot of hardwork) Tongue
“夏则资皮,冬则资纱,旱则资船,水则资车” - 范蠡
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#10
(20-04-2012, 10:32 AM)yeokiwi Wrote: But hor, if everyone do that, then what happen?
Although realistically speaking, only a small group of astute investors can do that.

Since the time of Benjamin Graham who conceptualised and put in into writing (got a GuideBook even) and even after many good role models (most famous is Warren Buffett) had successfully put in into practice, we'd not seen any explosive or exponential growth in successful practioners.

So, I don't think we'll live to see a day when 'everyone do that' kind of situation.

This is a job with no Physical Barrier to Entry (or no Physical Moat) but a Huge Mental Barrier to Entry (the mind keeps telling you it's impossible so many don't even start trying... ). Tongue
Luck & Fortune Favours those who are Prepared & Decisive when Opportunity Knocks
------------ 知己知彼 ,百战不殆 ;不知彼 ,不知己 ,每战必殆 ------------
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