Business Japanese: Intensive training and Course

Asian Studies Group presents new training proposal for japanese language

Business Japanese Course

&

Professional Training

Regular & Intensive Course

Professional Training in Italy & Japan

These courses take place at ASG main office in Milan - Italy

Anyone has got university degree in japanese language or has already quite high speaking level could find our proposal really useful to improve their language knowledges for professional dimension of using japanese.

As we well know about Japanese Language, it's not enough a full and good command of grammar to use concretely and in the right way japanese language during business affairs or professional communication.

So to achieve a real improvement on business communication using japanese language we've arranged, as follows, a particular study program for our members.

Program of 20 hours - Contents:

• 6 lessons with mothertongue staff: 90 minutes each lesson / reading and conversation's training focused on market, society and job situations - these kind training, almost based on speech, will be very useful to expand personal vocabulary on specific topics concerned about business affairs.

• 4 lessons with professional business mediators staff skilled on commercial communication: 120 minutes each lesson / examine of business letters / special training focused on composition on business correspondence.

• Final examination: 2 hours for composition according to vocabulary and rules studied during the course and 1 hours with mothertongue teacher, simulating a job interview in a japanese company or a business negotiation with japanese partners.

Regular Course: 1 lesson every week - Totally 10 weeks of course + final test

Intensive Course: 2 lesson every week - Totally 5 weeks of course + final test

Course Sessions: November - February - April - June

Session Subscriptions on:

• September / October for November session
• December /January for February session
• February / March for April session
• April / May for June session

After course and examination we also offer for the best student a professional training position and the opportunity to join our multidisciplinary association and professional business network.

In this way it'll be possibile to check and practice the notions exercised during the course.

Professional Training's Contents

• meetings with the experts for business projects in Japan
  
• conducting market research studies and feasibility assessments
  
• designing and publishing Japanese websites, Japanese Power Point business presentations
• interpretation at the meetings.

For further information please contact us

ASEM Summit in Beijing: a resolution for financial crisis.

 It has already started the consultation activity of the 7th summit of ASEM (Asia and Europe Meeting) taking place in Beijing today and tomorrow. 

Prime ministers of 43 states from Asia and Europe are discussing about the recent financial crisis of international markets. During the opening cerimony Manuel Barroso, president of European Commission focused his attention on the value that the support of Asian countries  and in particular of China, could represent to create an international security found. 

 The firm position of European Commission consist of a proposal which all one's efforts will put into a regulation plan for bank system. On this purpose 20 countries will also meet next 15th November in Washington to arrange a common and operative strategy.

ASEM Background

ASEM started in 1996 with the First Summit in Bangkok (Thailand). Since then, Summits have been held every two years alternating between Europe and Asia. The last ASEM Summit took place in Helsinki in 2006. The next Summit will take place in Brussels in 2010. The Summits provide overall political guidance for the process which involves ministerial meetings, seminars and joint projects mobilising parliaments, business, civil society and other stakeholders. It acts as a dialogue facilitator, covering any political, economic and social issue of common interest. It is also a policy making laboratory, testing new ideas, transferring knowhow, notably on the European integration process to interested Asian partners. It manages growing Asia-Europe relations, enhancing synergies with other bilateral and multilateral fora involving Asia and Europe. ASEM aims at building a stronger partnership between Asia and Europe enabling each region to better understand the other.

On the following an articleof mine published today on Corriere Asia - english version available on request.

Vertice ASEM: misure di sicurezza dei mercati internazionali

PECHINO: Inaugurato oggi pomeriggio a Pechino presso la sede dell'Assemblea Naziona del Popolo, il settimo summit dell'ASEM (Asia and Europe Meeting), forum di dialogo internazionale che vedrà prendere parte il presidente della Commissione Europea Josè Manuel Barroso e i capi di stato o di governo dei 43 Paesi che costituiscono l'asse Asia - Europa.

Il tema del tavolo di lavoro nella due giorni di Pechino è rappresentato dalla crisi finanziaria che sta colpendo i mercati mondiali e il richiamo al coordinamento unilaterale da parte di Asia ed Europa è stato sottolineato già dal discorso di apertura dal presidente della Commissione europea. 

Sembra chiaro perciò che al di là dei topic tradizionali di discussione quali dialogo energetico, problemi climatici, fabbisogno alimentare della popolazione del pianeta, sicurezza internazionale e coesione socio culturale fra i popoli, quest'anno il vertice ASEM conoscerà un'atmosfera assolutamente pragmatica e dal necessario ed immediato impatto sugli assetti dei mercati finanziari.

La centralità del tema finanziario e della posizione italiana in merito alla creazione di un sistema di tutela internazionale è stato ribadito già nell'incontro di ieri fra il primo ministro Silvio Berlusconi e il premier cinese Wen Jiabao. Secondo quanto riportato dal comunicato stampa del governo, Berlusconi avrebbe sottolineato quanto i vari Paesi "stiano ragionando sul fatto che forse è necessario un fondo, un istituto per il controllo continuativo della crisi economica mondiale''. Immediato, a seguire, il richiamo del premier sul prossimo incontro che vedrà scendere il 15 novembre a Washington, il gruppo dei 20 Paesi coinvolti in questo programma di creazione di un fondo di tutela.

La presenza istituzionale italiana in Cina per il vertice ASEM non manca però di convogliare all'attenzione della dirigenza cinese il reciproco coinvolgimento in termini produttivi e commerciali. Sempre nella giornata di oggi, infatti, il premier Berlusconi ha fatto visita alla sede cinese della Fondazione Italia - Cina e ha sottolineato in seguito all'incontro con il presidente Hu Jintao, l'interesse italiano nel portare avanti la proposta per la creazione di un G14 stabile con la partecipazione della Repubblica Popolare Cinese.

Incontri dall'importante respiro geopolitico ed economico quelli in agenda per il primo ministro italiano. Oltre al colloquio di ieri con il primo ministro indiano Manmohan Singh, Berlusconi incontrerà nella giornata di oggi il primo Ministro del Pakistan, Syed Yousuf Raza Gilania e a chiusura della sua 4 giorni a Pechino, anche il primo ministro del Vietnam, Nguyen Tan Dung.

Paolo Cacciato

Corriere Asia Editor

ASG Corsi di Giapponese e Cinese: Milano, Roma, Bologna

Lingua Giapponese 日本語講座

Programma...

lavoro parma

one bed room house

geometra lavoro

aaquierplnew

Learning Japanese to surviving disasters

On the following an interesting opinion about the social importance in japan of speaking japanese. Are you too a foreigner working or travelling in Japan? I think you could find very interesting such opinion edited by Prof. Kazuyuki Sato, professor of sociolinguistics at Hirosaki University in Aomori Prefecture - Honestly I've never considered the value of japanese language's use according to  the dimension introduced by Prof  Sato.  But for several times I felt the need to understand terms in japanese about earthquakes during my stay in Japan...

Kazuyuki Sato / Special to The Yomiuri Shimbun

Japan is a country that suffers a large number of earthquakes. With registered foreign residents reaching a record 2.15 million last year, according to the Justice Ministry, it has become more than likely that foreigners will be among the victims of such disasters.

However, many foreign residents do not understand important Japanese terms related to earthquakes, such as yoshin (aftershock) or hinanjo (evacuation center). This is in part because the government has made an effort to offer foreign residents information in English and other languages, rather than simple Japanese.

When an area is hit by a strong earthquake, radio and television broadcasts are almost entirely in Japanese. Non-Japanese with poor Japanese-speaking abilities are often perplexed by earthquake-related announcements.

A prime example of this problem was the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake. Some foreigners were unable to do anything but wait in their damaged residences for their friends to find them. Even those who fled to nearby parks were often confused over what to do next, as they couldn't read the information posted only in Japanese.

In the event of a natural disaster, even Japanese people suffer a dearth of information. It's nearly impossible for the government or the media to supply foreigners with information in their own languages. With a growing foreign population speaking a profusion of languages, Japan faces a problem of how to deliver emergency information.

Many linguists, including myself, have suggested the adoption of the so-called Easy Japanese system for the delivery of emergency information.

The Easy Japanese system concerns the kind of expressions to be used to provide foreign residents with crucial information when a disaster occurs. These expressions may be used for radio broadcasting, subtitles in television news, posted notices or community communication systems.

To communicate important information to foreign residents, a limited vocabulary of about 2,000 words could be used to produce expressions equivalent to Level 3 (second from lowest) on the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT), which is deemed sufficient for arranging meetings with friends or explaining what one wants to buy when shopping.

One example sentence is as follows: Tsunami, takai nami ni tsuite oshirase shimasu. A-shi, B-shi no umi ni, tsunami ga kimasu. Umi no chikaku wa, abunai desu. Sugu ni, umi kara toi, takai tokoro e, itte kudasai. (Now, information on tsunami, or high waves. A tsunami will hit City A and City B. It's dangerous for you to remain near the sea. Go immediately to a place that is far from and high above the sea.)

I believe such easy instructions in Japanese can provide non-Japanese with sufficient guidance to evacuate to safety.

The Easy Japanese system has other rules for both spoken and written language. For example, a sentence should be about 35 Japanese characters or less, while difficult terms should be replaced by easier ones: kesa (this morning) can be replaced by kyo asa, while kiretsu ga haittari shite iru tatemono (a building that has cracks in it) can be translated as jishin de kowareta tatemono (a building damaged by the earthquake).

To ensure that our system would work for rescue and relief workers, we have conducted an experiment demonstrating that foreign participants whose Japanese skills were equivalent to JLPT's Level 3 understood 90 percent of the content when information was delivered in Easy Japanese expressions. The ratio, however, decreased to about 30 percent when normal Japanese was used.

Until volunteers trained in offering help in foreign languages can arrive in an earthquake-hit area, all necessary information can be provided in Japanese only. Therefore, it seems unlikely that any system other than Easy Japanese can be effective in providing crucial information, particularly during the first 72 hours after a powerful earthquake occurs.

When considering how best to deliver accurate information immediately to those in need, we should not stick to the somewhat fixed idea that information should be provided to foreign residents in their own languages.

In today's Japanese society, with its increasing number of people of varying linguistic backgrounds, I believe the most effective way of providing disaster information is by using Easy Japanese expressions.

Sato is a professor of sociolinguistics at Hirosaki University in Aomori Prefecture. He leads a study group of experts on easy Japanese expressions for foreign residents.

Autodesk, cooperation for new projects of "designed in China"

China’s desire to give its home-grown design and engineering students the skills to compete in the global market received a boost in March, when Autodesklaunched a student design community for the country.

The design innovation technology company has created a web portal in co-operation with the ministry of education that offers students from several of China’s universities free downloads of the latest digital design tools for specialities related to architecture, building and mechanical engineering.

The initiative is part of Autodesk’s overall education strategy to train a new generation of skilled graduates who can meet the employment needs of China’s fast-diversifying economy.

Three years ago, the group set up a Center of Excellence computer laboratory with cutting-edge design technologies in collaboration with leading Chinese universities to develop a multidisciplinary curriculum customised to student needs.

Currently, Tsinghua University, Tongji University, Harbin Institute of Technology, South China University of Technology (SCUT) and Shanghai Jiao Tong University benefit from this project.

As public and private sector organisations in China increasingly recognise the opportunity the global design industry offers the local economy, China’s universities are realising the importance of partnering with global leaders such as Autodesk.

The industry ventures are in line with a recent government campaign to focus on “independent innovation”. The goal is to move away from “Made in China” to “Designed in China”, by creating value-added, home-grown products, services and technologies.

From FT Analisys

ITALIAN ARTICLE FROM CORRIERE ASIA - Edited by Dr. Paolo Cacciato - Asian Studies Group Research Staff

SHANGHAI: La percezione comune diffusasi nell'ultimo ventennio a macchia d'olio sul panorama commerciale internazionale richiama al protagonismo del made in china su ogni settore. 

La diffusione di un marchio distintivo, quella della produzione cinese, trascina con sé timori, perplessità ma come spesso accade il guadagno di molti.

Quello che però pare essere cambiato è il coinvolgimento cinese in questo rapporto produttivo. La Cina post olimpiadi sembra procedere stanca e a tratti mortificata da questo ruolo di "vincente produttore low cost dai dubbi parametri di qualità" e la pone in uno stato di sentito interesse per quelle opportunità che verrebbero a rappresentare un riscatto per l'immagine imprenditoriale e commerciale del Paese. 

Un'occasione simile l'ha offerta Autodesk, azienda leader nel settore delle tecnologie applicate alla progettazione design che ha avviato con brillanti risultati la creazione di una comunità di studenti universitari e centri di studi coinvolti in una sinergia di valore atta a fare della Cina non solo il luogo del "made in china" ma anche del "designed in China".

La cooperazione nasce tra l'azienda leader e il ministero dell'Istruzione e ha portato alla realizzazione di un portale da cui gli studenti di facoltà coinvolte possono accedere gratuitamente al download di pacchetti professionali d'alto livello messi in circolazione da Autodesk e sviluppare così durante attività di stage professionali e ricerche interne ai dipartimenti, dei veri e propri laboratori di progettazione per settori quali costruzioni, architettura, industrial design, ingegneria meccanica.

L'iniziativa sta velocizzando l'inserimento dei giovani laureati cinesi sul piano di comunicazione internazionale nel settore del design, permettendo loro di interfacciarsi da subito con applicativi professionali e di sperimentare in attività di training condotte da aziende straniere il confronto con working solutions di portata internazionale. 

Questo programma, unito a quello sviluppato oltre tre anni fa per la creazione di un centro di eccellenza informatica interno agli atenei, proietta la Cina in una posizione d'avanguarda almeno per quanto riguarda formazione e strumentazioni a disposizione degli studenti.

L'intenzione ministeriale punta alla preparazione linguistica, tecnica e di approccio open mind dei suoi migliori studenti, chiave di volta per la diversificazione del mercato. Gli atenei coinvolti sono la Tongji University, l'Harbin Institute of Technology, la South China University of Technology (SCUT), e la Jiao Tong University di Shanghai.

La portata generale del progetto pone la Cina in una luce diversa nel dialogo formativo con gli altri paesi e nello stesso tempo lascia riflettere sulle nuove prospettive di competitività per il mercato di riferimento.

I centri europei e italiani in primis hanno molto da dire e da giocare su un settore conosciuto e valorizzato da molti anni, ma è indubbia la tenacia e la preparazione della classe di laureati cinesi: padronanza perfetta di 2 o 3 lingue straniere, conoscenza di applicativi professionali già da neolaureati, e soprattutto voglia di conoscere e approdare verso nuove soddisfazioni professionali. 

E' possibile preservare un primato internazionale sul design senza il coinvolgimento diretto di aziende di primo ordine e istituzioni? ma soprattutto quanto gioca la consapevolezza di essere, nel bene o nel male, il centro del mondo mediatico, economico e produttivo già per la formazione di figure tecniche d'alto livello? La risposta comincia ormai ad essere evidente...

Paolo Cacciato

Solar Energy: japanese big firms run to Europe. New deal for 2009 in Spain and Germany

 Taking advantage of financial incentives for solar power generation, Japanese trading houses are stepping up investments in photovoltaic projects in Spain and elsewhere in Europe.

By investing in the fast-growing field in Europe, they hope to see the solar power business become a main source of long-term earnings, according to officials.

In late July, Mitsui & Co. acquired all the stock of photovoltaic power project companies in Catalonia, Spain, with a current capacity of 100 kilowatts peak (kWp).

The acquisition was made through IPM Eagle LLP, an investment firm based in Britain in which Mitsui has a 30-percent stake.

Upon completion of additional facilities, the total capacity will soon be 1,460 kWp, enough to supply electricity to 380 households.

Sumitomo Corp. also announced in May it had launched a solar power project on Spain's Canary Islands with a projected output of 9,000 kWp.

The total cost is estimated at 8.5 billion yen and power generation will start later this year.

Meanwhile, Itochu Corp. acquired a 10-percent stake in Scatec Solar AS of Norway, which develops solar power generation facilities, for 1.3 billion yen in May.

It will build major solar parks in Germany, the Czech Republic and elsewhere with target sales set at 130,000 kilowatts per year by 2010.

The government of Japan is also planning to establish a sovereign wealth fund in fiscal 2009 that would place priority on innovative technologies using new energy sources and natural resources, government sources said Saturday.

Amid surging prices of crude oil and other resources, the fund--tentatively named Innovation Sozo Kiko--will invest mainly in solar power generation, wind power generation, fuel cells, and other new energy technologies and natural resources.

The government is aiming to prevent excessive outflows of national wealth to countries rich in natural resources, and to build a mid- and long-term base for future economic growth.

The government hopes these new policies will transform the economy into one that functions on drastically reduced resource consumption.

Initially, the government saw the fund as an entity to buy up dormant patents owned by companies and universities, aiming to use them to produce high-value-added goods across a wide range of industries.

But the government shifted to a policy that concentrates on certain specific purposes due to a recent surge in prices of various natural resources.

Among its practical investment targets, the government is considering a project to collect and pool technologies from major manufacturers, emerging companies, universities and other research institutes that can lead to the production of innovative fuel cell technologies.

In the solar power-generation field, the fund would help companies select and concentrate on promising business projects.

Asian Studies Group

Business Analysis

China surpass US as Japan's biggest customer

Mainland China overtook the US as Japan’s largest export destination for the first time last month, underlining the growing importance of Chinese demand to the world’s second-largest economy.

Exports to China, which have risen in each of the last 38 months, expanded by 16.8 per cent in July to their highest level since the Japanese government began compiling statistics in 1950.

At the same time, exports to the US declined by 11.5 per cent, marking the 11th consecutive monthly drop. Overall, shipments rose by 8.1 per cent by value, after falling in June for the first time since 2003, the finance ministry said.

Japan’s July trade surplus suffered an unexpectedly large decline of 86.6 per cent to Y91.1bn ($829m, €562m, £445m) because of an 18.2 per cent surge in imports by value. The market forecast was for a trade surplus in July of more than Y200bn. The fall, the fifth monthly decline in a row, reflected a near 70 per cent rise in the price of crude oil and a more than doubling of the price of coal.

Many analysts expect exports to fall again in coming months as the slowdown in western economies begins to have an impact on demand in emerging economies such as China.

“It is difficult to believe that Japan will be able to maintain the kind of growth in exports that it saw in July. I think there is a higher chance of a slowdown,” said Kyohei Morita, chief economist at Barclays Capital in Tokyo.Given China’s growing dependence on the EU as an export destination, Chinese growth was likely to decelerate, leading in turn to a slowdown in Japanese exports to China, Mr Morita said.

Beyond the news, my opinion

If japanese market is still suffering a big fall for domestic production and consumptions we can clearly observe that the business profile of Japan abroad is totally changing.

We started before by an univocal partnership with USA  but now it seems that japanese companies are sure they are able to approach by theyself, with high profile production, new important markets like China. 

I think that China for those big companies like Komatsu or Honda it will not be just a "paradise for exportations" but it'd became the first partner for production and investiment plans as well, probably more than USA.

So China is also involving european companies, that had good relations with japan up to now, in a new exciting atmosphere which those companies, never had a try at doing business in China but still have a long friendship with Japan, finally are able to improve their business knowledges trying to communicate with the "big dragon". Of course, that communication it should be mediated by those japanese partners we've already managed good business...

Paolo Cacciato

Asian Studies Group

Beijing's support to speed up State Owned Companies

Beijing has largely left the task of restructuring to state-owned enterprises to manage themselves, but the government will now begin driving the process, Wang Huisheng, president and chief executive of the largest state-owned industrial holding company, told the Financial Times on Wednesday.

 “One year has already gone by and we need to accelerate [the consolidation process],” said Mr Wang, who is head of the State Development and Investment Corp. “SDIC will be a major platform for this restructuring process by acquiring [state-owned enterprises] that add to our main business lines and selling others into the market.”

Mr Wang singled out the energy sector, in which SDIC is a big investor, saying he intended to consolidate upstream coal mining operations with transport links, port facilities and downstream power plants to create integrated energy producers that are less vulnerable to soaring coal prices.

While state ownership would decrease in some sectors, in others, such as energy and natural resources, the state would increase control, Mr Wang said.

For further info on this analysis please read the article of Financial Times

ITALIAN VERSION - ARTICLE FROM CORRIERE ASIA edited by Paolo Cacciato

Pechino: sosteniamo nuovamente le imprese statali. Appoggio tecnico e finanziario in attesa dei grandi investimenti stranieri

PECHINO: Pechino tornerà a ristrutturare le SOE, le società di conduzione statale già dalla seconda metà del 2008. Una scelta che sembrerebbe di contro tendenza con quanto portato avanti dalla politica del socialismo di mercato alla cinese, ma che in realtà in un'attenta analisi condotta dagli osservatori del Financial Times, dimostra quanto oggi più che mai Pechino sia interessata a primeggiare sul mercato degli investimenti privati e sia pronta a favorire la grande vendita degli assets non appena verranno implementati e resi competitivi.

L'obiettivo dichiarato precedentemente è quello di alleggerire il coinvolgimento statale portando il numero dei colossi controllati dallo Stato da 150 a 80 già entro il 2010. Un risultato che segnalerebbe chiaramente la riuscita di una spinta propulsiva proiettata verso la ristrutturazione economica in chiave d'apertura di un mercato rigidamente gestito dall'amministrazione pubblica in passato. 

Ma Pechino è altrettanto consapevole di come tale riuscita sia difficile da perseguire allentando totalmente la dimensione del controllo diretto, lasciando le piccole e medie imprese cinesi e gli investitori stranieri in uno stato di semi incapacità gestionale, soprattutto per settori delicati e che necessitano di ampie strutturazioni tecniche e finanziarie.

E' quanto ha nuovamente chiarito da Wang Huisheng il capo della SDIC, la State Developmant and Investment Corp., che diverrà la vera e propria base di partenza gestita dallo Stato per l'acquisizione di linee di business fondamentali per lo sviluppo dei diversi settori. "Acquisiti i punti di forza necessari a settori strategici dell'economia di un Paese in ascesa nel dialogo delle potenze internazionaliquale il nostro" spiega Wang "ci preoccuperemo di rivendere quanto accresciuto sul mercato delle acquisizioni private".

I settori chiave su cui la SDIC sembra non baderà a spese sono ovviamente quello energetico, dei trasporti, delle infrastrutture, miniere e agricoltura che verranno poi largamente offerti a controllo di investitori oltre oceano dopo la propulsione statale e l'allineamento ai rigori di competitività internazionali.

Ovviamente se in generale dal 2010 al 2015 la Cina potrebbe conoscere la spinta alla privatizzazione più intensa mai conosciuta fino ad oggi e agevolata in termini tecnici e finanziari direttamente dal governo, dall'altra Wang fa notare come sicuramente Pechino preserverà e reinvestirà ogni risorsa su un settore chiave che rimarrà nel controllo ad appannaggio del governo, quello energetico.

Ampie possibilità di controllo privato saranno offerte per i settori dei trasporti e delle infrastrutture, senza dimenticare una possibile riforma di legge che stabilisca l'attività di speculazione dal mercato immobiliare, vera e propria punta di diamante dell'economia cinese.

Paolo Cacciato

Corriere Asia