We introduce small- and medium-sized companies in Tokyo with a strong connection to Asia.

Taiyo Metal-Working, the company we introduced in our previous issue, is a company that Mr. Tran Van Duong, who fled from Vietnam as one of the Boat People, set up in Tokyo's Ota Ward in 2004, and it is involved in the processing and production of such items as automobile parts and medical machinery components. Taiyo Metal-Working We talk to Ms. Kumiko Ogawa (currently the director in charge of sales at Taiyo Metal-Working), who took charge of such things as all the bothersome paperwork and negotiations with associates at the time President Duong was setting up the company. — Tell us about how you came to set up the company together with President Duong. "I used to work at the same company where President Duong had worked. I had been thinking about changing jobs, so we decided to try to become independent together." — What was President Duong like at his previous company? "As everybody else in the company was Japanese at the time he joined, he seemed to be a little lost, which was a perfectly natural situation. But he is naturally inclined to stick things out and he unceasingly polished his techniques, becoming within a few years a technician of such excellence that nobody else within the company could match him. I think he has always been very good with his hands, but I also think that he has put in an enormous amount of effort." — What is the division of duties between yourself and President Duong? "I look after all the negotiations with those outside of the company, such as sales, so that the president can concentrate on the technical aspects. In addition, I also do all the administrative work. Our company has, apart from myself and the president, four Vietnamese employees, and it is the skillful and hard-working Vietnamese whose creativity and imagination are jigged into production to give our company a strength not seen in other companies. My thoughts are to support everyone, including in aspects of living in Japan, so that they may be able to concentrate on making things without having to worry about anything else."

Taiyo Metal-Working is steadily increasing sales even though all of Japan is struggling with a long and deep recession. They are also steadily increasing the number of their clients and currently need to work in the factory from 8 o'clock in the morning and go through to 9 or 10 o'clock at night in order to keep up with demand. For that reason, one of the most urgent tasks before them at the moment is to recruit new people and train them.

Mr. Anh is now fully acquainted with his work. As one way to do that, they took part in an employment seminar held in January 2009 by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's Bureau of Industrial and Labor Affairs to attract such people as foreign students from Vietnam. As a result of taking part in that seminar, Vietnamese national, Mr. Nguyen Tuan Anh, 30, joined the company. Mr. Anh was born in the city of Da Nang and worked in machinery processing after graduating from a Vietnamese university, but came to Japan two years ago after apparently hearing that the technical level in Japan is of a high standard. He initially worked through a different employment agency, but the employment seminar provided a chance and he came to work with Taiyo Metal-Working. "The president does not say much about work, but because we come from the same country we can communicate in Vietnamese and I am delighted to work at a company where there is a Vietnamese president," Mr. Anh said bashfully. The "boat" that left port to head out onto the high seas with only President Duong and Director Ogawa as the oarsmen in 2004 has suddenly found itself with another four young rowers, starting with Mr. Anh, and become even bigger. Finally, the captain of the good ship Taiyo Metal-Working, President Duong, tells us of his dreams and leaves a message for foreign students who come to study in Japan. "One day, I think I would like to work in Vietnam, putting to use the techniques I have learned in Japan. Unlike in the past, there is now a lot of foreign investment into Vietnam and I think this would be a good opportunity. My thoughts are to try and contribute even in a little way toward the development of Vietnam, my homeland." "I think many foreign students come to Japan and gain technical skills and knowledge before going back to their own country. To make the experience of studying in Japan a rewarding one is difficult because of the different customs, but all you can do is try your best (decisively). Compared to the past, I think there are now more chances."