How to Have a Successful Business in Asia: Network and Communication

We wrap up our career networking series with a podcast on how to get it right. In conversation is Kevin Kane, Director at Lux Research Korea, and Candice Lever, a PR professional at AustCham Beijing. We explore the challenges of cross-cultural communication when doing business, explore ways to better enjoy networking events in cities like Seoul and Beijing, and the kind of skills needed to make your career a success in Asia.

(Editor’s Note: The audio component of this podcast is provided via a link at the end of this transcript.)

AsianTalks: When it comes to career networking in Asia, or paving a niche for yourself, how do you balance going at it alone, versus joining a group? Is striking the right balance more challenging than it sounds?
Kevin: I think it depends on your personality. But for anyone who moves to Asia, I’m going to assume they have the type of personality that was somewhat independent to begin with. The comfort level of being independent and moving from group to group depends on their personality. For me I prefer that.

But there are a lot of overlaps, in my case I have Korean friends who have never left Korea but are perfectly comfortable networking with foreigners.

Candice: I would echo what Kevin has said, that it’s really dependent upon your personality. Because you get all types of people who move to Asia for all kinds of reasons. I would definitely say it is a balancing act. You’re sort of striving for independence, and really blazing a path, but at the same time networks are incredibly important here.

I would say it’s a healthy dose of making your own connections but also not being afraid of using sources around to help you. Networking isn’t the same here as back home. It’s very much of the culture here to use your connections, to be part of a group that can help you succeed, whereas you might not be able to independently.

AsianTalks: Are there more career opportunities in Asia than elsewhere?

Candice: I’d say there are a lot of variables involved. In Melbourne, where I grew up, my brother struggled for a few months after university, and that’s just on the east coast that’s Melbourne. But if you go to the west coast of Australia the mining boom is beckoning people to come over, to get into that industry.

As for coming to Beijing, in my case, there is this kind of idea, a burning optimism that China is on the rise, and there really are so many opportunities. You can see there’s more Chinese graduates from top-tier universities to study abroad, they’re actually coming back to China more than before, because China is on the rise with jobs and opportunities.

As a foreigner, I was not brought over by a company for a specific project. I came over to try to find work. Because my Chinese was basically non-existent I actually struggled a bit to find a job. But I don’t think you can ever be poor in China. There is always an English class to teach somewhere. There are always opportunities to make money.

Kevin: In Korea there are more career opportunities for a certain kind of personality. At the same time it could be a complete disaster, and absolutely more difficult for another type of personality.

The type of personality to succeed is calm, patient, reserved, yet ambitious, and a very good listener. It’s how I would describe my friends who have succeeded here. And if I didn’t adopt those tendencies, I would have had to return a long time ago.

AsianTalks: Let’s say I go to a networking event where I don’t know anyone. What is your advice for breaking into a conversation in an unfamiliar situation? Any stories you’d like to share?

Kevin: I’m very social, and there’s no shortage of other expats you will meet here. I don’t think it’s really an issue. You’ll find a way around.

If you are here alone I would start with the Internet. Look up chambers of commerce, look up LinkedIn groups.

Someone reached out to me last night, asking me about my experience here at school, and I checked whether we had mutual friends. I think they were just beginning that journey of looking for organizations.

But really they could accomplish a whole lot just by googling ‘Korea’ and ‘social networking.’ Soon someone will direct you in the right path.

Candice: I work at the Australia Chamber of Commerce, and we run a monthly networking event. We also partake in all-chamber networking events where all 15 chambers get together.

So I’ve had a chance to observe what goes on there, and be part of myself a year and a half ago, when I first arrived.

When it comes to new networking events, I would say not to take them too seriously. Yes, it’s a networking event. You’re there to make business connections but at the end of the day everybody’s there for the same reason: to meet new people, socially, professionally. And if you take the pressure out of the social situation, and just go up to chat with someone, just remember you are all in the same boat. It really takes away the tension.

By: Elizabeth Shim

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Thank Gosh it's almost Friday

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Korean Television And The Expat (Part 4 of 4)

We round out this week’s series of posts on Korea-based food blogger Joe McPhersonwith some insights about his experience with the South Korean media and learn why he’s so glad he is publishing a book on Korean food globalization, forthcoming later this year.

AsianTalks: So you have a soon-to-be published book, bound to raise the level of awareness of what you’re doing, at least among South Korean readers.

I hope so. But one of my chef friends who read a chapter says that likely I’m going to end up in the trunk of a car.

AsianTalks: Goodness. Why?

My book is about how to globalize Korean food, but it’s from a foreigner’s perspective. A lot of it is me pointing out the emperor has no clothes. My book is basically the cold water to get the government to wake up. The publisher asked me to take the book in that direction.

What’s funny is this (request) came from the government, haphazardly, and in a circuitous route. A couple years ago they asked me to do a monthly column on the globalization of Korean food. And I keep saying what people are thinking, but are too afraid to say. So the publisher from my column approached me about doing the book. They got two other people, Dan Gray and Jennifer Flinn to flesh it out even further. I asked them how they wanted me to do the book, and they said, “We want you to do what you do in your column.” And it was great, because when I finished that manuscript, I didn’t write for weeks after that because I ran out of everything to say!

AsianTalks: You’re on the cusp of mainstream recognition in South Korea. What kind of other feedback have you received from your South Korean audience?

For people who actually read my work, I accept they have an agenda. If my writings don’t match their agenda, they don’t like me.

But as far as the general Korean public goes, especially with the media, I’m still kind of the monkey, the exotic animal in the zoo. I mean every time they want to do a TV thing with me, it’s the same thing. “Ooh look, a foreigner can eat Korean food. That’s so strange.”

In fact one episode got cut out for the last piece I did. I did a thing for one of the major networks this month, where they had me eating at a restaurant, which they always do. And they had me act out this one part, where they got two people who were working at the restaurant, dressed them up in coats to make them look like customers, and they sat at a table and they had them pointing at me, saying, “Look! That foreigner is eating Korean food.”

I turn down a lot of media requests these days. I investigate them thoroughly and if it’s another one of “Dance for us, monkey” types of shows, I’m not interested.

AsianTalks: Well, most of your readers who closely follow your blog have probably seen at least one of your TV appearances. But few of us had little idea of the behind story of those appearances.

The way Korean media works, they’re not really interested in what you have to say. I’m not contacted by producers. I get contacted by scriptwriters, and they want to see if I can fit in with their narrative and their script. And my job is not to be interviewed, but to say what they want me to say, and act how they want me to act in their script. Go along with stereotypes of how foreigners are. And it doesn’t really help me.

I’ve noticed that I don’t get more traffic to the blog. I get a few opportunities, but the few times I’ve gotten positive stuff from being in Korean media has been the few times when they’ve let me be myself on camera. And from that positive things have happened.

AsianTalks: Who would you say are your readers?

My audience is foreigners. Mostly Americans, mostly female, it turns out. It’s funny that women pay attention to me, foreign women — mostly Asian — and I’m like well, it would have been nice if you had paid attention to me, you know, before I was married!

AsianTalks: You’ve launched an online translation campaign for Korean menu items. What was the impetus for this move?

It’s just a pet peeve when Korean menus show a very confusing translation, or a totally off translation. Before I even came to Korea one of my favorite websites was Engrish.com. Loved it. I actually had one of my photos featured on Engrish.com when I first came to Korea. But when it came down to the food, and food is something I’m so passionate about, it went from being funny to seriously annoying.

What gets me sometimes is the arrogant attitude of restaurateurs or people promoting Korean food and they don’t care about it. Why would you bother translating it into another language if it’s going to be so wrong?

Take example something like ‘Kongbiji Jjigae‘ which is a wonderful stew made with basically tofu ricotta. They call it bean refuse stew.

AsianTalks: That doesn’t sound very appetizing.

Or simple spellings. When you call crab soup, ‘Crap Soup,’ or you name an edible plant by its scientific name. Take ‘Deodeok.’ Well there’s no English name for Deodeok, so just call it Deodeok. Instead they call it Codonopsis Lanceolata.

A lot of the times it’s very misleading. I’m trying to think of a good example especially when it comes to meats, they describe the meat as a wrong cut. It’s hilarious English, and what’s sad is they put it in large letters in front of the restaurant. And here I am, trying to make this food look great, and they make it look like clown shoes.

The trouble is in Korea there’s not much awareness that it is a problem. We’re not at a level where people care about it yet. There have been a couple of new stories about it, but people right now are too obsessed with how to spell something, obsessed with making things standardized.

But I also understand you might just have to be a native speaker or immersed in the culture long enough to understand what the nuances are. Because it’s not just one thing to translate something word for word, you have to translate it to make it sound appetizing to someone from that culture. And that’s what I thought our strength was, in menu translation, because I write about food all the time, I know how to make food sound appetizing, that came from trial and error.

I really want to make menus to sound great, I want people to eat things they normally don’t try.

But there are just some things that won’t translate well no matter how hard you try.

By: Elizabeth Shim

Kimchi Then And Now (Part 3 of 4)

Earlier this week we began exploring the culinary path traveled by prominent Korean food blogger Joe McPherson. As an expatriate in one of northeast Asia’s lesser visited countries, McPherson has harnessed a niche in both the blogging and food worlds that is clearly his own, and in some ways, his calling.

When McPherson first arrived in South Korea, there were no Korean taco trucks roaming the streets of New York or Los Angeles. It was common to connect Korean cuisine with taboo subjects like dog meat or the undesirably pungent smells of kimchi, Korea’s most famous dish. Now, with Korean fried chicken and bibimbap a common lunchtime choice for office workers in Manhattan, it is almost hard to believe Korean food was sometimes associated with objects of anathema. How did public opinion change, and what does McPherson think of this vast change of mass opinion? Find out in our third installment where McPherson tells us of the amazing transformation of Korean cuisine.

AsianTalks: Many food bloggers in the United States have heard about your blog. In the past eight years as you blogged from Korea, what do you think has changed American perceptions of Korean food? And what’s your role been in that process?

I didn’t really see how much influence I had until I went to New York two years ago. Because in Korea people really don’t know me. And it’s funny, because I’ve been on TV and on radio in Korea quite a bit. But when I got to New York, people were asking for my autograph, and wanting their pictures taken with me. That was weird! I wish my wife could have seen that because seriously she has no idea about the blog. She just thinks it’s still a hobby.

I’ve co-written a book that’s coming out in Korean, in June, and it’s about Korean food globalization. So they’re in the middle of translating my writings right now. And they gave me an early release of it, and I printed it out, gave it to my wife, and she’s now in the middle of reading it. And — she’s never read my writings before, and she’s like, “Wow. You’re aggressive.”

I would say the change in American perception of Korean food is, they don’t talk as much about the dog meat as they used to. It’s gradually becoming politically incorrect to associate Koreans with eating dog, almost to the point people who do dog-eating jokes when talking about Koreans are starting to be viewed as of racist. So that’s one change.

The perception of kimchi has changed. Starting in the 1950s, there’s a US military term, “to be deep in kimchi,” of course means to be in deep sh-t.

Kimchi had a reputation of being foul, smelly and rotten, something that’s just impossible to wrap your mind around. There’s even an episode of Good Eats with Alton Brown a few years ago, where he was pretending to have a chili cook-off with some lady, and he sabotaged her chili by putting kimchi in it. Because he was trying to get the most foul thing to sabotage someone with, and it was kimchi.

Now kimchi is starting to get the respect it deserves. People are starting to realize kimchi like a lot of fermented foods is very similar in complexity to wine and cheese. People are starting to savor it a lot more, and learning how to eat it. I myself when I first tried kimchi in America, I didn’t know how to eat it, I just grabbed it straight out of the jar, and going, “Why do people eat this?” (I later learned) you eat it with rice, and it’s great with eggs. People are finding applications for it.

But it seems like there’s been a succession of what is the trendy cuisine, and Korea was pretty — you know we did Japan, we did China, we did Southeast Asia, what about the one country in between?

AsianTalks: The elephant in the room.
The flyover! It’s like Korea’s Kansas. Travelers do that too. They fly to Japan, then they fly over Korea to China.

Up next: Joe talks frankly about his new book, the South Korean media and why menus in Korea need to be translated properly!

Elizabeth Shim

Blog Meets Food In South Korea (Part 2 of 4)

Recently in major cities like New York and Los Angeles Asian food like Korean cuisine has been acquiring something of a makeover.

And perhaps it’s a sign of the times. Inexpensive eats like those found in food trucks like Roy Choi’s Kogi Truck or Japanese pop-up shops like Yuji’s Ramen are taking more traditional Asian foods like kimchi or Japanese ramen for a whole new spin, while helping diners save a little money in what’s arguably a tougher, economic climate. This is of course happening against the backdrop of an ever-changing American palate that is becoming increasingly acquainted with Asian flavors that are pungent, spicy, and fun.

In what is Part 2 of AsianTalks’ interview with Joe McPherson of ZenKimchi, we travel back to the moment when Korean food and McPherson’s career decidedly converged, learn of its unique appeal to this Korea-based expat, and why the Internet is changing the expatriate population in places like Seoul. And — needless to say — we can start to understand how personalities like McPherson are ultimately influencing the ever-changing tastes and preferences of Americans.

AsianTalks: Joe, when you began blogging you were doing it more or less for fun. Then suddenly almost overnight you were one of South Korea’s major English-language bloggers, making major appearances on television.

It literally did happen overnight. In early 2007 the New York Times called me, for an article they were doing on the sudden explosion of Korean fried chicken popularity in Manhattan. (They called me) because basically I was the only game in town when it came to Korean food blogs in 2007. Also it just so happened that I have a background with fried chicken. My dad used to run a Popeye’s when I was a kid, and I come from the South, so I guess that credential was well, I guess I know fried chicken. So the article started to become more about — maybe a third of it is about me and my blog. And it got me noticed. And since then, more stuff’s been happening. But that was the biggest jump I ever had.

AsianTalks: And as a Southerner, what is the allure of Korean food for you? Are you really into the barbecue?

That’s a good guess, but everyone’s big on barbecue. I’m not big on royal court cuisine, but too many of the officials are obsessed with promoting this stuff that Koreans don’t really eat. It’s too expensive, too frilly and fussy.

Korean food has the same qualities that attract Francophiles to provincial cuisine. It’s a very rural, rustic cuisine. I learned this after a couple of years in Korea and I finally went out to countryside, mountainside restaurants. And this food really spoke to me. Because in Westerners’ imaginations about Asian cuisine, there’s the really urban Japanese style, there’s the exotic Southeast Asian, but there’s really not much for that just down home country food. And Korea kind of fills that void.

I find that the best food I’ve ever had in Korea seems to be that way. Last year the best meal I had was at a thatched roof guesthouse over in the traditional folk village near Andong. It was the only place serving food in the village. There was no sound, there was barely any electricity there, and it was one of the best meals I’ve ever had.

AsianTalks: What do you like most about living in Korea?

I would say the difference between my life in America and living in Korea is I feel like I’ve been dumped into a bathtub filled with ice water. (Korea is) extremely energetic, things change really quickly here. I feel like I’m in an important place at an important time in history and I want to watch that history happen. You’re watching a country really grow and change. And history books will talk about this when this is finished and I just want to be here to witness it.

AsianTalks: Your food career has grown right alongside the Internet. How much has social media and technology buoyed your work?

I can’t imagine living in Korea without the Internet. I pretty much live out in the boonies, as far as foreigners go. I live inAnyang, which is over Gwanak mountain in southern Seoul. But I would not have connected with as many people at all. I would not have gotten as much as information as I needed, I think it would have been very easy to go down the negative path, and really hate my life here if I didn’t have technology for connection and information.

And I noticed that in the attitude of foreigners who come to Korea now. It seems that the more connected we are through technology, the more positive people come here. I hear stories of people who came here in the 90s, and they’re hilarious, it’s like the Wild West.

Now we’re getting really talented people coming here. I’m sure you know these people, like the couple that doesEatYourKimchi. I mean, you get some really good talent these days. And I think without the technology, people wouldn’t have discovered Korea as well. I think people wouldn’t enjoy their lives as well. And people are learning to enjoy their lives much better here.

Up next: You’ve come a long way, kimchi! Find out why Korea’s most famous dish needs its own unauthorized biography, and why it’s finally getting the respect it deserves.

By: Elizabeth Shim

Joe McPherson, Food Blogger (Part 1 of 4)

What do Americans in their twenties and thirties want when they move to Asia? Is it adventure? A chance to see the world? A fresh start?

For Alabama native Joe McPherson, founder of the influential Korean food blogZenKimchi, it was a combination of all of the above that sent him relocating to Korea as an English teacher eight years ago. The decision was life-changing, as McPherson is now a publicly recognized Korean food advocate. He hails from a growing community of food lovers of which he is one of the earliest founders.

McPherson has passionately blogged about Korean food since he stepped off that plane bound for Korea. His web presence has garnered increasing attention, and he has been featured in the New York Timesand the Wall Street Journal, and consulted for major television shows. In turn, McPherson has been featured frequently onSouth Korean television, keeps himself busy with various food-related events around Korea, and is due to create even a bigger splash with his forthcoming book on food globalization. Here is an account of his adventure in Korea, a country increasingly on the radar of would-be expats.

(Editor’s Note: This interview will be divided into four exciting installments over the course of the week. Please check back for the next segment, or follow us on Twitter, @AsianTalks for updates!)

AsianTalks: Joe, let’s start from Day 1. What was the genesis of your Korean sojourn, and how did you make the transition from teaching English to becoming one of South Korea’s leading food advocates?

It was a very scary leap. I had wanted to do that for a long time, but I didn’t have the right visa to do anything but teach English. And then when I got married (to my South Korean spouse) I could do other things, but I still had obligations to my school, and my school owned my house. So I had to save up enough money to buy my house from my school. And then I was able to do this full time, which was kind of scary, because I was exploring territory that not many people had explored. There’s a famous joke: what do you call a foreign nuclear scientist in Korea? The answer is English teacher, because there’s no other job for a Westerner other than English teacher in Korea. It’s really hard to find a job other than that.

And I see so many people who are so smart and so talented in so many other fields, but they want to see Asia, and this is the only thing they can do, teach English in Korea.

AsianTalks: That’s interesting. And do you think that system should change in South Korea?

It’s gradually changing. There’s talk of moving to a more Japanese visa-style, where you can own your own visa. Right now if you are an English teacher your school owns your visa so if you have a bad employer and you need to change jobs, you have to leave the country, and deal with a lot of issues, sometimes have to wait until the end of your yearlong contract. So recently immigration instituted a new program where you can build points and get an F visa. I call it ‘F’ for freedom! With F visas you can have any job you want, in any field, just like any Korean citizen can. So immigration has gradually been instituting a point system for people to get F visas.

They still create pretty big barriers for people, like those who seek a business owner visa. You originally had to have 50,000 dollars in capital, now you have to have 100,000 dollars in capital.

AsianTalks: When you decided to move to Korea, did you know what to expect?

Sort of. Unlike a lot of foreigners here, I actually was attracted to Korea beforehand. I fell into studying and loving Korean history in college. And I became a Koreaphile after that. I became really obsessed with anything Korean. So when the opportunity popped up, meaning the dot-com bust, I jumped on it.

AsianTalks: Was your blog originally a food blog, or did it evolve into a food blog?

Like most blogs, it started off as a diary, and I noticed that it was concentrating a lot on food. And around that time food blogs were starting to get noticed, and I started reading food blogs, and I thought, wow, I didn’t know I could write about something other than my life. I could just write about food. And that made it much easier.

The thing was there really were no active Korean food blogs at the time and I wanted something to read. So I created the blog to have something to read.

Up next: Find out how Joe got his big break while food blogging, South Korea’s changing expat population, and why he’s smitten with Korean cuisine!

Japan Podcast! Insights Into Japanese Life

Tackling the topic of Japan can be a substantial undertaking. There is on one hand the ongoing public dialogue of the long-term challenges that are facing Japan’s well-being. An aging population, a low birthrate, and even impediments to effective leadership are just some of the issues that the country needs to address in the years to come. And since March 2011, there is now the added layer of recovery from the Great Tohoku Earthquake. At present only one of the 54 nuclear reactors remains in operation, and it is due to shutdown in May.

In some ways news coming out of Japan seems to paint a less than rosy picture, but to hear two American expatriates – Matthew Alt of AltJapan and Brian Salsberg of McKinsey and Company – talk about their daily lives while offering views of the country they have come to love, brings perhaps a much needed perspective to examining Japan as a whole. Alt is awaiting the release of his new book, ‘Yurei Attack,’ forthcoming this summer, and again treated us with a discerning analysis of contemporary Japanese culture. Salsberg, a principal at one of the world’s largest management consulting firms, provided a comprehensive portrayal of the Japanese consumer, a subject that’s often at the focal point of his professional research in the last five years. Both felt fortunate to partake in Tokyo life, a cosmopolitan city that – as they both agreed – is still one of the greatest, if not the greatest city in the world.

(Editor’s Note: the audio component of this podcast is at the bottom of this post.)

AsianTalks: You both know and understand the Japanese consumer. Brian — as the lead for McKinsey’s Consumer & Shopper Insights, could you just brief us on how the Japanese consumer differs from his or her American counterparts?

Brian: I would start by saying that probably the biggest difference is that the Japanese consumer is still the most discerning consumer in the world. That being said we at McKinsey about a year and a half, two years ago did a report called The New Japanese Consumer. It did point out that we are seeing over the past five to six years more of a shift towards Western type behaviors, particularly when it comes to the appreciation of value. If you look at the most successful retailers in Japan, like the rest of the world we are seeing a shrinking middle, and a lot more success at two ends of the spectrum, whether it’s the premium luxury or the value part of the spectrum. It’s well known that when IKEA first entered they failed in this market and then they came back, and people were sure they would fail again. When CostCo first entered with five or six stores everyone was counting the moments that they would close up shop. All of these companies are now wildly successful. And the last thing I’ll add, an interesting point, about a company like IKEA is while they’re actually selling the same products in basically the same business model that they have elsewhere there are certain things they still have had to do differently, for example the IKEA model around the world is buy, bring and build it yourself. In Japan, for an additional cost, there are delivery services, and you can get support for building it. So I think it’s interesting how the retail environment has evolved to meet both the specific needs of the Japanese consumer, but also the models that work around the world absolutely do work in Japan.

AsianTalks: Matt we’ve covered this before in our previous interview, the importance of cute in reaching out to people. When it comes to reaching out to consumers, how important is the cute factor, commonly known as “kawaii” in Japan?

Matt: Well kawaii is almost effectively a philosophy here in Japan. It certainly doesn’t work for all products, it doesn’t work for all situations, and in fact the places where you tend to see cute characters are generally either in a mascot type situation, whether they’re on foods, or they’re in a situation where they’re acting as mediators. But the flip side of that is when Japanese are trying to emphasize the quality you almost never see kawaii imagery associated with it. A perfect example of this is if you buy a cheap stereo or a DVD player there will inevitably be little, anthropomorphic characters in the instruction manual, showing “don’t pour water on me!” and it will show a crying DVD player with water being poured on it, or “don’t leave me out in the sun!” and everybody’s seen this. But if you go out to buy a new Lexus you won’t see cute characters in the manual there because that’s a luxury product, a high end product, kawaii characters don’t have a role in that type of situation.

Brian: I agree, and what I find interesting is there are still some anomalies, as a Westerner would see it, with this wholekawaii mentality. Where I see it is, if you look at a company like Disney, the merchandise is completely different than let’s say the Disney stores in the US. In Japan there’s not so much children buying costumes and toys, but much more of a target audience of 25- to 40-year-old women buying Disney characters for their phones and other things.

Fast retailing constantly has these T-shirt campaigns. Last week I was at Narita airport, and the entire store was Snoopy, and most stores don’t even have a kids’ section. So there’s no doubt that there’s still something unique about the Japanese consumer.

Matt: I would extend that a little bit. I agree Japan is an absolute machine for creating characters. One of the fundamental differences I think between Japanese and Western culture is you can embrace kawaii without sacrificing your masculinity or looking like a grown child. Japanese culture has a way of playing with traditional definitions of masculinity and femininity. For instance there are historical heroes who are extremely — they’re gay — but they’re extremely masculine. Or to flip it around you have historical heroes who are basically a ladies’ man but extremely effeminate. So you have this play with gender and typical roles that are a little bit more fluid, and that’s one of the reasons I think why kawaii has permeated to the degree it has in Japanese society. And it has nothing to do with Japanese people being “a nation of thirteen-year-olds,” as MacArthur once famously said.

AsianTalks: You’ve both published books so let’s talk about that for a little bit. Brian, as one of the editors ofReimagining Japan: The Quest for a Future That Works, could you just briefly tell us about the kind of response the book received because of the Great Tohoku Earthquake?

Brian: Certainly the earthquake created a different market for the book in terms of interest in Japan. And just an interesting anecdote about the book — we finished the book, just by bizarre coincidence on March 11, and by that I mean we had agreed with the publisher that we would have to submit the final galleys electronically to the printing press in Canada by 5pm Japan time. So we were actually transmitting a very large file at 2:46pm on March 11 when the earthquake struck, and the book was to be printed on Monday morning March 14.

What’s interesting about that is, that week we put everything on hold and had a series of editorial calls where — if you remember — at that point March 14, 15, 16 was when many people thought that the nuclear plant in Fukushima would potentially explode and we weren’t sure of what would remain of Japan, and history could really have been rewritten. So we literally just said, okay, let’s pull the plug for now. We then had to make a decision a week or two later on what to do and what we actually did was we had all of our 80 authors — we gave them two weeks — at obviously a very trying time — to rewrite parts of their essays. And thirty percent of the people made some changes, we added a bunch of new content in the first chapter, and we went ahead and published in July 2011, a month behind schedule.

The interesting thing though, as we say in the introduction of our book, our big takeaway was that Japan now faces two emergencies. One was the tsunami-earthquake-nuclear radiation situation. But the other emergency — if you will — are all these other underlying challenges that this country faced which didn’t change because of the earthquake. Last point I’ll make on this one — when we first talked to publishers about a book by a bunch of well-known people in Japan, the reception was lukewarm, again before the earthquake. Our publisher in the US, of the English version, actually committed to publishing a grand total of 3,000 copies! They quickly changed that after the earthquake, so in the end the book — at least as of last month — have sold 12,000 English copies and 40,000 Japanese copies. And for a hardcover book, that’s thick and heavy, about Japan, is something that we certainly would not have been able to do before March 11.

AsianTalks: And Matt, your books on Japanese pop culture offer rare insight. How does contemporary culture preserve Japanese mythology or cultural history, and does Japanese tradition help modern Japanese cope with present-day realities?

Matt: I don’t know whether the Japanese people turn to tradition necessarily to help them through a situation such as the 3/11 disaster, but there’s absolutely no question that many of the trends in Japanese culture today have roots that can clearly be traced back many millennia. Just to bring the conversation back to what we were discussing before, Japan is known for character creation, and for me when Hiroko and I investigated this in the course of writing our books, we realized that there’s really a three-pronged equation as to why that is. First Japan has an animistic tradition. In times of old people believe souls exist in any object. It’s a polytheistic belief system, animism. The second thing is Japan has a tradition of craftsmanship, especially in religious architecture. The third aspect of this is a storytelling tradition that goes back well over a thousand years. So if you take animism, craftsmanship, and this dramatic history and combine them together, you have the fuel to create characters. It’s also why Japan is so good at doing that.

For more conversation on our interviewees’ vision for Japan, expat life in Tokyo and the burgeoning social networking industry, listen to our podcast!

John Duerden, Sports Journalist

The London Summer Olympics is fast approaching and 204 countries are expected to participate, but one particular sport, football (soccer) is expected to grab headlines in countries like South Korea and Japan. To get a seismograph reading on Asia’s football fervor we spoke to John Duerden, a veteran sports journalist who has reported on Asian football from his home base in Seoul. Heralded as the “Voice of Asian Football” by BBC Radio, Duerden continues to report for The Guardian, ESPN, FOX Sports, and the International Herald Tribune. In his interview with AsianTalks, he also offered some prognosis for the Asian teams in the upcoming Olympics.

AsianTalks: Tell us briefly about your background and — what is it about Asian football that has kept you engaged?

Originally I’m from the northwest of England, from a town called Blackburn, which is near Manchester. I was living in London before I came to Korea.

The turning point for me was the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan. I came to Korea, just before that, and I never really left, to be honest! I kind of did, but not really. And I met my wife, my wife is a Korean woman, and I just stayed here to write more about Korea and Asian football, mostly. Because not that many people do, or at that time didn’t.

There was a lot of interesting things happening, especially in football. The 2002 World Cup was a fantastic starting point. It was an amazing time to be in Korea — a magical time really — ten years ago.

So the 2002 World Cup was a catalyst of me coming to Asia. And I’ve never really left.

AsianTalks: So would you say you are familiar with the career trajectory of Park Ji Sung, who plays for Manchester United?

Of course! He’s one of the few people from Korea and Asia who transcends sports. He’s a national figure. I’m not a Manchester United fan, but I do like Park Ji Sung actually. He’s the perfect ambassador for Korea and Asian football, in not just his play but the way he is. And I’d like to see him do well because he does have one more season with Manchester United and then, who knows.

AsianTalks: What’s a common misperception about Asian football that you try to rectify through your sports journalism?

That’s a good question. When you talk about Asia, as you know, it’s difficult to generalize because if you talk about Seoul, there’s very little Seoul has in common with another part of Asia like Iran or Dubai. But I think football is one those things that is bringing the UK and Asia closer together, a little bit.

I think there’s lots of misconceptions of Asia, including the notion, for example, Asian players are almost too short to play in the big leagues, so not good enough. There’s also a stereotype Asian football players are being brought into UK teams to play for commercial reasons. Some also believe Asian football is a hotbed of corruption, and match fixing, which (laughs) is not completely untrue.

I think for me, if I write about these things, it’s a bit difficult because I write mostly for the international media and I also write freelance. So, if I write for an international organization I have to make it interesting and relevant to their readers. And often the readers want to hear these crazy stories about crazy Asia, the wild things that happen . So I try not to do that too much if I can! But what I try to do most of all is trying to push the fact that there are really good Asian players in football. It isn’t about how big they are or how small they are, because their technical ability is excellent.

Most of all I try to drive home that Asia is going places, in football at least, and that it’s going to get better and better all the time.

AsianTalks: What’s your prognosis for Asian football in the upcoming Olympics?

In terms of Olympic teams, the Japanese Olympic team looks good. At the moment, the Japanese football is going through something — not quite a golden age — but certainly approaching something special.

They have lots of young players, and many of them are going to European teams on a regular basis. So I think the Japanese team has a very good chance of doing well at the Olympics. It’s difficult to say how well, because you don’t know much about the other (non-Asian) teams so much. Japan is playing Spain, and I imagine the Spanish team is very good. And in their matches against Honduras, Morocco, there’s a good chance they’ll get to the next round.

Korea again, in their group with Mexico, Gabon and Switzerland looks — not impossible — but not easy! But I think there’s a decent chance again — for them to make it to the next stage.

So those two I think have the best chances.

AsianTalks: When you interview sports people in Asia, do you use translators? How approachable are the sports personalities in Asia?

One good thing is people know who I am in Asia. So if I go to Japan, China, or Southeast Asia people are usually happy to help me.

That’s the nice thing about Asian football. Compared to some European leagues, people are more approachable when it comes to sports. That’s why I especially like the Korean national team. It’s much more open than the English national team is. And the fans can get closer to the players, and I think that’s reflected throughout Asian football.

Overall people are very friendly and open. And it’s very nice.

By: Elizabeth Shim