We will creat a local "Job matching site" for international students.
Special event on Monday, 16 Feburary 2026 "Haneda InnovationCityTour〜NetworkingwithBusinessOwners inOtaCity〜"
Participants will tour facilities within Haneda Innovation City and
engage with business owners from companies based in Ota City, Tokyo.
Business owners from a variety of industries, including manufacturing,
surface treatment, construction, sports, welfare, and food and beverage,
are expected to attend.
We are closely working with YNU (Yokohama National University and Ota-ku friends)
Attractiveness of SMEs for your Job hunting in Japan
1.Capability to respond to high-mix, low-volume production and short lead times.
Large companies are better suited to mass production and standardized products, whereas SMEs excel at non-standard and exceptional orders.
2.On-site, experience-based “tacit knowledge” and craftsmanship. Know-how that is difficult to formalize or codify into manuals.
3. Proximity to customers (consultative, technology-driven business model) rather than simple “contract manufacturing,”
SMEs act as technology partners. They are not limited to “doing exactly what they are told,” but can take a position of working together with customers to figure out how a solution can be made viable.
4. Specialization in niche fields and specialized applications areas that large corporations do not enter?or cannot enter. Although market size is small, these fields are difficult to substitute and less prone to price competition.
5. Rapid decision-making
for equipment modification and process changes.
Often because the company president also serves as the technical decision-maker.
6. Ability to compete on value or quality rather than on cost
7. Local embeddedness and complementary relationships within industrial clusters.
Collaboration among local firms through division of processes and functions.
3.Why Ota City (Ota Ward) in Tokyo is so important?
Ota City (Ota Ward) in Tokyo is widely known as a premier "monozukuri" (manufacturing) district in Japan. Its concentration of small-scale, highly specialized factories is famous for supporting the nation's industry.
1.Historical Origins:
Prewar Industrial Accumulation ?ta Ward (especially the Kamata area) has been a center of small-scale manufacturing since before World War II. Many workshops supported military and aircraft-related industries. The area developed not around large factories, but around small and medium-sized subcontractors. After the war, these firms smoothly shifted from military demand to civilian industries such as home appliances and precision machinery
As a result, a culture of high-precision, small-lot, flexible manufacturing became deeply rooted.
2. Geographical Advantage: City, Port, and Airport.
Ota Ward enjoys an exceptionally strong location advantage.Close to Tokyo Bay, enabling efficient maritime logisticsHome to Haneda Airport, providing fast access to international logistics and prototyping.
Adjacent to central Tokyo, Kawasaki, and Yokohama?major industrial areas
This allows firms to rapidly repeat the cycle of “prototype → modification → delivery”, a speed that is difficult to replicate in regional areas.
3. Industrial Structure:
Dense Division-of-Labor Networks. The greatest strength of Ota Ward lies not in individual factories, but in the collective power of the cluster.
Specialized firms in cutting, polishing, surface treatment, heat treatment, and assembly. High-density concentration of complementary workshops within just a few kilometers. A system where one phone call can mobilize multiple specialists overnight.
Even if one firm cannot complete a product alone, the entire area functions like a “virtual large enterprise.”
4. Technological Culture of Small and Medium Enterprises.
Manufacturers in Ota Ward are characterized by:
Tacit knowledge that is difficult to formalize.
The ability to interpret unclear or incomplete drawings.
Providing technical advice from the design stage onward
Rather than “manufacturing exactly as instructed,” they co-create feasible solutions with clients.
This represents a clear contrast to mass production by large corporations or overseas factories.
5. Support from Local Government and Institutions.
Ota Ward has long pursued policies to support manufacturing, including: Factory apartments and shared industrial facilities, Public technical support centers, Programs for overseas expansion and business matching.
The ward has chosen a strategy of “coexistence between manufacturing and the city,” rather than pushing factories out of urban space.
4.Finding a job in Japan (就活（しゅうかつ） / shukatsu)
Finding a job in Japan follows a very structured process, especially for new graduates.
4.1 University Student (新卒就活/ Shinsotsu-shukatsu)
Japan’s “simultaneous recruiting system” is unique.
[Typical Schedule]
3rd year (March?): Company information sessions (説明会/Setsumeikai) start
4th year (June?): Interviews begin
Before graduation: 内定/Naitei (job offer)
Step 1: Self-Analysis (自己分析/Jikobunseki)
Companies care a lot about:
i)ガクチカ/Gakuchika (what you worked hard on)
ii)志望動機（しぼうどうき）/Shibou-Doki (why this company?)
iii)強み・弱み（つよみ・よわみ）/Tsuyomi・Yowami (strengths & weaknesses)
Step 2: Entry & Company Research
Use major job platforms:
マイナビ/My-Navi
リクナビ/Riku-Navi
Also:
University career center (キャリアセンター)
OB・OG訪問（ほうもん） (Contact to OB/OG)(very important in Japan)
Step 3: Entry Sheet (ES) & Web Tests
Common Web Tests:
SPI
玉手箱/Tamate-Bako
TG-WEB
Preparation books are essential.
Step 4: Interview Strategy
Japanese interviews evaluate: Communication ability
Consistency of logic
Foreigners / English Speakers in Japan
If you want English-related work:
Daijob
GaijinPot Jobs
Industries easier for non-native Japanese:
IT / Engineering
Consulting
Global trading companies
English teaching
Hidden Important Factor in Japan: Networking
Japan still values:
Professor recommendation
OB connections
Internships (長期インターン)
Sometimes SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) (中小企業/Chu-sho-Kigyo) hire through relationships rather than platforms.
