Sourcing Services
We locate Japanese products for a high-end niche market that are often produced by a small manufacturer and therefore not easily found through conventional matchmaking platforms.
Product Development Support
We find manufacturers and elaborate a short list for your consideration. We then serve as an interface between you and local suppliers until the product will be ready for export.
Business Expansion Support
We work as an extension of your team from developing expansion strategies to taking care of local operational needs that require to overcome language and cultural barriers.
Rather than serving as a purchase agent in Japan, we develop a system of collaboration.
We consider the traditional sourcing agent business is to be replaced by match-making platforms. With ever-improving AI translation tools, it has become easier to refer to the technical information provided only in Japanese.
However, it is not easy to find what has not materialised yet. Our idea is to ‘let Japan create what you want’. There are many Japanese SMEs with excellent manufacturing skills and quality control know-how. There are interesting natural materials and ingredients waiting to be discovered.
Yet such things are often planned, designed, and presented only to satisfy the large domestic market. This means that goods, materials, or services may not be well-adapted to the needs of other countries. Specifications and the final product package, including visual presentation, may not align well with the taste of your country.
Our team of experts can help you to overcome these challenges. We can help you to identify potential Japanese partners, negotiate contracts, and manage the entire sourcing process. We can also help you to develop a workflow in which you can interact freely with local partners and establish a value chain that connects your business with Japan.
How we handle collaboration processes
01. Understand your idea and define the direction
Once you contact us, we will suggest organising a video conference to hear more about your business idea. You may or may not want to establish a business entity in Japan. You may be interested in tangible or intangible assets.
It is important to see if Japan’s manufacturers or service providers can satisfy your business needs. We share the latest situation in Japan, tell examples and provide references.
Investment in Japan, Latest business sentiment, Preliminary research
02. Conduct preliminary research without charge
The easiest way to see if your idea works is to consult with a few manufacturers or service providers. By examining their products and capacities, we can tell if it is feasible.
We always provide supplementary information about the industry or the location, often only available in Japanese. Nowadays, you can sufficiently read Japanese by machine translation, but finding the relevant information remains to be difficult.
Japanese manufacturers, Japanese service providers, Industries in Japan
03. Elaborate a short list of suppliers
At this point we agree with the work specifications and ready to elaborate a short list. If the project is a simple scheme of acquisition, we will list up prospective suppliers and start contacting on behalf of you. Prior to moving forward, we confirm the list of tasks and provide a quote.
If you want to develop your original product or service created by a Japanese supplier (OEM), we need to discuss further to define a road map.
Quote, Specifications, Original equipment manufacturer (OEM)
04. Start communication with local providers
The roles of each party and the quote will be clear at this point. We will have a short list of Japanese manufacturers of service providers. Now we create a collaboration environment to share all the information.
We set up an Airtable database for easy reference and implement machine translation for swift communication. At a development phase, we usually encourage local suppliers to communicate in Japanese to obtain as much information as possible.
Product or Service development, Airtable, DeepL (machine translation)
05. Acquisition: regulations and logistics
We clear regulatory issues in Japan. Unless dealing with protected natural resources, most of the checkpoints are related to the rules in the destination country. Another set of negotiations with providers might be necessary to adjust their workflow.
Meanwhile, we confirm logistics. We can serve as an exporter, if the product is tangible. If the asset is intangible, we assure to make a safe transaction. If the acquired asset is immovable, we coordinate how you receive the return on investment.
Regulations, Logistics, Export, Cross-border transaction
06. Future workflow maintenance
When the product or deliverable arrives in the destination, we conclude the project. Once the value chain starts functioning, the operations become a routine. In the case of a simple scheme of acquisition, you will be working directly with the local suppliers.
If the workflow requires a frequent update of communication, Travesia, Inc. can continue to serve as your local operation arm.
Communication update, Quality control
Learn how Travesia can add value to your business development
Contact us
info@travesia.jp
Namba Naka 1-10-4, Naniwa-ku,
Osaka 556-0011, Japan
+81 (0)6-6645-0145