Doing business outside your home country can be challenging in many or most foreign markets. It is probably fair to say, however, that doing business in Japan is signficantly more challenging than in markets geographically and culturally closer to home.
Although much has been said and written over the years about trade barriers in Japan for foreign companies, a large number of these have gradually been removed or substantially improved - even though some still remain for certain products & industries. Nevertheless, what remains as a serious challenge foreign businesses regardless of any formal trade barriers, are the issues represented by language and culture. Among other things, these mean that companies require very substantial and long-term commitments to successfully enter the Japanese market, and it is important to be aware of local sensitivities.
Another potential barrier in many cases, one might say, is that the knowledge of Japan - in Norway and elsewhere in Europe - is generally limited; often much less than the knowledge Japanese companies will have of the foreign countries and markets they export to. NCCJ does not have pretentions to single-handedly close this gap but will certainly make its contribution in various ways to further increase the understanding and knowledge of Japan and doing business here among Norwegian companies and individuals.
