The US is out. It is time to move to Japan

PUNE: Hip students in Pune have always flaunted their French and German

language learning skills. French and German languages are still trendy.

Interestingly, it is the Japanese language that seems to be the most popular. In

fact, the first teacher deputed by the Japanese government to the city came way

back in 1971.

Today, Pune boasts of the largest Japanese speaking students in the country.

At any given time, around 2000 students attempt to master this language either

through private tutors or the University's Department of Foreign Languages.

While Japanese companies have built up a sizable presence in the

manufacturing and electronic sector in Pune; off late, there has been an

increasing interest in exploring opportunities in the software sector.

Michiko Tendulkar, one of the oldest Japanese teachers in the city, agreed

that the popularity of the language was on the rise, thanks to efforts to

attract IT engineers from India to Japan. Tendulkar was amongst the first

teachers to come to Pune in the 70’s.

"That was the time when housewives and students learnt Japanese for

sheer pleasure and to pass their time. It is now that the language is being seen

as a major business tool by most companies."

Tendulkar should know. She retired from the University a decade ago to set up

her own private institute that undertakes specialized training for corporates.

"Most Indians who go to Japan are quite unfamiliar with the landscape there

and find it difficult to interact with people. We teach them basic speaking

skills and the script so that they can communicate better with their

counterparts in Japan," she explains.

Currently a batch from Bangalore based Yokogawa Blue Star and the Mumbai

based Patni Computers is undergoing training at her institute. She has already

completed training employees of Tata Honeywell and Tata Consultancy Services

(TCS).

Tendulkar was also among the founder members of the Indo-Japanese Association

in Pune. Says Uma Gokhale, member of the association, "What began as an

effort to culturally link the two countries in 1971 is now turning out to be a

serious business effort." The association received a major setback four

years ago when its secretary S Padhye passed away. Cultural activities took a

backseat. The number of students for their courses dwindled. A Rs 35 lakh grant

from the Consul General of Japan, Philip Kaku, will now come in handy to

establish a spanking new computer institute and a base for running their

language courses. Young college students, housewives, retired officers all spend

their evenings at Col. Deodhar's residence undergoing training for the

certificate level courses.

The association prepares students for the proficiency test, which is

conducted in December every year. Once the students pass this examination, they

become eligible for jobs as either translators or interpreters. They earn

anything between Rs 5000 to Rs 10,000 depending on the nature of the assignment.

Software professionals, however, are seriously viewing the language as an entry

point to plum positions in Japanese firms.

Kanji Ohashi, CEO, i-POC, came to Pune with the aim of forming a joint

venture to take Indian IT professionals to his country. In the first organized

effort of its kind, i-POC has tied up with the Pune-based Seed Infotech to train

Indians in information technology skills along with the Japanese language. This

will be done at the newly formed Information Technology Professionals College

(ITPC) in Seed Infotech. Says Ohashi, "The requirement of the Japanese

industry is huge. More than three lakh professionals are required in our country

in a span of two years. To begin with, we plan to send 150 professionals to

Japan in 2001-02 followed by 250 and 500 in the following years."

i-POC is a new subsidiary company of C-Cube Corporation of the NTT (Nagoya)

and the IT training company RBEC Corp. The capital investment for the new

company is 40 million yen with C-Cube holding 75 per cent and RBEC Corp. holding

25 per cent of the shares.

Ohashi was quite upbeat about the venture and said they had zeroed in on Pune

because of the huge pool of IT talent and the large mass of Japanese speaking

students. Narendra Barhate, director and CEO, Seed Infotech, was optimistic of

reaching out to the Japanese markets through this alliance with i-POC.

Under this cooperation, Seed Infotech will conduct the training in India for

IT professionals. The stress would be on a short term basic course in Japanese.

This would give the students entry into ITPC - the new venture between the two

companies wherein the students not only get to learn the Japanese language, but

also receive training in Japanese business practices and culture. On completion

of the two-month course, the students would be placed in a Japanese company

through i-POC. i-POC would take care of the accommodation of the Indian

engineers and also provide support through the Indian Engineer and Support

Center. Candidates begin as software developers and move up the ladder to become

systems analysts. They can hope for salaries between 1,75,000 yen to 2,50,000

yen.

This activity is expected to open another avenue of offshore development in

India. The work on prototype projects has already started at Zensoft India Pvt.

Ltd., a 100 per cent subsidiary of Seed Infotech. Depending on the response,

they hope to start franchisees in other cities such as Bangalore later. Seed

Infotech hopes to achieve a turnover of Rs 20 crore from the ITPC in three years

if the idea of franchisees take off. Barhate also hopes to cash in on the

opportunity of conducting corporate training for interested companies.