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One of the coolest things that has ever happened to me was that I worked inside
the Japanese National Parliament,
and if that wasn't interesting enough, I've got a last name that reminds
suspicious people of the CIA in Langley, Virginia.
After completing law school in Japan,
by some quirk of fate, I found myself inside Japanese politics,
and this experience truly changed my life. In fact,
it was such huge news that it was reported in newspapers all over Japan.
"Foreigner in the Diet" was on TV and in the radio
and even outside Japan. This remarkable story was reported in a segment
on the news program 60 Minutes. I worked on Japanese elections for Prime Minister,
I wrote briefings, I welcomed foreign dignitaries, I traveled throughout the
entire nation.
As a result, I have come to know this country unlike even many Japanese.
This has given me an insight on how the political machinery works
and how society actually gets things done, and
it has helped me achieve things that not only a foreign lawyer would have
difficulty approaching,
but which are outside the bounds even considered by Japanese bengoshi, and
that is what I would like to talk about.
[Langley Esquire Jingle]
[The Langley Esquire Series: Politics & Lobbying]
Hi, my name is Timothy Langley and I have been providing counseling and legal
advice to companies and
institutions in Japan for the past 30 years.
When I could not sit for the Japanese Bar because of my nationality,
I joined a member of the Upper House, essentially becoming the first foreigner
inside the Japanese Parliament.
Through this experience, I gained invaluable knowledge of
the political system here. As a component of this work,
I traveled with political figures here, and internationally,
and polished my bilingual skills to a fine sheen.
Later in my career, this background allowed me to manage the trips of
George H.W. Bush, John Sculley, and tons of other political
and businesses luminaries on their respective trips to Japan.
While in the parliament, a critical feature of my position was working on
election campaigns.
I worked on two of them for Prime Minister during my time,
and a really critical one for a specific district in
Osaka. The objective in Osaka was to win one of five seats in a very tough
district that controlled the construction of an
island being built to host the international airport
out in the middle of the bay. After six weeks of campaigning,
we won by a magnificent landslide. So big was this win and so crucial
that my candidate went on to become Foreign Minister. That
was truly a great experience that not many can say they have had.
You might think that as a foreigner living in Japan,
the political system is esoteric, distant, removed,
that it has no effect on you as a non-Japanese, but as a matter of fact if
you own a company, or if you work for one in Japan, this entity that has been formed
in Japan and that pays taxes
is indeed affected by the political system, and it has a voice within it,
and that is really where the rubber meets the road. Depending on the size of
your company and the products or services that you sell,
through lobbying, you might be able to affect or
impact Japanese legislation or regulations to work in your favor.
That is what Japanese companies do.
Lobbying is done in Japan and Japanese companies do it all the time.
However, the world of Japanese politics is a rarefied atmosphere.
People use an elevated form of speech to conduct business,
they hold themselves and even dress in a certain manner.
There's a set way of approaching lobbying and foreigners naturally
really don't know how to do it, as it is somewhat of a
closed world to them. As a result, about 20 years ago
I created and instituted a lobbying effort on behalf of American companies
doing business in Japan.
Under the auspices at the American Chamber of Commerce,
this initiative has been successfully conducted
every year since. Japan is a very sophisticated country.
Large Japanese corporations have, in most
instances, an elderly statesman facilitating their lobbying movement.
He or she can open doors and gain access to important meetings and quietly
influence change. For many years, I wore two hats at Apple Computer
and at General Motors. On the one hand, I was their General Counsel
and on the other I was their Vice President for Government Affairs and
Public Policy.
In the capacity of running government affairs, part of my job was to ensure
that when the chairman came to Tokyo,
and if he wanted to meet with the Prime Minister, I set that up,
I acted as translator, cleaned up afterwards,
and made sure that the issues were later followed to a successful conclusion.
There are really only a handful of foreigners who can lobby successfully in Japan
and most of them are already bonded into certain companies as you would expect --
very expensive players. If you have any questions on how to get a stronger hold
on a certain market here in Japan,
or how to build a better coalition to get your products off the dock and
into the warehouse, give us a call, visit our webpage,
come in for a consultation. We'll help you through it. We have successfully
achieved great results through lobbying in Japan
and I'm sure we can help you too.
[Contact Langley Esquire -- www.langleyesquire.com]