Guest Speaker
Business Seminar
For Osaka Innovation Hub: Expanding startup businesses in Singapore
Sep 2018
20 startup entrepreneurs and students from Osaka Innovation Hub visited WASABI Creation as part of their one week study tour in Singapore. Tong (Founder, CEO), together with Yuta Morita (Intern, SMU MBA student) conducted a seminar for the group on how they can expand their businesses from Japan to Singapore. They covered topics such as incorporation in Singapore, Singapore's demographic, consumer behaviour, influencer marketing, popup store marketing, etc. The participants were very interested in these topics and asked many questions such as "What are the common difficulties and errors Japanese companies have when doing business in Singapore." Tong was glad to have shared his experiences and expertise in these areas.
Japanese Lessons
For foreign domestic workers & caretakers
Sep 2018
WASABI Creation was requested by a nursing training school to conduct Japanese lessons to its students comprising of foreign domestic workers and caretakers. The students are attending the school to step up their skills in nursing care for the elderly. As Japan is seriously facing the hit of aging population, and lack of manpower in providing care to the elderly, they have opened up working opportunities in Japan to foreign caretakers.
In view of this, these foreign domestic workers are trying out learning Japanese to equip themselves with the language skill that will enable them to work in Japan in the future.
Guest Speaker
Seminar to Ryokoku University: How Singapore's policies have shaped a multiracial and international society.
2 Sep 2018
A group of 40 students from Ryokoku University, Japan visited WASABI Creation as part of their educational tour in Vietnam and Singapore. WASABI Creation founder, Tong conducted a seminar on Singapore policies that have shaped the country's multiracialism, and built an international society.
More and more Japanese companies realise the need to venture overseas market as its domestic market continue to string due to aging population and depopulation, however there is a lack of talent within Japan who has the experience, skills, and know-how to bring business across boarders. We hope the seminar will be able to share with the students some ideas and tips on how to be a global talent.
Guest Speaker
Seminars to Business Schools in Delhi, India
Aug 2018
WASABI Creation was invited by our partner, Intraversity in Delhi, to conduct talks to students of various business and management colleges in India. Over the week, we visited and met students from Jaipuria School of Business, JK Business School, Institute of Technology And Sciences, and Accurate Institute of Management & Technology. We shared with the students about our business, market trends in Japan and Singapore, and answered the students' questions on entrepreneurship.
WASABI Creation is also in talks with the schools to work with our partner in bringing students to Singapore for educational tour and internship.
Guest Speaker
"How SMU MBA Students can prepare themselves in working with the Japanese?"
6th Jul 2018
The Founder of WASABI Creation, Tong was invited by SMU MBA Class to speak at "Japanese Business Night". Tong shared about his experiences when he was working as a fresh graduate in Japan, and talked about Japanese business culture that is unique and special to non-Japanese people.
Tong also talked about basic Japanese business etiquette, such as exchanging business cards, and seating positions for Japanese business meetings. The MBA students shown great interest with many questions.
The event ended with a party serving Sushi for everyone.
Entrepreneurship Training Camp 2nd edition
"Partnership with SAI International College Bubhneshwar, India"
June 2018
WASABI Creation hosted 8 Indian students from SAI International College Bubhneshwar over 4 days for an intensive Entrepreneurship Training Camp at WASABI Creation's office. The students worked in groups of 2 on various topics such as coworking space business, India market entry, Japanese F&B market research, as well as overseas travel trends for India.
An extensive research in in these were done by the students, who also came up with creative proposals to implement new business into the fast growing market. Many presentations and discussions were held with the students to finalise the proposal.
At the end of the program, each student received a certificate of participation for their enthusiasm during the program.
WASABI Consulting
"What can Japanese students do to become international professionals?"
16th Mar 2018
The Founder of WASABI Creation, Tong was contacted by a group of students from Tokyo University, who are interested to learn about doing business internationally, as they planned their self-funded trip to Malaysia and Singapore. A sharing session was conducted over web conference, where Tong answered questions from the students, shared his own experiences, and gave advises to the students what they can do to groom themselves into international professionals.
Here are the reviews and comments from the students.
WASABI Insight vol.10
Business in Japan~
"Japanese Business Culture & Manners"
1st Mar 2018
The Founder of WASABI Creation, Tong held a seminar sharing his experiences and insights on doing business in Japan, in particular on the topic of "Japanese Business Culture & Manners".
Tong shared from his own personal experience overs the years while he has been working in Japan, and doing business with Japanese companies. As he grew up and went through the education system in Singapore, knowing the language didn't seem to have prepared him enough to work in Japan as a fresh graduate. Tong talked about the episodes he had encountered all these years, and cover some of the basics about "Japanese Business Culture & Manner".
Topics:
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Japanese business culture 101, how are the Japanese thinking?
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Exchanging business cards
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Visiting & hosting a Japanese company
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Useful Japanese expressions for business
More information: Business in Japan~ "Japanese Business Culture & Manners"
Guest Speaker
The Japan Council of Local Authorities for International Relations, Singapore (CLAIR, Singapore)
Feb 2018
The Founder of WASABI Creation, Tong was invited by The Japan Council of Local Authorities for International Relations, Singapore (CLAIR, Singapore) to share about WASABI Creation's business and its expertise in helping Japanese companies go global
Tong shared about his past, present, and future projects on how WASABI Creation is bridging Japan, Singapore, and the rest of Asia in terms on Business, Culture, and Tourism. In particular, Tong talked about his observation of how many Japanese companies are facing difficulty in presenting their products to the local markets overseas, and what could be so the solutions to better communicating with local consumers and making online connections for building relationships.
About CLAIR, Singapore
vol.3
"Going Solo! Life in Japan for Singaporeans"
Produced by WASABI Creation
4th May (Thu) 7:00pm
WorkCentral @ Dhoby Ghaut
"Trending with experts on Japan's culture, tourism, & latest happenings."
What is it like to live in Japan?
Japan is a beautiful, fun, and unique travel destination loved by many Singaporeans.
Many of us love the food, the shopping, the cities, the nature, the sub-cultures,
the service quality, and the list goes on and on...... Have you ever dreamt of living in Japan?
Or have you wonder how life will be like to study or to work in Japan?
Wouldn't it be great to experience life is such a nice country?
Two Singaporeans, Eva and Tong have been there done that.
Eva, a comic artist had studied in Tokyo, the capital of Japan for 3 years.
While Tong, an entrepreneur had started his career as a fresh graduate in Kyoto,
the ancient capital for 5 years. Join us to listen to their stories and experiences in Japan,
from their memories of happiness and sorrow.
About the Speakers
Ms. Evangeline Neo
Comic Artist of Evacomics
A comic artist from Singapore, Evangeline Neo has been publishing her own comic series via web since 2007. Eva was awarded an MDA scholarship in 2003 and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Academy of Art University, San Francisco. She subsequently earned a scholarship for Japanese language study and Masters in Business Administration (MBA) at Waseda University in Tokyo in 2010 supported by Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Japan). Eva returned to Singapore in 2013 to focus on working on her comics, character goods and building her brand "Evacomics" to wider audiences beyond S.E. Asia.
Her seminal work, "Eva, Kopi and Matcha" was published in 2014 depicting and satirizing cultural differences between Singapore and Japan. Eva has garnered significant media attention with various speaking slots at Kinokuniya, BooksActually, Popular’s Bookfest and at the Japanese Association of Singapore. She was also a Guest and panel speaker for Singapore Toy Game Comics Convention (STGCC) and demonstrated drawing comics for a WACOM event held at Scape. She was also featured as a mentor to teach comic drawing on “Knockout Carnival”, a local TV program on OKTO channel.
Eva will be sharing her interesting experiences in Japan through her comics. She will also be give a little demo to everyone on how to draw manga. There will be attractive goodies to be won from the quiz.
With Evacomics going viral - over 97,000 Facebook page ‘likes’ and her popular book selling well at all local major bookstores, she continues to have big and colourful dreams.
More about Evangeline Neo
Mr. Tong Cheuk Fung
CEO, WASABI Creation~ Creating Awesome Projects between Japan & Singapore
Tong has been the host of WASABI Discovery for the past several events, this time he is going join in as one of the speakers for the event to share about his working and living experiences in Japan.
Tong started learning Japanese as third language at age 13. His homestay experiences in Hamamatsu and Kagoshima opened up a new world to him for Japan. He continued to achieve N1 in Japanese Proficiency Test at 17, and won the Japanese Speech Contest 1st Prize, organised by Singapore Japanese Association.
After graduating from National University of Singapore with a degree in Chemical Engineering, within 2 months, Tong packed his bags and flew to Kyoto for his first job, and began his 5 years of new life in Japan.
From learning Japanese as a student, homestay in Japan, travelling, working in Japan as a fresh graduate, working in Japanese companies as a salaryman, surviving as a foreigner in Japan, it has been a long and exciting rollercoaster ride for Tong. Since 2014, Tong returned to Singapore and started his company: WASABI Creation. The company creates awesome projects between Japan and Singapore, by giving consultation to companies, providing marketing services, event production, and communication training to clients.
In this event, Tong will be recalling his happy & not-so-happy experiences while living and working Japan.
He will also be comparing the differences in business culture in Japan and Singapore, in order to help build successful businesses in both countries.
In the press
WASABI Creation~ Creating Awesome Projects between Japan & Singapore
WASABI Creation is project/event management, business support, and marketing company whose mission is to be the bridge between Japan and Singapore through various business and cultural initiatives.
Event detail
Date: 4th May (Thu) Evening: 1900~2130 (opening 1830)
Venue: WorkCentral, Brew House
Singapore Shopping Centre
190 Clemenceau Avenue
#06-03 Singapore 239924
Capacity: 50 people max
Registration: HERE
Content:
Presentation, Discussion, Videos, Photos, Demonstrations, Special Food & drink tasting, Quiz, Prizes, Omiyage, Games, Films, Music
Fee: $50 (advance tickets $40),
Refreshment, drinks, beer, wine included
Language: English (some Japanese)
Dress code: Smart casual
Programme
1830~1900 Registration, Refreshment & Networking
1900~1930 Introduction & short presentation by speakers
1930~2000 Panel discussion by speakers and special guests
Mini-Comic-Workshop by EvaComics
2000~2030 Questions & discussion from the participants
2030~2130 More drinks & Networking
2130 The End
About WASABI Discovery
WASABI Discovery is a casual presentation and meet-up event for the world to make new discovery about Japan and its people.
At each event, we invite a couple of special guests to share and discuss about culture, people, happenings, or simply any topic from Japan that is worth discovering. We will also engage the participants in the conversation to make comparisons and contrasts with the local or other countries.
This is a meet-up for people who have great interest in Japan, it's traditions, and cultures. Participants are welcome to join in the conversation with the special guests, sharing experiences and opinions. If you have an interesting topic in mind, feel free to propose to us and make it into a great discussion session.
Language: English, or Japanese with English interpretation
Who should join in?
If you say "YES" to any of the following:
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Do you want to learn about the deeper Japan from the experts?
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Are you interested in culture, food and travel in Japan that you would not have known by yourself?
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Would you want to find out about interesting social-cultural phenomenon in Japan and how it compare to other countries?
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How about a relax evening after work, meeting like-minded people, with good food and drinks?
Supporting Partners
Media Community Venue Community
Organizers:
Registration:
Kindly pre-register for advance tickets for WASABI Discovery
by 30th April 2017 by clicking on"GET TICKET" on the right.
Due to limited seats and sold-out previous events, early
pre-registration online is advised.
For enquiry , kindly email to
Kindly fill in the form for the latest updates of our events.
Past WASABI Discovery Events
About the Venue: WorkCentral
Every innovative idea should be given its shot; every creative entrepreneur should have his or her moment. We understand creating something from scratch is tough. Hence, here at Workcentral, we build a vibrant, purpose-driven community that works, learns, shares and grows together in a coworking space at Dhoby Ghaut, removing barriers that creators face in bringing their creative projects to life by connecting members to a selection of service provides such as awesome digital marketers & Brand Specialists, Business Owners or Angel Investors, empowering individual projects to reach its full potential.
Besides creating a vibrant and conducive coworking environment, we have specially created dedicated event spaces catering to mid to large-scale trainings, workshops and teambuilding. For more informaion, please visit www.workcentral.com.sg or email to: Hello@workcentral.com.sg
