I’m from the UK. I studied Spanish and Japanese at university and I studied in Japan for a year. After graduating from university, I went to Japan through the JET Programme*. While working as an assistant English teacher in Fukushima Prefecture, I also participated in volunteer activities in the local community. Then, once back in the UK, I worked as a paralegal (legal clerk) at a law firm.

Later, I attended a job hunting event called Connect Job London, and SEGA was one of the participating companies. I was impressed by the people I met there and felt that I would enjoy working at SEGA. One of the reasons for this was that while many of the exhibitors wore suits, they were the only company whose representatives were wearing casual clothing (a hoodie with the SEGA logo on it). Andi was also wearing this hoodie, right?

It’s true that the booths of the other companies were filled with people in suits.

To tell you about my own background, I am originally from Germany and have been a gamer since I was a child. I also loved Japanese history and have always had an interest in Japan, so I studied in Japan during my college years. After graduating from university, I went back to Germany and worked at a law firm as I was qualified as a lawyer after my legal training. Later, I changed jobs and became a legal officer for a private company and was transferred to the Japanese branch. I was told to return to Germany after six months, but I wanted to continue working in Japan. It was then that I received an offer from SEGA and joined the company.

I am a law graduate from a Japanese university. I also studied in the United States for one year, learning the basics of business such as marketing and organizational behavior. In the future, I would like to take an active role in a company that develops global business in the field of law.

During my job hunting activities, I participated in the Boston Career Forum and as a result, I received job offers from several companies. I was having a hard time deciding where to go, but when I talked to my American friends, they told me, “SEGA is good!” It was the most popular. There are many well-known Japanese companies, but one that is loved globally through its games and characters is very valuable, and that was the deciding factor for me to join the company.

The Legal Department is responsible for handling legal inquiries from the entire group, including affiliated companies, and the work is divided into domestic and overseas legal affairs. The department to which we belong is in charge of overseas legal affairs, and we examine various contracts and provide answers on what kind of contractual content should be used when developing the content of group companies around the world.

There are eight of us in the section, and we come from many different countries, including Germany, England, Canada, Taiwan, and Japan. Some meetings are held in Japanese, while others are held in English. Certain nuances are more easily conveyed in Japanese, while others are more easily conveyed in English, so we use both Japanese and English to complement each other. For highly specialized cases, we sometimes have a member who is a licensed attorney double-check our work.

I am in a position to assign work to members. However, we have a system in which we can basically assign the work to anyone in the department; it doesn’t matter who is assigned to a project as all of our members are legal specialists and generalists.

The good thing about my department is that I can ask anything without hesitation because all the supervisors and members are kind and the atmosphere makes it easy to discuss anything. Even for projects that I thought would be difficult at first, I was able to discuss them with the members and move forward.

We also have in-house training through SEGA SAMMY College where we can improve our skills by taking courses that are useful for practical work, such as the Japan Business Law Examination. I can also participate in seminars outside the company if I wish, so I actively use such opportunities to increase my knowledge.

There are many different ways of thinking, which is a good thing because it contributes to a creative environment. By bringing in each other’s opinions, we can generate many different ideas. For example, when it comes to how we do our work, we can say, “This is the way we do it in the US,” or “This is the way we do it in the UK,” or “That’s a good idea!” These conversations are fun and stimulating.

I feel comfortable here because we respect each other’s cultural differences. It’s an environment where people can talk without feeling self-conscious, even if they are young or in their early career. I also like the atmosphere of “we are teammates, so it is natural to help each other out, and there is no need to apologize or thank each other” when members follow up on work.

What I find difficult is the language. Unlike everyday English conversation, you need to understand the laws and business customs of foreign countries, which are different from those in Japan, and then you need to explain them in English. In such cases, I would ask other members of the team, “This is the way it is done in Japan, but what about in this country?” I am always helped by the people around me.

I feel that language is still difficult for me as well. At first, I was surprised at the unique business manners of Japan, such as including “Otsukaresama desu” or a greeting at the beginning of every email. As Misa mentioned, each country has its own customs, which is something you must get used to. In certain cases, I would ask a Japanese colleague to tell me what something means.

However, when it comes to conversations, regardless of whether you are a boss, senior or junior, the way of talking is straightforward, so I think the atmosphere is very good when everyone can say what they want to say.

Personally, I would like to use my experience and skills to focus on management in the future.

As our department becomes more globalized, our work will become more diverse and the amount of work is expected to increase. To this end, I hope to strengthen our members and increase the power of our overseas legal services.

I would like to acquire more expertise. Laws and regulations related to the IT and game business, such as the Personal Information Protection Law, change every year, so I have to keep up with the information. I want to be able to confidently carry out three steps: understanding what regulations exist; understanding how they are changing: and thinking about how to incorporate them into the business.

I would also like to improve the brand power of the SEGA SAMMY Group as a whole. I want to increase the number of people around the world who love SEGA, Sammy, and the group as a whole, and I would be happy if their interest in our group would lead them to love Japan.

Our department provides an environment where you can raise your hand and say, “I want to do this,” and they will leave it to you. However, I feel that my current knowledge of the law is still insufficient, so I will put more effort into my studies to reach my goal of becoming a licensed attorney. I will continue to study Japanese as well, as the technical terms are difficult. I would also like to become a specialist who is recognized as being strong in this area.

As for the group as a whole, there is an increasing number of people of foreign nationality and with experience living abroad, and I hope that the company will become more globalized.

I feel that this will allow the SEGA SAMMY Group to expand its business to additional countries and provide more opportunities to create more exciting experiences.