Introduction to Companies in Osaka

Introduction to Companies in Osaka

Interviews

IR Gaming Institute Japan

Moving Forward: Voices from Foreign Companies in Osaka during Covid-19 2020.8

Business Development
Mr. Robert Oda

Director of Education
Mr. Rocky Katagiri

Welcome to IRGI Japan. My name is Robert Oda and I am one of the Co-founders here along with my partner, Rocky. Together we started this school to help Japan society. Rocky and I both have lived abroad in the United States and across many different countries in the world. One of the things we realized in our travels is that Japan has so much potential and we believe we can help this country, this region, this location to strive and to grow. And so we started this school because we know that in the future, IR is coming to Japan and we believe we can be a critical component to improve the lives of many people in society here.

As an investor and entrepreneur, I can tell you that whenever you start a business, it’s never easy. It’s especially never easy to start a business in a new country, in a new place, and in a new environment you’ve never been in. And I think you compound the challenges that what’s going on in current society, and I have to tell my past self that actually, I’m crazy, because had I known this would happen, we probably wouldn’t have started just yet. But I think for us, we started planning for this over a year ago in line with what we were seeing the Japanese government doing. And we wanted to bring the very best dealer school, recruiting company, human resource business into Japan. So I think we see this difficult situations with Coronavirus has created challenges for us and some difficulties. But we decided that we wanted to move forward and we progressed that. There is a lot of positive that we’ve seen being in Osaka within the Kansai region. And the love and the support that we received from the community around what we are trying to do has been empowering. I think personally I’ve been blessed to see people who have disabilities, people who recognized IR isn’t just casino. IR is so much more than just gambling. And for us, we’ve been able to start contributing giving back. We have one student who has a hearing impairment; and one of the things about our school is that we focus not just on the “art of dealing” but on teaching English. Because any job in the future will require that especially if Japan’s focuses is inbound tourism. We have been really fortunate to have people who don’t always have the best life circumstances and to help them. And we extended our program actually to provide tuition free English for single parents and for their children between 8 and 12 and even in these difficult times we are finding interest I think it’s been very positive for us. It’s been tough though. But our mission is good, we come from the heart. Rocky and I both care about people and trying to do the right thing. So, overall pretty we’re positive but it has been tough. It's been challenging but we are going to just keep pushing forward and doing the best we can.(https://camp-fire.jp/projects/view/314677?list=projects_fresh_page4

So one of the questions, that I often get is why did we start in Osaka? And to be honest, we actually were planning to do Kanto first. We had looked at Yokohama, Tokyo because obviously population density. I lived in Tokyo for a long time. But after we did a lot of research, investigation and talking to people, we realized Osaka is actually one of the most entrepreneurial places in all of Japan. I think sometimes the comparison being an American, is Tokyo is more like NY and Osaka is a little bit more like Los Angeles. And since I am from LA it just seem like a natural fit. But on a serious note, I think the most important thing we gathered here is the people. The people are friendly, this location, this region, people just want to help and being a foreign entrepreneur you don’t feel that barrier to talk to people, to ask for help. It is just a much more natural place (easy to talk with people) but don’t get me wrong though, we love Tokyo and eventually we will be there. But I think from a starting perspective, the amount of support we have received from government organizations, O-BIC and other entities that have been built up to build up entrepreneurial type ventures has been second to none. And we have been really fortunate to make those connections and what funny is when you build one connection in Osaka because everyone is very close, Tokyo is very very good, don’t get me wrong, but Osaka has a family feeling. So when you meet one group of people they introduce you to other people and they introduce you to other people and I can say that almost all of our business connections here are because other people have introduced us to others. That has been a positive for us because it has been an accelerant as we have been able to move very quickly. So if you think about it, we had been planning this business for over a year but we actually landed in January. So I came from Tokyo, Rocky came from Las Vegas and then Nagoya and then here and within that short period of time we were everything to get setup because of how the society works here to help. So my recommendation depending on your business is that Osaka is an awesome place. We have been fortunate and blessed, and should we be successful, and hopefully we will be with your help, is because of the people. It's always the people. Every business I have ever done it is always because of the people. I am grateful and thankful to be able to share with you guys. So thank you and see you in Osaka.

IR Gaming Institute Japan
Establishment 2020
Management Business Development Mr. Robert Oda
Director of Education  Mr. Rocky Katagiri
Business Management of Gaming and English school
URL https://irgijapan.com/