Team Meros

Welcome back, Kana! Second-year summer assistant!

Posted by Team Meros in News

Summer is here and that means….Kana is back! Kana Yamada is back for her second year as a summer research assistant. Kana just finished her third year at Wellesley College in the US, where she is a political science and music major, and has returned here to her hometown of Tokyo to continue her work with Meros.

“I wanted to come back to Meros for the summer because I had such a rich experience as an summer research assistant last summer. At the time I had barely any knowledge of consulting nor profound insights into the agriculture and food industry, but through the opportunity of joining some actual projects, I was able to learn research methods, ways to organize data, and how to conduct interviews. But the primary reason was that everybody on the Meros team is very welcoming, work-efficient, brilliant, and became my role models. The warm community enabled me to learn and grow, and as a second-year intern, I am hoping to be able to help the Meros team even more compared to last year.”

This summer Kana will be digging into the background of Japan’s new Green Food System Strategy and sustainability trends in trade and sourcing in the food and agriculture supply chain. “This summer, I am working on a research project on Japan’s new Green Food System Strategy. As the world is facing severe environmental challenges due to climate change and the agriculture industry in Japan has been stagnant for years, the Strategy is seen as a driver for a building a more sustainable society and more resilient supply chains. I am intrigued to see how the policy can (or cannot) be a trigger for a change and how the Japanese food industry will transition to a stronger and more sustainable system.”

Kana also plans to use the summer to plan for the future. “Some things I am looking forward to doing this summer are meeting up with friends and looking for jobs. I had not been able to see my friends as often recently as the COVID situation was very unstable with the new variants appearing. As many of my friends are already in their last year of college, I am hoping to see them and catch up with what has been going on with their life. In addition, I hope to use my summertime to clarify what job I would like to do after graduating college. Along with attending some career forums, I think working at Meros will enable me to meet people from many companies, industries, and positions, which would be an inspiration in figuring out what (and where) I see myself working in the future.

Welcome back, Kana! We look forward to your positive energy and contributions!

10 Jun

Meros welcomes summer research assistant, Tomo Nagai!

Posted by Team Meros in News

Meros welcomes its newest summer research assistant, Tomo Nagai. Tomo grew up in Hong Kong and will be a final year student at the University of Exeter in the UK, where he is a business management major.

Tomo discussed with us his reasons for joining Meros this summer. “I felt that Meros was a good fit for me as I am very interested in consulting and I value training and learning greatly, especially at this stage of my career. Meros is filled with workers who have rich consulting experience who can offer great mentorship for me this summer.”

“Initially I thought of possibly joining a “big name” firm but talking to both Lucia and Ayako in the interview about the benefits of working in a boutique firm, I thought our values aligned and I knew I would have a great learning experience that I would not get anywhere else.”

“I like that there is a clear sense of a team within Meros. Being a small company, it is important to have great communication and collaboration between team members and that can clearly be observed when working here. From day one I felt very welcomed and had very little difficulty integrating with the whole team which shows Meros’ friendly and team-oriented character.”

“I also really like and respect the attention to detail that Meros provide in their solutions and recommendations. Meros seems to differentiate themselves by really focusing on getting deep information which makes a huge difference for their clients. I can already tell that Meros aims to provide the best possible service to their clients which is an important skill that I want to take away.”

This summer, Tomo will be involved in a number of Meros projects related to different aspects of agtech. He will also be conducting a more in-depth project on the dynamics of the aging labor force in agriculture in Japan and how technology may be one way to address this challenge. He will be continuing Meros’ ongoing tracking of Japanese start-ups in related fields, including automation, robotics and drones.

“I am also excited about actually going to the field and doing primary research through interviews and surveys. Doing this will allow me to get quality information that I would not be able to get anywhere else, which is an exciting thought.”

“I chose the topic of labor and technology as I thought it was a relevant topic in the current climate of Japan. Agriculture has always been a big part of this country and an industry that has allowed Japan to be famous for its cuisine. I read many articles about the struggles that farmers are facing due to the aging workforce and lack of succession which made me want to find an explanation and an answer to solve this problem. Hopefully, I will be able to find a suitable solution that could potentially help reignite this famous industry.”

Tomo is also looking forward to exploring Tokyo this summer. “The main thing I’m looking forward to is the food. In the UK, food is extremely expensive and mazui. Here, pretty much every street has a restaurant that trumps anything in Exeter and I’ll be making sure that I’m eating well.”

“Another thing I’m looking forward to is catching up with old primary school friends that live in Tokyo. I haven’t been able to meet them in 3 years and this will be a great opportunity to rekindle many relationships that have been slowly dissipating due to the lack of contact.”

Welcome, Tomo! We look forward to having you with us this summer!

15 Apr

New! Revised Meros – USDA Food Export Guides to Japan Online Now

Posted by Team Meros in Publications

Meros once again teamed up with the US Embassy Japan’s Agricultural Trade Office (ATO) to develop a new revised version of well-received series of export guides originally developed in 2019. The series details the regulatory requirements for 24 specific products, from cheese to chocolate, seafood to spirits. While the aim of these guides is to support American SMEs who are interested in exporting food products to Japan, the detailed guides can be of interest to food exporters of all backgrounds.

Within the first month of their release in March 2022, the revised guides were downloaded over 1000 times.

The revised guides have added sections on new Japanese policy related to agricultural biotechnology as well as updated tariff schedules for each product to reflect changes that have come about since the US-Japan Trade Agreement came into effect on January 1, 2020. Other changes include updated product labeling regulations as well as some product-specific changes.

USDA Meros Agricultural Biotechnology Japan Import — *New sections include updates on Japan’s regulations on food and food additives derived from agricultural biotechnology.*

Exporting to Japan can seem daunting with numerous required forms and official resources not always available in English. In these guides, we take potential exporters step-by-step from pre-embarkation to import clearance and lay out the expected forms and preparations necessary at each stage.

For new food exporters to Japan, common challenges include differences in food additive standards which may mean a product that is allowed for food products in the home country may not always be allowed in Japan. Japan’s strict, low tolerance standards for agrochemical residues (MRLs) also trips up some potential exporters. These guides aim to point out some of these common pitfalls in advance, so exporters are better prepared. They are not meant as “do-it-yourself” guides but as a tool to help exporters better navigate the export process together with their Japanese importers and distributors.

We provide examples of required ingredients lists, manufacturing process charts as well as labeling for each type of product – but it is important for exporters to always keep in mind that requirements can change without notice – especially whenever sanitary or phytosanitary risks are involved. Ultimately, a successful export business to Japan requires ongoing vigilance for regulatory changes, as well as strong relationships with importers and partners in Japan.

Download the guides here.