market research in Japan

Hello,

I am doing some research and thought I would send out a question to this list as well.

I am currenlty exploring the consulting/training industry. Could anyone point me to where I might find material on industry total size and growth over the past 2-5 years? I would appreciate any advice on where I might find the info. I checked with JETRO, but no luck.

Thanks

Do you mind if I ask for the sake of others here....which type of consulting or training?
Pharmaceutical?
General office?
Military?
Vacuum cleaners?

Cross-cultural, Organizational Development and Leadershiop. Both consulting and training.

You could try looking up companies that do such things in the Japan Company Handbook to see how they are doing. Also check the telephone book and newspaper ads. Call some of the companies and see if they'll talk to you. Offer to buy someone from these companies a nice lunch and pick their brain. Go to some colleges and see what they are doing in the field. Talk to some profs. Read some books on the subject and contact the authors. You could also look into what's being done in the field in your country and try to get some leads.
Well, that should give you some idea on how to start. (Done my good deed for the day. )

Do you yourself have any Japanese language skills? If not, how are you going to communicate with most of the higher-ups that you will deal with?

Obviously, too, you need a source of contacts to introduce you to these clients.

Organizational development is sorely needed here in ALL fields.
Leadership is top-down. Forget any individual decisions by group managers.
Cross-cultural? Which cultures?