COMMUNICATION: Q & A with a Tokyo recruiter

Mark J. Stoneman, president of Stoneman Corporation, (www.stonemancorp.com) a Tokyo-based recruiter focusing on technical, sales, and marketing positions for multinational companies, shares his thoughts on Japan's job market.

WORKINJAPAN.COM: Japan's economy is in near-recession, and has been for the last few years, yet there's a supposedly hot job market for IT professionals. How is this possible?

STONEMAN-SAN: Japan has essentially been in a recession for the last decade. Since the real estate-fueled bubble burst at the tail end of the 1980s, Japan's economy has been reeling. Recent events such as the Nikkei's crash, layoffs and deflation represent the manifestation of the broken bubble.

However, one must remember that the '90s were boomtown USA. The technology-driven American economy surged ahead and led the global Internet craze. Of course, Japan follows US trends with predictable regularity. For several years running, IT goods and services, as a percentage of total Japanese imports, have dominated.

As a result, there has not been a recession in the Japanese IT sector. However, this may be changing. Corporations prioritized IT budgets throughout this boom period and therefore demand for the entire spectrum of IT professionals remained high. Finally, there is simply a shortage of qualified IT candidates in the Japanese market.