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"[Development
consultant] is a job not worth the trouble. Stay abroad is long and tiring,
pay is low, and family problems are apt to develop," jokingly remarks
Mr. Tsuyoshi Hashimoto, development consultant and CEO of RECS
International Inc. He spends eight months a year overseas and has
never stayed in Japan more than five months straight since he started this
job. Only those with a sense of
mission to want to do something for developing countries are fit for the
job. Japan considers overseas assistance cooperation to be the pillar of its
international contribution. As proof, the Japanese
government's development assistance, called ODA, is enormous at one
trillion yen (approx. 9.1 billion US dollars). There are probably
close to 1,000 enterprises claimed to be in the development consulting
business, including trading companies and general contractors. Japan's assistance, once criticized as being too infrastructure-centered
such as dams and irrigation facilities, has shifted to become more
software and people oriented.
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That is why specialized consultants are essential. With enough
motivation, one can expand his/her sphere of activity beyond the ODA in
Japan to international organizations overseas as well. As long as
you have enough technical skill and competitive edge in bidding as a
consultant, you don't need to worry about the market. Your
predisposition, however, is critical. "The nature of consulting
required has become diverse, so project planning and management abilities
are more important," says Mr. Hashimoto. Japan, though strong
in engineering, generally scores low in such domains as project design and
prioritization and establishing evaluation systems. Moreover, to be
a full-fledged development consultant, knowledge of not only engineering
but also economy and administration for instance is necessary. It is
indeed a long way to become an independent consultant despite the
promising market. It is a long-standing job; five to six months are
allotted for analyses of the present condition in a long-term project that
spans 20 months. Mr. Hashimoto wants young people to get to know
more about this job that is so enthralling in many different ways.
[Trans.: TS]
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