The difficulties encountered as a foreigner can be sources of ideas for business opportunities. This belief is demonstrated by Park Tae Moon's 18 years in Japan — and his successful transition from a newspaper delivery worker to the owner of a 20-staff magazine publishing/consulting business.

Park, a 40-year-old South Korean native and president of Daigo, a consulting company that publishes a monthly free magazine for Korean and Chinese students in Japan, first came to Japan in 1990 as a Japanese language student. He expected to return to Korea after studying in Japan for about 10 years.

At the time, there were few other Korean students, and very little information about living in Japan was available, he says.