Convenience Store work exchange

Hi, I'm a franchisee of 7-Eleven in Singapore. I plan to visit Kyoto for 2 weeks in Oct, 2009. It would be good if I can be a helper in a 7-Eleven Kyoto franchisee store for experience exchange.

Anybody know how should I start this with?

Many tks,

Perhaps you can check the possibility with 7-11 Japan.
http://www.sej.co.jp/english/

But if you do not speak Japanese fluently, it would be very difficult for you to communicate the 7-11 store owners in Kyoto, let alone working for them (which means you have to talk with customers).
(Besides you cannot get paid without a visa with work permission.)

I agree with guest above. Do you speak fluent Japanese? Most of the customers and staff at 7-11s in Japan will speak either zero or very little English.

If you can't get this kind of information from inside your own company it is very unlikely you will find it here I'm afraid.

thanks to both of u.

i don't speak japanese so i just wish to help topping up goods, tidy shop floor those type of misc work. i run a store in singapore now so i would like to exchange some working experience in japan. i don't expect for salary and i only can stay for about 1 week.

just wonder where i can contact those franchisees in kyoto.....

I've known a lot of students Chinese, Korean etc, who don't speak Japanese fluently, and work or have worked in Combini's. Basic to intermediate Japanese, but definately not fluent.

However, that is the lease of your problem, getting a proper visa to do so, those students could work because they had work permits as well, I'm not sure if 7-11 even has an exchange program, not for something as stocking store shelves.

Why go to Japan just to see the inside of a 7-11? Aren't you interested in sightseeing?

Unlike somewhere like the US, where people who don't speak much English are hired for menial jobs, Japan is not a country with a history of immigration. The vast majority of employers will not even give menial work to someone who doesn't speak/read Japanese to a high level, because they worry about the work flow and efficiency being affected, so I'm almost certain that what you want to do would not be possible, unless there is a special scheme for it already in place in the company.

I have also seen people who are obviously not Japanese (only really Koreans and Chinese though) working at conbinis, cafes and supermarkets but they tend to have excellent Japanese and are most likely on a student visa or long-term residence permit of some kind, as there is no working visa category in Japan which will let you do that kind of job.

While I don't disagree with you, I have personally known people (who happen to been roomates of mine in the past) who speak basic to preintermediate japanese only working at combini's , usually in the evening hours-early morning, I found this to be of often occurrence in regards to other students I have met, though the job didn't entail speaking much at all, and the tencho was usually ok with it.

In "reality" speaking I found that various store owners in restaurants and cominis were "looking the other way" when it came to qualifications and such especially in areas where there are a lot of Chinese or Koreans (Okubo, Takanababa in Tokyo etc). Any case, the people i did know did process valid working permission, which the OP probably doesn't have.