HALF – TERM REPORT FOR INTERNSHIP ATSHIRAI GROUP CO.
TOKYO, JAPANby
MUTEMBEI KARIUKI
August 1, 2012

Contents•

Introduction•

Marketing Camp•

Kenyan Embassy•

Graduate Recruitment•

AIESEC World Gate•

Neighborhood Recycling Event•

English Class•

Caribbean Tour•

Waste Management Truck tours•

AIESEC Camp•

Elementary School Presentation•

Stakeholders Meeting at TMG/CAT 23•

Market research Presentation to TMG•

Business Meetings with Shirai Group•

Social MediaFlow•

My Experience•

Lesson Learnt•

Taking it forward

Introduction:
I arrived in Japan on the 12th of June 2012 and on the next day I was alreadyvisiting the Shirai Group office. I had a great warm welcome party in theevening and started work the next day. My first major experience with Shiraigroup was the introduction to everyone and my presentation on Waste
Management in Kenya

WasteManagement

in

Kenya

Presentation at Shirai Group Co TFO

Researching and presenting the state of the waste management sector in Kenya was
my 1st task from when I was in Kenya before arriving in Japan. It can be said I

actually started working before entering Japan.
I discovered a lot of information about the Waste Management sector globally and alsoin Kenya that gave me great insights and a renewed interest in the importance ofUrban Planning and Design as the world looks into the future and especially as Kenya
grows economically. The more income a county has the more waste according to thestatistics in the “What a Waste” World Bank report.
The main parts of the reports showed the statistics of projected waste production in
Kenya till 2025 and the current capacities in cities such as Kisumu, Nairobi, Mombasa

and Nakuru to handle waste. From the source of data was that Nairobi has a full
landfill which the Japanese Government is assisting in relocating to Ruai on theoutskirts of Nairobi.
It is also noticeable how small scale recycling, Biogas production and Social
Businesses are trying to fill in the gaps by the stretched capabilities of Municipal
councils and the government.
With the right partnerships with countries like Japan and the expertise here theprogress already made can be improved on for better waste management.

Marketing CampOn the 1st weekend of theInternship I attended theAnnual Marketing Camp.
Here the company strategizes
with the different teams fromthe different branched anddepartments

on

how

to

increase the market shareand efficiency of services.
AIESEC was also invited tocontribute

in

the

International TeamThe company also used this event for its Reward and Recognition and Team building
activities bringing together the whole company’s marketing team.

What I got from this was the unique blend of Business thinking from America and Japan.
The benefits of using a methodology for the Marketing and Sales process and focus on fact
and logic.

Kenyan Embassy Japan
In the picture we have Mr. Paul
Ndungu the Deputy Head of Mission at
the Kenyan Embassy in Japan, Mr
ChiakiTakiguchi-san

the

Chief

Marketing officer of Shirai Group Co.
and Mutembei Kariuki and intern at

the Shirai group and writer of thisreport.

The Kenyan Embassy in Japan gave us a warm welcome and was gracious enough to write andrecommendation letter for a training at the most advanced waste management facility in Japan.

Without this letter the Tokyo Metropolitan Government would not have granted and Internship at
the Shinkoto Plant which is the biggest and most advanced incineration plant in Japan.
I am sincerely grateful to the Kenyan Ambassador to Japan and the Embassy of Kenya staff for
their support.

Graduate Recruitment
Shirai Group is undertaking a recruitment of recent graduates for the next intake
into the Sales and Marketing department.
I was able to sit in on the interviews and see how the selection process happens.
It is a grueling process involving 3 rounds of shortlisting and then personal
interviews before a person is selected.
They we asked to do exercises such as presenting each other as candidates focusing

on each other’s strengths. They were also asked to do a Psychometric test that isvery accurate.
Over all my learning was about how much companies invest in recruiting goodtalent.
I remember being told that the most important thing the company looks for isattitude and the ability to communicate with people. Skills can be built within thecompany once the person has high intelligence to be accepted.

AIESEC WorldGate
Tokyo University is considered
the best university in Japan and
as

such

AIESECJapan

iscomposed of some of the best
young minds in Japan.
Shirai Group Co. was invited topresent

and

speak

to

the

students at a special event for
those students looking to go foraninternational

through

AIESECInternship
Tokyo

University.
I was asked to give a session on
what

one

can

learn

from

Traveling.
This took quite some reflection
on the experiences I have had in
the 27 countries I have traveled
to so far.
The Key Messages I came up
with were:-

Travel to remove your biases

about

the

world

and

experience things as they are-people and their motives and then be

not what the media says.
-

Traveltolearncommunicate

how

and

to
do

business with other cultures
this is going to be very
important in a globalized
world like the one that isdeveloping

Traveling teaches you how to identify
able to work with all kinds of people.

-

The networks you make will travelingif you keep them well will give you
opportunities
investment.

beyondanyotherNeighourhood Recycling Event June andJuly

Every month on a one Sunday Shirai group organises a recycling day at the
Shikahama base in the city of Adachi-ku. Residents bring in their recyclables

which are weighed and they are compensated a small amount to do this saving
the company transport costs.
The is also a 2nd Hand Shop to sell those items that still have value.
The lesson from this event is that it takes a lot of work and commitment including
education from all stakeholders to ensure that waste is managed well.

Company English Class for TFO
Shirai Group Co. is the example of a very forward thinking and progressive

Japanese company. With the recognition that the business language of the world isEnglish Shirai Group has encourages its personnel to learn and practice English.
Its international ambitions mean that they have had 6 international Interns
through AIESEC.
In my capacity as a Trainee and also a Native English speaker I delivered a fullday of conversation practice for my colleagues engaging them in conversations on
various topics to improve conversational skills.
I learnt from this how important language is in communicating and one should not

be shy while learning a language thus I am continuously practicing trail and error
on my Japanese also.
Something else I observed is that any organization that wants to survive in thebusiness environment of the future has to embrace multilingualism in the officejust as Shirai group has English, Japanese, Chinese and now a Kiswahili speaker
among other languages from interns who have been at Shirai Group Co.

Caribbean

Waste

Management

Tourpartnership with JICA
Shirai

Group

Co.

is

very

conscious of its CSR role andthe International development
hence it works closely with

JICA

to

management

share

waste

knowledge

inJapan with other countries.

On this occasion I was part of the team that had come from some of the Caribbean
Islands of St.Lucia, Guadaloupe, Dominica, Belize and Suriname.
We toured some of the facilities for Waste Management in Tokyo:
At one of the Buildings in Tokyo that is a client of Shirai Group and 2 time winnerof Tokyo Metropolitan Government award for excellence in Waste Management welearn how the Government of Japan in 1992 passed a law requiring all building tomanage their waste. We saw the basement area where Garbage is sorted and aloslearnt how they building has contacted a company to compost organic waste andalso make fertilizers.
We went to the ERP private Incineration and Energy plant were we leant about
advanced medical waste management and also Waste to Energy technologies.
We also visited a government Incineration and sorting plant were we learnt about

the different categories and history of waste Management in Japan.
1. Non-Combustibles- Plastics, Metals and others
2. Combustibles-Wood, food waste, some forms of paper and others
3. Bulky- Large house hold waste like cabinets, chairs, Mattresses
4. Recyclables- Paper, Cardboard and others

Waste Management Truck Route Tour
1. Combustables
Shirai Group Co’s core businessis the hauling of waste fromcommercial

anddomestic

residence to the area of disposal

hence I had a tour with thetrucks that form the core of thebusiness. I was on 3 truck over 3
days in Tokyo.

Day 1: Was collection and disposal at theincineration plant of combustible wastefrom commercial establishments such as
daycare centers, restaurants and officeblocks.
We then drove this to the incineration plant

where we got the weighed and thendeposited them.

My Biggest Leaning here in the 3 days is that Waste management is a very
important process for any metropolitan area. If waste is not managed we it canlead to a collapse of all other systems and eventually health catastrophes.
The Process Shirai group uses is IT savvy as all information in keyed into tablet
devices and receipted after weighing for payment.

2. Non-Burnables
Day 2 was Non-Burnable wastefrom commercial buildings.

This

is

mostlyplastics

frombuildings composed of packaging
material

fromvariouscommodities that a building has.
Lunch pack, paper bags, juice
bottles.

All this is taken to the center where it
will be shredded, cleaned and packaged
for transportation to recyclers andother buyers.

The lessons from this day are that anorganised waste management sector
opens many opportunities for businesses
that can make sue of the waste that is
produced by cities. From recyclers, toenergyproduces,toagricultural

fertilizer companies. All this is possible
in Japan due to the policies andstructures put in by the government.

3. Paper and Recyclables
Day 3 was the day for atour with the recyclable
paper waste route. The
truck was different thistime. It was and open
truck.

The

main

composition of the wasteisnewspapers,

magazine,

books

and

cardboards.

The waste as in all theother day is alreadysorted at the point ofcollection.

Gain

the

process of collection
input of data into thetablet and receipting
occurs and then wedrive to the point ofoff-loading.
environments
The lessons from this day arebased on the value of collected
well managed paper waste. It is agreat source of raw material for
more paper and saves resources
for paper. This can also greatly
reducelandfill

waste

since

waste is paper.

anddumpsitemost commercial

AIESEC Development CampAs my internship is organised through AIESEC I do my best to engage in theiractivities and help where I can.
In this case I attended the AIESEC Development camp meant for University
students who will be going to developing countries to work as Volunteers in
Development projects.
Since I have had experience in development, business and Social Business I usedboth academic and practical knowledge to discuss points on how development haschanged in scope and how lasting Social impact can be brought about.
I was and interesting process and required me to examine a lot of statistics andfound a great inspiration in Amartya Sen the Nobel Prize winner for Economics
1998 focusing on Freedoms in access to necessities and Mohamed Yunus and otherfocus on the emergence of Social Entrepreneurship.
I learnt how important continuous cooperation between countries. Development is
an on going process even with a country like Japan which is now dealing with its
own challenges as a developed county, issues such as an aging population and low
birth rate, the opposite of Kenya.

Stakeholders Meeting at TMG/CAT 23

One of the biggest parts of this internship is getting to interact and receive
training in Waste Management from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.
With Mr. Chiaki Takiguchi-san we visited the offices and began the process ofproposing the internship.
What I learnt at this meeting was some basics of Japanese business culture:
The courtesy meeting to introduce a person then, following up and in the processcreating and maintaining a relationship. This practice is important and I see it

being very relevant in any organisation.
We succeeded in getting a 3 day internship for me at the largest and Most
advanced Incinerator and waste to energy facility in Japan.
I also was requested to send in a research about the Waste Management indifferent countries I have been to which I did.

Elementary School Presentation
AIESEC organised for a CSR event
for Shirai Group Co. where we gave agroup of 4th and 5th Grade students at
a

local

elementary

Shikahamaaschoolsessionin
onInterculturalism and having a global

mindset something that is very rarein Japan.

The session was organised to have thestudents have as much activity whilelearning.

They were able to learn that different
languages are spoken around the world
and I also lean session in which wehighlighted the situation of countries
that did not have the development ofJapan.

The Key things I learnt were:-

The Curiosity of children is thesame all over the world.
-

Getting children exposed to othercultures young helps then shiftprejudice-

Only by experiencing other places
can one appreciate what they
have

as

the

appreciating

children
the

began

opportunities

thy have being born in Japan.

Market Research and Presentation to
TMG/Tokyo23

Source: World BankI was honored to be asked to collect some data and give some of my findings andthoughts about Waste Management in different countries to the Tokyo
Metropolitan Government.

This will happen in August but as I realized the custom is to hand in thepresentation many weeks earlier in Japan.
I was able to finish this and send the Mr. Takiguchi-san and I delivered it to theTokyo Metropolitan Government.
A lesson here in Japanese business culture is haw this are done in person toestablish relationships.
Instead of an impersonal e-mail we actually took a data flash drive to the officeand person in charge personally.
This stuck me as a very concrete way of building relationships based in trust
and respect and is a practice that needs to happen more especially in today’s
world of virtual communication.

Presentation to Shirai Management Teamat Monthly meeting

Shirai Groups main management team meets every month to discuss the
progress of the organization. Whether sales targets are being met how thebusiness indicators are doing and come up with strategies to improve.
There was a clear methodology of following up with data and facts and alsomeasuring the effectiveness of the LPC 2L process that the company uses.
My learning was:-

Besides the weekly meetings and this monthly meeting it is very important toback up all the decisions and analysis with facts and data which Shirai groupdoes and this I take as a very good example of managing a company well.

-

Shirai Group Co. also has an updating meeting that is indepth every week on
Tuesdays which shows that tracking and including everyone in implementing
the strategy is a very important component of a successful business.

China Team Waste Management facility
Tour
As a continuation of the commitment to CSR andworking with JICA to inform other countries on
effective Waste Management Technologies ShiraiGroup Co accepted a delegation from China
whom we took on a Tour of waste management
facilities in Tokyo.
This is especially significant as China has thelargest population in the world and is growing inincomes meaning more waste will be produced in
the future.

We visited a private company
that used advanced patented
technology to process waste,sortingtheadvanced
that

waste

with

automaticcollects

theanprocessdust

andreduces the number of people
involved in hazardous work.

The main feature we learnt was
how they combined different
wastes to produce fuel solids forsteel manufacturers.

We latter visited a government
facility that I an incinerator andalso recycles. We say the historyof waste management in Japan
from the times that waste wassuch a problem that there was a
fly epidemic to now when it is themost advanced in the world.

The picture above is testament to the technology that is used in waste
management.
The physical magnetic properties of aluminum are influenced to enable them to besorted from other metals and then packed in to these cuboid shapes fortransportation to recyclers.
Science and Technology is a great investment to any country that seeks to be
developed.

We visited the ERP Company again thistime with the Chinese delegation andgot a tour of the facility.
The key features we understood further
are how the incinerated waste is turnedin to slag which is fine enough to be
used as sand for making bricks and thereclaimed metals can be used for steel

works in building material

We had abetteropportunityofwitnessing the robotics science in playas the controller moved around thelarge crane arm sorting garbage in thelarge pit to begin the process of
incineration by putting it into thefurnace.
My main learning here was that there
is a lot to learn from Japan for the
future especially for countries thatwill be producing s much waste.
However for smaller countries like
Kenya scaled down versions of thetechnologies that use more labour will
be most effective for the moment
meaning the previous proved andtested processed that can be optimised
can be used for countries like Kenya.

HitachiWe took a tour of the Hitachi e-waste andappliances disassembly center where we wereshown the way electronics in Japan are
recycled.
The Japanese government policy is for two
sectors A and B for recycling e-waste where
different companies are given the tenders forcompetition.

Here we saw how different appliances such as
TV’s,

PCs,

Washing

Machines

and

other

appliances are fragmented and different parts
processed. Plastics, gases in the appliances,metals and other elements.
100% of the material input is fragmented andthen sold for recycling using the materials.

The e-waste is well managed withprocesses of destroying memory
discs

for

security

and

then

extracting metals and rare earths

from the components. This is all
done in a safe environment unlike
in places such as Ivory Coast andNigeria where e-waste has been
damped.

The learning from the Hitachi experience is again related to effective
Government and incentives given to businesses to manage processes like Waste
Management.

The Hitachi plant is well organized and the technology is hi-tech and automated.
The resultant valuable material is used as a resource for manufacturing moregoods thus ensuring the sustainable management of resources in the country
and the protection of the environment by managing waste. This is a great
example for the rest of the world.

Business Meetings with Shirai Group Co
We went for a business meeting with the
Cooperative association of Tokyo for Burnable
Waste businesses.
I learnt about the over 200 Burnable waste
cooperation works for the interests of the waste
management business representing them to theTokyo Metropolitan Government.

My Take away from here is that if there is to exist
and effective and efficient business environment in
Waste Management in different countries thewaste Management companies need a voice. Alsoan effective government will manage the sector by
putting

the

right

policies

like

the

Tokyo

metropolitan government.
The

model

of

Government

andBusiness

Cooperatives seems to increases effectiveness andefficiency by allowing all interests to be heard.
We also had a meeting with Mr. Honda-san the
Building Manager for one of the building Shirai
Group

Co.

is

contracted

with

for

Waste

Management. He took us to tour the Waste
Management sector of the building
My Take away was that building them need to
manage and sort their waste and contract Waste

Management companies. This ensures a goodbusiness environment for waste management andalso helps the government manage waste better inthe city.
I also attended a meeting with a client from the
China Japan friendship center seeking advice on
how to dispose of equipment. It was a very
interesting experience on negotiation.

Traffic

SafetyConference for

ShiraiGroup Co.

I had the opportunity this week of attending a Traffic safety seminar organized for
Shirai Group co. staff especially the Truck Drivers who are key to the core businessof Waste Management.
This was organized in conjunction with the Police Department who did the training
using Videos and examples.
It was important to not the Internal CSR that Shirai Group Co. does to ensure
workplace safety. This is an important part of business.
At the event there was also an award ceremony for the drivers who excelled in thesafety record showing how incentives can be used to promote safety.

Conclusion:
I have learnt so much in the 1 month 2 weeks I have been at Shirai Group alreadyand I am looking forward to more.
It has opened my eyes to the importance of Urban Planning and Design and has
given me a way to apply the knowledge of economics in a more practical way once I
advance it with a Masters in an area such as Social Systems Engineering.