Paul: Tarek Alkhaldi is the founder of nexCraft Design, an experience design studio based in Tokyo.
Tarek and I spoke about how his interest in psychology led him from software engineering to user experience, his early career as a designer in Saudi Arabia, founding nexCraft in Japan and the Business Manager visa process, his long-term goals for a new life in Japan, and much more.
Hi Tarek. Great to speak with you today. Please introduce yourself.
Tarek: Hi Paul, thank you so much for the interview and the chance to meet you and get to know you! It was definitely my utmost pleasure.
My name is Tarek, I am originally from Syria but I was born and raised in Saudi Arabia my whole life, it was where I studied and graduated from university, and where I accumulated a decade of experience in user experience design, and as of October 2024, I have officially moved to Tokyo, Japan to start a new life, a new adventure, and a new challenge.
You studied software engineering at university but your career took a different direction, into user experience (UX ) and design, rather than software development. Why?
Back when I was applying to universities all around the world, I didn’t really know what I wanted to study. By nature I’m a very curious person and I love to learn just about almost anything and everything. Back then I was curious about archeology and I wanted to give that a try, but I didn’t get lucky. I also got accepted to move to Japan to study the language before starting university, but some personal matters happened and they prevented me from taking that step at that time. That’s when I opted to stay in Saudi Arabia and find a good university there to earn my degree. Back then, the universities that accepted foreign students didn’t have many options when it came to choosing a major, it was either construction or computer science. Software engineering was added two years before I graduated and that’s when I opted to change.
During my studies, I took a couple of courses in psychology and human computer interaction and I was really intrigued by it. I realized that I was really passionate when it comes to learning and understanding human behavior and how we shape our decisions and perspectives.
As to why I chose User Experience design as my career path, that’s something I’ll get into with more details in the upcoming question.
Tell us a little about how your career developed.
I started my career a year before graduating from university. Back then, it was a bit difficult for foreigners to land a job, which worried me a bit. I didn’t want to wait until graduation to start looking for a job. I started reaching out to people that I know, and one of the people that I worked with on a side project in university told me that her company is looking for an intern in the digital marketing field. Of course back then I had no idea what digital marketing was because all I had was a technical background.
I agreed to go and meet with the interviewer (we are still very close and good friends – to this day we get projects and work on them together), he interviewed me and asked a few questions and I happily and truthfully answered, he then gave me a task and asked me to get back to him in two weeks. Dare I say I made the worst marketing poster back then, yet he was very keen to sit with me and walk me through the whole process and how to make it better.
During that feedback session, the CEO of the company was sitting in the meeting room. He didn’t introduce himself when we came in, he just simply said feel free to use the room while I’m here. At some point during the discussion, the CEO stood up, and he asked the person interviewing me, “would it be okay to take it from here?” We were both shocked but he said sure thing go ahead.
The CEO introduced himself to me, and he told me that based on everything I heard you say, I believe I have the right field for you, and he asked me: “are you familiar with UX?” And I immediately said no, so he explained it a little and I got an idea about it and informed him about the courses I took back in university. He asked me if I was interested in learning more and I happily agreed. He drew a quick map on a piece of paper including all the major fields that fell under UX back in those days, and asked me to go and do my research over the weekend. If I liked it, I’d be more than welcome to start work the following week.
I did, and ever since then I’ve loved the field and loved the impact it had on not only my professional career, but also my personal life, as it helped me understand not only myself, but the people around me and how to interact with them, as each individual is uniquely different. You cannot treat and speak to two different people in the same way.
I spent three years in that company until it was about time to shut down. I moved on to a new company, where I also spent two and a half years. After that I tried the world of consultancy, joining one of the Big Four, but I ended up resigning within 8 months. I didn’t like the environment, the mindset and the way of doing things – it just didn’t align with my families and what I want to achieve in my professional career.
After that I moved to my last company, where I transitioned through multiple roles, until I was assigned the acting director role to establish the digital experience department. There I hired the team, trained them and sharpened their skills, leading the design of its internal suite of products, alongside working on client projects.
You’ve also been a mentor for ADPList, the mentorship community for people in design, tech and product management. What was your experience as a mentor? What did you yourself learn?
I’ve always loved to help people. You know, whenever I’m asked what my purpose in this life is, my answer is to always be kind and help people, that’s all I want to do. It gives me a sense of fulfillment, a sense of satisfaction. It’s always been like this.
When I found out that there was a platform that will help connect mentors with passionate individuals who are either looking to start their career in this field, or want to change their field completely and are looking for some guidance on how to do that, I was immediately hooked and wanted to help people do that. Although a lot of insights came out that the platform is now operating in an unethical way, I’m still grateful for the opportunities that I got to meet and help people from all over the world.
On to Japan. First of all, why were you interested in relocating to another country and secondly, why Japan?
Why Japan? That’s the most common question that I’ve been asked. Everyone is puzzled as to why I left the Gulf region, where most of the money is, and moved all the way across the world to Japan.
Well, the answer is simple, but it also has deeper roots within me. Simply put, I’ve always loved Japan. Deeply conveyed, ever since I was a kid I was fascinated by the culture, the traditions, the ethics, the people, the rich history, and everything that comes in between. Of course, I grew up watching anime, and I still do till today, but I’ve also watched a lot of documentaries about Japan and how it came to be today, and I remember promising myself back then that someday, I’m going to make it there, someday I’m going to move to Japan, learn the language, become Japanese, and settle there for good.
And after two decades, I’m finally taking this leap of faith forward towards a dream that I set for myself a long time ago. It came with a lot of challenges, a lot of cultural shocks. No matter what you watch on TV or hear from other people, your experience will always be unique and different. I’m sat on a path, a journey of my own, and I’m embracing every moment of it, because I’m loving it, and I’m growing through it.
You decided you didn’t want to join a company in Japan as an employee. Instead, you came here on a Business Manager visa and set up your own agency, nexCraft Design. First of all, walk us through the process for getting the visa and starting the company.
I’ll be bluntly frank and honest with you here, there are three main reasons as to why I wanted to move and establish my own company rather than joining one as an employee.
The first reason is that it was really difficult for me to land a job in Japan. Aside from the fact that it is difficult in general to land a job while you’re overseas, my nationality and passport made it even more difficult. So I lost hope in finding a job here.
The second reason is that I wanted more freedom and control over my time, I didn’t want someone to tell me when to come and when to go, and what type of projects I can work on and which I cannot.
The third and final reason is because I wanted to explore the country without limitations or restrictions. When you run your own business, you can decide where you want to do it, when, and how. And right now I’m doing this, from managing my personal time, to running my company and committing to delivering exceptional work to my clients, I have found that sweet spot, where I can get the best of both worlds.
Japan was one of the few countries where you can sponsor your own visa to start your own business. Although the requirements were complicated, they were pretty straightforward as long as you have the right lawyer working with you. I got lucky that I found my lawyer through a blog one day when I was searching about the Business Manager Visa and trying to understand how I could obtain it. I remember sending him an email, detailing what I want to do in Japan, and asking him whether he could help me. The next day I received a reply from him, telling me that, yes I can do it.
We exchanged a lot of emails back then in mid 2024, because I was traveling across Southeast Asia and I was also exploring other options like Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Taiwan and Malaysia.
Singapore rejected me due to my nationality, Thailand granted me a 5 year long-term visa. At that time I had all of my documents ready for Japan. I emailed them to my lawyer, he helped me touch them up and translate them, and we submitted the documents in July.
Upon submission, I handed in my resignation, and my CTO at that time was extremely supportive, telling me that I was doing the right thing by pursuing my dreams and making them a reality. To this day we are still very close friends and we are collaborating together on some amazing products.
Fast forward to September, it was time for me to leave. I hadn’t heard back from Immigration in Japan and it’s been almost two months, so I packed my bags and booked a flight to Bangkok. As I’d made a lot of friends there, I thought it would be nice to go there, spend some time with them, and wait to hear of my application result.
On the day I was boarding my flight to Bangkok, I received an email from my lawyer informing me that my business idea had been accepted, and my Certificate of Eligibility had been issued. I could now come to Japan. At last!
Trust me when I say this, choosing the right lawyer is key to this whole process, and my lawyer was exceptional at his work.
Although it was my long awaited dream, I was a bit conflicted as I had packed my bags and was ready to move to Bangkok, and now I’m being informed that I can go and start my dream in Japan.
I decided to stay in Bangkok for some time before applying for my Business Manager visa. During that time I kept on thinking what would be the best thing to do – stay in Bangkok where I’ve made a lot of friends and continue my life here, even start my own business, or stick to the original plan and go to Japan, and within a month, I decided to go to Japan.
But, although I thought things were difficult when applying to the CoE, and I was aware of some of the regulations and rules in Japan when it comes to obtaining a phone number and getting an apartment, I came in with the mindset that I have to get things done quickly. I was only granted a 4 month visa and the first and most important thing to do was to open a bank account.
Of course, I couldn’t just easily open an account because I needed a phone number and an address first. However, I was very lucky to find an exceptionally talented real estate agent who helped secure an apartment in just 3 days. I know it is difficult to believe because normally the process takes about two weeks, but I talked to her, talked to the guarantor company, the building management company, and explained to them my situation with full transparency. And to my surprise, they were all very supportive and understanding. So in my second week in Japan, I was already in my own home, my own space.
After finding an apartment, could you then incorporate nexCraft Design as a Japanese company?
After finding an apartment and opening a personal bank account, I needed to move the capital of the company from my international account to my Japanese bank account. Unfortunately, in my case this was not an easy one as Japan Post Bank does not accept direct international transfers. So I had to withdraw the money manually from an ATM on a daily basis and send a Western Union transfer to myself.
After that, I needed to rent an office for the company, find an accountant, and a social insurance consultant before officially incorporating it. Incorporating the company was pretty easy and straightforward after that.
What services do you provide?
We offer a variety of services for founders and startups, from research, to product strategy, to design, testing, development and iterating. We offer services across the whole product lifecycle, and we carefully tailor them according to the needs of the founders and their potential customers.
Now that you’re live, what plans do you have for the company?
My goal for the first year in Japan was always very clear. I’m going to continue getting projects from outside of Japan to sustain myself and ensure my business is profitable, while at the same time spending time understanding the Japanese market, meeting people, making friends, and by the end of that, get my first client in Japan. This is why I’m not rushing to get business from Japan right away. I want to, of course, but I want to do it right.
What does your typical day look like?
My typical days are very basic I would say. And I’ve structured my week in a certain way to ensure that I’m getting everything I need done. I have 3 days during the week where I would go out to a coffee shop and work from there, meet people, make connections and attend events. The other 3 days are for me to purely focus on delivering my work for my clients and ensuring everything is on track and on point. And I give myself one day, usually a Saturday, where I take my camera and go around Tokyo exploring and taking pictures.
Typically on all of these days, I always start with a good breakfast, a workout, and then everything else.
There’s a new routine that I’m planning to implement soon, and that’s dedicating 3 weeks in Tokyo in my home, and one week where I would venture out into a whole new place, explore it, go on hikes and adventures, while still of course getting work done. But this will allow me to explore Japan even more, and deeply immerse myself within the culture and its people.
What are some of your goals for the future? Short-term, long-term, personally and/or professionally?
My goals are pretty straightforward to be honest. I came here with something in mind and I’m working towards it. Professionally, I have established my business, I want to grow it and do my best to make it successful by helping a lot of my clients achieve their goals and succeed as well. But also, I would love to open my own bakery and coffee shop one day, as I love to bake.
Personally, I want to live in Japan for good. I do see myself being here for the rest of my life for now because everything in Japan aligns with my personal values, principles and beliefs. Aside from starting a family here in the future, I want to obtain permanent residency, and I also want to get Japanese citizenship within the next 5-6 years.
Quickfire questions
– If you could go back in time to your arrival in Japan, what’s the most important advice you’d give yourself? It’s not that long ago, but is there anything that stands out in your mind?
I would tell myself to just embrace the process and journey as it is, and try not to compare how things are done here based on where you came from, they are two completely different counties and they operate in two completely different ways. It was difficult at first, but I embraced, accepted and learned how things are done in Japan, and came to terms with them.
– What advice would you give to someone considering coming to Japan on the Business Manager visa?
Do your research, find a good lawyer, and make sure you’re doing something that you’re really passionate about. Remember that freedom comes with a lot of responsibilities, and a lot of sacrifices too.
– How do you learn new skills? What are you learning currently?
Right now I’m doing my best to learn the Japanese language as it will open doors to me that would never be possible with just English. Aside from that, I’m diving deeper and deeper into intelligence design, and industrial design as well.
– Tell me a few of your favourite or most recently read books, movies, podcasts, and games.
For books, I really enjoy reading books that add a lot of value to me, like Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, In the Buddha’s Words by Bhikkhu Bodhi.
For movies, I would highly recommend two movies to watch, Perfect Days, and Everything Everywhere All At Once. These two are top notch and have a lot to offer.
For games, I’m a big fan of retro games, and since I’m in Japan now, I have access to all of the old consoles and games that I used to play a lot growing up, and it feels pretty nostalgic playing them again right now.
Do you have a favourite retro game?
My favorite games would probably be: PS1: Resident Evil series and FamiCom: Mutant Ninja Turtles. I used to spend hours playing these with my brother, and back then, we had no way of saving our progress.
– What’s your favourite place to visit in Japan?
I’m yet to discover my favorite place in Japan so far. But whenever I need a peaceful day, I just go to the park, walk around, sit and read a good book.
– What’s the best thing you’ve spent 10,000 JPY on in Japan?
Ah ¥10,000, that’s a bit tough because you can do a lot with ¥10,000 in Japan. But the best I’ve spent were on getting some of my all time favorite retro games.
Are there topics we haven’t discussed that you’d like to add?
Haha there are plenty of topics that I always love to discuss with people, I love to talk about psychology, philosophy, finding your own purpose, and other hobbies such as climbing, hiking, nature, health and fitness, photography and so much more!
Lots to talk about over our next coffee! Finally, do you have any asks for our readers?
If you are building a product, or have an idea but not sure how to start and validate it, we are here to help you and be with you every step of the way. We will help you validate your product idea, design it, test it, and ship it to your customers.
Thanks, Tarek. I wish you the very best of luck growing nexCraft.
Connect with Tarek on LinkedIn and check out nexCraft Design.
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