Japanese dealmaker spurs Phl trade with Japan

By Monsi A. Serrano

For many Filipinos who know him, Mr. Satoshi Tateno is a provider of opportunities. He lives and has been doing business in the Philippines for more than 41 years and is no stranger to the local culture and the Filipino way of doing business.

People close to him would even say this Japanese is more Filipino than many local industrialists by the way he conducts his businesses. Despite unpleasant dealings in the past in his “second home,” Mr. Tateno swears he has never lost hope for this country and remains devoted to improving the lives of Filipinos and, in turn, the Philippine economy.

Born and raised in Osaka, Japan, Tateno came to the country in 1969 looking for opportunities to match Japanese and Filipino business interests. He was in his mid-20s and quick to find a special place in his heart for the warm and welcoming people of the Philippines.

Then in 1979, he decided to live in the Philippines for good, because he was seeing a lot of promises in various sectors. Hence, Tateno zeroed-in on the great potential of the agriculture and aquaculture industries. He has helped a lot of farmers in Mindoro, Nueva Ecija, and even some parts of Mindanao by providing a measure of financial support, seedlings, buyback guarantee sin the fair market value of the harvest of the seedlings and seed he provided. He also introduced modern farming techniques.

Since then, his ardent dream has been to bring in Japanese farming technology so that Filipinos could capitalize on the country’s strengths and allow farmers to enjoy the profits from their efforts more proportionately.

However, there were some short-sighted farmers whose avarice has become their liability. During the subsequent dealings, farmers wanted a higher price for their harvest which was no longer viable and marketable to Mr. Tateno’s buyers. Finally, he decided to cut losses and look for another group of people to help grow his business.

At present, Tateno and his son operate a “saluyot” (Corchorus) processing plant in Tarlac to service the export market in Japan. As a strong believer in supporting the farmers and capitalizing on the Philippines’ vast agricultural land, saluyot proved to be one of the many agriculture-related businesses for Mr. Tateno.

“Filipinos should see what resources available around them. The Philippines has very vast lands and water territories. But how many are looking at the opportunities in this richness of the Philippines? Maybe very few people only, because others don’t look at the bigger picture and don’t set their long term goal and envision the kind of future they want,” Tateno said.

“Who benefits from your land and sea resources? Other foreigners. Why? Because they see very big opportunities. If others can see it, why can’t the Filipinos see these?, the Japanese businessman asked.

Walk the talk

With over 40 years of living in the Philippines, Tateno sees the same viability in the onions in Nueva Ecija, ginger in Mindoro, and other agricultural products throughout the archipelago.

He also has a joint venture with a Superb Catch, the mother company Seaking Bangus, the number 1 milkfish brand in the Philippines in a seafood processing company, exporting various marine products to Japan.

He told THEPHILBIZNEWS that his success only fuels his desire to push Philippine-Japanese business relations further, establishing formidable bonds between companies here and in Japan.

Always look at the possibilities

Baring his adventurous side, Tateno was never one to shy away from novel ideas.

“Look at the possibilities.  Learn to scratch the surface and find out what is underneath,” he said. “If you train your mind in thinking this way, you will never run out of opportunities. You will see what others may not see.”

This could be exemplified in his interest in Philippine-grown ginger and then toying with the idea of processing it into pickled ginger and then later exporting it to Japan as his signature product.

Of course, 10 years ago, no one would have thought of exporting local ginger to Japan, considering the peculiarity of the Japanese market which holds the highest food processing and handling standards. But given how Tateno’s mind was as fertile as Philippine farmlands where ginger rooted well, such a remote possibility became a great opportunity. In 2014, when Mekeni Food Corp, one of the Philippines’ renowned meat processing companies bought Tateno’s idea and started to export pickled ginger for the Japanese market.

And because it was a breakthrough, the gates of opportunity opened even for Mekeni to extend business opportunities in Japan. Tateno was able to help Mekeni to export their Philippine-made sausages in Japan specifically for the Japanese market.

“It wasn’t so easy. After promoting the quality products in the Philippines, the owners of the meat processing company and I had to meet the Chairman of the company in Japan. We had to host the Japanese executives who came to the Philippines for their independent validation of capability, process, and system of the Philippine company, as well as understand their work and business ethic,” recalled Tetano.

“It is also good that the support of both the Philippine and the Japanese government was there. That is what we need, a government to government collaboration,” Tateno added.

To date, that deal stands as the first-ever export of Philippine processed meat approved by the Japanese government.

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