The Japan Team Traveling Across the Archipelago
A Former Dental Hygienist Who Speaks Fluent Korean
Round-the-Clock Support for Providers
“It’s Rewarding to See the Organization Grow”
On the 4th floor of the McDonald’s building at Shinsa Station, it’s mostly the members of the Japan team who break the silence in the Sales Headquarters office. The office noise level rises at all hours as the team responds to the flood of inquiries from Japanese directors. Although it has been less than two years since Minish launched its business in Japan, the company’s popularity is soaring, with the number of Japanese providers reaching 60 as of June 2026.
The Japan Team, which covers the entire country, consists of eight members, including Team Leader Chiaki Mikuchi. Most team members are veteran dental hygienists who have worked at local dental clinics in Japan for an average of five years or more. Thanks to this experience, they go beyond simple interpretation to bridge the gap between clinic directors and dental laboratories, handling everything from the subtle needs of the treatment room to the finer details of prosthetics and prep checks. Team member Marino Kikuchi said, “Since we’re former dental hygienists, clinic directors feel comfortable relying on us just as they would on a colleague.”
All of the married women have Korean husbands. To work for a Korean company as a foreign national, they had to overcome the daunting barriers of obtaining a work visa, so they expedited marriage talks that were already underway and got married in order to work at Minish. In a sense, they managed to have it all—love and a career—at once.
Since the “Dental Hygienist Training Course” was first launched last April, our workload has skyrocketed. Once prep sessions are scheduled, working on weekends is no exception, and since inquiries start pouring in after 6 p.m.—once the Japanese clinic directors have finished their shifts—responding to them after work and on days off has become the norm.
Although I go on collaborative business trips about once a month, each trip takes a full week round-trip. My schedule is packed with back-to-back appointments through August, leaving me little time to even take vacation days. Fortunately, we recently hired two new employees at our Japanese subsidiary, so things should start to ease up a bit.
“While Korea charges ahead with a ‘let’s just give it a try’ attitude, Japan tends to wait until everything is perfectly in place before taking action.” It is also their role to serve as a bridge between Korea’s corporate culture—which values speed above all else—and Japan’s more cautious culture.
Although the work is physically demanding and life in a foreign country is far from easy, the driving force that keeps them going is the team’s growth and camaraderie. Even amid a relentless schedule of business trips, small gestures of consideration—such as the “dedicated hospital system,” which assigns them a hospital close to their hometown so they can stop by their family home even briefly during their travels—provide great comfort.
Team Leader Chiaki said, “I can see that both the courses and seminars are growing noticeably in scale, so even though it’s physically demanding, it’s very rewarding. I feel best when the Japanese clinic directors are satisfied with the hard work we put into supporting them.”
Above all, just knowing that there are colleagues I can rely on by my side makes me feel secure. Team Leader Miyu Kunitani smiled and said, “If I were alone, I would have felt very lonely, but thanks to my supportive colleagues and the energy we generate by cheering each other on, I’m really enjoying my work.”
