Atlet was acquired by Nissan in 2007 and it has been in the business for many years, producing high quality and unique products. The company was started off by a family and it turned 50 in 2008. Globalisation of enterprises has pushed customers to make their operations more and more efficient and now many companies demand a wider range and variety of lift trucks from the one supplier. In order to meet this trend, Nissan felt it needed to diversify its range of products. They were familiar with Atlet and its products and realised that these would complement the already existing Nissan range and enable Nissan to become a whole range supplier. Nissan has its own sales network and the Atlet products are supplied with the Nissan name on them.

Other than the factory here in Mölnlycke, Nissan manufactures lift trucks in Japan, the US, and in Pamplona in Spain. Mr Ikeda worked in Amsterdam in the Netherlands, at Nissans European head office, at the beginning of the 1990s. This was his first experience as an expat.  Before he went there he worked as a car salesman, when very young, for two years. This was an interesting experience as it meant that he got to meet the customers and to sell the product. In Japan a salesman visits the customer´s home. That was how things were done back then.

Mr Ikeda had his wife with him in the Netherlands and she is with him here in Sweden as well.
After living in the Netherlands Mr Ikeda and his wife returned to Japan again. He felt it was nice to return home but also noted that things had changed during the 3 years they had been away. Mobile phones were used by almost everyone and the influence of the internet was being felt. The actual number of people in Tokyo was also a shock. He had forgotten what this was like. He felt he saw his own country through different eyes.

Here in Sweden Mr Ikeda and his wife first lived in an apartment in St Sigfridsgatan, not far from Liseberg. In February they moved to Näset as the owner of the apartment returned home. Mr Ikeda´s company have used Nordic Relocation Company to help them find somewhere to live. Mr Ikeda is very happy with the services they have provided.
 
I asked Mr Ikeda about his first impressions of Sweden. He came here to live in November. Before that he had been here several times on business trips.  He found 2007 a terrible winter. It rained for two weeks non-stop and there was no sun. (I do not know what Mr Ikeda thought of this winter as I interviewed him early in December, before I left for Australia.) According to Mr Ikeda, Tokyo can get cold but the lowest temperature is around 5c and the sun shines and the sky is blue, most days. There is not much rain in the winter in Tokyo. Climate is one of the biggest differences and one of the things that Mr Ikeda and his wife have found it hard to come to terms with since moving to Sweden. They try to stay in Sweden during the summer. They enjoyed last summer very much. They went to Öland for their holidays. They try to see different parts of Sweden and the summer before they were in Ystad. They like driving and looking around and doing some sightseeing Sweden. They have yet to travel to the north and would very much like to go to Dalarna in the future.

Mr Ikeda feels that he works for a global company and even though the differences between Swedish and Japanese culture are wide he finds it relatively simple to feel at home in both. He has visited many countries in both Europe and Asia. He finds it easy to adapt. One thing he is aware of in Sweden is the equality between men and women. He wasn´t really used to the fact that both women and men work and also that they share the responsibility for the home and for the children. In Japan it is still common for women to stay home and look after the home and children. He has also noted that everyone in Sweden pays taxes and he feels this is strength and that it contributes to the competitiveness of Sweden on the world market.

I asked Mr Ikeda if he had misunderstood anything or made any mistakes because of cultural differences since he moved to Sweden. He said that he was not aware of any. It is actually often the case that we are not aware of any mistakes we may make and no one really points them out as this would be not be polite. I guess we foreigners are made allowances for in most situations.

I also asked Mr Ikeda about his wife. She likes living in Sweden and she is friends with some Japanese women who are married to Swedish men, and who have been living here for many years. In the beginning she studied Swedish but she is currently trying to improve her English by attending classes. Both Mr and Mrs Ikeda play golf and they play mostly in Mölndal.  They also play when they go on holiday in Sweden. They both love the summer but find it is much too short (don´t we all?) They like the fact that there are golf courses everywhere in Sweden.

I was interested to know what Mr Ikeda did in his spare time. He said he likes to drive and also to read and he spends quite some time on the computer. He is quite happy staying home and doing these things. Japanese television is, unfortunately, not available in Sweden but he does watch some TV and he can look at TV on the internet. They both like meeting up with friends and going shopping. They do find that there are a limited number of shops. There is not a lot of variety and it is very difficult to buy Japanese products, such as the dried food and special sauces used in Japanese cooking. Sometimes when they travel to Holland or Germany they make the most of the opportunity and buy Japanese goods. They have also tried importing directly from Japan. This is time consuming and costly, but worth it. It was a shock for Mr Ikeda when he found out that all alcohol had to be purchased from Systembolaget where there is no competition and a limited range, in his opinion.

Mr Ikeda definitely thinks that Sweden is a nice place to live. He likes nature and the outdoors and has found a lot of beautiful places here. He was pleased about the fact that you only need to drive for 5 minutes and you can get to the seaside, forest and lakes. This is a decided advantage of living in Sweden. It is a quiet place and there are not many people around. Mr Ikeda feels that most people he has met up with in the Göteborg area are very friendly. They are able to buy fresh fish and seafood and this is good. Mrs Ikeda has found food she likes and she likes to cook. Mr Ikeda has a canteen at work and he likes the food they make there. He feels he has adapted to eating Swedish food.  He told me that it is more to his liking than Dutch food.

There are totally around 950 Atlet group employees in Europe, where Atlet has many subsidiaries. There are about 450 employees in Sweden. Due to the global recession Nissan had to reduce the number of factory employees but tried to keep as many on as possible. Mr Ikeda does not speak Swedish. He communicates in English and he socialises with Swedes at work and outside. He knows some Japanese expats but some of these have returned to Japan during the economic downswing. He has an indefinite contract in Sweden. He feels he may be here for about another two years. He sometimes gets homesick but generally he doesn´t really miss Japan. He goes there about 2 to 3 times a year. In 2008 they had many visitors from Japan but they expect there will be less now due to the recession.  

We discussed the similarities between Japanese and Swedish cultures. This is often mentioned in Cultural Awareness books. Mr Ikeda feels that Swedish people are generally shy and place priority on consensus in reaching decisions. This is Japanese, in some ways, but here it seems to take longer to make a decision. Mr Ikeda spends time setting goals with each individual manager. This is important as Japanese companies tend to be more result driven than Swedish companies. There is less hierarchy in Swedish companies, in Mr Ikeda´s opinion. In Japan there is not as much delegation as there is in Sweden. Atlet also has a different company culture in that it has been a family owned company for so many years. Nissan is a huge company and the decision making process is totally different.

At Nissan there are many levels of approval to be sought before decisions can actually be confirmed. In a family owned private company this is a simpler process. It is not always easy for the employees to adjust to the changes and the management is aware of this. They may feel that they have less empowerment. Mr Ikeda finds the Swedish employees to be cooperative, friendly and hard working. Mr Ikeda is very open to the requirements of the employees at Atlet while being driven by the demands placed on him from Nissan in Japan. In my opinion, he does not have an easy task but he seems to very aware of the problems that may occur and willing to listen.

Mr and Mrs Ikeda have brought their own little bit of Japan to Sweden while making the most of what Sweden has to offer. They are happy here. It was interesting to hear of Mr Ikeda´s perceptions of Swedish workers as hard working, friendly and cooperative. It just goes to show that stereotypes can be challenged by individual experience.