In Episode 5 of Japan Podshow our featured entrepreneur is Heather Russell, founder and president of www.Rinkya.com (interview starts 6min 16sec from the start). In this interview, Heather tells us how she started Rinkya, and has some excellent advice for people wanting to establish their own company in Japan.

We’re giving away US$100 of Rinkya commission! Entering is easy, just listen to the interview with Heather!

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What is Rinkya?

From their website, www.rinkya.com:

Want to bid on Japanese Auctions? But you can’t read Japanese: and the Japanese seller won’t ship it out of Japan anyway? Well, Rinkya can bid and ship all these items to you.

After signing up with Rinkya and creating your own account, you can bid on any item on Yahoo Japan. Visit our search engine, sign up and bid! It’s just that easy! When you win an auction, an email is immediately sent to you, detailing the costs and other payment information. Then you fill out a payment form, send it in to us, and you are done!

Rinkya will charge your payment and ship your item per your request. Your personal account will show your items’ arrival to our warehouse in Japan. Once it is in our warehouse, you can ship any time you want! With Rinkya’s frequent sales, you will be sure to save money AND collect the rare items on Yahoo Japan that you have been missing!!

I have found Heather to be a real inspiration. She’s very kind and a lot of fun, and when it comes to business she knows what she’s talking about. She’s also been the subject of a fair bit of media attention, not being your average company president in Japan.

Click here for JPEG/PDF copies of a magazine articles on Heather andRinkya.com in the Japanese language Mac People magazine:
1) Original Japanese English translation
2) Original Japanese English translation

Make sure you check out www.Rinkya.com – the easiest way to buy stuff online from Japan.