Episode Details

"I think what I know now is to be a little more slow."

"My style was to steal the best from Japan and the U.S."

"What I would do is pick your fights."

"Someone who can make a decision without all the information."

"A leader can function gracefully with an abundance of ambiguity."

Robert Roche is the President and CEO of Oak Lawn Marketing, the company behind the Shop Japan brand. His career in Japan began as an exchange student at Nanzan University in Nagoya, followed by law school in Denver and further study in Nanzan's law department. He returned to Japan without a conventional corporate career path and built his business through persistence, experimentation and a willingness to learn from failure. Early ventures in importing were unsuccessful, but they led to the creation of H&R Consultants and eventually Oak Lawn Marketing.

Roche helped pioneer the infomercial and direct-response television shopping model in Japan, building a major business from Nagoya before it became widely known in Tokyo's foreign business community. He later established Acorn International in China, adapting a related television-shopping model to a very different market. His career reflects deep adaptability across Japan, China, media, retail, entrepreneurship and large-company partnerships, including working with NTT Docomo as a major shareholder in the business.

Robert Roche's business story is a powerful lesson in entrepreneurial leadership, cultural adaptability and decision-making under uncertainty. His path did not begin with a polished strategy, venture capital or a prestigious corporate appointment. It began with an exchange programme at Nanzan University in Nagoya, an interest in Japan, a willingness to learn Japanese and an instinct that he could build something of value despite having no obvious roadmap.

His first ventures were failures. Imported clamshells for cultured pearls did not work. Neon clocks did not work. The experience gave Roche an early and memorable lesson: buying products is easy; selling them is difficult. Rather than treating these setbacks as reasons to retreat, he used them as practical education. That resilience later became central to the development of Oak Lawn Marketing and Shop Japan.

The company's breakthrough came through television shopping. Roche initially sold parallel-imported products such as Tiffany goods and Lands' End bags, before being introduced to Japanese television retailing. He had to learn every part of the operation: presenting products on television, answering calls, packing goods, applying shipping labels and even cleaning the office. The experience gave him an unusually grounded understanding of direct-response retail. It also demonstrated that leadership credibility is built when leaders understand the real work of the organisation.

As the business grew, Roche and his colleagues recognised an opportunity in imported infomercials. They secured products that were already successful overseas, localised them for Japan and bought television time to reach Japanese consumers directly. Oak Lawn Marketing became a Japan market-entry specialist, acquiring exclusive rights to successful products and adapting media, language, labels, customer service and fulfilment for the Japanese market.

Growth created new leadership challenges. Roche describes a company that scaled quickly, often without elegant systems or conventional management infrastructure. Recruiting was difficult in Nagoya, and hires from elite corporations often struggled with th