About Us
From IT solutions to teaching kids English
Daniel Crawford, Executive Vice President and Director
Grape City is a company that has four main businesses: IT solutions, LeySer-school management software, Grape SEED-interactive English learning solutions, and WINE studios-film studio where commercials and media films are produced. While companyʼs headquarters are located in Sendai, Japan, this company has offices in 9 different countries, like USA, China, Russia, and many others. More than 1,000 employees from all around the world work for Grape City Inc. making this company truly international.
Vision
Customers trusted partner
Grape City Inc. is a company that always wants to empower their customersʼ success. The company focuses on high quality and dedicated trustworthy customer services and always works hard to become customersʼ trusted partner by always proposing the best solutions for their business lifecycle. The companyʼs idea is that in order to be the best for their customers, they constantly need to change by improving and updating their services, but it promises that the commitment to customer success will never change.
Image of Ideal Candidates
Challenging Minds
The companyʼs ideal candidate is a person who is ready to accept new challenges, has a flexible mind, and is strongly motivated to work at Grape City. Of course, since Grape City is an IT company in the first place, a preference is given to people who majored in Computer science. Also, a prospective employee should be able to speak both English and Japanese, and speaking Chinese is a very big advantage as well since The company works a lot with Chinese partners. As vice-president of the company Mr. Crawford said: “In the 21st century speaking at least two languages is mandatory, while ability to speak more than two languages opens more doors.”
Messages
Global company with a local charm
ONO Akinori, Division Manager, Development Div., Tools Dept.
ONO Akinori, Division Manager (Development Div., Tools Dept.): “I grew up in Sendai, so I wanted to work for a local company in Sendai. In addition, I was interested in working for a company that could provide a global environment. Grape City Inc. was a win-win deal for me. Sendai is comfortable to live in and the size of city is just right to have a peaceful life. Our company has offices in many other countries, so we communicate with foreign employees in English and enjoy the foreign culturesʼ differences together.”
International students would like to know
Q: Are you thinking about expanding your business into new areas?
A (Daniel Crawford, Executive Vice President and Director): “Actually, we donʼt really think thatʼs a good idea. We work in the areas where we are competent, if we started working in the areas we arenʼt so good in, we wouldnʼt be able to compete in new industries. Even though many Japanese people tend to think that one should always try to be good at everything, I donʼt agree with that way of thinking. I think itʼs important to focus only on the things youʼre good at and to keep improving them in order to become successful.”
Q: What are the advantages of working at the Grape City?
A: (ONO Akinori, Division Manager (Development Div., Tools Dept.): “We can attend interesting seminars and other events to use the chance to improve our skills, because this company thinks that new experiences can be beneficial for new projects in the company. Grape City Inc. is located in Sendai as well as in many other countries all around the world, so people who were born in Sendai have an amazing opportunity to work in the hometown Sendai, but also to go on many business trips to many different places. Japanese employees can use their experiences if they were studying abroad in the past or can speak foreign languages. There are many different types of jobs and many employees coming from different countries work together, so all together we can share different points of view to create many internationally recognized projects.”
