By Peter Harris -- Tokyo diamond broker Mark Willis and his unique business model of serving the expat community -- Like so many long-term residents in Japan, Mark Hiroshi Willis’ first job here, back in 1991, was teaching English. Although he enjoyed the job, Willis was a qualified gemologist and had always known that his professional future lay with diamonds.

By Dave Mori, President of the Entrepreneur Association of Tokyo -- How being a duck out of water can actually help you succeed -- When I first moved to Japan just 6 years ago, I was dismayed to discover that many of my Japanese friends didn’t know what an entrepreneur was. As a student I had heard compelling tales of Japan’s terrific entrepreneurial growth in post-war Japan and I couldn’t understand how entrepreneurship had seemingly disappeared from the Japanese way of life.

Tim WilliamsBy Chris Betros -- Tim Williams of ValueCommerce fame speaks about his new venture -- New Zealander Tim Williams, struck gold with Internet marketing company ValueCommerce, and is now launching his latest venture—an online wine and lifestyle portal.

In the last of our profiles of people who have become successful in Japan without speaking fluent Japanese, we cover entrepreneurs. Now I realize that I've skipped R&D professionals, English professors, golf course designers, sports coaches, priests, and no doubt a slew of other professions. However, I hope that by picking up on multinational executives, Geeks, and now entrepreneurs, that I have been able to establish a pattern for creating a successful career despite some obvious handicaps - a pattern that not only works in Japan but also in other countries as well.