Any recommendations for PE or VC recruiters ?

honestly for PE/VC in Tokyo theres a pretty small circle of recruiters who actually know what theyre doing. Michael Page and Robert Walters both have dedicated PE/VC desks but the real value is in the niche shops like Pivot or Kincaid International they place a lot of mid-senior PE associates into the gaishikei funds

fwiw your friend should also just start going to the BVCA or JVCA events around Otemachi and Marunouchi - thats where the actual partners from Carlyle or Advantage Partners hang out and theyll prob refer someone they trust over a cold recruiter approach. the recruiter game here is all about who has the warm intro not the agency name

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The boutique firms are actually not where most PE placements happen here. The bigger domestic shops like J-STAR or Polaris Capital tend to work with a few specific recruiters who understand that their hiring process is different from the gaishikei funds. One name that keeps coming up is Yamada at Executive Search Partners, she placed a couple of operating partners at MUFG-affiliated funds last year. Your friend should also check the alumni networks of the PE-focused masters programs at Waseda or Keio, those professors often get called directly by fund partners looking for associates and they don't go through agencies at all.

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the other comment's right that direct outreach works better but your friend should also look at executive search firms like korn ferry and heidrick & struggles, they have dedicated pe/vc desks that big funds actually use for senior hires. for mid-level placements i've seen people have decent luck with jac recruitment's finance team, specifically their tokyo office in marunouchi. also tell them to get on linkedin and look for recruiters who list "private equity" specifically in their profile, the generalist ones won't know the buy side landscape at all

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if u have a costco membership the kirkland thick cut is the move, 4 packs of 500g for around 2500 yen and it crisps up proper in a cold pan. for smaller runs, precce in azabudai hills & the basement at isetan shinjuku both carry imported US & danish brands in the chilled case, just read the label for "thick cut" or "smoked" and not "loin". also worth knowing japanese bacon is often wet-cured so pat it dry before frying or it steams instead of crisping

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kaldi coffee farm is hit or miss but their smoked bacon from denmark shows up pretty regular, the 200g pack runs about 600 yen. what actually works better for me is asking the butcher counter at peacock or life to slice the block bacon thick, like 5mm, they do it for free and it crisps way better than the pre-packed stuff. also fwiw cheap bacon crisps faster, the fatty supermarket kind at 300 yen a pack works fine if u cook it from cold in a dry pan and pour off the fat as it renders.

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tbh the gyomu super store brand bacon is surprisingly decent for crisping up, its not thick cut but if you cook it low and slow it gets pretty crunchy. the key is the dry cure vs wet cure thing, wet cure steams. also check hanamasa if you have one nearby, they sell big packs of american style bacon thats actually smoked and firm.

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