About Us

Rather than being a “jack of all trades”, we do only one thing… help non-Japanese companies find the right sales partners in Japan.

In fact, we’re probably the only company in the world focused entirely on helping companies find the right distributors, agents, and importers in Japan.

Tom Lister, founder and president of Data Meridian Research, is an expert on the Japanese distribution system and on how foreign products are sold successfully in Japan.

He is fluent in Japanese and has over 35 years of experience in the Japanese market. He has expertise in many areas of international business including market research, competitive intelligence, market selection and entry, management of distribution channels, and product localization.

Previous to establishing Data Meridian, Tom cofounded Dascom, a computer security company headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices in Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, Australia, the United Kingdom, and France. Tom held a number of senior positions at Dascom prior to the company’s acquisition by IBM.

He also held senior sales and marketing positions in the Tokyo office of AT&T UNIX System Laboratories (USL) Pacific and was founder and president of Kuma Systems, a Tokyo-based company that provided export support services to Japanese businesses.

He has a BA in Japanese Language and Business from ICU (Tokyo) and an MBA with Distinction in International Management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management.

Tom and his team have helped hundreds of companies of all sizes and from all over the world, selling everything from consumer goods to highly specialized B2B, medical, industrial, technical, and scientific products, find the right Japanese sales partners.