About Us

We’re the leading authority on distribution in Japan for non-Japanese companies, focused entirely on helping them find the ideal Japanese sales partners for their products.

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

He is fluent in Japanese and has over 40 years of experience in the Japanese market. His expertise spans many areas of international business, including market research, competitive intelligence, market selection and entry, management of distribution channels, and product localization.

Prior to establishing Data Meridian, Tom co-founded 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 before the company was acquired by IBM.

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

He holds 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 over 450 companies of all sizes and from all over the world find the right Japanese sales partners.

Companies selling everything from consumer goods to highly specialized B2B, medical, industrial, technical, and scientific products. Click here to see our track record