"Borders are just lines on a map. With the right tools, business has no boundaries."
The Meeting That Shouldn't Have Worked — But Did
March 23, 2026.
I sat down in front of my Zoom screen.
On the other side: Koji Tanaka, CEO of MIC Co., Ltd. — a seasoned businessman from Osaka, Japan.
He speaks almost no Korean. I speak zero Japanese.
Yet for nearly an hour, we had a genuine conversation.
We talked about building maintenance operations, Mongolia expansion strategies, Korea-Japan collaboration opportunities, and each other's long-term visions — with no shared language between us.
How? We had AI as our interpreter.
This isn't a story about technology. It's a story about what happens when two people decide that language isn't going to stop them.
Who Is Koji Tanaka?
Koji Tanaka is the CEO of MIC Co., Ltd. (株式会社 ミック), a comprehensive facility management company headquartered in Osaka.
With branches in Tokyo, Nagoya, Fukuoka, and a brand-new Mongolia office established in February 2025, Tanaka leads a team of:
- ~250 part-time cleaning staff
- ~50 full-time facilities engineers
- 25 years of industry experience
But don't mistake this for a simple cleaning company. From large-scale commercial complexes and high-rise apartments to wedding halls, theme parks, and Ministry of Justice training facilities — Tanaka's team handles emergency drainage, waterproofing, electrical, and fire safety systems. He's not a facility manager. He's a problem-solver at scale.
His network is equally impressive: bankers, national legislators, corporate advisors, attorneys, JICA contacts, and the Deputy Prime Minister of Mongolia. Within BNI, he's what you'd call a top-tier connector.
How the AI-Powered 1-to-1 Meeting Actually Worked
This meeting was part of BNI's 1-to-1 format — a structured one-on-one business exchange between members.
I had one question going in:
"Can I have a meaningful business conversation with a Japanese executive if I don't speak a word of Japanese?"
So I tried something: using GPT as a real-time interpreter.
The setup was simple. I opened Zoom, told GPT to translate everything I said into Japanese in real time. Tanaka prepared his own smartphone translation app to render responses back into Korean.
We hit a few bumps early on — real-time bidirectional AI translation still has rough edges. Once we shifted to a turn-by-turn format (one person speaks, the other listens and responds), the conversation opened up naturally.
What We Covered
- Tanaka's building maintenance education program in Mongolia (currently centered on floor wax application training, with Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan expansion planned this year)
- Over 10 Japanese BNI members already preparing businesses in Mongolia, including F&B ventures (yakiniku restaurants, yakitori)
- My AI consulting work and KOICA background — and how JICA-KOICA collaboration could be explored
- Drone-based solar panel cleaning — a Korean firm in my network is developing this
- Korea-Japan cross-sourcing of cleaning equipment and F&B business collaboration models
- A firm plan to meet in person in Tokyo and Ulaanbaatar before the year ends
- An invitation to include today's conversation in a multilingual business book I'm co-authoring
As we wrapped up, Tanaka said:
"I wouldn't have guessed you've only been in BNI for six months. You're already using it at a very high level. Looking forward to what comes next."
Let's Be Honest — AI Had Limitations Too
Full transparency: AI didn't work perfectly in both directions.
GPT handled Korean → Japanese translation beautifully. My words came out natural, fluent, and intelligible to Tanaka.
But Japanese → Korean real-time voice translation barely functioned. The AI struggled to pick up and render Tanaka's Japanese speech into Korean in a way I could use.
We solved it on the fly: Tanaka used his own phone's translation app to bridge the gap back to me.
Why the asymmetry? I'm still investigating, but likely causes include:
- Japanese speech recognition accuracy in the AI session
- Directional limitations in the AI's context setup
- Fundamental constraints of real-time bidirectional voice translation
If you've solved this or know someone who has — drop a comment. I'm actively looking for a better solution.
Do You Really Need to Speak English for Global BNI?
Here's a question I hear constantly:
"I'd love to connect with international BNI members, but my English isn't good enough..."
Today answers that question.
A Japanese executive who can't speak Korean. A Korean consultant who can't speak Japanese. One AI bridge. Nearly one hour of substantive business conversation.
Not perfect. Not seamless. But real — and productive.
The direction is clear: language is no longer an absolute barrier to global business.
BNI's "Givers Gain" philosophy doesn't stop at the border. AI is the infrastructure that carries it across.
Tanaka generously agreed to let me share today's conversation publicly and even include it in my upcoming book. That trust — given across a language gap — is what BNI is actually about.
What Comes Next
Concrete next steps from today's conversation:
- Explore introductions between Korean drone/cleaning tech companies and Tanaka's operation
- Share F&B business resources and map out Korea-Japan collaboration structures
- Connect Tanaka with cleaning and facility management members in BNI D100 Chapter
- Visit Tokyo this year for an in-person meeting
- Visit Ulaanbaatar to connect with Tanaka's Mongolia team and the local BNI chapter
- Begin discussions on Japanese-language publishing of our multilingual business book
Final Thought — A New Kind of Global Networking
Today's nearly one-hour meeting wasn't just a 1-to-1.
It was proof of concept.
BNI's platform of trust, AI's language bridge, and two people's determination to connect — these three things together opened a channel that "should have" been closed.
If you've been hesitating to reach out to international BNI members because of language barriers — stop hesitating.
Turn on your AI. Send the Zoom link. The world is closer than you think.
🔗 Leverage Research Institute | AI Consulting · Education · Global Business Strategy 👉 https://aileverage.xyz/
Led by AI Strategy Interpreter Ha Jae-woong, Leverage Research Institute supports organizations worldwide with AI adoption strategy, education programs, and global business connectivity.