Mitsubishi Shokuhin, Japan’s largest food wholesaler and part of the massive Mitsubishi Corporation, needed a way to break into the U.S. Tourists were falling in love with Japanese products, but couldn’t find a way to buy them once they got home. Yet, for the wholesaler, building market access the normal way—finding individual retailers, securing appointments with buying managers—was proving to be a slow process.
The answer came from an unlikely place. A Mitsubishi‑sponsored MBA student took an internship at Yami, an up‑and‑coming U.S. e‑commerce platform selling Chinese, Japanese, Korean and other Asian products to Asian Americans and the broader Asian diaspora.
