Much debate exists about the difficulties and structural obstacles that impede foreign companies when conducting business in Japan. Consequently, foreign concerns frequently neglect or even spurn the opportunities presented in the Japanese market. While much is known about the success of Japanese companies penetrating and dominating Western markets, much less is known about the actual experience of those companies attempting to reverse the flow. The research conducted for this thesis is based on approximately forty interviews, many of them Chief Executives of MNCs successfully operating in the consumer goods industry in Japan. Also included were advertising agents, consultants and other facilitators. Peer group evaluation was used to gauge the success of the companies and interviewees were selected on this basis. The research is based on interviews conducted in Japan during 1990-91. By applying the principles of grounded theory a broad assessment was made of the approaches adopted toward consumer goods marketing. Japanese opportunities and obstacles were appraised, as were foreign companies' responses to them, by drawing on frameworks established by Porter (1991) and Quelch and Hoff (1986). Moreover, efforts were made to synthesise the ingredients of successful strategy. The question was probed as to what difficulties foreign MNCs perceive, in both Japan and its markets and a central issue tackled is whether these perceptions are matched by reality. A marked contrast was evident between the views of the protectionist lobby and that of those foreign executives active in the market. The view of the latter is that the Japanese consumer market can be considered an open market. But, being open does not mean that it is easy to penetrate. Japan offers a testing commercial climate, one in which only the strongest survive, Japanese or otherwise.