>>There's still this pervasive idea that if you're not a member of some multi-corporation conglomeration like Toyota or Sony, that you're not doing "real" business.

I agree, and it drives me kind of nuts.

This is something I think you need to work with, rather than against, since this is a reality that won't change in the short term.

Our solution will be to try to get some of these large Japanese companies as customers, to give us the credibility we need to approach more and more businesses around Japan, and I'd advise anyone else trying to break into the B2B market to do the same.