»My home is where my work is – and that can be anywhere in the world.«
Franz P. Roos, employee at the company representative office in Tokyo, 1933

In the early 1930s, the commercial distributor Schmidt Shoten – the company representative in Japan – is looking for new employees »with a good training background, a good upbringing, an impeccable education and an objective, modest attitude, whose loyalty and commitment run in their blood [and who are willing] to adjust to the different type of circumstances in Japan«.

For this task, »E. Merck«, Darmstadt, Germany, chooses Franz P. Roos, who has just completed a commercial apprenticeship. The 22-year-old is to promote the company’s interests with the representative company and intensify contact with customers in Japan. Roos remains a company employee and acts in accordance with orders from the Darmstadt-based company. In doing so, he should take into account the wishes of Schmidt Shoten where possible. He commits himself to learning Japanese and E. Merck, Darmstadt, Germany, pays for the language courses. After a four-year period of employment, Roos is promised a five-month holiday to Europe including a free return journey, as long as he is not dismissed for personal reasons. Until then, he is to receive annual leave of 14 days. In addition, the company will assume the costs in case of illness during his stay in Tokyo.

Franz P. Roos accepts the conditions, signs his new employment contract on August 10, 1932 and departs for Japan by rail and ship just one day later. He sets off from the main train station in Mainz, traveling via Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Poland, Moscow, Siberia, Manchuria, and Korea to Japan. It takes him two and a half weeks to make the journey. Today, a flight from Frankfurt am Main airport to Tokyo takes less than 12 hours.

In a detailed report Franz P. Roos describes the strains of his journey, his difficulties with authorities and natural disasters as well as his impressions of people and landscapes: »It is a little difficult to recount what we did all day long, because what we had to say to one other had long been said, and the landscapes remained virtually the same the entire time [...]. The journey through Korea fully compensates the traveler for the desolate appearance of the Russian-Siberian landscape [...]. All of a sudden, the first rays of sunshine appear over mountains and sea. This is how I saw Japan for the first time in the true meaning of the ›Land of the Rising Sun‹ […]. ›Tokyo, Tokyo‹ comes yelling from the loudspeaker, the brakes of the train grind to a halt. After traveling for seventeen days I finally reached my destination on August 29, 1932.«

The first verifiable business contact with Japan dates back to 1869, when »Schulze Reis & Co. in Yokohama« is mentioned in a business ledger. At the beginning of the 20th century, the demand for reagents and specialty products increases. In 1927, E. Merck, Darmstadt, Germany, transfers its representation in Japan to Schmidt Shoten.

In a letter, Schmidt Shoten asks Louis Merck for a new employee to work at the company representative office in Japan. The company selects the merchant Franz P. Roos, who after signing his contract, immediately travels from Germany to Japan via Moscow and Siberia, describing his impressions in a detailed travel log.

Franz P. Roos works for the company in Asia for nearly ten years. First working in Tokyo, he then moves to the branch of Schmidt Shoten in Osaka. In 1938, he is transferred to Shanghai, before being sent to Mukden two years later. In 1941, Franz P. Roos leaves Asia and returns to Germany on the Trans-Siberian railway.