Our own company

February 7, 2022
June 8, 2022

Do You Want to Participate in Our Factory Tour?

Asahikawa, Hokkaido, it’s the city of rivers This is the central station of our hometown, Asahikawa, seen from due south. The two bridges are still new, built about 10 years ago. In the days without the two bridges, the city center was divided into two parts, and the south side of the station was just a deserted area. Even now, the area is full of nature for the second biggest city in Hokkaido with the population of 340,000. The river is so clean and beautiful that I once saw a businessman in a suit walking down from the station, taking out a fishing rod from his briefcase, and fishing trout in a moment. He looked so cool like James Bond. Anyway, having an oasis in the very center is one of the charms of our hometown, but our chairman doesn’t seem to be satisfied at all. Riversides should be a […]

October 29, 2021
April 23, 2022

Have You Seen a Wooden Ball Pit?

A ball pit is Japanese standard playground equipment Once upon a time (like 30 years ago) when I was a kid, department stores seemed to be particularly attractive, like an amusement park. They had all sorts of toys, candies, food, everything children get engrossed in. Although it’s funny if I think back about it now, almost all the Japanese department stores had a playground on the rooftop. A ball pit was one of the most popular playground equipment back then. Even after such a playground was gone from the department stores, a ball pit still looks popular for kids. Nowadays even personal type is sold on Amazon. Today, let me introduce our wooden ball pit. The wooden ball pit made by us, a wooden furniture maker A wooden ball pit is quite common in Japan, but our product is unique and different from others. The wooden balls are made of […]

June 22, 2021
April 20, 2022

Can You Tell If It’s Real or fake?

Genuine and artificial leather Do you know how to distinguish genuine leather? Japanese import tariff on leather and leather goods is very high in order to protect domestic industry. When I worked as a customs inspector, it was important and also difficult to distinguish genuine and artificial leather declared to customs. Some of you may say “I can tell by the smell,” but that’s not correct. The smell generally believed as leather smell comes mainly from oil used at the final process. Some genuine leather doesn’t have the smell. How to distinguish real leather The quick trick customs inspectors use is to put a nail mark on leather (behind declarer’s back, of course). When it’s genuine leather, it remains longer (sometimes forever—I’m sorry, importers). Unfortunately, this trick is not always effective. Correct leather thickly polyurethane-painted and furthermore embossed shows almost the same reaction as artificial leather. The introduction has become […]

June 4, 2021
April 20, 2022

Don’t Empty Morgan 4/4 Out with the Bathwater

Free-will decisions and market principles Are you always confident of your free-will decisions? MISTRA (Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart, 1990) has proved our ways of thinking and behaving are NOT genetically affected. The surrounding environment affects us much more. To be honest, I even doubt the existence of free will, though. Let me ask one more question. Do you believe market principles are always correct? We ordinary people don’t always make rational decisions based on detailed and correct knowledge, just as the principles expect. Free-will decisions and market principles are two main grounds that neo-liberalism is based on. I don’t like neo-liberalism. It’s not because of such weak grounds but because it steals my favorite things, such as Morgan 4/4. The unique heritage of Morgan The legendary car debuted in 1936 and continued to be produced without changing the basic design for more than 80 years. Can you believe […]

January 7, 2021
April 20, 2022

Is the Power of a Name Important?

No-name is real rock! I started playing the guitar when I was 15 years old. It was around when NIRVANA started dominating the music scene and destroying the existing values. People made a fuss, saying “Alternative Rock is not tainted by commercialism.” I gave cold look to such fanatical people. NIRVANA didn’t look new to me at all because they had a name, the same as the existing bands. I know it sounds strange. Names are practically necessary for anyone, but the young me purely wanted rock musicians to be anti-establishment. Today, let me introduce real rock in that sense. It’s Souseki Natsume. He is the most famous novelist in Japan (1867 – 1916). His masterpiece is “I Am a Cat.” The story starts with these sentences “I am a cat. As yet I have no name.” How rock it is! Let’s dig deeper the power of a name. Sapir-Whorf […]

December 29, 2020
April 20, 2022

End of Year Greetings with Gratitude from Japan 2020

Competing for people’s time online What’s the difference between Black Friday and Cyber Monday? As I checked them on Wikipedia, the former came into use in 70’s; the latter was just born in 2005. I feel both are fast spreading also in Japan in these few years. Now that the main sales battlefield is online, they are synonym to me. Actually, in the U.S., Black Friday 2020 online sales gained more than 20% on 2019, while store traffic was down by more than 50%. Coupled with the COVID pandemic, a battle for online sales becomes more severe. In other words, companies are now competing for people’s time online. This is not somebody else’s issue. I very well know I’m a part of the competition. Today, let me explain the logic and strategy behind this blog. Logic and strategy behind this blog In most cases, the articles of the blog start […]

December 8, 2020
April 20, 2022

Which Do You Want to Be, Generalists or Specialists?

The principle of 10000 hours Many people seem to discuss this issue a lot these days. Probably, we are afraid that robots may take over human jobs in the near future. In Japan, generalists have dominated the business world for a long time, but the odds may become against them. The future of even specialists is not completely secured, though. Some business books say we need two specialized skills in order to compete robots in business. That sounds desperate especially to generalists like me. You’ve heard about the principle of 10000 hours, right? Malcolm Gladwell has written we must spend at least 10000 hours to become a true master of any skill. It seems almost impossible for a generalist to aim for a specialist from today. Can we (generalists) escape this certain death? Generalists seeing the bigger picture While struggling in despair, I found a book with an encouraging title […]

December 1, 2020
April 20, 2022

Do You Know How to Listen to Wood?

Not good tellers but good listeners If you could only watch one movie for the rest of your life, what would you choose? It may sound stupid but is a very common question in Japan. People are asking each other like, if you could only eat it for the rest of your life, would it be curry or ramen? Anyway, it’s an easy question for me. “Stand by Me” is it, but today’s article is not about the movie itself but about the phrase in the original story by Stephen King. The phrase has since been a compass in my life, though I don’t remember it word by word. He wrote like: good stories disappear due to a lack of good listeners not tellers. Save good stories from going to the graves Have you ever discovered in a conversation a new side of even a long-standing friend? Surprised at his/her […]

September 7, 2020
April 20, 2022

We Don’t Leave Our Destiny in the Invisible Hand

The world becomes more economically rational Adam Smith is one of the the 18th century’s leading philosophers and also economists. He said that the market might appear chaotic but was actually guided by an invisible hand. People act or choose actions for self interest. Such actions result in the economic growth of the whole society. Thanks to the IT revolution, we are able to compare commodities more quickly and widely. In other words, our self-interest choices must be more accurate. Accordingly, our society must get more economically rational at least. Invisible hand more powerful due to the IT revolution The invisible hand has been gaining more power due to the IT revolution. I don’t wholeheartedly celebrate that, though. Indeed, we consumers are able to make more rational choices. Products, producers, sellers, etc. surviving at this moment have passed market valuation. The valuation is getting more and more severe by […]