Passion to go to overseas markets
I want to expand my business overseas as I have a strong desire to have more people use my excellent products that have been highly evaluated in Japan, and I am confident that people will be pleased with them. But there is another reason as well. That is the change in the Japanese market.
I believe that most people in the world think that Japan is a good country. In fact, looking at it from the outside, I think it is true. I am also happy about that.
However, I believe that the reality of Japan has changed drastically in the recent 10 years.
Unfortunately, the bad aspects are increasing.
While explaining the aspects to you, I would like to talk now about why I am trying to shift my business overseas in full-scale.
Ever since I was a child, I have always wanted to work overseas instead of in Japan. However, more than 40 years ago, there were very few people who worked for foreign companies right after graduating from university. For this reason, I did not think about working for a foreign company like my friends around me, but started working at Japanese company where there were many opportunities to work abroad. There, my work was interesting and my personal life was fulfilling.
The Japanese economy was also growing rapidly at that time. Japan was also ranked first in the world in terms of academic achievement level. It was also a country that was admired by people all over the world for its safety, clean water that could be drunk anywhere, and cities that were free of litter. In addition, Japanese electronic products were highly appreciated. The Japanese people were also respected for their politeness, diligence, honesty, gentleness, cleanliness, morality, etc. It was a time when every Japanese citizen could firmly feel that "Japan is one of the respected countries!"
In this environment, Japanese people felt proud and happy to say, "I am a Japanese," no matter where they went abroad.
However, more than 40 years have passed since then, and Japanese have changed a lot.
Young people in disheveled clothes walking down the street, people staring at their phones on the sidewalk instead of avoiding people walking in front of them, people who don't give the seat to the elderly on the train, people who don't greet each other when they see each other, children whose academic performance has declined, people who are absorbed in games and social networking sites, etc. The wonderful factors of the former Japanese people are disappearing.
In terms of economy, Japan used to be the second largest country in the world in terms of GDP after the U.S., but has now been overtaken by China and is in the third place. But now, even though we are in the third place, the difference between our GDP and that of China is three times greater. In addition, there are concerns about the future growth of IT and AI technologies, the automobile industry, the electronics industry, the energy industry, and the pharmaceutical industry.
Moreover, from a fiscal standpoint, the country continues to run annual deficits, and the accumulated amount of these deficits is now a massive 1,000 trillion yen.
(To use a household analogy, the father's salary for a year is 6 million yen, but household expenses have been 10 million yen, and last year, when the coronavirus problem occurred, they were 13 million yen. And now the accumulated debt of the family has reached 100 million yen, and the aging father is very worried about what to do.)
On top of that, the working age population is decreasing due to the declining birth rate, and the society is getting older, so insurance premiums, pensions, and other financial support are increasing, and the deficit is only going to increase. How are we going to make ends meet? Japan is very worried about its future. This is the reality of Japan.
In order to improve the country, the current industries must be developed and new industries must be established.
We also need to increase the working-age population. We must stop the decline of the population.
We must raise the level of education in order to keep up with the innovation of the world. In addition, we must make Japan an attractive country where not only the Japanese people but also companies from all over the world want to do business with. However, this is not an easy task, and it will take time.
The people who will do this are the current youth. But if these young people are the ones who behave in the aforementioned manner, will Japan become a country with hope? We need to think about this thoroughly.
On the other hand, in Japan, the people with lots of money are the elderly, over 70 years old. Younger people have rarely experienced a large increase in their salaries. Therefore, they have very little assets. This makes it difficult for them to make ends meet. They can't afford luxury goods. They simply end up admiring them. This is why very few young people are interested in owning expensive things like cars. Only the elderly can afford to buy expensive things, but they don't want to spend the money. This is because they are always worried about their own lives after retirement, even when they are old, and they are concerned about their money, trying to keep it from dwindling.
Therefore, since both the young and the elderly are not spending money anymore, there is no money coming into the economic market.
The same can be said not only for assets but also for income. The average income in Japan is 5.6 million yen, but in fact, almost 65% of the population is below this average. And about 60% of the people do not spend much money because they live with the feeling that life is difficult.
This is the reason why these people think that, even if there is a product they want, it does not have to be a good product (high quality product). For them, the price that they can afford is more important than the quality. If the item they want to buy is not an absolute necessity, they care little about its quality. Instead, they would rather buy something and use it than not buy it. As long as they can have a sense of security in using the product, that is all that matters. For this reason, they buy only low-priced products.
In fact, if you look at how buyers make their decisions, they are more influenced by the advertisement of a product if it features a famous model or actress than by the product itself. In addition, if there are a lot of positive reviews of a product on the Internet, they are immediately moved. In this case, they don't think about whether the ratings are reliable or not. In other words, they are influenced by the opinions of others, not by their own thoughts, and if the product is inexpensive, they immediately buy it. This is what is happening in the health food and cosmetics market today.
In this situation, products that have become expensive because of the pursuit of authenticity would not be accepted.
Only low-level products are accepted in the market, and these are flooding the market. Therefore, an analogy for luxury products would be like having one doctoral student in an elementary school classroom. There is not a single product out there that can be compared to my products. That is why I want to provide the best products only to those who seek genuine products. And I want to continue to support them well.
I have been striving for the best products in the world, and I would like to continue to deliver such products. I sincerely hope that people who use our products will be impressed and say, "I didn't know there were such great products in the world!", and that they will be saved from their problems and have hope. All I can offer you is "genuine products, love, and sensation.
That's why there is no sense in selling such a product that aims to be the best in the world only in Japan today.
There is only one thing for me to do. That is to deliver them as quickly as possible to people who want first-class products, not shoddy or ordinary products. That is why I am going to the global market.
I have a glorious history and a strong passion to make the world a happier place. And that is my way of life.
I never want to work just to make money. If it's just for money, I think it should be done by others, not by me. I want to spend my time doing things that make sense to me, and I want to spend my time being happy by using my abilities. I want the world to be a better place.
Going global is truly a challenge.
Success will not come quickly.
There will be a lot of difficulties on the way to success. It's not an easy road. I know this very well from my many business experiences.
Even in the midst of such harshness, how happy I am to be able to overcome difficulties one by one for the people who seek my products and deliver happiness to them.
I believe that there is always happiness hidden behind bitterness.
Also, some actions that are commonplace in Japan may be special in other countries. These actions may make everybody even happier. Opening the way to such a new world is truly the romance of life. It is the uncertainty of the future that gives us pleasure.
No matter how much you think about it, there is no such thing as a 100% safe and secure business. Once I have thought it through to the point where I can't do it anymore, I just have to do it. Time will not wait for me. And life has a deadline. Even if I am going to do something great, timing is still important. If I am slow to act, there may be many people who will have to suffer even more. So, once I have made up my mind, all I have to do is think about it as I go.
I don't think it was a wrong choice for me to go to overseas market this time. Maybe God has seen my life up to now and delivered me a mission that I should do now.
I believe that if women are healthy and beautiful, there will be absolute peace in the world. There, you will see women smiling and laughing and talking happily here and there. In cafeterias in the town, there will be many people who will be happy and comfortable to see such women while drinking coffee.
That's why I'm just going forward without looking back, dreaming of such a world.
Believe in myself, my life, and my products...
I believe that most people in the world think that Japan is a good country. In fact, looking at it from the outside, I think it is true. I am also happy about that.
However, I believe that the reality of Japan has changed drastically in the recent 10 years.
Unfortunately, the bad aspects are increasing.
While explaining the aspects to you, I would like to talk now about why I am trying to shift my business overseas in full-scale.
Ever since I was a child, I have always wanted to work overseas instead of in Japan. However, more than 40 years ago, there were very few people who worked for foreign companies right after graduating from university. For this reason, I did not think about working for a foreign company like my friends around me, but started working at Japanese company where there were many opportunities to work abroad. There, my work was interesting and my personal life was fulfilling.
The Japanese economy was also growing rapidly at that time. Japan was also ranked first in the world in terms of academic achievement level. It was also a country that was admired by people all over the world for its safety, clean water that could be drunk anywhere, and cities that were free of litter. In addition, Japanese electronic products were highly appreciated. The Japanese people were also respected for their politeness, diligence, honesty, gentleness, cleanliness, morality, etc. It was a time when every Japanese citizen could firmly feel that "Japan is one of the respected countries!"
In this environment, Japanese people felt proud and happy to say, "I am a Japanese," no matter where they went abroad.
However, more than 40 years have passed since then, and Japanese have changed a lot.
Young people in disheveled clothes walking down the street, people staring at their phones on the sidewalk instead of avoiding people walking in front of them, people who don't give the seat to the elderly on the train, people who don't greet each other when they see each other, children whose academic performance has declined, people who are absorbed in games and social networking sites, etc. The wonderful factors of the former Japanese people are disappearing.
In terms of economy, Japan used to be the second largest country in the world in terms of GDP after the U.S., but has now been overtaken by China and is in the third place. But now, even though we are in the third place, the difference between our GDP and that of China is three times greater. In addition, there are concerns about the future growth of IT and AI technologies, the automobile industry, the electronics industry, the energy industry, and the pharmaceutical industry.
Moreover, from a fiscal standpoint, the country continues to run annual deficits, and the accumulated amount of these deficits is now a massive 1,000 trillion yen.
(To use a household analogy, the father's salary for a year is 6 million yen, but household expenses have been 10 million yen, and last year, when the coronavirus problem occurred, they were 13 million yen. And now the accumulated debt of the family has reached 100 million yen, and the aging father is very worried about what to do.)
On top of that, the working age population is decreasing due to the declining birth rate, and the society is getting older, so insurance premiums, pensions, and other financial support are increasing, and the deficit is only going to increase. How are we going to make ends meet? Japan is very worried about its future. This is the reality of Japan.
In order to improve the country, the current industries must be developed and new industries must be established.
We also need to increase the working-age population. We must stop the decline of the population.
We must raise the level of education in order to keep up with the innovation of the world. In addition, we must make Japan an attractive country where not only the Japanese people but also companies from all over the world want to do business with. However, this is not an easy task, and it will take time.
The people who will do this are the current youth. But if these young people are the ones who behave in the aforementioned manner, will Japan become a country with hope? We need to think about this thoroughly.
On the other hand, in Japan, the people with lots of money are the elderly, over 70 years old. Younger people have rarely experienced a large increase in their salaries. Therefore, they have very little assets. This makes it difficult for them to make ends meet. They can't afford luxury goods. They simply end up admiring them. This is why very few young people are interested in owning expensive things like cars. Only the elderly can afford to buy expensive things, but they don't want to spend the money. This is because they are always worried about their own lives after retirement, even when they are old, and they are concerned about their money, trying to keep it from dwindling.
Therefore, since both the young and the elderly are not spending money anymore, there is no money coming into the economic market.
The same can be said not only for assets but also for income. The average income in Japan is 5.6 million yen, but in fact, almost 65% of the population is below this average. And about 60% of the people do not spend much money because they live with the feeling that life is difficult.
This is the reason why these people think that, even if there is a product they want, it does not have to be a good product (high quality product). For them, the price that they can afford is more important than the quality. If the item they want to buy is not an absolute necessity, they care little about its quality. Instead, they would rather buy something and use it than not buy it. As long as they can have a sense of security in using the product, that is all that matters. For this reason, they buy only low-priced products.
In fact, if you look at how buyers make their decisions, they are more influenced by the advertisement of a product if it features a famous model or actress than by the product itself. In addition, if there are a lot of positive reviews of a product on the Internet, they are immediately moved. In this case, they don't think about whether the ratings are reliable or not. In other words, they are influenced by the opinions of others, not by their own thoughts, and if the product is inexpensive, they immediately buy it. This is what is happening in the health food and cosmetics market today.
In this situation, products that have become expensive because of the pursuit of authenticity would not be accepted.
Only low-level products are accepted in the market, and these are flooding the market. Therefore, an analogy for luxury products would be like having one doctoral student in an elementary school classroom. There is not a single product out there that can be compared to my products. That is why I want to provide the best products only to those who seek genuine products. And I want to continue to support them well.
I have been striving for the best products in the world, and I would like to continue to deliver such products. I sincerely hope that people who use our products will be impressed and say, "I didn't know there were such great products in the world!", and that they will be saved from their problems and have hope. All I can offer you is "genuine products, love, and sensation.
That's why there is no sense in selling such a product that aims to be the best in the world only in Japan today.
There is only one thing for me to do. That is to deliver them as quickly as possible to people who want first-class products, not shoddy or ordinary products. That is why I am going to the global market.
I have a glorious history and a strong passion to make the world a happier place. And that is my way of life.
I never want to work just to make money. If it's just for money, I think it should be done by others, not by me. I want to spend my time doing things that make sense to me, and I want to spend my time being happy by using my abilities. I want the world to be a better place.
Going global is truly a challenge.
Success will not come quickly.
There will be a lot of difficulties on the way to success. It's not an easy road. I know this very well from my many business experiences.
Even in the midst of such harshness, how happy I am to be able to overcome difficulties one by one for the people who seek my products and deliver happiness to them.
I believe that there is always happiness hidden behind bitterness.
Also, some actions that are commonplace in Japan may be special in other countries. These actions may make everybody even happier. Opening the way to such a new world is truly the romance of life. It is the uncertainty of the future that gives us pleasure.
No matter how much you think about it, there is no such thing as a 100% safe and secure business. Once I have thought it through to the point where I can't do it anymore, I just have to do it. Time will not wait for me. And life has a deadline. Even if I am going to do something great, timing is still important. If I am slow to act, there may be many people who will have to suffer even more. So, once I have made up my mind, all I have to do is think about it as I go.
I don't think it was a wrong choice for me to go to overseas market this time. Maybe God has seen my life up to now and delivered me a mission that I should do now.
I believe that if women are healthy and beautiful, there will be absolute peace in the world. There, you will see women smiling and laughing and talking happily here and there. In cafeterias in the town, there will be many people who will be happy and comfortable to see such women while drinking coffee.
That's why I'm just going forward without looking back, dreaming of such a world.
Believe in myself, my life, and my products...