Ever since I was a student, I wanted to make my own business. In my last position, I worked at a consulting firm so that I could improve my skills in creating and developing business. I could see various industries and business of corporations up close and could take in a lot of knowledge, from ascertaining issues to developing solutions. I resolved to use that experience and eventually transfer to a business firm where I could build my own business. I had two important criteria for choosing a company that I would transfer to. First, it had to be a global company. Second, it had to be related to Japan. In Taiwan, where I was born and raised, people are very familiar with Japanese content, and it is permeated throughout our daily lives. When I was in elementary school, manga and anime were quite popular, and in high school even I was crazy about Japanese TV dramas and music. I was very influenced by this, and so I have always been interested in the Japanese culture and lifestyle. So I was incredibly happy when I found that KADOKAWA is recruiting new staff. I remember being excited when thinking about participating in global business at a company which had a hand in content that I came to be crazy about.

The first thing I was involved with after joining KADOKAWA was a project for establishing new offices overseas. I participated in establishing offices in Thailand and Malaysia after discussing and researching the priority order of countries and regions we should expand into. And currently, I am working on strategic proposals and new business development in each country, based on our mission of business growth in Asia. I think that the most unique and biggest strength in KADOKAWA’s global business development is certainly the company having their own local offices. The KADOKAWA way is not to just license out properties and rely on local companies. KADOKAWA does everything themselves, from the marketing to the strategic proposals to the implementation. They set up local roots. By promoting business along with staff in each country, not only can they make and expand content that matches the culture and customs of each country, but they can also realize unique and advanced business ideas. For example, in Taiwan, we didn’t have the category of books called “light novels” in Japan until KADOKAWA launched them there. However, they have created a new market for light novels there using the Chinese characters for the name of such novels. They have also launched a UGC (User Generated Content) Platform where users can freely post their own creations, such as manga and novels. They are also increasing their business for commercially producing content created overseas and selling it not only in the country of origin, but also importing it to Japan and other countries. This is all possible because KADOKAWA has their own local offices. Because they don’t rely on other companies, they can try out unprecedented kinds of business.

KADOKAWA’s business field has already expanded worldwide. Different countries have their own cultures and business practices. So KADOKAWA does not ask its overseas employees who join the company to have the same thinking or perspectives as a Japanese person. What’s important is taking your full knowledge of the country in which you were born and raised and turning that into a strength. KADOKAWA is a company where Taiwanese people, Thai people, and Japanese people all utilize their unique strengths, and bring a lot of excitement to the world by everyone fusing these together. Everyone has a fair chance. Communication is very open, and the company climate is one in which anyone can propose an idea anytime. If you have a great idea, you are provided with an environment where you can see it through to the end, and you can utilize KADOKAWA Group’s various resources. Your colleagues will cheer you on as you take on unprecedented challenges, and give you support as needed. You don’t need to be afraid of failure. KADOKAWA is a company where no matter how many times you fail, they look forward to your new proposals. The company is a perfect fit for people who can enjoy new challenges and people who want to work on new ideas one by one.
By the way, this working style doesn’t cause any discomfort for people from overseas. Before I came to KADOKAWA, even I thought that Japanese companies all had long working hours and commutes on packed trains. But that’s not how it is at all. Now I do around 85% of my work remotely, and I’m not working in a way that’s stressful. You can work with peace of mind and body and show the full potential of your creativity. That might be another one of KADOKAWA’s strengths.

*The contents of this article are from the time of the interview (September 2022).