Unchanged feelings even after 14 years

In mid-September, I visited the United States on a business trip for the first time in several years. Looking back, the last time I visited the United States was in 2018, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

I was surprised to realize that I hadn't visited the United States for such a long time!

 

The reason of the trip this time was for an exhibition called "Super Corr" in Orlando, Florida – often referred to as the Mecca of theme parks.

My primary objective was to deepen the personal connections between our company, ISOWA, and our important customers, not just our business-to-business relationships. To that end, over the course of three days, ISOWA America hosted a dinner at a different venue each evening.

 

Day 1.

Day 2.

Day 3.

A total of 12 companies and 31 customers attended.

In addition, 5 representatives from ISOWA America and 5 from ISOWA Japan attended, including Hikaru, Mr. A (who oversees sales in America), and engineers Mr. Su and Mr.Sa from ISOWA Japan.

Every night, I gave a short speech to the guests at the start of the event.

"My grandfather founded the company in 1920, and my father joined in 1949.

At the time, ISOWA was only the 6th largest manufacturer of corrugated board machinery in Japan.

My father first came to America in 1964.

That was a small step for him but one giant leap for ISOWA.

He had been hoping to establish a technical partnership with General Corporation in New Jersey for the production of semi-automatic gluers. After writing to them for 10 months without a response, he finally managed to visit the U.S. in person.

My father stayed at a hotel in New York and was determined to make the partnership a reality. Despite the fact that it was the middle of winter, he took the bus to their factory in New Jersey every day. After ten days of persistence, they finally reached an agreement.

Although the gluer that they had partnered with was not as successful in Japan as they had hoped, fortunately, when General Corporation saw the flexographic printing presses that ISOWA was manufacturing, they approached us with a counterproposal: "We want to sell these to our customers in America."

And so, in 1966, our export business to America began.

This was the beginning. And thanks to your continued patronage, ISOWA has been able to come this far.

I can't help but think that my late father would have loved to be here.

There are many cardboard companies. However, we do not want to create just "so-called customers."

We always want to foster long-lasting partnerships with customers who share our values.

That's right, we exist for "eternal true customers" like you, who have gathered here today.

I have been in this industry for 40 years. Of course, I will continue to work hard for you. Beyond that, I am confident that my son Hikaru, along with ISOWA America and ISOWA Japan will continue to strengthen the bonds built over the years."

In July 1969, when I was still in elementary school, I watched the first human landing on the moon by the American spacecraft Apollo 11 on TV with bated breath. I've quoted the famous words of the captain of the ship, Neil Armstrong.

As you can imagine, I was nervous when it came to English.

14 years ago, when I first visited one of the companies participating in this event, I was asked to give a presentation introducing ISOWA to their top management as we had no prior business dealings up to that point.

Among the guests at this dinner party was someone who had been present at that time.

That person shared with me his memories from that day.

He recalled, "During the Q&A session after the presentation, when a colleague asked you how ISOWA was going to approach the American market in the future, you responded, 'ISOWA does not look at the market. What we look at is the customer. ' I was really surprised by that."

I was moved that he still remembered what I said 14 years ago.

The speech I gave this time reflects the same core principle. In other words, it is "the unchanging basic stance of ISOWA."

Ron from ISOWA America, who was also at the event 14 years ago, said to me, "Every time I see him, he talks about that time. He says, 'When I think back on it, I still get emotional.'"

I am grateful to hear that. I really felt that they are our 'Best Customer forever.'

We gave each participant a Hina doll as a gift.

I was able to share a wonderful time with everyone who attended. I want to thank you all.

I would also like to thank everyone at ISOWA America, including Nick, for all the hard work behind the scenes in making everything possible.