Company L. has been one of our valued customers since Jack’s grandfather purchased an ISOWA FFG back in 1973.
On April 29th, Jack, his wife, Josie, and his daughter, Amy, visited our company while they were on vacation in Japan.
They stayed in Kyoto, left there at noon to
visit ISOWA, and returned to Kyoto that night.
*The
distance from Kyoto to Aichi, where ISOWA is located, is about 115 km(75
miles).
I last met Jack three years ago in the fall.
After they arrived, Darz from the Overseas
Department gave them a company introduction.
At the end of her presentation, she was talking about ISOWA’s philosophy, then suddenly
lost her words and started crying.
That was a big surprise for both Jack’s
family and me. However, seeing someone cry while talking about the company is
something that makes the company president truly happy. I was deeply moved by
her presentation.
After that, Mr. A took them on a tour of
our factory, and at the end of the tour, Mr. S, a leader from the Engineering
Department, spoke in English about his passion for development. I could really
feel his extraordinary passion for development. Great job, Mr. S!
After the factory tour, all three of them
told us, “The factory is very clean!”
Jack, who owns a family business as I do,
also said, “I deeply understand that we and ISOWA are heading toward the same
destination.” He also asked, “How do you keep 300 employees united?”
The conversation about local communities
and charitable donations became very lively.
Until now, we have mainly considered
donations from ISOWA Japan's perspective.
However, this conversation inspired us to think about how ISOWA America might
also contribute through charitable activities within its capabilities,
especially in the United States, where a culture of philanthropy is deeply
rooted.
After that, we went to dinner together.
Since Jack visited us with his family, I decided to treat them together with my
family.
The most impressive dish was this
Chateaubriand served with egg yolk and grated daikon radish. The beef was quite
thick, yet it was so tender that it could easily be cut with chopsticks. That showed
just how excellent the beef was.
We also prepared some special gifts.
One was “Kohen,” a sake from Kintora Brewery, a Nagoya-based sake brewery run by relatives on my mother’s side. I hope they chilled it and enjoyed it at their hotel.
Another gift was a piece of calligraphy
featuring the Japanese kanji character for “Liberty,” written by my wife on
colored paper made with MILDAN using recycled milk-carton paper, experimentally provided by T Company, another
valued ISOWA customer.
They could not read the kanji and did not
understand its meaning at first. However, when I explained the meaning to them,
they were very surprised and excited! It turned out to be a really great gift
idea.
In return, when they visited Tokyo, they
also brought us special good-luck charms from Sensō-ji, a temple in Asakusa,
including a talisman for business prosperity.
With the “Liberty” calligraphy and the
good-luck charms from Sensō-ji, we will continue striving to build great family
companies together!
