In my previous columns (Like a bolt from the blue, Part 1 & Part 2), I presented a story filled with various kinds of events spanning about eight months. It began with my out-of-the-blue moment for deciding our office relocation and ended with its completion. I wrote that a bolt from the blue may not come by chance. That moment literally came when a plan for office renovation was offered from our young employee and worked as an incentive for relocation at the same time when I experienced a change in my mind. But that wasn’t the only driving force of our moving to a new office. I would like to present another story that led to my bolt-out-of-the-blue moment. It was about the area around Takadanobaba Station that turned into something like a chaotic lawless zone when the pandemic broke out. Takadanobaba is home to Waseda University, which receives many students from overseas under the slogan that reads, “Let’s go beyond Japanese universities.” It also houses many language schools for foreign students who wish to study at Japanese universities and work at Japanese companies. Various kinds of people living and walking in this town bring vibrancy to this area. As I used to work as an expatriate in Los Angeles in the United States, a city that’s often called a melting spot of races, I loved the vibrancy of Takadanobaba characterized by people’s diversity and dynamism. However, sudden outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic brought about unprecedented changes to this area. As a result of growing demands for food delivery services from people who were forced to stay at home, delivery persons on bicycles waiting for delivery orders were seen sticking around the station. Their number apparently increased by the day. On my way home from work in the evening, I often found many delivery persons and their bicycles occupied the sidewalks, making it difficult for pedestrians to walk there. The sight of delivery persons with their hoods up and their eyes glued on their smartphones reminded me of chaotic scenes of sic-fi movies. I was also concerned about their delivery bicycles racing around with large keep-warm containers on their back seats. I began to feel the area was becoming something like a lawless zone, which in turn made me worry about the safety of our employees.

Around that time, it was almost impossible for us to expand our office space in Sai-ai Building. Since moving there 40 years ago, we have taken various measures to improve office environment such as expanding office space, moving to a different space inside the building, adding to another meeting room, and renewing furniture and fixings. Our pre-pandemic work style required about 30 percent of our employees to make business trips on a daily basis to Shizuoka Prefecture in central Japan as our main client headquarters there. Mondays were the only days of the week when all our members got together in our office in Tokyo. San-Ai Building was able to serve as an appropriate space for such work styles as well as providing necessary office functions. But our work style was forced to change dramatically due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. Working from home became a new normal thought it was not available in our pre-pandemic work environment. Few employees worked from office despite a drastic decline in business trips. On the other hand, a new trend of working began to emerge in Japanese society. Some companies relocated to local cities or reduced their office spaces in Tokyo, while others decided to do away with their office spaces. I kept wondering what kind office environment and functions would be required for creative persons in post-pandemic society. As I spent days wondering what to do with our office space, I was given a fascinating proposal on office refurbishment from a young employee, which brought home to me the limit of expanding our office space inside San-ai Building. It also made me realize that more efforts to take stopgap measures would fall short of achieving workable solutions. Around that time, I began to make up my mind to do things from scratch.

Now I am planning to invite people associated with our company to our wonderful new office when the pandemic subsides.

President

Yoshiharu Sugawara