The Company has in place a succession plan that was established by the Honorary Chairman Shuichi Kato when he retired from his position as President.
Here we will explain the stance behind this plan.

When founder Kaoru Kato was the President of the Company, he would completely entrust Shuichi Kato (now Honorary Chairman) with the areas that he had shown interest in and tried his hand at, and never interfered in them again after that. The business was gradually passed down in this way, and Kaoru Kato stepped down as President at the age of 64 and handed the reins over to Shuichi Kato. Shuichi Kato was only 35 years old at the time, but says that he had felt neither fear nor hesitation.
Having taken over as President through this natural process, Shuichi Kato developed the following ideas about succession:
Many business managers tend to think that they “can still do it.” However, that is their own wish and it is questionable whether it is really for the good of the company. This is because the younger generation “can already do it.” Rather than have an older person continue serving as President for a long time, they should believe that younger employees “can already do it” and actively entrust the work and duties of the President to their successor, so as to bring about the rejuvenation of the company.
Thereafter, Shuichi Kato established a fixed retirement age for Presidents of the Company in order to ensure smooth succession from generation to generation.
Setting a retirement age has made it possible for Presidents to establish a clear target for training their successors within the fixed number of years before they have to hand over the Presidency, making the training of successors one of the key responsibilities of a President.
Shuichi Kato has described management as the “ekiden (Japanese road relay),” an endless relay race. Therefore, even if were to work hard in the short-term to produce profits only for that moment in time, it would be completely meaningless for the long-term management of the company.
Yuji Yoshihara is the fifth President of the Company. As the fifth runner in this relay race, he has firmly taken over the President’s baton filled with the aspirations of our founder, and he will steer the management forward without overdoing it.