To me, the fishery industry was full of strange and confusing customs at that time. For example, an octopus without all 8 of its legs was considered to have no market value and sold at a discount. So I purchased them and sliced them into cuts for sushi shops. They sold like hotcakes. Additionally, the cuttlefish was a popular ingredient in Japanese, Western and Chinese cuisines, but its fins were considered unnecessary and thrown away, while even the disposal cost money.

I thought of ways to repurpose it, and came up with the idea of mincing and kneading it into chikuwa. From there I sold them at a reasonable price to a processing operator, whereupon it became popular and orders started coming in mass. I also purchased a large quantity of Alaska pollock holding inventory, and resold it as fried fish. This too became a popular ready-made dish. I sold it at the market on Sundays, giving up my day off. I was simply having a lot of fun in the fishery industry. Once I started thinking about ways to make customers happy, ideas just simply started popping up in my head one after another. Fish that were considered useless by one customer could be turned into a sales good for another. I became completely immersed.

<<Foray Into Frozen Foods>>

It was a period when frozen foods started to appear. I had just started working, and was in charge of selling them as meals to school cafeterias and hospitals, as well as izakaya bars. We also handled frozen edamame, but since the general public was not familiar with frozen vegetables at that time, it was hard to sell. That’s where I set my eyes on beer gardens. This proved effective, but since beer gardens only operated during summer, we had to store the edamame once fall had arrived. This would bring storage costs. That’s when I proposed we rent out a warehouse inside lined with stoves, and turn it into a beer garden. This way we were able to sell both, beer and edamame. This solved the storage issue and we were able to sell edamame even during winter. The success of this arose my interest in shop management, and I even proposed an idea for a large-scale izakaya restaurant. Back then, the only izakaya with a large selection was Yoronotaki, while the majority of others operated on a much smaller scale, with a limited menu, like yakitori, hot pot, and similar. So a large restaurant with a large and varied menu would attract a large number of customers, which means we could sell the frozen foods that we handled at our company. This was a forerunner of the large-scale izakaya franchises of the present, that have a really wide selection.

Taking on new challenges was amusing, and when they succeed, it meant receiving more in revenue. Always thinking of new ideas became a part of my daily routine. On the other hand, the time I was able to dedicate to my initial goal, preparation for the National Bar Examination gradually decreased. At the time, I was taking correspondence courses of the Faculty of Law at Chuo University while also studying for the National Bar Examination.

I had to make a choice, either to continue studying and enter the field of law, or to continue with sales. I was lost and sought my university professor’s advice. “You should be an entrepreneur and a person who employs lawyers.” His reply was simple and straight to the point. I had made my decision. I abandoned my study for the National Bar Examination. However, I did continue with the university correspondence courses and graduated in 7 years.

Although I entered the fishery industry as a part-timer, my time spent thinking about customers had led to me realization that my ideas could lead to making money. This was my purpose. This is how I began working even harder in the world of business.