When I joined Shinyo-Shoji, a company affiliated with Taiyo Fishery Ltd. (present Maruha Nichiro Corporation), a major company in the fishery industry, I was 24 years old. I had no time to lose. I was even willing to sleep for only an hour and a half everyday. I woke up at 00:45 AM in the morning to go to work from my home in Nakano, Tokyo to a warehouse in either Toyomi or Tsukishima. I would stack up blocks of frozen products or whale meat on a 2-ton truck. Since overload restrictions were loose back then, loading up as much as possible was the way to go. Once the cargo bed was too heavy, the truck would lose balance and have its front wheels tilt upwards. That’s when we stacked the goods on the passenger seat. In total, I would say we probably loaded up to 6 tons. That’s what was then carried to Kimitsu in Chiba. There was no highway back then and some of the roads were dirt and gravel. But it didn’t matter, we raced straight to Kimitsu. We had to return back to Tsukiji by 4:00 AM, and 6 tons worth of goods took an hour to unload. But since we did not have time, the unloading was done in 40 minutes, because we were so impatient. Once back at Tsukiji, we lined up with the trucks from all over Japan to load up on fish. Then, it was off to Hachioji for delivery. After I was done with this, I returned to the company office in Nakano by 8:00 AM to attend the morning assembly, office work and other. Once that was done, I then went back to the warehouse. This time I loaded up on the contracted fishes and frozen foods, delivered them to Urawa, Tsuchiura, and Omiya, while praising their quality in a good sales manner.

By the time I got back to the office it would be around 8:00 PM. That’s when I tackled the invoices. Since I was working from the crack of dawn, there was so much that needed to be processed, and it was always past 10:00 PM when I finished. Then I would hang out with my older colleagues if I was invited, and would only get home after that. And just like that, I would wake up the next day at 00:45 AM to go to the warehouses in Toyomi or Tsukishima. In the night, I would often eat offal stew at an izakaya in Nakano. That particular izakaya does not exist any longer, but the overflowing bowl of stewed offal they served was affordable, yet tasty. I will never forget the taste of offal stew that I enjoyed so much during those busy times. Food really can make a person happy.

<<Going Independent>>

I learned the fundamentals of business at my time in Shinyo-Shoji, and even challenged myself in other industries such as izakaya pubs. But after about 3 years or so of taking part in various things beyond that of a fishery company, I started to receive push back from within. I was told to hold off on doing extra and focus on my job. I have so much appreciation for this company and the experience I gained while working there. I followed the advice of my superior, and I decided to switch to another company, regardless of the pay, since it was more accepting of their employees’ work on their own, and having a more financially independent in-house system.

At the new company I worked on all of the posts myself: from collection and cash payments, to shipping, inventory management, and other. I learned so much. But aside from the low pay, an incident occurred when during an accident at work, I was held liable, even though I was the victim, because the warehouse truck involved was owned by a customer. I was quite dissatisfied with this, and it was at that time I received a “go independent” advice from my superior. So in 1979, when I was 27 years old, I founded the Kimura-Shoten (The Kimura Store). Of course, this T“company” I founded was nothing more than a desk and some chairs borrowed from a friend, and a single land-line telephone. But this also meant that I no longer had to worry about what my superiors or colleagues where thinking. This was how it all started. A mix between my never-say-never attitude and a bit of worry about the finances.