Last week, I went on a business trip to the United States. Meetings to share and discuss business conditions are held regularly on a quarterly basis. In addition to that, December is also a forum to discuss the budget of the plan for the next fiscal year and major measures. The premise of the next year’s plan is the prospect of achieving each regional budget for the current fiscal year by the end of February. Boston in December is often below zero, and it’s very cold, but when it comes to the budget for the next fiscal year, the debate will be even more intense than in a typical quarter. Stratus Technology focuses on non-disruptive technology and delivers products to all industries. In the past, financial sales were the largest area by industrial segment, but in recent years, the growth rate in industrial automation (areas centered on manufacturing, transportation, energy, and social infrastructure such as smart cities) has become extremely high.
The main trend of the discussion on measures was to maintain the position in the industry so far but to shift to vendors with characteristics in edge computing. Representatives from the United States, Europe, Japan, and Asia participated in the discussions, and discussions were held in a lively manner against the backdrop of the needs and trends in each market. The representatives of the Product Division also participate in the event, and it is a place where they immediately give feedback on product development. As a representative of Japan, I also need to speak for our partners and customers in the Japanese market, so it was a tense few days.
During that time, I had several opportunities to talk with General Managers in Europe and Developers for Industrial Automation in Europe. Of course, during the daytime, we seriously exchange opinions about the above-mentioned business, but at dinner, we talk a lot about things other than work. The general manager lives in Paris, France, so I heard about the antigovernmental demonstrations that have been going on for several weekends. When I was looking at the media reports in Japan, I heard that it was a very violent conflict, so it would have an impact on tourism and the economy. He explained that only a small part of the demonstrations would take radical actions that could be described as riots and that they would be smaller in scale towards Christmas. In reality, President Macron is not only abandoning the fuel tax hike, but is also trying to quell the demonstrations by raising the minimum wage, so it would be good if it were in the view of our European General Manager.
The market development manager for industrial automation in Europe is a Britishman. I used to work for a Japanese company, so I can understand Japanese to some extent. At dinner, we mainly talked about rugby. In fact, Eddie Jones, who was the coach of the Japan National Team at the 2015 Rugby World Cup, is now the coach of the England team. On 18 November, there was an international match between England and Japan at the London Stadium, so his talk was interesting. In the years since Eddie Jones took over as England manager, it seems that the team has been a good credit for continuing its winning streak. Due to England’s poor performance in the last World Cup, it is my understanding that there was a sense of crisis among the players and the executives of the association. On the other hand, in the past year or so, there have been many losses due to the fact that many players have been injured and the squad has not been fixed. There are many harsh opinions from the critics, and it seems that the situation is really a place to show the skills of the director from now on. Even in the match in November, the England national team played a young player with little experience in the first half, but the Japanese team was beaten 15-10. I got the lead in, In the second half, the Bucks’ Owen Farrell and many other key players came on as substitutes to turn things around. In the view of the market development manager, the original idea was to let young players play the first half and build their confidence. In other words, it didn’t turn out to be the game that Coach Eddie Jones had hoped it would. The Japan National Team also played a good match with some key players unable to participate, but I could feel the difference in team strength.
Next year, the Rugby World Cup will be held in Japan. This is the first attempt in Asia. Many stadiums from Hokkaido to Kyushu are used to hold international matches in various parts of Japan. The current captain of the Japan national team is Leach Michael. I have been captain of two consecutive tournaments since the last World Cup in England. Leach is from New Zealand, but he graduated from Sapporoyamate High School, his university is Tokai University, and his top league affiliation is with Toshiba. In other words, as a rugby player, he grew up in Japan. In the match against England the other day, we played great and scored a try. It seems that the evaluation of the local strict reporter was also the best.
Rugby is different from soccer and Olympic sports, and national team players are not nationalistic. It is a condition to be selected for the representative that the place of birth is Japan, one of the parents or grandparents is from Japan or has lived continuously in Japan for more than 3 years. However, the national team of rugby sevens in the Olympic sport follows the Olympic Charter and nationality is a condition. At the time of next year’s World Cup to be held in Japan, it is conceivable that some foreign players from the top league will join the Japan National Team, subject to the condition that they have been residing continuously for more than three years. I expect them to improve their level even further, and even if these players join us, our support for the Japanese national team will not change. In particular, foreign players who have grown up in high schools and universities in Japan have been following their success for a long time, so we fans are full of enthusiasm for their support.
Stratus Technology is a U.S.-based company, but it’s a far cry from U.S.-centric, one-sided globalism. We are trying to take balanced measures with a view to the markets of Europe, Asia, and Japan. To ensure this, we tried to interact and coordinate with key European managers not only during daytime meetings but also during evening dinners. I hope it worked. In the fiscal year starting from March next year, we will implement measures that will enable us to support our Japanese partners and provide optimal solutions to our customers.
