I was just an ordinary child. I liked science classes and was obsessed with assembling microcomputers. I often went to the Akihabara electronics shopping district by bicycle for LEDs, circuit boards and other components. When I managed to assemble a computer by reading special science magazines, I would show it off to friends who shared the same hobby. Although I majored in commerce at Keio University, I wanted to get a manufacturing job after graduation.

While many of my classmates found employment with trading companies and financial institutions, I got a job with a nonferrous metal maker and worked there for seven years, primarily as a provider of material products to manufacturers. Then I changed my job to an appliance maker, hoping to work more closely with consumers.

I am thankful to the appliance maker for having let me experience a wide range of business activities – budget management, production, planning, sales and development. I thought that no individual person but only a team could make the company bigger and better. Later, I founded Canvas Mapple Co. with a friend from college and another friend. I had an idea to make an application combining car navigation with contents, such as sightseeing spots, shops and byroad information, provided by Shobunsha　Publications.

Being a software maker, we needed to find some hardware manufacturer who would load our application into their car navigation system. In the first two years, there were no makers who adopted our product and I had a tough time continuing to visit companies in vain. But our enthusiasm finally caught on at a company and we succeeded in releasing our first product in 2008. Then in 2009, another company used our software. Before long, I formally assumed the presidency of our company.

It was not easy for a newcomer to enter a market that is controlled by existing car navigation makers. Seeking a new sales channel, we continued through trial and error until we got on a television shopping program. I explained to the TV director that our car navigation application could invite people to go on an exciting trip as if flipping through the pages of a guidebook. Since our product was introduced on television, Mapple Navi has become more recognized.

As I had been working like mad even before becoming the president, my assumption of the presidency did not change situations so much. However, I always feel a heavy responsibility that I should never allow my staff to lose their livelihoods.

We started with a portable navigation system and now we are changing our direction to include smart phones and digital cameras, tools that make people’s lives enjoyable. For the first stage, we released a new application for smart phones featuring a guidebook from Shobunsha Publications.

I would like to further install our technology and contents on various terminals to develop them into tools that make people happy.