Opportunity of founding

Wakebe:
I supported the money to my brother’s (now the president) “Study group on display” launched while attending Waseda University which I thought that it was interesting.
The group that starts studied holography and laser displays.
Mito:
After leaving university?
Wakebe:
Yes, working as a part-time job at the gas-wholesale in Hamamatsu.
I was thinking about taking-over my house business because my parents owned the gas-wholesale.
Mito:
I see.
Wakebe:
I went to Tokyo when my brother’s research group got busy which means we founded together.
Mito:
At the time of establishment, have you had a confidence that you are going to get on track as a business to some extent.
Wakebe:
Well, we were already mentioned in the magazine.
For example, we had an exhibition at the underground mall in Shinjuku.
I’ve decided to use a little bit of “Laser” since I had a job offer to do an opening ceremony at the Center-building.
I was thinking of creating a big 3D image-billboard since I had been experimenting and researching about holography.
And then, I had only made the one with small size.
Actually, I was about to open the business with using holography.
But I didn’t had the laser in my hand.
We had a great chance of having a business at the concerts and events when we started using “Laser” since they have started using “Laser” at concerts.
That was our turning-point of start doing a business at event industry.

* In 1981, “Ray” was founded in the room on the second floor of this apartment. It is now a company with sales of around 10 billion yen.

Mito:
It was not a field that was originally aimed at …
Wakebe:
Yes. When you are in business, it will be an main axis different from the place you were aiming for at the beginning.
Mito:
It’s interesting.

“We build-up together”

Wakebe:
And then, there were already some companies ahead of us.
I became familiar with such people, and fortunately, they also taught us techniques and lent us equipments for the events.
Mito:
It doesn’t sound like an image of a rival.
Wakebe:
It is different. At that time, the equipment was extremely expensive and there were only a few.
So, far from being hostile, everyone would have to lend and borrow to each other.
There were so much demands for work that I cooperated more than competing each others.
Mito:
It is a Japanese-style.
Wakebe:
Truly. That’s the goodness of Japan.
Mr. Yazaki, the first president of a company called Random Electronics Design, was superb at such a thing that he made all the formats standardized without hiding anything.
As a result, the rental of equipment had became easier and more efficient.
Such things are unexpectedly important.
Mito:
It’s about trying to grow the industry together.
Wakebe:
Small industries like us are still getting along well, and it may not be possible if it is the the businesses with consumers.
Mito:
Mr. Wakebe is also involved in the Convention Business Association.
It is very important topic to think raising the bottom of the whole industries.
Wakebe:
That’s right! It is important to have the idea like “One-person-win” and to become the apex in the industry, but I don’t think it’s productive.
I think it is very important of being productive at the fields of a Software.
You will get good ideas with having productive bases.
After all, “One-person-win” win seems to be good for some of us but it may not be interesting as a result.
And I feel like I won’t get pay too much in the terms of cost.
Mito:
In fact, I was thinking about asking “How do you feel being a top of the industry?”.
Asking, how do you feel being a supremacy.
For example, how did you get this status?
But in the first place, it means that there is no emphasis on it.
Wakebe:
The other companies are working hard as well as we are.
I think it is great to establish in different kind of formats.
Isn’t that interesting to have a president who is selfish, who hates to meet people, and the other side, there are charisma president who attracts people.
There may be a slight gap if various companies do their best in their respective fields.
You can absorb people even in the case of company temporarily collapsed and even in a critical situation arrives cause of the width of the gap expanded. If you leave the part that is still alive and then you may move to that place with a light correction of the trajectory.
I’m saying “Let’s all survive”.

MICE as a Proof of Mature Society

Mito:
What about the MICE market from now on?
Wakebe:
Speaking of MICE, it is different from corporate activity itself.
A kind of adjustment … born from a certain volume.
The MICE is that there are various countries’ interests, for example there are various principles in the international conference, and they all gather together and coordinate well.
For example, a story like “The earth is dangerous if you go this way”.
Then, they would come up with a means “Don’t make a cause more than this”.
The more the world becomes one,
The adjustment of interests will be very important.
You will solve the problems in a different ways from war.
The MICE will spread in a mature society naturally. It is obvious.
Mito:
It will spread more from now on.
Wakebe:
It’s already spread across Asia.
Mito:
I agree. It is a thing to put an effort as a national strategy in China, Singapore, and in Korea.
Wakebe:
Japan is a type of country that travels with lots of discussion, that’s why it’s a bit late compare with other country.
But from around 2008, Japan is gradually cutting it towards them.
Japan should work little more since we are living in a developed country in Asia, or in relatively advanced countries in the world.

After all, people want to talk face to face

Wakebe:
People should go with “face to face” after all.
And I think that the value is getting stronger.
Mito:
The world is getting smaller.
Wakebe:
That’s right. It is true with our company’s people, because everyone is casually going to America, Europe and Asia.
Then the volume of the exchange population will increase dramatically.
I think that we can eliminate all such risks by close exchange talking directly to each others.
Mito:
I think it’s really interesting to recognize the importance of face-to-face communication, while more non-experience and non-face-to-face communication tools are developing.
Wakebe:
After all, that is a human being.
You can talk on the phone, and there is almost no delay with the moving-images, sounds in the Skype-conference.
After all, it is important to have communication including going out for drinks and to get to know each other.
Mito:
I agree. It does not go away.
Wakebe:
It is an event, various events,
Especially at various events and conventions will be very important opportunities to have facing each others.
Even at exhibitions, I think that, going out there and talking with the visitors have a dramatically different amount of information compare to the information through out internet,
I think that actually going to there and touching or talking has a dramatically different amount of information.
We can have reality.
In the future, the line between virtual and real may disappear. For now, we have no choices but to get into the things that exist.

Significance related to the event

Wakebe:
People in the event industry may have less understanding that they are responsible of important role.
They should feel responsible for that.
Mito:
I see.
Mito:
We are working at behind the scenes at adjusting various concession if you take the international conference as an example.
The people working at behind the scenes shouldn’t obey everything what they are told to do.
It is not a good idea to do yes.
You can have a completely different perspective if you understand the significance of that.
That is so important.
This is also at the case with “meet-and-greet”.
I also saw the extraordinary event called “Love Live” through live-broadcast.
The number of viewers were so amazing.
Being involved working at behind the scenes, we have to manage quite a lot of risks in the necessity to make the fan comfortable.
It is an important skill based on advanced experience values.
Mito:
That’s right.
Wakebe:
So, we have an extra responsibility, and we should be aware of doing advanced things.
Honestly, I’m afraid to know the truth if my company has gone at that level.
Mito:
Now that you have talked about the people who are involved in the event with a high level of professionalism with both mentally and physically, how can we achieve that.
Wakebe:
In that sense, there are many different people.
There are also some who study on their own and learn more and more like that, and the other hand, there are people who feel anything is interesting as long as it is interesting.
I think it is important to be always aware of such high viewpoints of being confident in themselves.
If so, a guy who is only interested being interesting. No matter what conditions, such a guy will have a role.
You will discover and create a lot of really interesting things.
It is important to protect the mechanism that the various people are thinking of with the wide range of a viewpoint.

Group of neophilia

Mito:
I would like to change the story and ask about RayExpo.
Wakebe:
I did not speak at all about RayExpo base on the vision of the president because he planned it by himself.
However, I strongly agreed with him to join RayExpo. He did so well more than I thought even it’s been so great already and I wanted him to do it ba all mean.
I was surprised that they finished it all the way even everybody was so busy.
It looks like there is a very cutting edge technology, and there are also things make it look like that.
However, it means that they should not forget the feeling of taking such things into our daily duty.
Ray has been like a neophilia from past days. They actually like new things, so did Holography and Laser, the video is also digital from the beginning that the don’t know about the “film”.
Mito:
It’s amazing.
Wakebe:
It has always been so,
Like it has always been, there are part that stiff in the routine that you have to leave something like that gene.
The idea of ​​being crisis may be leaded to RayExpo in the case of that average age is rising.

* The scene of RayExpo. The cutting-edge imaging technology was exhibited in various forms, and became a topic of the industry. (2016.1.20 to 22)

Mito:
Earlier, you said, “With people who like new things.”
I think keeping the things always new is a very difficult thing, in any cases. It is obvious that when starting something new, people and events related to them are also new.
Wakebe:
It depends on a culture that allows for a kind of fertility.
The truth is that it is a painful part of being able to do it for yourself.
The selfishness is to do the integrity that allows the interesting people while doing the company properly.
I wish it was a much smaller group, but when it comes to a certain scale, we can not afford to forgive only recklessness.
Well, I don’t know which one was better.
After all, maybe I should have done within a certain scale, and there might be an idea with small number of elite to pursue fun and to be entertaining.
But without a certain scale, we wouldn’t be able to make big investments or big moves.
But then we will have to be turned to live.
Mito:
That’s right.
Wakebe:
This dilemma has been already around for 30 years.
I felt that I could not do both and I survived somehow since I was deep in greed.
Mito:
How to get over when you’re in difficult situation …
Wakebe:
It is a luck. Withdrawl is quite easy.
Withdrawal is already a theory.
The answer is easy. But no one can do that.
For example, if 30 people are too much, we have to subtract into 20 people.
This is already the answer.
But do you do it or not?
I was lucky that I just managed to save with luck.
Mito:
It’s a story of determination.
Wakebe:
It means that they throw it out from the weakest person.
Mito:
But that’s the best solution.
Wakebe:
That’s right. There are no other solutions.
Mito:
But that means that there are fewer managers who can do that.
Wakebe:
If you save them all, they all going to sink.
So, of course, that’s definitely not the case.
However, a very big accident happened or a very big recession came.
When you face that, there is no other way.
This is the fate of those who do business.
Well, person will put into sad and hated by everyone and die someday. It can not be helped.
Mito:
To think what is kindness.
It is not kindness to say by good news all the time.

The tide always changes

Mito:
As the industry matures, there is a way of thinking that everything is done and there is no room for new things.
Wakebe:
What’s new in old days is now nothing new.
For example, everyone was surprised when they first saw the laser beam.
Many people gathered from the neighborhood when police car came while we were experimenting at my friend’s factory in Tanashi.
It was fresh and new when you looked at the beginning. It was new as long as it emits light.
At that time there were nearly 30 laser-companies at peak, but the era didn’t last long.
But now the laser is back very much again,
When it came to technological innovation, the devices became so small in size.
And it’s so cheap right now.
Then, it was not unusual to use about 20 units now.
Then the way of production changes. Then for example YouTube.
Even with a cheap video, depending on the content, it may be seen by tens of thousands or millions of people.
It has become a completely different form of visual media taken by a camera-crew with neat equipment, and it has become quite commonplace for commercial advertisements.

Mito:
Now that YouTube already exists like one of the promotion tool.
Wakebe:
So after all, that’s it.
What do I say … When something gets stuck, another way comes out.
Mito:
New age.
Wakebe:
That’s right. The guy who has a new sense will win.
If you are in the so-called entertainment industry, I have to try to destroy it.
There will be nothing new if you only stick to what you have done up to now.
Mito:
The tide always changes, and it always means that new challenging timings will come.
Wakebe:
I have been in this industry for about 37 years,
The tide is changing, many times, I have been looiking in this industry for about 37 years.

Have high aspirations

Mito:
Will you give a message to people like you who is interest in and those people who just dived into the event industry.
Wakebe:
Speaking of our fields, it can be said that it is an added industry.
Mito:
I agree. It does not mean that people are concerned with life or death.
Wakebe:
But when I say why I have so much pride,
after all human beings will not only eat,
There is a sense of like, but when I say why I have so much pride. After all I think that it is very important after people those who only think to eat.
We should create a good environment at a difficult meeting, or one direction for mental activity, or maybe I would like to make something uplifting.
Mito:
Even if it is concerned to life or death, that’s why it means that there is meaning.
Wakebe:
I think the 21st century is a time of heart.
Basically everything was available, and I was blessed materially in the 20th century. In other words, we’re able to get anything at anywhere.
Under such circumstances I am quite happy. Some people talk about “unhappy because of that”, but I think it’s a bit overtwisted.
But I think that there is something that people want more.
After all, people want to meet each other, that’s why people spend a lot of money going to the distance.
Because we think that it will be human activity including such a thing, everyone has high desire,
We are doing a very important job because we think that it will be human activity including such a thing, everyone has high desire that people want to do their best with the awareness.
That I want you to do your best with the awareness.
Mito:
Thank you very much.
(End)