Creating delight 
and brightness for
people through innovative business

The Power of Building Trust Before the Cruise Even Starts with a Greeting 【About This Part】In Part 3, the final installment in our three-part interview, we asked Captain Taguchi how a sense of hospitality gets passed down by international crew members, the differences between large corporations and startup companies as seen through the example of cruise ships and yachts, the secrets of communication, the future of Asuka II and the next career steps he envisions, as well as his resonance with D-POPS GROUP’s Venture Ecosystem. (This interview was conducted in August 2026.) Be sure to check out Part 1 and Part 2 of this interview, as well! ◆Japanese Hospitality Provided by International Crew Members Sugihara:My parents-in-law seem to sail on Asuka II frequently, and apparently, they even get a specific room every time. My wife has also been on board a few times, and she mentioned that while the service was absolutely flawless, there were a lot of international crew members. Given that most of the guests are Japanese, I assume this isn’t primarily for English language support, but rather due to cost considerations, staff shortages within Asuka Cruise specifically, or the general shortage of labor across Japan. What are your thoughts on this? Taguchi:You are exactly right. With foreign cruise ships also operating here, cost is a major factor. There is also the reality that it is quite difficult to recruit a full crew using only Japanese staff. Almost all of the guests sailing on our ship are Japanese, and while the number of international guests is slowly increasing, from a cost perspective, we hire personnel, such as those from the Philippines, whose salary requirements are relatively lower. People might wonder why a ship operating in Japan has a foreign crew, but as long as certain conditions are met, international staff are legally permitted to work, so we recruit accordingly. To ensure they can serve our Japanese guests, we provide thorough and necessary Japanese language training before they board, although they may not reach native-level conversation skills. Sugihara:Beyond just language, are aspects like the manners of hospitality also passed down from senior crew members? Or is there formal, official training provided by the company? Taguchi:We do have training on the foundational rules of what must be done, but crew members from the Philippines, in particular, often return to serve on Asuka II repeatedly. They work their contract, take a vacation, and then come back on board. Through that cycle, within the interpersonal relationships between senior and junior staff, they learn by observing others in action, and I believe that is how the hospitality aspect is cultivated. Sugihara:So that is how Japanese-style service is properly learned. I think the restaurant industry is exactly the same. Even when it’s impossible to fully staff a restaurant with only Japanese workers, many places are supported by international staff who still manage to provide a solid Japanese dining experience. I think there are many industries propped up by the dedicated work of international personnel. And that same phenomenon is happening on the Asuka. ◆Cruise Ships and Yachts: The Essence of Large Corporations vs. Startups Sugihara:Captain Taguchi, you and I actually became friends through a yacht club. You once mentioned that the scenery and the joy of sailing are completely different between a luxury cruise ship and a small yacht. Hearing that made me think that a cruise liner could be compared to a large corporation, while a yacht is like a startup company. You’ve spent most of your career on cruise ships—the large corporations of the sea—but do you find yachts more enjoyable because sailing on them ignites your soul as a sailor? Taguchi:You’ve got a point. A large ship is physically massive and carries many people, so everyone has their own specialized field. Each person handles their designated role to collectively build a single experience. While you work incredibly hard at your specialty, you only have a vague idea of what everyone else is doing. On a yacht, you essentially have to do everything yourself. Things that would be divided into 20 different departments on a large ship fall on your shoulders, meaning one person has to handle four or five roles simultaneously. You have to oversee various aspects generally rather than with deep specialization, which was actually a refreshing change. You also get much closer to the water when sailing on a yacht, allowing you to truly experience the ocean’s appearance for yourself. You notice when the wind shifts or when the shape of the nearby shore causes the wind to strengthen. Even when cruising through the same Sagami Bay, when I’m on this big ship, I just look down at the wind gauge and think, “The wind is shifting,” but I don’t feel it physically in the same way. Sugihara:You also mentioned that from inside the bridge, you cannot see the ocean immediately adjacent to the hull. You can see hundreds of meters ahead, but you can’t see the surface of the water directly surrounding your ship. On a yacht, however, the water’s surface is right there in front of you. I felt this perfectly illustrates the difference between large corporations and startup companies. You can feel the market directly on your skin—for better or worse, experiencing that close-call sensation accompanied by risk. It’s a very common experience for startup companies. If you launch a cutting-edge AI company, you are constantly crashing headfirst into the very forefront of the industry. However, if you do that within a department of a large corporation, you already have a massive number of users simply due to the size of the company. While large corporations have the advantage of being able to accomplish huge projects, startup companies can feel the market firsthand, just like feeling the ocean on a yacht. Taguchi:That’s true. I am grateful to have experienced both. The view from the top deck of Asuka II ◆Trust Earned From a Single Greeting Sugihara:On the Asuka Cruise website, I read your comments that emphasize the importance of communication with your crew and your guests. That being said, I imagine there are many different types of people among both guests and crew, and naturally, there are people you get along with well and those you might find difficult. Could you share your secrets for communicating with a wide variety of people and building close relationships despite that? Taguchi:One thing I am mindful of is that, since almost all of our guests are Japanese, I make a point to actively greet and call out to everyone, especially those international crew members who are accustomed to Japanese. Just walking through the crew area, you encounter staff in various positions. Rather than waiting for them to greet me first, I proactively say “Hello” or “Good morning”. As a result, they gradually warm up to me and become more approachable. What starts as just a greeting gradually evolves into actual conversations, and I feel that accumulating those small interactions leads to good relationships. Even with strangers, a greeting isn’t viewed with suspicion, and it’s a very convenient way to join a social circle. Hardly anyone is shocked by a sudden greeting. As you greet people repeatedly over time, they gradually become accustomed to the exchange, and we start to be comfortable enough to exchange extra information beyond greetings. Sugihara:It is true that the most wonderful people are the ones who make sure to greet and speak to everyone. People who are highly regarded by others always ensure their greetings are thorough. ◆The Future of Asuka II and Captain Taguchi’s Next Course Sugihara:I saw the news regarding the newly built passenger ship that will succeed Asuka II. What does this mean for you going forward? You have served as the captain of a large cruise ship for many years, but how do you envision your future career path? Taguchi:First, regarding the news you mentioned, I believe it is currently still under consideration. In Japan, there aren’t very many shipyards left that are capable of building a passenger ship of this scale, and if you try to build it overseas, the prices have skyrocketed due to the weak yen. The current Asuka II was originally a ship called Crystal Harmony used in the United States, and it is actually 36 years old this year. You can think of a ship’s age similarly to a car’s. Once it surpasses 20 years, it starts to feel a bit like a classic car. Around the year 2030, this ship will reach the milestone of 40 years of service. If we are to continue boarding guests and running a rigorous cruise schedule, continuing to use it beyond a 40-year lifespan will require considerable deliberation. However, there is no new detailed information yet. As someone who has sailed on this ship for a long time, seeing it go—while perhaps a natural end to its lifespan—would certainly be sad. In fact, guests sometimes tell us that ships like this are hard to find nowadays. I think it’s moving a bit into the realm of being an antique. Sugihara:Does that mean that while the interior, wallpaper, and lighting have been renewed, mechanical components like the engine have remained unchanged? Taguchi:Improvements and maintenance are carried out wherever appropriate, but in the sense that the entire engine plant itself has not been replaced, you could say it remains unchanged. Sugihara:What do your next career steps look like? Taguchi:I have been operating ships as a captain for a long time. There is a field that requires a national qualification and can only be entered by those with experience operating large vessels. It’s called a marine navigator, or pilot. The job of a pilot involves boarding large ships arriving from overseas while they are still offshore. When these ships enter areas like Tokyo Bay, which are shallower and narrower compared to the Pacific Ocean, there is a risk of running aground or causing accidents if navigated incorrectly. As an expert of that specific area, the pilot boards the ship and supports the navigation by providing advice like, “It’s shallow here,” or “The tidal currents are strong over here.” Moving in that direction has emerged as one of my options, and I am currently still considering it. Sugihara:Is that a job you can only do if you have experience as a captain? Taguchi:It’s a hard requirement, yes. The qualification requires you to have actual sailing years and at least two years of experience as a captain on a vessel over a certain size, even if not a passenger liner, that travels overseas. There is one other route as well, but I am still pondering whether or not to pursue it. Sugihara:In the sense that it’s a job taken on as a second career by someone with extensive experience, wouldn’t you say this is similar to a corporate advisory position? In both cases, one must possess deep, specialized knowledge of a certain port or a certain industry. Taguchi:That’s true. I suppose my professional experience navigating a cruise ship to various ports as a captain will help me become a pilot as the expert of a specific port. That’s one possible career path for me after I retire from being a captain. ◆Alignment with D-POPS GROUP’s Aim of Realizing a Venture Ecosystem Sugihara:D-POPS GROUP is a collective of companies that integrates actual businesses and technology together, a concept that we denote as “Real World x Technology x Synergy”. We have 26 group companies, and about 35 investment portfolio companies. We provide one-stop solutions to companies both inside and outside the group, aiming to realize a Venture Ecosystem. I would love to hear your thoughts on these initiatives and philosophies. Taguchi:First off, within that framework of “Real World x Technology x Synergy”, what types of business areas do those 26 and 35 companies mostly operate in? Sugihara:Broadly speaking, many are in the IT and communications sector. However, they each have different areas of expertise. There is a cluster of companies operating smartphone shops, which is our founding business, and another cluster dispatching personnel to serve customers at those shops and mass retailers. We also have a company that trains and educates dispatch staff for our own stores as well as other companies’, a technology company specializing in DX utilizing smartphones, and a company that creates smartphone-optimized websites for SMEs and retailers. Another major purpose we have is the philosophy of nurturing business executives. Some people want to run things themselves, so we also support spin-outs in related businesses. Taguchi:Operating as that kind of group sounds like a wonderful thing, and I’m kind of jealous. With people from various business formats present, whenever a demand arises with someone asking, “Can we do something like this?” you are able to fulfill it in a space where people with the right expertise are already gathered. Sugihara:Yes, it is about giving shape to dreams. Our members introduce clients to one another and even conduct joint sales activities. Taguchi:I think that is excellent. I’m envious. I don’t know if corporations like this existed in the past, but previously, these kinds of connections were something you had to manage through personal networks and relationships. It might have been difficult unless the core person possessed immense charisma, but by tackling things as a collective like this, I imagine it becomes an organization that can realize not only business opportunities but also solutions to problems and aspirations. That sounds great. Sugihara:As for the company’s direction, even as the world becomes increasingly digitized and AI advances, we want to cherish the tangible spaces where people serve people. For us, that means physical stores like smartphone shops, and a desire to warmly welcome people who genuinely enjoy visiting the beauty salons operated by one of our investment portfolios. Rather than a world where everything is completed digitally, we want to value real experiences—the feeling of “I want to meet that person,” or “I would be so happy to stay here.” For example, even if it became possible to experience Asuka II through virtual reality goggles, I don’t think true Asuka fans would be satisfied. Taguchi:For sure. Now, seeing the activities of D-POPS GROUP, I’d like to ask you, do smaller companies ever express a desire to join the group? Sugihara:Yes. Of the 26 companies I mentioned earlier, including spin-outs, over 10 joined us in the following manner: the founding president said, “I want to join the group,” and subsequently sold his shares while continuing to run the business as CEO. The shares belong to the group, but the CEO stays the same, continuing the business within our framework. There are about 10 companies like this. That directly ties into our desire of realizing a Venture Ecosystem. We don’t accept just anyone; our targets are companies that practice autonomous, independent management and align with our philosophy. In terms of our investment portfolio, there are companies that applied after hearing about D-POPS GROUP and our concept of a Venture Ecosystem. Taguchi:That is truly wonderful. Listening to you speak about this group, I feel it plays a platform-like role. Sugihara:Exactly! We are building a platform to help entrepreneurs operate vibrantly, increase their probability of success as much as possible, and bring their ambitions closer to reality. Taguchi:So that is what you are doing. The people involved operate in digital fields like IT and telecommunications, but of course—just like myself—everyone is human, so the idea that you can meet various people with different areas of expertise, and that synergy might be born, sounds incredibly interesting. Sugihara:Perhaps someday we might even partner with Asuka Cruise, ha ha. Taguchi:We certainly have plenty of real life experiences here. I would love for you to see them. ◆A Message to Readers Sugihara:Finally, could you offer a message to our readers? Taguchi:At our company, NYK Cruises, our defining corporate slogan is “We want to share a moving experience with you”. We want guests to board our ship and witness beautiful, real sunsets, stunning scenery, and experiences at various ports of call. Everything is real. The topic of virtual reality came up earlier, and while it might not be compatible with the digital realm, we are fully committed to providing those tangible, real experiences. For those who are exhausted by the digital world or who want to feel something real, I highly encourage you to board our ship. I believe that actually seeing the real thing and feeling something from it is a wonderful experience. This is a story I heard from a former executive at our company who once had the opportunity to speak with someone from Disney. The person from Disney apparently praised us, saying that while Disney moves people through fictional mediums like animation, being able to deliver moving experiences through the real, physical world is a fantastic thing. In any case, while we say we have moving experiences to share, our true strength lies in our ability to provide a wide variety of experiences and sensations within that real, physical space. Interview conducted by D-POPS GROUP’s advisor Genta Sugihara. 【NYK Cruises Co., Ltd.】 President and CEO: Yuji NishijimaLocation: The Landmark Tower Yokohama, 2-2-1 Minatomirai, Nishi-ku, YokohamaEstablished: January 1989Website: https://voyage.asukacruise.co.jp/en/

Cost Management to Protect Margins When Your Primary “Cost of Goods Sold” is Employees D-POPS GROUP is a collective of companies that integrates actual businesses and technology together, a concept that we denote as “Real Business x Technology x Group Synergy”, aiming to realize a Venture Ecosystem that will continue to be indispensable to society even 100 years from now. In this article, we will take a look at businesses where people serve as the primary cost of goods sold (COGS)—such as staffing, SES (System Engineering Services), and contract development. Using Konosuke Matsushita’s maxim, “Profit lies in the source,” we will break down the “man-hour management” that is indispensable for generating sustainable profit. 1. “Profit Lies in the Source” and Man-Hour Management The legendary Japanese business philosopher Konosuke Matsushita once said, “Profit lies in the source.” This phrase means that to generate long-term profit, masterful procurement and cost management are far more critical than merely driving up sales or raising retail prices. While people interpret this in various ways, we would like to apply this philosophy to businesses whose primary cost is human resources. In a business where people are the biggest expense, ensuring long-term profitability requires something far more fundamental than simply increasing headcount to boost sales or trying to raise the price of their services. Rather, maintaining a high level of operational efficiency (i.e., “utilization management”) fits Matsushita’s principle perfectly. Before we continue, we must offer a brief disclaimer. This discussion focuses on the reality where, from an accounting perspective, human resources are calculated as COGS. While phrasing it this way may sound insensitive, it is easier to understand, so we will proceed under the understanding that for our intents and purposes within this discussion, people equate to business costs. 2. There Are Different Types of Man-Hour Management The focus here is on businesses where people are the primary cost—specifically, staffing, SES, and contract development—which even includes some of the companies within our group. Even within these models, there are several different varieties of “man-hour management”. The first type applies to the core of SES and traditional staffing businesses, where an individual is dispatched full-time to a client or takes on full-time contracted work. The goal here is to clearly track when a contract starts and ends, managing the handover of assignments so there are no gaps between a dispatched employee’s assignments. Since the work is always booked as one FTE (full-time equivalent), it might be more accurate to call this utilization management or “contract management” rather than man-hour management. The second type is what we traditionally consider true man-hour management. In engineering, this applies to contract development and quasi-mandate (i.e., time-and-materials) contracts. In retail and sales, it applies to staff who only work weekends at promotional events. For instance, if Employee A is hired to work 160 hours a month, management must ensure that the tasks currently assigned to them actually equate to 160 hours (1 FTE) of billable work. 3. What Happens When Man-Hour Management Fails (The Staffing Business Case) Let’s look at what happens when this management is lacking, using the first example. If an employee is on an assignment until the end of August, but no plans or actions have been made for September onward, that individual becomes idle. The revenue earned from the individual drops to zero, but if they are a permanent employee, their salary must still be paid even while they aren’t being dispatched to a client. Let’s run a simple simulation using a full-time sales staffing model. In a standard sales dispatch business, the average employee might generate roughly 380,000 JPY in monthly sales, with salary and social insurance costs totaling around 300,000 JPY, leaving a gross profit of about 80,000 JPY. If there were 100 such employees, the total gross profit would be around 8,000,000 JPY. However, this varies depending on the number of employees who are not being actively dispatched. If 30% (30 employees) aren’t utilized, the business is already in the red at the gross profit stage. If 20% (20 people) aren’t utilized, gross profit falls to 2,000,000 JPY. The business will face an operating loss unless sales, general, and administrative (SG&A) expenses are kept under 5%. If 10% (10 people) aren’t utilized, gross profit is 5,000,000 JPY. The business will face an operating loss unless SG&A is under 13%. If 5% (5 people) aren’t utilized, gross profit is 6,500,000 JPY. The business will face an operating loss unless SG&A is under 17%. Given standard SG&A ratios, the reality is that if a staffing company fails to manage its man-hours properly and hits a 5% idle rate, it will almost certainly fail to turn a profit. 4. The Case for Engineering (Contract Development and Quasi-Mandate) For our second example, let’s look at the engineering sector. If an agency has 20 engineers working on contract development or quasi-mandate projects, and each works 160 hours a month, that yields 3,200 available work hours. If man-hour management is neglected and this capacity isn’t filled, the company will face the same fate as the staffing example: paying permanent engineer salaries with no incoming revenue. Unlike standard staffing, contract development and quasi-mandate projects can experience massive swings in revenue and profit margins per FTE, so sweeping generalizations are difficult. However, if the combined salaries of those 20 engineers total 8,000,000 JPY, the company must generate monthly sales of 8,500,000 JPY (at a 5% SG&A ratio), 8,900,000 JPY (at 10%), 9,500,000 JPY (at 15%), 10,000,000 JPY (at 20%), or over 11,500,000 JPY (at 30%) just to break even. A common scenario in engineering is that extreme volatility in profit margins means a few highly lucrative projects—or a handful of top talent—can temporarily carry the entire business. This creates a dangerous illusion where companies can survive without doing the tedious work of man-hour management. However, when a crisis hits—the lucrative project ends, the top earner quits to go freelance, or the project pipeline dries up—a lack of man-hour management means leadership has no idea who has spare capacity and who doesn’t. Work cannot be effectively reallocated. It is only when backed into a corner that leadership finally realizes who actually had spare capacity all along—in other words, who hasn’t been working. In the earlier scenario of 20 engineers with 3,200 available hours, leadership must actively manage man-hours to ensure at least a 95% utilization rate (around 3,000 hours) during normal operations to secure stable profits. Without this baseline management, a company won’t be able to pivot during a crisis, leading to massive deficits or even bankruptcy. By routinely tracking man-hours, management can foresee when the pipeline is thinning and people are about to become idle, allowing them to take proactive measures before disaster strikes. 5. “Unexplained Victories”: The Risks of Not Managing Man-Hours Recently, contract development and quasi-mandate businesses have become highly susceptible to the impact of AI. Even if a company is currently profitable, running this type of business successfully without strict man-hour management is merely what Seizan Matsura (famously quoted by former Yakult Swallows manager Katsuya Nomura) called an ‘unexplained victory’ in his adage, “There are unexplained victories, but no unexplained defeats.” Relying entirely on a specific project or a few key individuals is not, frankly, real business management. As tedious as it may be, managing the man-hours of employees who constitute your core COGS is mandatory. When the business cycle turns against you, an enterprise lacking man-hour management will collapse rapidly, and recovering from that state will be incredibly difficult. 6. Applications Beyond Staffing and SES: The Retail Example Does this logic apply to industries outside of staffing and SES? If we translate this to the retail industry, it is identical to a store manager blindly expanding their product lineup without realizing their business is only staying afloat because one or two items happen to be smash hits. Once the trend passes and those hit products stop selling, revenue crashes, leaving the store saddled with the massive mountain of dead inventory they unnecessarily expanded. They’ll be bankrupt in no time. In retail, this is called “SKU management” (tracking the sales of each individual item) rather than man-hour management. The scenario above describes a business purchasing inventory without grasping what is actually selling, generating massive dead stock, yet surviving by pure luck thanks to revenue from a single hit product. While this sounds like a classic cautionary tale, it relates perfectly to the situation we described earlier: “Running a business without man-hour management, relying entirely on specific individuals or projects for revenue, without understanding the organization’s true working capacity.” 7. Conclusion If you want to generate real profit in a business where people are the primary cost—whether that’s sales staffing, engineering SES, or contract development—your first priority shouldn’t be hiring more sales reps to chase new accounts, aggressively recruiting more staff to inflate top-line revenue, or cherry-picking high-paying jobs to raise unit prices. Instead, you must practice strict man-hour (utilization) management of your current employees. Achieving the optimal FTE output with the optimal headcount through smart cost management—i.e., practicing the concept of “Profit lies in the source”—is the most direct path to profitability. Through this discussion on man-hour management, the core message D-POPS GROUP wants to convey is that business is much like mixed martial arts, which requires a blend of striking, grappling, and groundwork. Sales, recruiting, and technological development do not exist in isolation. Flashy moves in sales, hiring, and tech can only be successfully executed when built upon a rock-solid foundation of highly unglamorous groundwork, such as man-hour management. D-POPS GROUP believes a business cannot survive on good sales or high-level tech alone; mastering the unglamorous fundamentals is what truly matters. Through D-POPS GROUP’s Venture Ecosystem, we will continue to share candid, practical insights to guide business and management, drawing from our extensive hands-on experience across a wide, diverse portfolio of industries rather than just a single sector. We hope that you enjoyed this article and look forward to working with you in the future. D-POPS GROUP Managing Executive Officer Tetsuya Watanabe

The Job of the Asuka II Captain: An Unwavering Commitment to Safety 【About This Part】In the second of our three-part interview, we asked about the brand recognition of Asuka II, the reality of a captain’s duties, the career path from cargo ships to passenger ship captain, and dealing with crises like sudden illness and approaching typhoons. (This interview was conducted in August 2026.) Please check out Part 1 of this interview if you have not already! ◆The Brand Recognition of “Asuka Cruise”: The Difference Between Japan and the World Sugihara:Even as someone who has never been on a cruise, I have the impression that when someone thinks of luxury cruises, Asuka Cruise comes to mind. It’s a brand that has been built over many years, but just how much power does this brand hold? Taguchi:Domestically speaking, with Asuka III also having debuted in 2025, many customers and the general public associate passenger ships with Asuka Cruise, so I believe our brand recognition is quite high. The background fact that foreign cruise ships rarely visited Japan in the past has also had an influence. On the other hand, when it comes to overseas presence, there are many operators specializing in passenger ships that run fleets of 10 or 20 vessels. Our company, NYK Cruises Co., Ltd., primarily operates cruises along the Japanese coast, so we might not be as well-recognized globally. Sugihara:In that case, it seems Asuka Cruise exists for the people living in Japan. There are many foreign cruise ships that call at Japanese ports, but yours connects Japan with the world. Taguchi:That’s right. For example, if someone just wants to go on an Alaska cruise, they could fly to Vancouver, Canada, and board a foreign cruise ship from there. However, in that case, the onboard environment is geared toward Westerners, and I doubt much Japanese food would be served. With our Alaska-Hawaii cruise, guests can enjoy the scenery of Alaska and Hawaii while maintaining a lifestyle similar to what they experience in Japan. It’s truly a cruise designed for Japanese people. Sugihara:A cruise for Japanese people, indeed. Now, I’d like to ask a question geared more toward business management. In a sense, this massive ship could be compared to a company, where the passengers are customers receiving the services provided by the employees—in your case, the crew members. Thinking of it that way, the captain must be like the CEO, the person with the highest level of responsibility. What do you think? Taguchi:If you zoom in, I do have the highest level of responsibility on the ship. However, as with the example of food procurement I gave earlier, not everything is handled exclusively onboard. Our operating company, NYK Cruises, has an office on land that plans and designs the types of cruises and services we offer, and conducts various types of research. Since we have an office and on-site relationship, I may be the top executive on-site, but we’re just one entity within the company, so to say I’m like the CEO isn’t quite accurate. I would say my position is more like a “site manager”, like the manager of one factory in a corporation. Sugihara:I think that’s the same in business management. Even if a factory is manufacturing products, it doesn’t operate in a vacuum. Without the headquarters staff doing advance preparation, providing support during manufacturing, and handling sudden accidents, the factory wouldn’t run. The operation isn’t completely contained within a single ship; many people at headquarters are involved as well. Taguchi:Yes, that’s correct. We have about 100 to 150 people working in the office. ◆Is the Captain a President or a Factory Manager? Sugihara:So it’s not run solely by the 490 crew members. Could you tell us about the specific daily duties of a ship captain? Taguchi:Actually, once you become the highest authority, you are rarely involved in detailed, hands-on tasks. In principle, I only need to take direct control during highly sensitive situations like entering or leaving a port, so during those times, I operate the ship from the bridge (the control room). For example, once we leave Tokyo Bay and enter relatively open waters, I entrust the navigation to capable subordinates, while I take time to rest, do administrative work, or interact with guests. If a true emergency occurs, I stay on the bridge and handle the situation until it is resolved, without any concept of working hours. I can’t really have the mindset of clocking into work and then leaving after exactly eight hours. Once I board the ship, I may not disembark until the end of September, depending on the cruise schedule, but on the other hand, I don’t work non-stop that entire time. We don’t get full days off like people working on land do during the weekends, but looking at it on a daily basis, I generally work during the day and have time to rest and do as I please at night. Sugihara:So, is it possible to catch a glimpse of Captain Taguchi casually drinking alone at the bar in plain clothes, ha ha? Taguchi:We have rules about that. If we go into guest areas, we are considered to be on duty and must wear our uniforms. Below the 9th floor where we are now, on Deck 7, there is a promenade that wraps about 400 meters around the ship’s perimeter. If I’m just going for a walk there, I don’t need to be in uniform and can relax in exercise clothes. Sugihara:That also seems similar to business executives. For example, our company’s president works 24/7, 365 days a year, taking time off only for two days during New Year’s. He is constantly in a state of complete readiness to respond immediately if anything happens. Taguchi:Yes, we have to continuously live with tension. For example, Yokohama is our home port, so we often have a schedule where we dock at 9:00 AM for guests to disembark. To dock by 9:00, we need to reach the entrance to Tokyo Bay around 5:30 AM. I monitor the situation from the bridge while checking port schedules, the congestion of the waters, and the presence of fishing boats, so I sometimes have to work in the middle of the night to make sure we dock on time. ◆From Cargo Ships to Cruise Liner Captain: A Career Guided by Fate Sugihara:Next, I would like to ask a question related to career development. Becoming the captain of a luxury cruise ship seems like an ultimate destination, but were you aiming to be a captain from the very beginning? Taguchi:I didn’t necessarily have the goal of becoming a passenger ship captain, but ever since I was in elementary school, I was interested in ships and foreign countries, and I knew I wanted to sail on one. I never thought I could be a passenger ship captain, so even though it’s a major role for me to hold, I have been trying to do my best to make it work. While it wasn’t necessarily a role I actively set out to achieve, I wouldn’t call it pure coincidence either; rather, I have the privilege of serving in this position thanks to a fortunate alignment of timing and connections. My career path involved stepping up to become a cargo ship captain first. In the field of cargo shipping, people can become Third Officer, Second Officer, and First Officer. When I joined the company, I started as a Third Officer, gained experience to become a Second Officer, then a Chief Officer, and eventually moved up to Captain. Of course, this career progression happens while acquiring national maritime officer licenses. Sugihara:Even so, not everyone can get those, and out of the many who do, the ones who can actually become a captain must be less than a few hundred. Taguchi:That’s right, there aren’t many. Now, about 10 to 15 years ago, I worked on passenger ships for about three years, but after that, I returned to cargo ships, served as a cargo ship captain for several years, and even lived like a regular office worker on land for a time. It just so happened that right when I was going to transition back to the water after my land assignment, the captain of Asuka II retired, leaving an opening. HR approached me and asked if I would take the position. Frankly, it was all about timing and connections. Sugihara:Connections are important. In the startup world, it’s very common to hear that someone secured investment or got on track because of meeting a specific person. Among the many employees, there must be some who joined with a strong desire to become one of Asuka Cruise’s captains, and it is clear that not everyone can achieve that. If you had to list a few reasons why you were able to become the captain, what would they be? Taguchi:I truly believe it was fate and timing. I think doing my job solidly during my cargo ship days played a part, but while HR never gave me the specifics, it seems that when the upper management was choosing from several candidates, they went with me. Regardless of the competition ratio, there is the fact that I was chosen, and I suspect a big factor was their evaluation that I could grow into the role because I had previous experience on passenger ships. I think the fact that the timing just happened to align perfectly is a huge part of it. Sugihara:What I think is that your character played a role, as well. You are a captain with a cheerful personality that puts everyone around you at ease. ◆Crisis Management: Handling Sudden Illnesses and Deciding to Evade Typhoons Sugihara:Now for my next question. Let’s talk about crisis management. As the captain of a vessel that travels right through the middle of the ocean and thus has to deal with nature, have you experienced situations like sudden illnesses, guests with mental health emergencies, collisions, or other incidents on or off the ship? How did you handle them? Taguchi:I have captained long cruises, but fortunately, most of our guests have been quite healthy, so I haven’t had to handle any life-or-death emergencies while at sea. There have been cases where someone suddenly fell ill while we were docked at a port and was transported to the hospital by ambulance. In terms of crisis management while on the ship and out at sea, we haven’t faced any overly serious situations. Now, if something were to occur, we do have a clinic onboard where limited medical procedures can be performed, but it is not a hospital, so the equipment is limited. If needed, we would transport the patient to a medical facility on land as quickly as possible. In some cases, we would push hard to arrive ashore in four days instead of the originally scheduled five. If it were a truly urgent situation, we would request medical transport assistance via helicopter from organizations like the Coast Guard of whatever country we’re closest to, hoisting the patient up and airlifting them to a hospital. During those times, our land-based staff are also tapped to coordinate the response. Sugihara:I know you also have to deal with major environmental changes like swells, storms, and typhoons. Are there cases where you have to change your route because a typhoon is approaching? Taguchi:Yes, there are. Above all, it’s about evading danger before putting the ship in a risky situation. Rather than trying to navigate through a typhoon, it’s far better to avoid the typhoon altogether. I closely monitor the weather forecasts, and if I determine that following a certain route will definitely result in encountering the typhoon, I give up on going that way and take a wide detour. Sugihara:So it’s not a matter of skillfully navigating straight through the storm, it’s about avoiding it altogether, and putting the safety of the guests first. Taguchi:Exactly. If a typhoon approaches and we can’t execute the planned cruise, we might cancel the original itinerary and prepare an alternative cruise with a different route. In principle, we will never get even close to anything dangerous. Sugihara:I see, so you absolutely do not put your ship, with all the passengers on it, into a tense situation like we see in the movies. ~To be concluded in Part 3~ Interview conducted by D-POPS GROUP’s advisor Genta Sugihara. 【NYK Cruises Co., Ltd.】 President and CEO: Yuji NishijimaLocation: The Landmark Tower Yokohama, 2-2-1 Minatomirai, Nishi-ku, YokohamaEstablished: January 1989Website: https://voyage.asukacruise.co.jp/en/ Next, in the final part of the interview, we discuss:・The internationalization of the crew and passing down a sense of hospitality・The differences between large corporations and startups as seen from the perspective of cruise ships vs. yachts・The power of greetings in building communication and trust・The future of Asuka II and the next career steps Captain Taguchi envisions・Alignment with D-POPS GROUP’s aim of realizing a Venture Ecosystem・And other topics. Stay tuned for Part 3!

At D-POPS GROUP, our corporate mission is to multiply the number of growth companies (so-called “unicorn companies”) that will revolutionize society, and our core value is to grow and learn together through sincerity, humility, and gratitude. Ever since setting his goal last summer to “conquer all of Japan’s 100 Famous Mountains while wearing our company’s iconic unicorn T-shirt”, Genta Sugihara, an advisor to our company, has continued climbing mountains across the country, reaching 62 summits as of writing this article. In this series, he reflects on the successes, failures, decisions, and lessons from his journey, drawing parallels to startup management and organizational leadership. Because he started with relatively easy mountains, only the most rugged peaks remain after the first 50 or so. Over the past year, by thinking back on every climb, learning from his mistakes, and repeatedly training, he has gradually raised the level of mountains he can climb. If he had attempted the mountains he is climbing now right from the start, he would have lacked the stamina and technique, and likely would have had to turn back or suffered a major injury. Basking in the afterglow of reaching a summit is wonderful, of course, but it is incredibly important to properly review after every single climb and apply those lessons to the next challenge. Just as merely accumulating mountain climbing experience doesn’t automatically improve your climbing skills, in business, simply racking up years of experience does not guarantee significant growth. In Part 6, we will explore how identifying failures, learning from them, and connecting them to your next steps is the true wellspring of growth. 16. Review After Every Single Climb: Learning from Failure is More Important Than Not Failing After every climb—including mountains outside the 100 Famous Mountains—I have kept records using a hiking app (in my case, an app called YAMAP). Initially, my goal was simply to check my GPS track or look back at the photos I took alongside my memories. However, as I continued my 100 Famous Mountains challenge, I have also begun using it as a way of looking back. Specifically, I will record the number of times I stumbled, slipped, twisted an ankle, or fell. I note what I ate for trail snacks and lunch, the shoes I wore, my foot fatigue, and the state of any blisters. I also log my overall physical condition for the day. On a mountain trail, especially on steep slopes or rocky terrain, falls can directly lead to fatal sliding accidents, so they must be avoided at all costs. And stumbling, slipping, or twisting an ankle are the triggers that lead to those falls—and consequently, sprains, bruises, or major injuries. I memorize how many times I lost my footing one day, or if I slipped on a tree root, fell on my backside, etc. Then, to avoid repeating the same mistakes, I search for the root causes. I think about what I need to pay attention to next time. I realized that doing this is the best preventative measure against accidents. During the first half of my challenge, I suffered from toe blisters, internal bleeding under my toenails, and thigh muscle cramps multiple times. I even sprained my shoulder when I reached out my hand to break a forward fall. By learning my patterns of stumbling and slipping, tracking my food and water intake to find the causes of my cramps, and devising countermeasures for each issue, I was able to gradually reduce these troubles. (Every journal entry always includes a review of the day’s climb.) Before starting the 100 Famous Mountains challenge, I was a complete amateur. But through these reviews, I identified countless failures and learned a great deal from them. I’ve learned things like: ・Ankle twists are common when descending rocky terrain, so pay extra attention・Bare tree roots are incredibly slippery when wet・On long hikes, replenish calories frequently before actually starting to feel hungry・Frequent hydration and sodium intake are highly effective in preventing cramps・Tape specific parts of feet and legs to prevent sprains, knee pain, and blisters・The quality of sleep the night before a climb drastically affects fatigue levels You might think those are all just standard mountaineering principles and common sense. However, the important thing is that I learned these lessons through hands-on experience in the field. The exact same thing can be said in the business world. When a project is completed, or after executing a business alliance or corporate acquisition, it is absolutely essential to conduct a proper review after the fact—either immediately afterward, or after a certain period when results can be evaluated. What went well? What didn’t? What were the root causes? What should you do differently when facing a similar situation in the future? You must verbalize these things. You can learn the theories of entrepreneurship, business development, and sales in MBA classes or business textbooks. However, knowing something and actually being able to do it are two different things. You will also quickly realize that in the real world, many theories do not work exactly as written. That is why the attitude of learning from when something fails in practice is indispensable for startup companies. Instead of choosing the safe path just to avoid failure, you must challenge yourself without fear of failing, and elevate your experience level through review. In both mountaineering and business, what matters is not avoiding failure, but what you learn from it and how you apply it next. In other words, the key is not letting an experience remain merely something you went through, but transforming it into actionable insight. Now, people do not necessarily grow just by experiencing things. Only when you think back on an experience, verbalize the causes of your failures, and change your subsequent actions does that experience transform into true learning. 17. Prepare Behind the Scenes in Order to Perform When it Matters My goal to “Summit Japan’s 100 Famous Mountains by around 60 years old” means that I’m starting the mission at age 58 and finishing all 100 peaks in three to four years. This presents a different kind of difficulty than a challenge undertaken by a tireless youth. This is because at my age, muscle strength naturally begins to decline, joints become stiffer, and it takes longer to recover from fatigue. As I continue pursuing my goal, in addition to the review I mentioned in Chapter 16, I’ve started to intentionally train my body when I’m not actively climbing. This includes thorough stretching routines I previously disliked, especially loosening up my lower body joints. It means doing a strength regimen that leverages my upper body strength for climbing. It also means cutting back on alcohol and prioritizing high-quality sleep. Furthermore, I now hold conversations with AI as a sounding board to analyze the type of trail and choose the optimal hiking boots for my next climb; determine the transportation method to the trailhead, departure times, and lodging locations according to my predicted level of fatigue; and I decide the amount of water, trail snacks, meal contents, and the number of rest stops. (Deciding on gear and equipment in advance based on different trail types) By continuously training and researching on a daily basis like this, I have been able to compensate for the handicaps of my age and continue with my goal, while gradually ramping up to highly difficult mountains. In the same way, it is vital for business managers to continually refine themselves behind the scenes. However, there is one difference from mountaineering. When climbing a mountain, being older can be a handicap in some ways. On the other hand, for entrepreneurs and business leaders, being young and inexperienced can be a handicap. Even with boundless passion, a lack of industry network, low credibility, and not having experience can often become a hurdle. That is exactly why it is so important to keep learning daily to compensate for those shortages. Even in the midst of a busy schedule, it is crucial to maintain an attitude of learning the wisdom of those who came before you, such as by asking veteran executives to be your mentors. You must also not neglect studying, whether that means researching case studies of successes and failures in your business domain, or deeply analyzing similar or competing companies based on public information. What is especially important is not waiting to learn until a problem occurs, but continuously learning behind the scenes. You cannot start building muscle after you encounter a difficult rock wall on the mountain. It is too late to study map reading after you get lost. Similarly, in business, if you start studying finance only after falling into a cash crunch, learning organizational HR theory only after your team starts falling apart, or researching competitive strategy only after a fierce rival appears, it might be too late. By gaining a broad range of knowledge on a daily basis, looking at the successes and failures of other companies, and thinking about what decisions you would make in their shoes, this steady accumulation of learning leads to rapid decision-making and a wealth of options when a crisis hits. Just as the stamina and technique for mountaineering cannot be acquired overnight, professional business judgment isn’t something you can obtain right in the moment you need it. How much you prepare during the rehearsal determines how well you can perform when it’s time to stand on the stage for the real show. That is precisely why the more you continue to challenge yourself, the more intentional you must be with the time when you are not actively challenging yourself. 18. Gain Field Experience: Expand Your Playbook to Increase Your Adaptability to the Unknown Along with the previous sections’ concepts of looking back and preparing behind the scenes, an even more important factor is increasing your experience by actually climbing mountains. “Mountain legs can only be trained in the mountains.” This is a common phrase meaning that the leg strength and stamina required for mountaineering cannot be forged through training only on flat ground or in gyms. They are built by actually walking on mountains. As this phrase suggests, you climb many mountains, reflect on your experiences, make necessary improvements, and climb the next one. Through this cycle, you develop strong legs capable of enduring rugged peaks. However, physical strength and technique are not the only things you acquire through repetition. Every mountain is different. Even on the same mountain, the situation changes depending on the weather, the season, and your physical condition. Yet, as you accumulate experience, you gradually become able to make judgment calls the very moment a situation develops. For example, “This rock looks slippery.” “That’s a loose rock.” “This pace is too fast and will hurt me later, let’s slow down.” “Let’s take a rest here to recover.” This happens because your various past experiences accumulate, allowing you to unconsciously pull from a mental playbook of similar experiences to make decisions, even when encountering a situation for the very first time. Gaining experience in the field is not simply about increasing the number of things you’ve done. It is about sharpening your ability to handle unknown situations and adding more tools to your toolkit. (I have yet to climb these peaks, which could be called the most difficult mountains in Japan. *Images taken from YAMAP site.) It is the same in business. Particularly for startup companies trying to bring innovation to society in new domains, there are no textbooks with the correct answers to begin with. No matter how much you research in advance or bounce ideas off others, in actual sales activities or negotiations, conversations rarely proceed exactly as you envisioned. You receive unexpected questions from customers. Conditions are suddenly changed in a critical meeting. A new hire doesn’t perform as expected. A major corporation suddenly enters your domain. The fundraising environment abruptly deteriorates. When faced with such situations, what ultimately makes the difference is not just textbook knowledge, but the sheer variety of situations you have experienced up to that point and what you have learned from them. Business leaders and executives with extensive field experience have sharpened their ability to detect changes in their external and internal environments (as described in Part 4), and possess a large collection of tools. Even when facing a problem for the first time, they can check it against past experiences and think: “This is similar to that time”, “This option has these risks”, or “In this phase, we need to verify this point first”. Of course, gaining experience does not mean you will stop failing. But if you review each experience, learn from it, and change your next action, you can lower the probability of repeating the same mistakes. And the options available to you when facing the unknown will continue to multiply. People do not grow just by experiencing things. But there are lessons you can only learn by experiencing them. Growth does not mean never failing again. It means expanding your playbook with every new experience, enabling you to make better decisions in your next struggle. This concludes Part 6 of “Startup Management Lessons Inspired by Japan’s 100 Famous Mountains”. Recently, while I was coming down a mountain, someone passing me on the other side of the trail called out, “That’s a cool T-shirt!” Also, in the 15th month since beginning this challenge, I hit the milestone of 60 mountains climbed. I know this is entirely thanks to the understanding and support of everyone around me, both at work and at home. Filled with this spirit of gratitude, I’ve acquired the habit of buying local souvenirs from the areas around the 100 Famous Mountains and distributing them at the office when I return. I will continue to do my best so that one day, this D-POPS GROUP unicorn T-shirt—which has climbed up so many of the 100 Famous Mountains with me—will be well-known in both the startup community and the mountaineering community. Next time, the topic will be “Sincerity, Humility, and Gratitude”. Facing the mountain with sincerity; challenging nature with humility; feeling gratitude toward the people you meet on the mountain, the people who maintain the trails, and the people around who support you: I believe these attitudes are profoundly important in startup management as well. In the next installment, we will explore the concepts of sincerity, humility, and gratitude reaffirmed through mountaineering. For those who have not yet read the previous articles in this series, please check them out here: Part 1: Define Your Summit, then PreparePart 2: Detailed Planning, Steady ExecutionPart 3: Strategy, Tactics, and ExecutionPart 4: Extend Your Antennae, Pay Attention to Your VitalsPart 5: Balancing Tenacity and Caution D-POPS GROUP Advisor Genta Sugihara September 2026: Mt. Jonen (#55), Mt. Yakedake (#56), Mt. Iwate (#57), Mt. Hayachine (#58), Mt. Hachimantai (#59); October 2026: Mt. Hiragatake (#60)

Building a Ship That is Comfortable for Both Passengers and Crew, According to a Cruise Ship Professional 【About This Part】In this first part of a three-part interview, we asked about the behind-the-scenes of supporting a sea voyage—including the scale of the luxury cruise ship Asuka II, how guests spend their time, the freedom of enjoying ports of call, the unique charm of an Alaska cruise, the maritime communication environment, and the procurement system for food and water. (This interview was conducted in August 2026.) ◆Scale of Asuka II and the Profile of Its Guests Sugihara:Thank you for your time today. We are speaking with Captain Taguchi, who serves as the 14th ship captain of Asuka Cruise. First, could you tell us about the size of the cruise ship Asuka II? Taguchi:Certainly. We now have a sister ship called Asuka III, which has become our largest ship, but until the spring of last year, Asuka II was the largest passenger ship registered in Japan. Its total length is 241 meters, and its gross tonnage is 50,444 tons. In terms of decks, we often tell people it is a 12-story ship, counting the areas accessible to guests. We have a crew of 490, and we can accommodate a maximum of 872 guests. Sugihara:The number of crew members is surprisingly large relative to the number of guests. Taguchi:It sure is. We place great importance on the ratio of crew members to each guest, and we maintain this staff size as a system to provide meticulous, attentive service. Sugihara:That must be another reason it’s known as a luxury cruise ship. What kind of guests typically sail on Asuka II? Taguchi:While the size of the ship is as I just mentioned, the cruises we offer are incredibly varied. The cruise departing today is a 3-day, 2-night trip, something people can easily take during the Obon holiday. On the other hand, the Alaska-Hawaii cruise we ran from April to June of this year took 46 days. The age demographic of our guests shifts depending on the length of the cruise. For a short cruise like a 3-day, 2-night trip, we often see young couples with children utilizing their company Obon holidays. But for a 46-day voyage, the number of people who can take that much time off is naturally limited, so the majority are retirees. The average age of our guests is around 70, and on our last cruise, I believe our oldest guest was over 90. That shows just how healthy they are In general, people in society imagine retiring around 60 to 65 years old. However, since the average age on a long cruise is 70, a 65-year-old still feels like part of the younger demographic. Sugihara:So, the working generation can enjoy the shorter tours, and with those memories in hand, they can look forward to longer cruises after retirement. That’s a wonderful way to enjoy the experience. ◆Enjoying Ports of Call the Way One Wants to Sugihara:I personally have never been on a cruise, but while traveling around Japan, I saw a cruise ship from Hong Kong, not the original Asuka, docking somewhere around Matsuyama or Nagasaki. Right after docking, the cruise guests immediately scattered to various locations in groups. It felt very relaxed, not rushed at all. I felt that scattering out to places you can only reach by ship is a unique way to enjoy it. Taguchi:That is generally how it works. For cruises with ports of call, we sometimes offer excursion-style tours on sightseeing buses to visit local attractions, and for those who prefer to just look around the port area without joining a tour, we offer shuttle buses. There are also guests who simply relax on the ship the whole time we are docked. Everyone enjoys it at their own pace. For those who come primarily to stay on Asuka II, just gazing at the town from the port is perfectly fine. We do prepare shore excursion tours that cover the main highlights, but whether or not to choose them is entirely up to the customer. For older guests, even if they have booked a tour, they might cancel if it rains, thinking it would be terrible to fall and get hurt. Yet, just relaxing on the ship is a fully satisfying way to spend the day for them. Sugihara:Some customers probably prefer not to receive a strong recommendation, right? Like someone saying they just want to eat fried rice at a luxury Chinese restaurant, and that being perfectly acceptable. Taguchi:Exactly. I believe the best establishments pleasantly embrace and cater to whatever way the customer wants to enjoy themselves. Many people associate cruises with delicious meals, dancing, and watching movies. However, for repeat guests, their ways of enjoying the trip vary wildly—some come just to see crew members who have been working here for 10 or 20 years, some spend their time gazing at the ocean, and others board specifically to pass under a bridge they have fond memories of. We cannot unilaterally recommend everything, and the guests might not want us to either. Our stance is to provide the options, and let the customer choose. ◆Alaska Cruises: Breathtaking Views Only Accessible by Ship Sugihara:By the way, on long cruises spanning over a month, are there places that are difficult to reach by plane or land, but are accessible specifically because you are on board the Asuka? Taguchi:The fact that certain places can only be reached by a cruise ship is one of the reasons the Alaska cruise is so popular. Alaska has many glaciers, and the areas near them form U-shaped valleys with deep waters, allowing even large ships to get quite close. Since you can’t get there by car, cruising through the fjords and seeing the glaciers is an experience unique to ships. During the summer, Alaska is a highly popular route with ships from foreign cruise companies coming and going constantly. If you are lucky, you might even encounter shifting ice or the moment an ice wall collapses. It’s too dangerous to go there by car or on foot, but you can go by ship. That is another part of the appeal. Cruises on Asuka II and Asuka III provide an environment and cuisine tailored to Japanese people, so I believe that is a unique service specifically designed for Japanese guests on the Asuka Cruise. Asuka II viewed from Osanbashi Pier ◆Wi-Fi Connectivity at Sea: The Changes Brought by Starlink Sugihara:Since we have group companies in the telecommunications industry, I have to ask: is there Wi-Fi on the ship? Taguchi:This is a recent development, mostly post-COVID, but our ship has started introducing Starlink, the low-Earth orbit satellite communications network spearheaded by Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Even large vessels sailing through the middle of the Pacific Ocean are starting to pick it up. We purchase high-capacity lines and provide the service to guests, albeit with some restrictions, such as time limits. If you ask whether it’s usable, yes, it is. However, if you are asking if it’s on the exact same level as land-based internet where you can stream Netflix endlessly, it’s not quite there yet. But for things like exchanging LINE stickers, there is no problem at all. Back when I was just a navigating officer on an around-the-world cruise, we had absolutely no communication environment like that. If we saw a moving landscape, we could only share it among the guests right there. Now, you can instantly share beautiful scenery on social media with family and friends on land while you enjoy it. Sugihara:Was this driven by increasing demands from the passengers? Taguchi:Rather than an increase in demand, it was more of a consensus that there’s no reason not to adopt it. Within the general sentiment that it would be convenient to have, various ships have started introducing it. As the bandwidth grows, we also hope that guests with flexible schedules can work while on board, enjoying a “work-ation”. While it might be difficult to watch long videos on Netflix, a web conference that’s mostly conversation with a few slides is perfectly fine. In fact, during our around-the-world cruise the year before last, we had a guest who was participating in web meetings based in Japan while aboard our ship. ◆Food and Water Procurement and the Behind-the-Scenes Work That Supports It Sugihara:You mentioned cruises that last for months. How do you replenish the buffet-style meals, beverages, and water during that time? Do you have equipment to turn seawater into fresh water? Please explain your procurement system. Taguchi:Oil and food naturally deplete as they are used, so we don’t go a month and a half without restocking at all. If fuel gets low, we do bunkering at a port of call to refuel, and similarly, we procure additional food at ports along the way. As for water, we use a technology called reverse osmosis to turn seawater into fresh water. It’s a Japanese technology where seawater is pushed through under intense pressure to produce fresh water. In the past, there was also a method where we used the heat from exhaust gas to boil water, lowered the atmospheric pressure to drop the boiling point and create steam, and then cooled it to make fresh water. However, reverse osmosis is the mainstream method now. We also sometimes replenish our water supply when we arrive at a port. Sugihara:So you don’t totally rely on getting water at ports. Taguchi:That’s right. We operate by continuously making it and taking it in. We basically use nearly 500 tons of water a day. That includes water for bathing, laundry, dishwashing, and everything else, consumed by about 1,300 people in total—our 490 crew members and 872 guests. Sugihara:Does food procurement involve sourcing whatever is locally available in each country you visit? Taguchi:Yes. We have specialized crew members for that. Staff with experience in the galley investigate in advance to determine what kind of ingredients can be procured and where. For instance, they researched this extensively for the recent Alaska-Hawaii cruise. Sometimes seasonal or fresh items aren’t available locally, so there are fluctuations, but we execute our plans after thorough research on what we can roughly expect to procure. Sugihara:Is all of that also part of the captain’s duties, as well? Taguchi:I receive reports, of course, but as long as things are running smoothly, I don’t usually intervene. On a long cruise, we have a policy of never serving the exact same menu twice, and the galley staff does an excellent job of making adjustments, like using one certain ingredient from one port or changing the menu if something is no longer available. Sugihara:I think it’s the same in corporate management. The departments doing the high-visibility work might seem like they are running everything, but the service cannot exist without the behind-the-scenes work. They are doing incredibly important jobs. Taguchi:Exactly. If even a single piece is missing, the whole operation falls apart. Sugihara:And you are managing all of that together within a giant framework for months at a time. Interview conducted by D-POPS GROUP’s advisor Genta Sugihara. 【NYK Cruises Co., Ltd.】 President and CEO: Yuji NishijimaLocation: The Landmark Tower Yokohama, 2-2-1 Minatomirai, Nishi-ku, YokohamaEstablished: January 1989Website: https://voyage.asukacruise.co.jp/en/ Next, in the second part of the interview, we discuss:・The brand power and domestic/international recognition of Asuka Cruise・The reality and daily duties of working as a captain・Captain Taguchi’s career path from working on a cargo ship to managing a cruise liner・Dealing with crises like sudden illness and approaching typhoons・And other topics. Be sure to check out Part 2 here:https://d-pops-group.co.jp/en/column/asukacruise-part2/

In August, we welcomed an intern from the UK, who was a high school student from the King’s College of Our Lady of Eton beside Windsor (commonly known as Eton College). We would like to take this opportunity to once again thank our company’s chairman, Dr. Sachio Semmoto, for making this connection possible. In this column, we will share our thoughts and the most striking insights we gained over the course of this student’s internship. A Character that Embodies Sincerity, Humility, and Gratitude His family does business and spends time all across the world. When you hear of someone born and raised in such an environment, you might only imagine a highly privileged lifestyle. However, after spending those weeks together, what left the strongest impression on us was not the status of his upbringing, but the depth of his personal character. While he certainly showed the innocent and endearing traits typical of a 16-year-old, he also had a level of maturity uncommon for his age. Above all, he consistently demonstrated a posture of sincerity, humility, and gratitude. We were deeply impressed that at just 16, he already naturally embodied these same three values that our company so highly prizes in our own employees. Viewing Effort as a Given Despite being enrolled at one of the UK’s elite schools, he never rested on his laurels; instead, he was extremely studious and a hard worker. He showed a strong belief that making an effort and never ceasing to learn are obvious prerequisites for future success. A Strong Will to Follow Through Regarding his future, he did not hold vague wishes like “It would be nice if…”, but rather a clear will of “I will get it done.” I felt his strong conviction as he spoke of his goal to attend a famous overseas university and subsequently thrive as an entrepreneur. The Ability to View Society Objectively and Take Action It was also striking to hear how calmly he understands that his own environment is often seen by the general public as living in a bubble, and that it is precisely because of this awareness that he actively engages in volunteering and other activities that contribute to society. Broad Education and Conversational Skills He possessed a truly vast range of knowledge encompassing international politics, religion, philosophy, business, and even drinking culture (in the UK, 16-year-olds can legally drink alcohol if accompanied by an adult). It was particularly impressive that when we introduced him to an American entrepreneur and Stanford graduate, the intern was able to engage him in deep discussions, bringing up names like Machiavelli, Nietzsche, and Kant. An Astonishing Memory He remembered almost everything from our conversations and showed a conscious effort to commit things to memory. The word “talented” truly suits him. We felt that his future potential rivals, or even exceeds, that of the top students at Japan’s most elite prep schools. Consideration for Others His attentiveness and kindness were also very impressive, and every one of our members who interacted with him became a fan. We will never forget how he would naturally rush over to help whenever anyone was working on a task. Feedback from the Places We Visited We took him to visit a variety of places, from startups to large corporations. Everywhere we went, he never ran out of questions, and he continually demonstrated a capacity for critical thinking and the ability to perceive and discuss the heart of the matter. Our company advisor and former Japanese Ambassador to the United States, Ichiro Fujisaki, said the same thing as executives from leading Japanese corporations: “This high school student’s potential is so incredible, it’s scary.” President Goto’s Concluding Thoughts It was a time that made me realize just how amazing some young people in this world are. I am once again grateful for this encounter that transcended age and borders to provide so much inspiration and insight. It was a valuable experience that greatly expanded my expectations for the unseen encounters yet to come in my life. D-POPS GROUP aims to realize a society where young people can freely, vibrantly, and uninhibitedly take on challenges, and one that supports and recognizes youth who hold dreams and goals. This internship has further strengthened my desire to build a society where youths—not just in Japan, but around the world—can freely take on challenges. We will continue to build a society that supports young people by realizing a Venture Ecosystem. D-POPS GROUP President & CEO Kazuhiro Goto, together with all of the President’s Office members ※Reference Article regarding Eton College:“The Awe-Inspiring Classes at Eton College That Bring Up Royalty”, PRESIDENT Online https://president.jp/articles/-/26151