Sanpo-yoshi Communication

President's Column] New Year's Greetings

We would like to express our sincere gratitude for your extraordinary kindness and support during the past year.
We look forward to your continued patronage and guidance in the New Year.

Last year marked the dawn of the Corona disaster and the beginning of the full-fledged after-Corona era.
Perhaps due to the weak yen, there were also foreign tourists, sometimes more than before Corona, and overtourism became a problem in metropolitan areas and major tourist destinations.
Many companies, especially large corporations that export to the rest of the world and financial institutions that have entered a phase of rising interest rates, posted record profits, and there was much discussion about how to return the boost in tax revenues to the people of Japan. Stock prices also reached their highest level in about 30 years.
On the other hand, for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which are mainly engaged in domestic demand, the cost of raw materials has been rising due to inflation, and they are unable to pass on the cost of raw materials to their customers. Minimum wages have risen sharply in consecutive years, and nominal wages have increased, mainly among large companies, but they have not kept pace with inflation, and real wages have remained negative. This has led to a decrease in the number of items purchased at retail stores, and our volumes of all goods and products remain down. Although the yen has appreciated slightly in the most recent period (as of December 11), the conflict continues, and we are prepared for inflation and other conditions to continue this year.

In this environment, as a company involved in manufacturing, we are experiencing a serious shortage of manpower. We have received zero applications from high schools (two schools) that have sent us graduates for a long time. When we talked to the principals, they told us that while the number of job applicants is decreasing to begin with, the number of job offers from companies is drastically increasing. In fact, the ratio of job offers to applicants is more than 30 times, and it seems that each student has to choose one company out of 30 to 40 companies. The time has come when it is impossible to hire people unless we ourselves change, including the way we are treated. We are determined to make further efforts to contribute to your company by providing support in the hiring process.
In addition, we started to prepare a new help (solution) in the second half of last year. That is support for exporting. We have already signed consulting contracts and hired new people (experienced in exporting).
We are preparing to be of service to you in the second half of this year. In any case, we are prepared for the severe environment to continue for a long time, and we will continue our efforts to be recognized as a company that can truly serve our customers even in such an environment.

Please give us your harsh opinions.
At the end of this letter, I would like to offer my best wishes for the health and happiness of all of you and your families. We look forward to working with you again in the New Year.

New Year's Day, 2024