Note: This article was originally published in the March 21st issue of Weekly Playboy Magazine in Japan. Originally written in Japanese, it has been translated using digital localization services with some edits for clarity. Pull quotes originally used have been reflected here.
Tsubame-Sanjo A manufacturing region famous for the mirror finish on iPads. Snow Peak, which was founded in Tsubame-Sanjo, Niigata, has secured a vast site there, making a "dream of the last 15 years" come true.
What was the "dream" scene that our magazine witnessed in Niigata, where snow was still deep?
The Real Reason For Moving The Headquarters to a Vast Campsite.
Na (Interviewer): What is this huge site? Seriously, they should move their headquarters to a campsite. Is that possible, President Yamai?
Yamai (President Tohru Yamai, hereafter, Yamai): *Laughing* We had been talking about how it would be nice to move our headquarters to a location surrounded by nature with a campground right in front of us for the last 15 years. However, the land we were looking at then was only about 20,000 square meters, so it wasn’t possible to actually move our headquarters to a location with a campground in front of it.
Na: By the way, how big is this place?
Yamai: About 165,000 square meters.
Na: Hmm, I don’t really understand.
Yamai: The size of four Tokyo Domes. Its length and width is about 140m x 400m, and everything except the company building is a campsite (laughs).
Na: Eek, No matter how much Snow Peak is an outdoor manufacturer, what is the reason to do this? The old office building is closer to the city than before you moved, this is far from the Japan Rail line at Tsubame-Sanko Station (Sanjo City, Niigata Prefecture).
Yamai: First of all, if users of our products are always camping next to the company, we can work while thinking more about our customers.
"I have to work in between camping and fishing (laughs)."
Na: I see. A user camping next to the company, it’s like testing the product.
Yamai: Yes. Also, we host a camping event called “Snow Peak Way” that invites roughly 5,000 users a year. However, there are still 10,000 people each year who say, “I applied for three or four events, but I can’t attend even one.”
Na: So if the company has a campsite, you can hold events whenever you want.
Yamai: That’s right. We visit campsites all over the country almost every weekend, so we’re like traveling performers (laughs). But if there’s a campsite at the company, you can then tell your child, “Come see your dad!”
Na: By the way, I’ve been getting some teasing from employees about the events! “Even though the president is there first, he doesn’t show up until after dark because of the important stuff, fishing.” What on earth are you doing, Mr. President?
Yamai: *Laughing* Customers coming to the event also ask me, “Did you catch any fish?” So it would be bad if I didn’t go fishing. Right?
Na: Events are a top priority, right?
Yamai: Well, from now on, I have to work in between camping and fishing (laughs).
Na: Is play your priority?
Yamai: Nowadays, I’m pressed for time and my job has become a normal job. So it’s not very interesting (laughs).
Na: Oh my!
Yamai: When I first joined the company, I was developing products myself. Doing PR, advertising and sales while also creating catalogs. So I went to Hokkaido for a month.
Na: Are you serious about that?
Yamai: We were able to do all the product sample testing, catalog location scouting, and photography together. After a year or two, you realize that it’s no use to just go looking for it.
Na: So then what do you do?
Yamai: You take your fishing gear and approach the fishing spot. To fish.
Na: Huh?
Yamai: There is always a filming location on the way to the fishing spot. After entering Hokkaido, you spend the first week camping and fishing. And then the film crew arrives. By then, you’ve found all the locations. But filming is often done at dawn or dusk, when the light comes in from the side. There is nothing to do during the day. So I said, “Okay, let’s go, here’s the bait."
Na: All you do is fish, this president!
Yamai: There are some things that only people who absolutely love something can do!
Snow Peak creates their own original products. Recently, the American leisure magazine, “TRAVEL & LEISURE” awarded the Hozuki Lantern. It offers a mode that allows the light to flicker in response to the wind, you wonder where this playful spirit comes from?
Yamai: When we were kids, our generation grew up in rice fields. I would often catch crayfish in the ocean. So it was a given [I would end up here]. I have this “sentiment for nature” notion that is ingrained in me. So I thought, “LED lanterns are just white lights and not interesting. Wouldn’t it be interesting if they swayed in the wind like a candle?” When I actually made one, the [sentiment unique to Japanese people] was unexpectedly well received overseas. I’m a businessman, so I have to make strategies and do things logically. But if I do everything logically, an LED lantern that sways in the wind will not turn out well.
Na: I see, there’s something more than logic to it. That is why I was able to experience the Hozuki. The people outside are also very surprised!
Yamai: After all, people do what they love. I feel most alive when I’m doing it. I want to be more like this. I like this, and I’ll do what I love as a job. The more people there are like this, the better. There are some things that only people who really really love something can do.
Na: I also like the outdoors, and that’s how I got here, right?
Yamai: My love of the outdoors came from my dad. My dad was a rock climber, so I wanted to do it too. But when I was about 10 years old he told me, “You’re clumsy.” It’s been more than 10 years since my father passed away, but I won’t disobey their will. Since I can’t go rock climbing, I will go fishing in the mountain stream. But I still think, “Dad, this is rock climbing.” It’s not though, it’s just fishing.
Na: Is that a risk you can take?
Yamai: Yes. There are risks involved in relocating the headquarters. As the company becomes more stable, people and the company no longer take risks. This means we will no longer be able to create interesting products or services. That is why we are realizing our 15-year-old dream of relocating the headquarters. There are risks, but it’s a decision we had to take. When I do it, I say “Let’s do it!”.
Na: Well, you are finally going to realize your dream of moving the headquarters to a vast campsite this spring. What’s the next dream?
Yamai: Patagonia founder, Yvon Chouinard spent about six months in Argentina before returning to the United States one time. I’ll go to the United States. I’ll just hang around America. Five years, it won’t happen. So I’d like to be like that in 10 years. But as for the immediate, last year I was only able to go fishing 10 times, so this year I’ll go 20 times. What a small dream (laughs).