Hidetaka Nakajima, Representative Director, Magokoro Group Co., Ltd.

Motivated by the words "Thank you"

Representative Director of Magokoro Group Co., Ltd. Hidetaka Nakajima　(Hidetaka Nakajima)

After graduating from high school, he went to Brazil to study soccer and signed a contract with a soccer team. After retiring, he obtained a license as a judo therapist and worked at an osteopathic clinic and an orthopedic clinic for 20 years. During that time, he specialized in general trauma while also researching and studying whiplash treatment, and opened Susukino Magokoro Osteopathic Clinic in 2010. He then expanded his business area and entered the beauty and nursing care businesses. He currently operates 16 stores.

Since opening his business in Susukino in 20, President Nakajima has managed a total of 16 stores, including osteopathic clinics, beauty salons, and cosmetic acupuncture salons, all at a young age. He believes that "true health is a state of fulfillment in both body and mind," and is always there for his customers, but the road to where he is today has not been smooth. He has an incredible past, having risen from a bedridden state to start his own business, and he says he never forgets to feel grateful for that. We spoke to the president about his past and present.

I didn't originally aim to work in the beauty industry. After graduating from high school, I went to Brazil to play soccer, a sport I'd been passionate about since childhood. Brazil is a hungry world, and unlike in Japan, there are no coaches or managers to teach you soccer. It's an environment where no one will teach you anything unless you take action yourself. In this environment, I think I learned to think and act proactively, not just about soccer, but about everything. I played soccer for about two and a half years, but suffered a serious knee injury during a game and retired at the age of 21. After that, I became involved in my current job, but having to quit soccer was a major regret in my life, so I was determined to never quit my next job.

◼️After a long period of treatment, he opened an osteopathic clinic

After returning to Japan, I thought about my career and realized that a life where I could carve out a path from scratch would suit me better than a life where I just followed a set track.

I trained at an osteopathic clinic during the day and went to vocational school at night to obtain a national license as a judo therapist, which allowed me to open an osteopathic clinic. I then trained at the osteopathic clinic for about eight years, and just as I was about to go independent and open my own clinic, I injured my neck and was hospitalized at the age of 30. I was bedridden for about a year and a half, and despite a long period of recuperation, the pain in my neck remained. "If it hasn't gotten better after this much recuperation, it won't get better even if I rest for a year." With this in mind, I opened an osteopathic clinic in a corner of a housing complex with just a little money and some second-hand equipment. I had absolutely nothing, but I started with the resolve that "if I'm just going to lie down, I'm happy to take on the challenge and make it worse."

First of all, I worked hard, savoring the happiness of being able to work and not thinking about money. Gradually, I gained more colleagues and customers, and my business expanded from an osteopathic clinic to a beauty salon and cosmetic acupuncture salon.

I believe that beauty is premised on a healthy mind and body. For example, even in slimming beauty treatments, I place emphasis on losing weight in a healthy way. For this reason, I make all my osteopathic clinic and beauty treatments subscription-based so that I can have long-term, deep relationships with my customers, and I strive to help them achieve their goals while managing their health.

To achieve our goals, it is essential to keep our customers motivated, so we place great importance on mental care and hospitality. I myself have come to deeply understand the importance of mental care through communicating with these customers.

I think that working at an osteopathic clinic or beauty salon is a rare job where you can receive a fee for your work and also receive a direct thank you from the customer. These words of gratitude from customers are what make my work so rewarding.

◼️With gratitude in our hearts

The business we are currently running was created from scratch. That's why it was so difficult to get it to take shape as a company, including labor management. Our employee benefits were far from satisfactory, and in the past, we were even scolded by the families of our employees. However, we gradually improved these aspects and expanded our business with the people who worked with us. I have nothing but gratitude for our staff. It's been over 10 years since I started my business, and I have never once been angry with a staff member (laughs).

There are three things I value when running a company: humility, self-reflection, and gratitude. I believe that if you have these three things, people will follow you.

As for our future prospects, we don't have any big plans. We feel a stronger sense of mission to ensure that our staff can earn a living when they have families. We are still exploring our future plans, but we are considering turning the business into a holding company to prevent it from disappearing, and ultimately we would like to increase the number of stores. In order to expand our business, we would like people who can empathize with the company's philosophy to join us. All we look for is honesty. If you are honest, it will be easier for the philosophy to sink in, and we will grow faster.

◼️Message

What's important is what happens after you join the company, rather than which company you join. No matter how much you want to work for a company, if you're working with people you don't like and doing things you don't like, you'll end up not wanting to do what you originally wanted to do. Also, no matter which company you join, there will be unreasonable things, and in order to overcome those, it's important to do what you like with people you like. I think it's important to look at the company's philosophy and choose a company that matches your vision.

Student Newspaper Special Edition July 1, 2022 Issue Tsuda University Graduate Mayu Wakiyama / Nihon University 3rd Year Student Ohashi Senan