Hayato Morita, CEO of Shabondama Soap Co., Ltd.

Carrying on his father's vision, he protects people's health and the environment with additive-free soap

Representative of Shabondama Soap Co., Ltd.　Hayato Morita(Morita Hayato)

■ Profile
Born in Fukuoka Prefecture in 1976. Graduated from the Department of Business Administration, Faculty of Business Administration, Senshu University in March 2000. Joined Shabondama Soap in April of the same year, where he was involved in sales to wholesalers, department stores, supermarkets, and drugstore chains in the Kanto area. He later held various positions, including Executive Vice President, before assuming his current position in 2007. He also actively gives lectures to raise awareness of current environmental issues through additive-free soap.

Shabondama Soap Co., Ltd., with the corporate philosophy of "protecting healthy bodies and clean water," develops products that are gentle on both people and the environment, focusing on additive-free soap. After overcoming 17 years of losses, President Hayato Morita, who inherited his father's passion for the business, spoke to us about his career so far and the appeal of additive-free soap.

■Changes in my father's perspective on his business
From a young age, I vaguely knew I would take over the family business, but even as an elementary school student, I felt somewhat embarrassed about my father being the president of Shabondama Soap. Whenever people asked me, "What kind of work does your father do?" and I answered, "Shabondama Soap," they would look at me dumbfounded; it was so little known even locally at the time. Of course, my parents used our company's white soap at home, so when I visited friends' houses and saw the colorful soaps and soaps with designs of characters from Super Sentai and other shows, I knew we were a unique soap company. However, when I was in junior high school, my father published a book called "The Natural Way of Soap Reader," and the company began turning a profit the following year. At the time, he was also writing books at home, and there were many manuscripts lying around, so I would use them as scraps of paper for study. I read the manuscripts while studying, and realized that my father's company was making environmentally friendly products. This marked a time when my perspective on his business changed.

■ University days when I felt closer to Shabondama Soap
I wasn't a particularly exemplary student in my university days, and I often spent my time drinking. Looking back, I wonder why, but I didn't have a part-time job for four years. I thought that in the future I would continue working in the family business even after I was over 70, so I decided not to work while I was in university. However, because I was a shareholder in the company from my university days, I began to see the company's publications, such as pamphlets and newsletters, and when I went to university in Tokyo, I started living alone and doing housework, and I started using our soap, so I felt closer to the Shabondama Soap business. It was quite moving to see products from a company that was virtually unknown in the past, now on store shelves and being featured in TV commercials in Tokyo.

■ Inheriting my father's thoughts
After graduating from university, I joined Shabondama Soap. My mother suggested I work elsewhere for a few years, but considering my father's age, I decided to join the company immediately after graduation. Since my father was 45 years old when I was born, I wanted to get involved in the business early and follow my father's example to help him grow. I started out by working in the factory, actually making products, then worked in various departments before moving on to accounting and sales. I was appointed director in my second year at the company, and the following year, executive vice president. However, I felt that this was too early for me, so I consulted my father. His response was, "Just do it." He believed that "positions develop people," and believed that even at a young age, gaining experience in responsible roles would lead to growth. I was eventually appointed president at the age of 30, and my father passed away six months after I took over. The sense of mission and the pressure of continuing to deliver high-quality products that would not disappoint our customers and protecting the lives of our employees and their families all weighed heavily on me. My father was a truly down-to-earth businessman, giving as many as 100 lectures a year to spread the word about the wonders of additive-free soap, and welcoming a wide range of clients and the general public to tour the factory. He was a charismatic manager who also engaged in what we would call modern-day brand development, such as using the catchy name "Shabondama Soap," introducing a character, and continuing to run commercials even when the company was in the red. In my case, rather than doing everything alone, I have created an environment where each employee can thrive, and have worked together with them to realize the company's philosophy.

■ Carefully crafted additive-free soap
　While other companies take four to five hours to make soap, we spend a week at our company. In keeping with our corporate philosophy of "protecting healthy bodies and clean water," we are committed to creating products that are gentle on the skin and environmentally friendly. This stems from my father's own struggle with eczema at the time. During the 1960s, a period of rapid economic growth, washing machines and other home appliances were widely introduced, and synthetic detergents imported from the United States rapidly became popular. My father was one of the first to handle synthetic detergents and enjoyed steady business success. However, around the same time, he began suffering from eczema of unknown cause. Medication didn't help, but a client requested that he try an additive-free soap, which he developed. His eczema cleared up almost immediately. After much deliberation about his business, my father made a bold decision in 1974, deciding that he couldn't sell a product he knew was harmful to his health, and he switched to manufacturing and selling only additive-free soap. After switching to additive-free soap, sales fell to less than 1% and the company continued to run at a loss for 17 years, but he believed in the appeal of additive-free soap and continued working to spread the word about its benefits. Thanks to my father's steady efforts, many people now buy our soap, but it took many years of hard work to get there.

■ Challenging the possibilities of additive-free soap
Currently, in addition to selling additive-free soap as a general consumer product, we are also working on a new business. This is the development of a fire extinguisher that applies soap technology. By mixing water with a soap-based fire extinguisher, not only can fires be extinguished efficiently with less water, but it is also environmentally friendly. This was developed through industry-academia-government collaboration with the Kitakyushu City Fire Department and the University of Kitakyushu, with the aim of achieving faster firefighting with less water, following the example of the many deaths caused by fires following the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in 1997. We are also working with JICA to promote the use of a fire extinguisher for forest and peat fires in Indonesia. In Indonesia, materials that are in the early stages of becoming fossil fuels sometimes ignite underground, and we aim to utilize and promote a soap-based fire extinguisher for these fires.
I would like to continue to work hard to protect people's health and the global environment and contribute to society.

■Message to university students
　I want all university students to experience as many things as possible that can only be done while they are university students. It's important not only to study, but also to have fun to your heart's content. University life is precious, so I want you to spend it without any regrets. My motto is "Koshinraku." This means "Believe in what you love and enjoy it." It was originally my father's motto, and is found in Motoori Norinaga's Kojikiden. First of all, it's important to have feelings of love for things. Enjoying anything will make it last. I hope you all find what you love and cherish it.

Student Newspaper Online Interview May 15, 2023 Sophia University 2nd Year Student Hina Shirasaka