Kikuo Watanabe, Chairman and CEO of E-Flan Co., Ltd.

2025.02.14

Live your ideals and have faith.

Chairman and CEO of E-Flan Co., Ltd.　Kikuo Watanabe(Kikuo Watanabe)

■Profile
Born June 19, 1947 in Ishioka City, Ibaraki Prefecture. After graduating from Takushoku University in 1970, he began selling household goods at 6 yen prices, and in 1975 he founded Daily Goods Market Co., Ltd., which began selling antiques, arts and crafts, and overseas products. In 2000, he opened the flagship "Otakaraya" store in Yokohama, and began franchising in 2008. While involved in a variety of businesses, he discovered the appeal of the purchasing business, which was not found in the retail business, and became a pioneer in establishing a business model in which he purchased from the general public.

Otakaraya, which buys precious metals and brand-name goods, has expanded to over 1,300 stores nationwide (as of January 2025) and is experiencing rapid growth in the reuse market. We spoke to the company's Chairman, Kikuo Watanabe, about the secret to achieving such a high market share, the background to achieving sales of 84 billion yen, and his aspirations for growing into a 1 trillion yen company.

When I was a student, the student movement was in full swing. However, I wasn't interested in it at all, and instead focused on part-time work. I did a variety of things, including selling bento lunches at baseball stadiums and driving trucks. I think I was exploring my own path as a working adult through these part-time jobs. I didn't give much thought to job hunting, and I never considered becoming a company employee. Rather, I was more interested in doing something on my own. My family was poor, so I felt like I wouldn't have enough money to live on as a company employee. However, as a university student, I didn't know what I wanted to do, so I tried various things on a whim. One of the things that struck me as "this is it!" was opening a 100-yen shop selling household goods. At the time, 100-yen shops weren't as common as they are today, so I focused on household goods. Perhaps because it was a novelty, whenever I set up a stall in a supermarket or at a department store event, I had no trouble attracting customers and achieving good sales.

■ "Otakaraya" was born as an extension of a hobby

At the same time, I was also working with antiques and collectibles, which I enjoy. My business involved purchasing and selling swords, stamps, old coins, etc. This was close to my own hobby, and this is the origin of Otakaraya. Buying businesses were not common at the time, and pawnshops were the mainstream. However, I felt that precisely because there were so few buying businesses, there was room for growth. Up until then, I had been involved in a variety of businesses, but there were many times when I thought I couldn't grow because the market was small. However, there is a large market for buying, including overseas expansion. That's what caught my eye.
Later, I realized that "sales would increase if we had branded products," which led to the development of the current Otakaraya brand. When I started Otakaraya, I was already over 50 years old. It was a fairly late start compared to the average entrepreneur. For the first five or six years, we struggled to make a living. However, when our current president, Shikamura, joined the company, I thought, "I want him to take over," and so we started franchising, which led to significant growth. Our current business model is a combination of franchise and direct management, with 1,300 stores nationwide, the most in our industry. Going forward, I'm considering franchising Otakaraya worldwide. I'm sure there are no other companies with such extensive plans. Currently, all stores in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia have been decided, and all are scheduled to open by the time our next fiscal year ends in June.

■ Aiming to become a trillion-yen company

I want to grow Otakaraya into a "trillion-yen company" with sales of over one trillion yen. There are surprisingly few trillion-yen companies in Japan, with only around 60. Realistically speaking, it's difficult to aim to become a trillion-yen company through domestic expansion alone. That's why we're also looking overseas and expanding. In line with this, I'm conscious of two things in terms of management.
The first is to set priorities. This is a very important part of business. It is necessary to constantly carefully assess whether the current management policy is in line with the current situation. In running a company, cash flow and profit generation are important. I have a policy of never running a deficit, and I try to set clear priorities when working on things.
The second is to value our employees. We are currently aiming to be number one in Japan in terms of employee happiness, and are putting a lot of effort into this, including aiming to provide 100 types of employee benefits. We also hold bus tours every month and cruises every week. Every Monday, we hold a luncheon at a luxury hotel buffet for 20 people. We have also equipped our break room, which is just under 330m2, with massage chairs, exercise equipment, hydrogen inhalers, and a massage room. I also spend all of my own days off with the employees. I go golfing three times a week, playing with employees, including new graduates.
I have a strong desire to spend a long time with my coworkers, so I want to complete all my leisure and work activities with my coworkers. That's why I almost never go out to eat with people outside the company. I want to maintain this stance until I die.
Increasing opportunities to interact with employees is also a way to identify good talent. Many founders tend to appoint a relative as their successor, but I have no intention of doing that and am always looking for diamonds in the rough. So, in our company, even if you join as a new graduate, there is a good chance that you can become an executive at a young age. I am currently 77 years old, so I don't know what the future holds, but I would like to continue to be deeply involved with our employees for the rest of my life.

■Message to university students

I feel like many young people today are simply thinking, "Work is work." But that mindset won't get you anywhere. To get to the top, you sometimes have to use your own time. And if you don't change yourself, it's going to be difficult to get a position in the company. Also, the higher you go, the harder it becomes to gain something unless you give up something. If you want to get to the top, you have to change yourself. The change itself can be anything. Quitting smoking or drinking to free up time to think about work is fine, but without that kind of determination, you won't be able to rise to the top and assume positions of greater responsibility.
There is a quote from Oda Nobunaga, a warlord of the Sengoku period, that I like: "Hold up ideals and live with conviction." I hope that you too will take on the challenge of having conviction and a strong will to turn your life in a better direction and to enjoy your work.

Interviewed by Student Newspaper Online on May 23, 2024 by Saeki Sakurayu, a fourth-year student at Hosei University