【SF diary Vol.100】Interview with our president! (President of System Friend Toshio Asayama)
SF diary has been started in 2017. (The very first diary can be checked from here…) I updated company’s blogs soon after joining in System Friend. At last, 100th diary update has come. This time, I interviewed with Asayama, the president of our company, which is suitable for the 100th milestone. He talked about the recent hobby, what he puts importance on corporate management, and future vision of System Friend. Please take a look to the end!
―First, please introduce yourself.
I am Toshio Asayama, the president of System Friend.
People tend to think that I live in Hiroshima, but in fact, I moved from Hiroshima to Tokyo in 2008 and still live in Tokyo. I have lived in Jiyugaoka with my wife, two children and two pets a turtle and a parakeet.
―How do you spend your holidays? Do you have any hobbies?
I am addicted to watching wild birds at Komazawa Park and the riverside of the Tama River.
During the coronavirus pandemic, I went to Komazawa Park every morning for my son’s exercise. We found a “mysterious wild bird”, and even my son and I checked a picture book together, we couldn’t find out what kind of bird it was. Then I searched on the website, and it says it is good to have binoculars to observe wild birds, but you should see the real thing and choose. When I searched “binoculars sales”, I found a shop of the Wild Bird Society of Japan on the same block as the Tokyo branch office, immediately went there, learned a lot about wild birds and bought some binoculars. After that, we are more interested in birdwatching; we’ve become able to distinguish some types of wild birds and been able to take pictures of the birds. And it turned out that the “mysterious wild bird” was a thrush.
I was born in Hatsukaichi City, Hiroshima Prefecture, and grew up on the opposite side of Miyajima, which is famous for its large torii gate. When I was in high school, I was exposed to computers and programming with a second-hand FM7 given by my mother’s colleague. After graduating from high school, I joined a system development company in the temporary staffing industry. I developed software to test staff skills such as typing speed measurement. After that, the former president Okamoto and I started System Friend.
―You were 24 years old when you established System Friend with the former president. Did you have any concerns?
I wasn’t worried about anything. The predecessor was my direct boss at my previous job, and he let me do a lot of interesting job. When I heard that he was thinking of starting his own business, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to find interesting job after his retirement.
―What do you like most about your current job?
I like the point that I can meet people from various industries and hear various stories that I never know. For example, by e-commerce side, when I talk to people at companies who deal with a wide variety of merchandise, I've learned that distribution and manufacturing processes of the various products we purchase without even thinking about it. In medical work, sometimes I talk with doctors who are dedicated to advanced medical. It is fun because the doctors give me very useful information frankly even though I sometimes become nervous at the meeting.
―Have you ever been in crisis or made a mistake in your current job?
This question is the kind of forces me to say something dramatic, isn’t it? Fortunately, there have been no failures so far, such as crushing a company or collapsing a project. Speaking of a crisis, when I moved from Hiroshima to Tokyo in 2008 to set up the Tokyo branch office, the Lehman Brothers collapse occurred at about the same time. The number of jobs drastically decreased, resulting in a large deficit. Even though I came to Tokyo, I got shingles from stress because of too much free time since I am a person who love work. I think every day is dramatic.
―What do you think is important for company management?
“Being fair.” For our clients, we will return the compensation we receive with proper work, on the other hand, we will charge a fair compensation for the work we have done for them. I think it is important to treat each other fairly between employees and the employer.
―What kind of person do you want to work with? What do you expect from persons who want to join us and employees?
I want to work with people who enjoy their work. It’s simply fun to work with that kind of person. I want candidates for employment and our employees to find the fun in their work. I think that many of our employees are relatively enjoy their job. (Is it true, right??)
―What kind of company do you want System Friend to be?
I want to take advantage of the location, Hiroshima, located in a local city. Since we located the branch office in Tokyo, the number of clients in Tokyo has continued to grow than Hiroshima. Of course, there are more company in Tokyo than Hiroshima, but I would like to be able to help local companies in Hiroshima. If possible, I want to try out new initiatives in Hiroshima, and then expand those that are successful throughout Japan.
From Hiroshima to all over Japan!
Hope you to get our president’s desire to contribute to the local community and society while pursuing interesting technologies.
Thank you for taking time!
I would like to update SF diaries more so that you can understand more about System Friend! I hope you will like the next diary. Thank you for reading till the end!