Good morning everyone.
In June 2021 I was appointed President of Rigaku as successor to Hikaru Shimura, and my appointment was recently renewed at the March Board of Directors meeting. I would like to have more frequent communication with Rigaku’s global employees, so from now on I will post a monthly message on our intranet to talk to you about Rigaku’s direction and my intentions as Rigaku’s leader. I hope that you can take the time to read my message each month.
In Japan, most companies and schools start their annual calendar from April. At the same time of year, the cherry trees, which are a national symbol of Japan, come into full blossom. It feels like the cherry trees are coming into bloom at the start of each year to celebrate with us the start of our new endeavors. One of the most famous spots to see cherry trees in Japan is Mount Yoshino in Nara Prefecture. Nara was the ancient capital of Japan, long before Tokyo or Kyoto. Mount Yoshino is covered in cherry trees, and the sight of the whole mountain in spring time wrapped in pink is truly breathtaking. These trees were planted by Buddhist pilgrims visiting Nara, starting from 1300 years ago, who thought that the wild cherry trees found in this area were holy. Pilgrims coming to this area to pray for a peaceful world and good health planted more and more of these trees, and more than 1000 years ago this area became a famous spot to see the cherry blossom. Even in times when Japan was suffering from rebellions or war, these trees were protected and have continued to stand, often celebrated in poems and songs.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on 24th February, we have seen every day on our TVs the images of burnt out buildings and cars. The beautiful plains, farmland and towns of Ukraine being destroyed by rockets and tanks is truly a tragic sight to see, and reminds you how stupid we humans can be. I hope that people can look at beautiful natural sights like the cherry blossom of Mount Yoshino, and remember the true value of peace and nature. I’m sure you will all join me in praying for peace to return to the world as soon as possible.
Rigaku was founded 70 years ago and since then it has grown steadily, based on the mission and vision created by its owners. As Rigaku’s president, I feel that we need to modify our mission and vision to something directly linked to the daily work of our staff. Therefore I started a project to draft a new mission, vision and set of values to help Rigaku meet the challenges of the future. There were 12 people assigned to the project team in Japan, and 6 people from our group companies around the world. This project had its final proposal approved by the Rigaku Holdings Board of Directors in March. Peter Drucker once wrote the very famous comment that “There is only one valid definition of a business purpose: to create a customer.” We should take this as the starting point for all of our activities. The new mission, vision and value statement contains the tagline “To improve our world by powering new perspectives”. Humans have been able to learn a lot and create many innovations as we developed the ability to look into natural structures in more and more detail. “Powering new perspectives” refers to the new structures and phenomena that can be observed by using X-ray and infra-red, and is a neat shorthand for the core deliverable that we bring to our customers. “To improve our world” refers to the ultimate objective of our customers, who use our devices and support to develop new materials and techniques for products that help, for example, to generate more sustainable energy or improve the technology for electric vehicles.
The world is currently going through a phase of uncertainty. But by keeping true to our values, just as the Mount Yoshino cherry trees have been a constant symbol of safety and continuity, we can find a way to keep some stability. I ask for all of our Rigaku people to keep the new tagline at the forefront of their minds, and to keep their focus on how Rigaku can contribute to a better future for all of mankind.
