Rebirth Tokyo 1986

Chapter 426 Overtime, what kind of overtime?

"The benefits are really generous. No wonder it is a representative enterprise of the national economy."

"Rest assured, if I were to leave Nintendo, your company would be my first choice."

Gunpei Yokoi was very satisfied with the terms offered by Xinghai Group, especially the disbursement of research and development funds, which left him deeply moved.

He wouldn't hesitate to accept even a tenth of Nintendo's generosity.

Hearing Yokoi Gunpei say this, Takeshita Masato was delighted.

Because the product development manager he found for Xinghai Electronics was practically guaranteed to be a top performer.

However, the journey of a hundred miles is only half complete at ninety, and young people should not show their true colors too obviously.

After all, Gunpei Yokoi dedicated the best years of his youth to Nintendo, and if he overreacts, he could easily end up losing everything.

Therefore, adhering to the principle of seeking change through constancy, he remained humble and spoke.

"We are very grateful to Mr. Yokoi for recognizing our company; this is what Xinghai Group should do."

"Don't both Panasonic and Hitachi insist on putting employees first?"

Many Japanese companies, especially those that have grown from the ruins of the war, are indeed full of humanistic concern.

They don't focus on company profits, spending most of their profits on research and development and employees.

However, this phenomenon has been fading since the economic bubble burst.

Many electronics companies have reduced their R&D investment to a minimum, and employee wages and benefits have also been continuously reduced.

Xinghai Group is very profitable and will become even more profitable in the future. Therefore, it still retains the characteristics of an old-fashioned Japanese technology company.

The company invests more than 10% of its annual revenue in research and development, and its employees enjoy world-class benefits and compensation.

The two flattered each other for a while, and then went to a famous restaurant that Yokoi Gunpei had booked in advance for a kaiseki meal.

It was very exquisite, but the taste was only so-so for him.

He still prefers Chinese food, as well as some Japanese-style Chinese cuisine.

On the way back to the hotel after dinner, Masato Takeshita gave instructions to Rogers, who was sitting next to him.

"Don't give other companies a chance; continue to maintain communication with Manager Yokoi."

"President, please rest assured."

Rogers was quite confident this time, and didn't think that Yokoi Gunpei would give up the promising Xinghai Group and choose another company.

Unless he decides to start his own business, there's nothing that can be done.

"Okay, that's good. Mr. Yokoi will be an important part of our company."

With Masato Takeshita personally overseeing the direction of Xinghai Group, the significance of being a leader in the research and development field far exceeds that of any other position within the company.

The vast amount of knowledge in his mind needs to be realized by researchers.

Since we're in Kyoto, we should naturally visit Kyoto University.

This is Japan's second-largest university, primarily focused on science and engineering. In fact, its strength in science and engineering even surpasses that of the University of Tokyo.

The number of Nobel Prize winners in the natural sciences at the undergraduate level in Japan is sufficient proof of the school's strength in science and engineering.

Taking advantage of this opportunity to recruit Gunpei Yokoi, I also gave a speech at Daiichi High School in the Kansai region of Japan.

However, this speech was not entirely unexpected.

Before he came to Kyoto, he instructed his secretary to find the invitation letter from Kyoto University and then made a phone call to the university president, Hiroo Imura.

The content is naturally that we are very happy to receive the invitation from Kyoto University. Our president just happened to have finished his work recently and can give a speech at Kyoto University.

Of course, Masato Takeshita was very humble and tactful during the call, and his intention was more to curry favor with Kyoto University.

There's no way around it; even in this current job market slump, Kyoto University undergraduates have no trouble finding employment.

It's nothing more than a matter of compensation and reduced opportunities for future promotions.

On the contrary, doctoral students would suffer in a few years if it weren't for Xinghai Group.

Major Japanese technology companies have been badly traumatized by the economic crisis, and have repeatedly reduced their research and development spending.

On the contrary, South Korea, which learned from Japan's experience, is very willing to invest in research and development.

They often invest more money during industry downturns, playing counter-cyclical tricks.

It's worth noting that this was once a tactic Japanese companies used to crush American companies. However, after the company prospered, it ended up becoming their own enemy.

History is so interesting.

Like the huge Tokyo stadium, the auditorium where the lecture was held was packed with students.

However, the difference between Kyoto University and the University of Tokyo is that students here prefer to ask questions related to science and engineering rather than economics.

This made Masato Takeshita very happy, and he unconsciously started talking about some future technological hot topics.

For example, lithium batteries, biopharmaceuticals, and related technologies such as new energy.

Of course, the most important thing is to promote his semiconductor and internet ideas.

If Japan wants to get out of its predicament, it must make progress in these two areas.

After concluding his visit to Kyoto University, Rogers asked on his way back.

"So, can you feel the difference between Kyoto University and Tokyo University?"

"Yes, the two schools have quite different academic atmospheres. One is more focused on exploring the world, while the other is focused on mastering the country."

The University of Tokyo is strong in natural sciences, but its political orientation is even stronger.

In just one speech, two-thirds of the questions were about economic and political topics.

Kyoto University took a different approach, focusing more on his attitude towards the information revolution initiated in the United States and when the Internet age would arrive.

But that's fine, because there are too many competitors in the Japanese political arena.

Private schools like Waseda and Keio, which can't compete with national and public universities in science and engineering, are all vying for a place in this field.

Besides, the 21st century is an era of explosive growth in science and engineering.

Kyoto University can make a greater contribution to Japan by continuing down this path.

"By the way, let's continue to strengthen our cooperation with Peking University. In addition to semiconductors and computers, let's add biopharmaceuticals."

"OK, how much to invest?"

"Hmm, let's invest 20 billion yen first."

All of Japan's top 50 schools have collaborative projects with the Xinghai Group.

In the semiconductor and computer-related fields, there are even large projects with a scale of tens of billions of yen in the early stages.

Although Xinghai Group, a biopharmaceutical company, is interested in entering the market, it doesn't currently have a pharmaceutical company, so it's taking a more conservative approach for now.

In fact, not only in Japan, but also in the United States and China, Xinghai Group has many cooperative projects.

The United States has about 30 universities, while China has the top 100.

As for why the United States, with its stronger scientific research capabilities, has so few, while China, with its lagging scientific research capabilities, has so many.

It's very simple, Chinese universities are cheaper.

With a few hundred thousand US dollars, Xinghai Group can gain a dominant position in many projects.

In the United States, however, investments of tens of millions of dollars are needed to get food on the table.

As spring turned to summer, Gunpei Yokoi finally joined Xinghai Group during the summer vacation.

"This is another technology leader I've found for Xinghai Technology, mainly responsible for the PHS mobile phone project."

To demonstrate his high regard for Gunpei Yokoi, Masato Takeshita directly placed him in the position of vice president of Seikai Technology, rather than in the subordinate position of Seikai Electronics.

Because the PHS phone was just a test for him by the young man, he would be responsible for the low-end 2G and even 3G phones in the future.

In short, he will be in charge of all the low-end sales efforts for Xinghai Group's electronic products from now on.

As for high-end models, we will naturally follow Masato Takeshita's instructions. Spending more money is fine; the most important thing is to build brand awareness.

This idea runs counter to Gunpei Yokoi's thinking, so there's no need for him to get involved.

His most important task was to ensure that Xinghai Group consistently maintained its position among the top three in sales of low-end products.

"Welcome to Starsea Technology. I am Scully, the company president."

"Hello, President Scully. I am the company's vice president, Gunpei Yokoi. You can call me Yokoi-san or Yokoi from now on."

Following Sculley, Hidenori Hasegawa, president of Starsea Electronics, and other important executives of Starsea Technology also extended friendly greetings to Gunpei Yokoi.

This is someone the chairman is paying attention to; his future potential should not be underestimated. He might become the group's vice president someday.

After all, this was the case with players like Rogers, Fujio Masuoka, Scully, and Kalinsky, whom Masato Takeshita had personally poached before.

Gunpei Yokoi was very motivated; he was already thinking about working overtime on the very first day.

"Are we all leaving?"

"Yes, it's already time to get off work, isn't it?"

Although it felt a bit strange, I still had to answer the person in charge's questions.

"Oh, can I leave when it's time to leave work?"

Gunpei Yokoi frowned, his eyes flashing with disbelief.

"It's always like this when there's nothing to do. The president doesn't allow overtime without a reason, saying it's a waste of employees' energy and time."

"Ah, I didn't know you could do that."

Gunpei Yokoi has always claimed to be a spokesperson for Xinghai Group, saying he doesn't work overtime and only does publicity.

So even though Masato Takeshita emphasized this point when inviting him to join the company, he didn't pay any attention to it.

After all, when hiring, who wouldn't exaggerate the merits of their own company?

To his surprise, his own guild leader was actually serious, and he felt a strange mix of emotions.

"Um, excuse me, I won't disturb you on your way home."

"It's okay, I don't have much to do when I get back."

After watching his subordinates leave, Gunpei Yokoi went to the president's office.

"President Hasegawa, do your employees leave work on time every day?"

"No, not really. There's not that much work right now, so it's more relaxed. Most of the time, employees still have to work nine-hour shifts. Occasionally, when things get really busy, there have even been days without a break."

"Won't this delay the company's research and development work?"

Gunpei Yokoi couldn't quite understand it, because the working hours for Nintendo's R&D staff generally exceeded 12 hours.

Working overtime, sometimes up to 14 hours a day, is also very common.

Hasegawa Hidenori looked up and replied matter-of-factly, "Of course not."

"We have the best R&D team and will design a development plan with ample time."

"Even if there are occasional oversights, a few days of overtime can perfectly resolve them."

"You should know that Xinghai Electronics is either number one or number two in the industry for products such as mobile phones."

When talking about his company's achievements in the consumer electronics field, Hideyuki Hasegawa is full of pride.

Because whether it's the world's hottest computers right now, or mobile phones that represent the future, Xinghai Electronics is extremely powerful.

In the mobile phone sector, it is now very close to Motorola and is expected to surpass it in sales to become number one in the world this year.

Xinghai Group currently doesn't deal in desktop computers. However, its Xinghai brand laptops have already reached world-class levels.

Yes, Xinghai Computer's notebook computer business surpassed Toshiba and IBM in sales as soon as it was launched this year.

Unfortunately, current laptops are still somewhat lacking in practicality, and despite becoming the world's number one seller, their sales are only average.

It's estimated that laptops won't fully take off until the 21st century.

As for small, miscellaneous businesses such as USB flash drives and mice, Xinghai Electronics is unparalleled in the industry.

There are no rivals, there are no rivals at all.

Then, Hideyuki Hasegawa clapped his hands proudly and said...

"In short, don't worry, there won't be any problems if you do things according to the chairman's requirements."

In the consumer electronics industry, the most important thing is the leader.

As long as Masato Takeshita controls companies like Seikai Electronics, there will be no situation where the companies' development stagnates or collapses.

"Oh, I'm sorry to bother you."

Just as Yokoi Gunpei was about to leave, Hasegawa Hidenori suddenly called out to him.

"Hey, wait a minute, you're not planning to work overtime by yourself, are you?"

"Yes, I'll wait a bit before I leave."

Hideyuki Hasegawa shook his head after hearing this, "No, that won't do. Today is your first day at work, you can't work overtime."

"Come on, let's go out together."

After hearing this, Yokoi Gunpei was very hesitant. But after thinking about it, he decided it was best not to go against his superior on the first day.

When he returned home, his wife, who had moved to Tokyo with him, was somewhat surprised.

"Huh, you're getting off work so early today?"

"Yes, Xinghai Group does not encourage employees to work overtime."

Next, he briefly explained Xinghai Group's employee policy.

He then sat on the sofa and remarked with emotion, "I never expected that Xinghai Group would actually follow the rules."

"This will probably draw a lot of criticism, won't it?"

Japan is a very strange country; husbands who come home early may even be disliked by their wives.

I feel he's not valued at the company, otherwise why doesn't he work overtime?

It can only be said that the abnormal overtime system has also distorted people's thinking.

“I asked the president, and he said it was true, but it wasn’t a big problem.”

"After all, the reason why wives complain about their husbands coming home early is because in many companies, employee promotions are linked to overtime hours."

"Xinghai Group doesn't require overtime, so there's no such problem, and naturally it won't cause employees' wives to dislike them."

"As for the criticism in society, it is not mainstream at all, and there is no need to care about it."

With the Japanese economy struggling, companies like Xinghai Group, which are still hiring, are highly valued by the government.

Even if employees don't come to get off work, the government will help resolve any potential public criticism.

Of all things, maintaining employment is the most important.

"Well, the new company is really great."

The Yokoi couple were very loving. Her greatest wish was for her husband to come home earlier and spend more time with her and their children.

I never imagined that this wish would come true in my old age.

"Yes, that's really good."

After experiencing a series of betrayals, Gunpei Yokoi was no longer a research machine. He realized that life cannot consist of only work; one also needs sufficient rest time.

Thinking about working overtime at the company during the day was just a subconscious reaction of his.

I estimate that in another two or three days, he will start to enjoy the life of working overtime until 7 p.m. every day, just like the other employees.

(End of this chapter)