One of my most memorable Japan companies that I visited was Mirai Industries, headquartered near Nagoya, we spent a morning hearing about their very interesting story and I thought I would bring some of their history and business practices to you over a series of bite sized articles.

Mirai 01

Just a little history of this unique company and then some key (and somewhat amazing) facts:

Akio Yamada, CEO of Mirai Industries, was born in Shanghai in 1931. His father was running a woolen fabric company in Shanghai, but his family had to return to home when Japan was defeated in the Second World War. After returning to Japan, his father established ‘Yamada Electric Wire Manufacturer’ and Yamada began to work for his father’s company after he graduated.

The late 1940s was the golden age of theatre in Japan. Yamada, who was fond of all things theatrical, often finished his work early and went to see plays. He was so into the Thespian life he formed his own troupe of artistes to perform on stage.

He named his troupe ‘Mirai.’ (Mirai means future in Japanese) He spent most of his money that he earned at his father’s company on ‘Mirai’ up until the point that Yamada’s father, who could not take it any longer, fired him from the company.

To make ends meet, he decided to establish his own electric installation equipment company with his troupe of 3 actors plus Yamada himself. He named the company ‘Mirai Industries’ after the name of his acting troupe.

Mirai Showroom

So an interesting start up story, but what about the culture and the Vision and Values of Mirai Industries?

Yamada founded the culture with a the following thoughts:


“To make customers happy, I have to ask my employees to work harder. To encourage employees to work hard, I have to please them.”

Here’s some of their employment conditions:

– The shortest working hours in Japan [8:30-16:45]
– Must not work overtime
– 40 days paid holiday per year
– 3 years of maternity leave
– One of the highest salaries in their industry
– Everyone one contributes their ideas for Products, Services and Improvements
– No redundancies – ever!
– Free Overseas holidays for all employees every 5 years!

The last one I will come back to another time, but the whole company shuts down every 5 years and they all go on holiday together!