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Covid-19 has spread around the world within the blink of an eye. The pandemic is still affecting people in various parts of the globe. I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to the healthcare personnel and all the workers who are struggling on the frontlines.

The 2020 coronavirus crisis is a global historical event that impacts every one of us. It has been often likened to an invisible enemy or the Third World War. I was hoping that Japan would never experience another war during my lifetime, and I was ready to put my life on the line to oppose it in case any fear arose, but I had never imagined I would get caught in a worldwide battle like this.

Looking back in history, we have experienced a number of natural disasters and economic crises. I had just come back to my home in Osaka from Tokyo the night before, when the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake hit the area in 1995. The Lehman Brothers bankruptcy in 2008 led to rapid economic depression, and many people who lost their jobs or home were seen to wait in line for food supply in major cities. Furthermore, in 2011, we had the most devastating event for the post-war Japan: the Great East Japan Earthquake. I remember evacuating with my employees from the office building, carefully staying away bookshelves that might fall on us.

I learned that huge earthquakes which cause fatalities have occurred about once in two-and-a-half years from the 17th century in my country. In fact, we experience small or large quakes every year, along with other natural disasters such as typhoons, floods, and volcanic eruptions. The novel coronavirus may be regarded as a kind of them.

The publishing industry, as well as other business sectors, are facing unprecedented challenges, not only because of those natural threats, but also due to the rapid changes our world is experiencing. Publishers must cope with fierce competitions with diverse forms of media, and are on the verge of losing their raison d’etre.

However, people are always seeking new information, trying to gain new knowledge, and willing to acquire different viewpoints. That has not changed?and will never change.

The Japanese poet Matsuo Basho coined a phrase “fueki ryuko” ?roughly translated as “permanence and change” ?about 350 years ago during his observation of an ever-changing world. He taught us to distinguish what we should protect as unchanged values and what should change for evolution. We need courage, whether to hold our grounds against the unstoppable, or to ride the trend to create innovations. In either way, what we need is to keep moving forward, for our survival and further growth.

Shuppan Bunka Sha was founded in 1984 with staff who have editorial and sales skills for print books. Back then, the production processes were shifting from analog to digital, and we had to keep advancing our expertise. Our technical innovations and endeavors have continued till this day.

For over 35 years, our company has specialized in planning and compiling corporate histories, and providing business archiving services, as well as publishing business books. We have helped produce corporate history books for around 1,500 companies. In addition to printed publications, we also create digital media, including DVDs and websites.

A corporate history captures the unique history of an organization, and preserves it as tangible contents that can be handed down to future generations. Making one allows the current generation to share its past experiences, in the hope that it will give future leaders a chance to learn from the wealth of experience and knowledge garnered to date.

We, as Japan’s leading heritage-service company, are determined to keep evolving ourselves to meet the demands of the current society, and to produce goods and services that will make a better world as we continue to grow our businesses. My hope is to create a company where we are doing activities that we are proud to be a part of, with gratitude to our customers, business partners, employees, and society as a whole.

We are here with you together in this critical moment in our history. Let us push forward, never fearing change!

 

 

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