Seeking an answer to the question, "If the fish disappear, we all lose" - Report from the 3rd Fisheries Future Summit
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Hilton has committed to a sustainable seafood goal, committing to sourcing at least 2022 percent of its global seafood volume from MSC or ASC-certified sources by 25.
After attending university in the United States and living there for over 30 years, Oi returned to Japan to join Hilton. We asked him about his thoughts on Japan, how he plans to work toward achieving the sustainable seafood goal amid the COVID-XNUMX pandemic, and his outlook for the future.Read Part 1）
--You went on to college in the United States right after graduating from high school in Japan.
In my first year of high school, I went on a homestay in South Dakota, USA, a state that is home to Mount Rushmore, a mountain with four presidents' faces carved into rock.
I couldn't speak English at the time, but I had a lot of fun during my one-month homestay and I wanted to go to America again. When I told my parents that I wanted to study in America in my third year of high school, they didn't ask me any questions and just said yes. So I went again.
South Dakota is a very rural area, so there are not many Japanese people there, and no matter how many friends I made, it was all in English. I was homesick for about 3-4 months.
--After graduating from university, where you were completely immersed in English, did you choose to continue working in America instead of returning to Japan?
It was the bubble era in Japan, and I'm sure there were plenty of job opportunities if I returned home, but I wanted to try working in the US for a while, so I got a one-year practical training visa and started working in sales at the New Jersey branch of JTB.
I actually enjoyed that. I had always spoken English up until then. At JTB, I spoke both Japanese and English. I thought it would be interesting to have a job with that kind of balance. I thought I couldn't do it in Japan. I got an employment visa and worked at JTB for about eight years.
Before long, for example, in group sales, I began negotiating with airlines, hotels, and land operators such as destination management companies, and that's what led me to work in procurement.
In 1999, I was approached by the US subsidiary of Matsushita Kosan, which was then a group company of Matsushita Electric Industrial (Panasonic) asking if I could manage business trips for Panasonic North America. That was my first job change. After that, I also changed jobs to a different industry.
-- You've gained experience in the United States and become a procurement expert, but what do you find most enjoyable about working in procurement?
I don't know if it's the best part, but Procurement is cross-functional, that is, it's horizontal. Because we can communicate horizontally, we get a lot of information. We can do a lot of things using that information. To put it simply, we can see what's going on in the company, or the overall flow of the company. When we want to reduce costs, we definitely come to Procurement (laughs).
When I moved from sales to procurement, I realized that in sales, for example, if the profit margin is 1%, if you want to earn 1 million dollars, or 1 million yen, you have to sell 100 billion yen.
But in terms of reducing costs, if you cut procurement costs by 1 million yen, it's 1 million yen. You don't have to cut it by 100 billion yen. So I thought the impact of that would be immediately visible. Nowadays, I think that's something that's obvious.
For example, Hilton has 14 hotels in Japan, and you can see them all across the board. What people are using, what kind of programs would make people happy, all that information is converted into numerical data, so you can see quite clearly.
If we continue to provide this kind of data, it will benefit the hotel as a whole and Hilton, and I personally would feel a sense of accomplishment.
-- After changing jobs several times, how did you end up joining Hilton in 2018?
Before I moved to Hilton, I worked at the headquarters of Toys"R"Us, but it went bankrupt in February 2018. When I was looking for a job, a Hilton recruiter happened to be in touch with me frequently, and the work involved would allow me to use what I had learned up until then. I also thought it would be a good environment to be able to work in Japan, using both Japanese and English.
"Working in Japan" was on my bucket list, because I had never worked in Japan before.
--What did you feel when you returned to Japan after spending more than 30 years in the United States?
The biggest impression I got when I came back was how much paper there was. For example, when you go to the city hall, all the documents are printed on paper. I thought Japan is a paper culture.
-- What about awareness of sustainability? Do you feel there are any differences between the US and Japan?
I think it's completely different. In our office, I think all employees already know about reducing the overall environmental impact, but when it comes to sustainable seafood, for example, in departments that aren't related to seafood itself, I don't think awareness will increase unless we spread the information ourselves. If it's like that in our office, I think it's even more so outside.
For example, when I see MSC-certified products in a major supermarket, I know that they are sustainable seafood, but my wife doesn't know that. I think awareness of certified products is still low.
Hilton Tokyo Bay has obtained CoC certification. One benefit of obtaining CoC certification is that we can add MSC and ASC eco-labels to our menus, and we can tell our customers "Hilton is taking these initiatives." However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, restaurants have been closed and customer numbers have decreased, so raising customer awareness is a future challenge.
-- The COVID-2020 pandemic that began in XNUMX has had a major impact on achieving the sustainable seafood goals.
That's right. There are some places that rely on imports for certified products, so right now there is a shortage of products.
The proportion of certified products in JKM (Japan, Korea, Micronesia region) has reached nearly 20%, and in Japan, the cumulative figure as of December 2021 was 12%, but there are signs that the figure may decrease slightly in the first quarter (Q26.8) of this year.
I really don't want to stumble in this Q2022 to achieve my goal of 25% by the end of 1, but this is the only thing that matters. For example, when there is a lockdown in Southeast Asia, goods don't come in. Even if they do come in, some take time because transportation and distribution are delayed. Well, this isn't just about fish. Imports are pretty tough right now.
At this point, we don't know if we'll be able to get anything in between January and March, so we're working hard to find something to replace it. We have to consider things we haven't thought of before, so recently we've actually asked Seafood Legacy to look for BtoB products, such as fish paste. We don't know if we'll be able to find anything, but we have to do everything we can.
-- The hotel industry is in a difficult situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but how will your company continue to work toward sustainable procurement?
Once again, what is absolutely necessary is lots of communication. Communication needs to be done in all sorts of forms, over and over again, and I think the only way to achieve this is to keep doing it steadily.
First of all, I want the staff in the procurement department to understand it. To that end, we hold employee training and seminars, as well as monthly Japan-wide meetings, where we share information such as progress reports and case studies.
It's the same for us, but I think people don't understand something just because they hear it once. If you hear it over and over again, you'll understand. So, communicate as much as possible and share as much information as possible.
Ultimately, it's the actions of each individual that matter, so I think it's important to make sure that as many individuals as possible have access to a variety of information.
Tomohiro Oi
Born in Kyoto Prefecture in 1967, he moved to the US as a university student in 1986. After graduating, he stayed in the US and worked in sales for several years before returning to Japan to join Hilton in 24. He oversees procurement operations, including team organization and supply management, and is responsible for the procurement policies and plans for Japan, Korea, and Micronesia. He also supports global initiatives. He is responsible for improving procurement functions, streamlining operations, and training procurement team members, and is implementing strategic initiatives including sustainable procurement practices.
Interviewed and written by: Chiho Iuchi
After working for the Japan Finance Corporation for Small and Medium Enterprises (now the Japan Finance Corporation) and the English newspaper The Japan Times, he became a freelancer in 2016. He was a lecturer in the English Newspaper Production Planning course at Hosei University from 2016 to 2019. He writes articles mainly about culture and technology in both English and Japanese.
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Key terms and concepts to understand seafood sustainability.
