-First of all, please tell us about your career briefly.
| Aug 1962 | Born in Osaka During my time at university, I studied mechanical engineering at the faculty of textile science. At that time I also would load a tent on the back of my motorcycle and went all over Japan. Sometimes I even entered off-road races. |
| Apr. 1987 | Joined Polyplastics |
| Aug. 1987 | Assigned to Nagoya Branch Sales Department 2 (Automotive group) |
| June 1995 | Tokyo headquarters in the overseas sales department |
| Dec. 1995 | Representative office in Thailand Established a new office, employed and instructed local employees, established a local materials production facility, provided technical support to local customers, and worked on market development, etc.  |
| Apr. 2002 | Sales Department 1 (Automotive, Tokyo) |
| Feb. 2005 | PTSL, at the time I was the only Japanese salesman and in charge of handling Japanese customers in East China in Hebei province |
| Apr. 2010 | Nagoya branch |
| Apr. 2017 | Tokyo headquarters |
| May 2018 | PMT |
-Now, please answer the following quick questions in one or a few words:
| Tell us about your hobbies. | Cooking, traveling, working on machines, and camping, which I haven’t had chances recently.  |
| What is your favorite food? | I like any kind of Thai food, and that's not just flattery As for food ingredients, I like squid |
| Describe yourself in a word. | Pure (but people tell me my face is scary) |
| What is your favorite sport? | Golf (that's the only sport I can play) |
| What is your favorite alcoholic beverage? | Whiskey and soda (Commonly called highball in Japan) I don't like the taste of alcohol very much but I like getting drunk |
| If you could spend a day with any celebrity, who would it be? | Joji Tokoro (we like similar things) |
| What is the very first thing you did after you moved to the new country? | I looked for a good Thai restaurant |
-Lastly, we would like to ask this question:
‘What do you think is “leadership”? ‘/ ’What makes a good leader?’
In the past, I sometimes didn't listen much to the opinions of the other members but led everyone in the direction I believed to be right but I reflected on my attitudes and changed my thought.
First I think it's important to put myself in the members' shoes and get a deep understanding of their environment and the content of their work. And from the perspective of that understanding, not force them in a certain direction but utilize my experience and knowledge in making suggestions, making course corrections, and giving the members a sense of responsibility and the ability to satisfactorily complete their work. I think by having the members acquire successful experiences, I will be able to guide them toward results that exceed the goals set.
-Any comments before we end?
This is the second time for me to work in Thailand. There are many members still at the company that I worked with before, which I am very glad about. In the speech I gave at my welcome party, I expressed my intention in the Thai language by saying, "I want to do my best for Thailand and the people of Thailand." I want to work on improving my proficiency in Thai to deepen communication with the staff and customers in order to contribute to business growth.
Written by Mr. Takuya Akashi