Decision to Go Independent
Comes
---
all rights reserved, Model Graphix magazine Japan ---
----Now I’d
like to touch on your retirement from Tamiya in ’97… At the time, I had no idea your leaving
Tamiya wasn’t because you’d reached retirement age.
This “So much want to commercialize, but
never can if I’m in Tamiya” thing had been building up in me over time. The Chief would tell me “If you want to
commercialize so badly, then why don’t you go independent and do it yourself”,
and because I’m stupid, every time I’d mistakenly think “Maybe he’s giving me a
push?” (chagrin).
So I started thinking about “What would
doing it myself mean, in terms of economic feasibility and being able to eat?” Not knowing whether I’d get fired at any
moment was part of it, too. I’d crossed
a lot of dangerous bridges, where I’d forced projects through.
----But as a
creator you know, I understand that position where, if you don’t cross some dangerous
bridges even when there’s a big risk, there’re no surprises spiritual or
otherwise.
Yeah, that’s right. You just want to take the next step, don’t
you.
But when I argued with my superior, that
meant it would go straight to his superior the President (the current Chief Executive Mr Tamiya), so I never knew when I’d
get kicked out. And I always had to be
prepared for that.
----So was your
being involved with the Collector’s Club series a direct catalyst for your
turning to independence?
Yeah.
I knew from my own experiences, that Tamiya was never going to go to
finished 1/43 products for reasons of profitability and efficiency, and that’s
what I really wanted to do, since almost none of the historic Japanese cars
that I liked had ever been commercialized.
And, I’d already been thinking that I’d
return to the world of plastic models if I kept my eye open for a chance, but
since I knew I couldn’t reasonably expect to jump into plastic model
development as soon as I quit Tamiya, I took a line of compromise, and went
into 1/43 diecast instead.
And you know I told the Chief straight out
when I quit that “I’m going to make 1/43 diecasts of the Fairlady SR2000 and Z,
and others that I’ve previously made plans for in 1/24 here that didn’t go
through”. Because you know those are
popular cars, for which there should be high quality products.
----While the
Collector’s Club series wasn’t that big in product numbers, I can see a “Dawning
of the birth of Ebbro products” in some like the 1/20 Honda S800 (sales date:
Dec ’96).
Yes, yes.
That’s exactly what they were. The
Collector’s Club were our Ebbro product masters.
… But when I was in the middle of
developing them, I thought, “Ah, I can’t take it any more”.
----What, being
in Tamiya?
Yeah, yeah.
I had to stick around the Chinese factory all the time, and if we left
everything up to the local contractors, they just couldn’t do the QC (quality
checks) at all. And I thought, “… I
shouldn’t be having to do this supervision work”.
Of course I carried out my responsibilities
properly, but it was still rough. I just
felt out of place. I’d gone from a “draw
the blueprints and think about doing the product details this way” environment
to a “wrap up afterwards” setting.
Sugiura-san was drawing up plans for the Collector’s Club series, and
drawing is easier and a lot more fun you know, than being left in charge of
wrapping up.
Of course, it must have been difficult
company wise too, as we didn’t know if those products would sell or not.
----I guess
that’s one of the realities that come with rising to an executive position.
Yeah you’re right. But… I was controlling new employees who
really didn’t understand models, and to put it bluntly, trying to continue your
move up the ladder all the while you’re doing that is impossible. It was impossible for me at least.
There were, of course, a lot of areas I
enjoyed, naturally. Nevertheless, I was
in a dilemma where having to do it all, and this “I’ll likely have to be a
specialist in product management and QC from now on” was tripping up my next
projects, and my next designs.
----As we reach
the end of our Tamiya talk, I’d like to ask what you learned in your Tamiya
years, and how they helped you grow.
Ah.., you know, Tamiya is a company that does
things at such a high level, in both the volume and quality of their work. And you only realize some things that
everyone in the company thinks are normal, when you first go out into the
outside world. I think I’m where I’m at
now, because I was raised and allowed to learn in that kind of environment.
So it’s like “Don’t shy away from the difficult
things” with Tamiya, and that’s their attitude there… Everyone there really breaks their backs to
make good models I think. So having been
taught that, and knowing firsthand that’s how it should be, is an asset. It’s how I approach my work now.
----It’s like
that for consumers like me, too. Through
Tamiya’s lofty stance, I think I’ve learned something about how my own work
should be. And it’s hard to set “This
level isn’t good enough” criteria on your own.
That’s right. Tamiya has what they call their “Tamiya
Standard” criteria, and because those criteria are so incredibly high, I think
that’s why people in the business who’ve left Tamiya can continue their work at
such a high level. More often that not,
former employees of other companies can’t do that. It’s this deep rooted, firmly grounded attitude
that’s something else.