The starting point of his management policy came from his extremely poor boyhood… “I’m not interested in making money” martial artist, Koji, became the president of a transportation company!
When the reporter presented him with a Pepo-kun key chain, Koji (34) said, “I’ll put it on the key of the 54 million yen Rolls Royce I bought with cash the other day! he said, showing his white teeth. When I heard that he had started a transportation business as president and representative director, I gave it to him as a traffic safety charm.
I gave him a traffic safety talisman as a gift, but… “You came here to ask about ‘Nokonoko Transport’ (Chuo-ku, Kobe) instead of Rolls! That doesn’t sound like Friday (laughs). Well, since I’m here, I’ll tell you. You see, ‘Sawtooth Transportation’ is an excellent company that achieved monthly sales of 10 million yen in its first month.
The company was established in April of this year and began operations in July, but he says he had been working on the idea since around 2020, when the new coronavirus was spreading.
He said, “I was observing the situation in Japan when everything, including martial arts, was suspended due to the coronary, and I wondered what kind of businesses would be active in this time of crisis and what kind of jobs would never disappear. I guessed that it would probably be something related to the three major human desires: food. It was food delivery. However, Uber Eats already had a monopoly, so it would be difficult for them to enter the market. Next, I focused on the transportation industry, which is very busy with stayhomes. Logistics? I heard that it is difficult to make it in the food delivery business, but in the food transportation business, there is a shortage of trucks and manpower, so I thought to myself, “I can do it! I came up with the idea of creating a company specializing in food transportation. We have six 10-ton trucks and four 4-ton trucks, all of which are equipped with freezers.
Koji’s sponsor was Yamaguchi Transport, a shipping company, and he and Executive Director Tatsuhiro Yamaguchi were like brothers, so he immediately consulted with them and received a favorable response . I asked him about it, and he responded favorably. He decided to establish the company with the help of Yamaguchi Transport. This was around the fall of last year. When he recruited drivers on YouTube and social networking sites, he was immediately impressed by the number of drivers who were interested in joining the company. He said that 60 people immediately responded to his call for drivers on YouTube and SNS, saying, “Let’s make it together!
–It’s so lame in so many ways.
It’s so noisy (laughs). Well, everyone was against the name “Sawtooth Transportation. But I thought that “00 Express” would have too little impact to be remembered, right? I did all the paperwork and interviews for drivers by myself. There were only two requirements. I had to have experience as a driver and be debt-free. Thanks to the help of a former excellent driver from Kuroneko Yamato, I’ve been busy working from Fukuoka to Tokyo.
What caught his attention was the “no debt” requirement. In fact, he was asked by applicants, “Why can’t we have no debts? He was asked by one of the applicants, “Why can’t I have debt? The answer to this question was the starting point of the “Fighting Fantasista” Koji.
Since he was 15 years old, he has been thinking “How can I earn money? How to make money?” every day since he was 15 years old. This is exactly how “Nokonoko-Transportation” was born. Of his many side jobs, including martial arts, celebrity, apparel, yakiniku bar, gym, and event production, he is already the third-highest earner.
The top earner is, of course, martial arts. Thanks to the support of 30 sponsors, I have a total of several hundred dollars a year. I make several hundred million yen a year, including fight money. Next comes talent, but to be clear, I don’t intend to make a living in show business. The reason I appear in terrestrial variety shows is to sell my face and gain credibility. If my face sells, apparel companies and gyms will make money, and banks will give me loans. That is why I never ask how much I will be paid when I am offered a TV appearance. The only thing I check is the content of the project. I almost never turn down any offer, but I did turn down one for a surprise project in which I was to perform domestic violence on a girl.
Although he was now a top earner, martial arts was the only way for Koji to make his way in the world. 15 years old and poor, all he had was Nippon Kempo and karate, which he learned from his father. How to earn money with these weapons? After much thought and consideration, he came to the conclusion that he had to find a sponsor.
Carrying a backpack, he went around to businesses in the town and asked them, “I’m going to participate in a tournament for 10000 next time. Please buy a ticket,’ or ‘Please help us with the expenses. You can’t imagine what I’m like now, but back then I wasn’t very good at public speaking or even singing karaoke. There was no way any company would sponsor a kid like that who had no idea what he was talking about. So I came up with the strategy of getting the principal on my side. The junior high school I went to was a rough school, with a tradition that the day before the graduation ceremony, the second graders would break all the windows on the third graders’ orders (laughs). (Laughs.) The third-year students did not come to the graduation ceremony at all. I had already beaten back a gang leader who had come to punish me in my first year, and I had already beaten him back, so I put a stop to this bad tradition. In the third year, I put on the school run and took the initiative to attend the graduation ceremony. Thanks to this, all third-year students attended. In return, I asked the principal to follow me on my sales calls, even though it wasn’t a business deal. Eventually, he even introduced me to the mayor. The trust was totally different. That really saved my life.
As he continued to sell to sponsors, he honed his speaking skills, which led to the birth of “the art of teasing opponents at the pre-match press conference,” which made Koji’s name known to the world.
Unless you are a world champion of a major organization, the image of fighters = poor is firmly established in Japan. Compared to other sports, fighters have a shorter lifespan and are more dangerous, yet fight money is cheap. It is not uncommon to see champions selling tickets by hand or cutting back on training time to work part-time.
People tend to say, “A guy like me, who makes millions of dollars but is a flirt,” is not a true fighter. But that kind of thinking attracts poverty,” he sniffs.
What people avoid and what people don’t like are the opportunities. For example, I’ve been criticized for being too flirtatious for a fighter, but I’m gaining recognition. It makes confrontations with stoic fighters more exciting, and when I am targeted by other flirtatious fighters, it creates a storyline for me. Demand for the game increases. Many players don’t realize this. Even when it comes to fight money, most players pool it. Even if they spend it carefully and economically, it will only decrease. If a person who understands economics has 30 million yen, for example, he or she will buy a luxury wristwatch, because luxury wristwatches sell at high prices. This is because luxury watches can be resold at a high price. Earlier, you said you bought a Rolls Royce for 54 million yen, but I think the price will soon rise to about 60 million yen. I think that if you talk to wealthy people, they will understand this. The price of really good things will always go up because there are people who want them. If you don’t use it, the money doesn’t increase. If people could understand this, I think there would be more fighters who could make money.
At 34 years of age, and with losses mounting, a normal fighter would begin to think about a graceful end to his career, but Koji has no such intentions.
But Koji has no intention of doing so. “Retirement is not something that I would go out of my way to draw a line in the sand. After I retire, I’ll just be an old man, right? (laughs). It’s going to be hard to do business. I’ve come up with my business card as a fighter, so I’ll continue to use it. Of course, a minimum level is necessary. I travel back and forth between Tokyo and Osaka five or six times a week, and I never miss a workout at the gym during that time. When I can compete at the top level, then I will step down. I have fulfilled my goal of becoming a young businessman, which I vowed to do when I was 15 years old. I am no longer a young man. However, if you ask me how satisfied I am with my life, I would say ……30%. Right now, my goal is to make Masayoshi Son, the founder of Softbank, say, “I heard there is an interesting man named Koji. I am aiming to make Mr. Masayoshi Son, founder of Softbank, say, “I heard there is an interesting man named Koji. Oh, yes, I’m going to open a car rental business in Okinawa. I heard that there is a shortage of rental cars in Okinawa due to the resurgence of inbound travel. Only luxury cars are available. In the car, I will put the same perfume that I use. ……
It seems unlikely that the time for retirement will come for the “money-making fighter” for some time to come.
