Akira Takata, Founder of “Japanet Takata,” Talks about the Origin and Trajectory of a Rigid Manager

Mr. Takada’s Origin

I used to run a small camera store here. Early in the morning before the store opened, a customer came in and while we were taking care of him, his son (the current president) woke up, looked around for his parents, and fell down these stairs twice.

An elaborate model of the former home and store (first photo) placed in front of him. Pointing to the small staircase, Akira Takata, 77, founder of “Japanette Takata” and the face of the TV shopping industry, happily tells his story.

This year marks exactly 10 years since he stepped down as president. Mr. Takata established “Takata Corporation” in 1986, spinning off from his father’s camera store. The company’s business started with the sale of compact cameras on local radio stations, which led to the expansion of the company’s nationwide network, and in 1994, the company entered the TV shopping business. After that, he developed media strategies such as print media and the Internet as needed. In 1999, the company changed its name to the current “Japanet Takata” and laid the foundation for its mail-order business.

I believe that a company has to be “timeless. While it is necessary to be sensitive to current trends, it is also necessary to have a corporate belief that will never change.

The phrase “fūyō fad” means that a company should be sensitive to both the unchanging essence (fūyō) and the ever-changing trends (fad), and Mr. Takada has made this concept the foundation of his management philosophy. The origin of this belief lies in his 16-year experience of selling commemorative photos in the banquet rooms of tourist hotels until the age of 40.

Until I was 40, I was always going around the banquet halls of hotels and selling the photos I took to the guests staying there,” he says. After the evening banquet, I would rush back to the store and develop the photos throughout the night, and the next morning I would arrange them in the breakfast room for the guests to buy. It was not uncommon for me to get two or three hours of sleep on those days, but if the photos remained unsold, we lost everything. This experience was the starting point of my career, and there are many things that I use today at Japanet.

How can we sell photographs? After accumulating sales, Mr. Takada realized the essence of this question.

Customers are very demanding (laughs). If the face is not good enough for the customer, the photo is not worth 500 yen. So when I would show them a picture of someone saying, ‘That’s your wife,’ they would say, ‘That’s not me.’ And when her friend would say, ‘That’s you,’ they would get grumpy and say, ‘I don’t look like this. So I would say, ‘Please look at me! If there are five of you, all five of you will look at me. If there are five people, all five people will look at me, and then they will buy all five prints. I learned the hard way that this was the most important thing.

The Day He Was “Completely Defeated” by His Son

Mr. Takada, a former manager of a camera store in town, expanded his business to TV shopping in ’94 and started selling mainly consumer electronics. The following year, in 2010, Japan Net recorded record sales of 175.9 billion yen and recurring profit of 13.6 billion yen due to special demand for TVs following the transition to digital terrestrial broadcasting that began around 2009. However, with the end of the special demand, TV sales completely stopped, and by 2012, sales had fallen to 117 billion yen.

At the time, the company’s sales were heavily weighted toward TVs, so we were prepared for the decline. But the way sales fell, they fell by as much as 100.6 billion yen in one fell swoop. I had heard people saying, ‘Japanet may be in trouble.

Mr. Takada immediately accepted that a “fad” had ended and took the next step.

We don’t only deal in TVs,” he said. There are refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, and many other good products. So we decided to go back to the basics and put the “power of communication” that we have cultivated up to now into these home appliances.

The company shifted its main business to white goods. To inspire his employees, he declared, “Next year, we are going to achieve record profits.

I said, ‘If we don’t make record profits next year, I’ll quit as president. I was not in a hurry or anxious.

By cutting off his own retreat, he united the organization as one. He believed that if the employees were serious, they would be able to overcome the difficulties.

What we actually did was create a Tokyo team led by then vice president and his son, Akito (46), and a Sasebo team led by myself, to encourage competition within the company. Then, everyone moved on. In addition to the goal of achieving the highest profit, it was good that the young people, led by my son, developed a sense of rivalry, saying, “Let’s go beyond the Sasebo team! In addition to the goal of achieving the highest profit, I think it was good that the young people, led by my son, developed a sense of rivalry, saying, “Let’s surpass the Sasebo team!

As a result, ordinary income for the following year (2001) was 15.4 billion yen. As a result, the following year, 2001, recurring profit was 15.4 billion yen, a record high as declared, proving the company’s ability to accurately respond to “trends.

The current president, Asahito, was a major force in overcoming this crisis. The management styles of the two men are completely different. While Mr. Takada is a one-man man, Asahito is a coordinator. However, their temperaments were similar, and they often clashed head-on. One of the most heated confrontations took place during the introduction of “Challenge Day,” a major project of Japan Net that began in 2012.

My son came to me with a plan to sell only one product a day. From my experience, it was a reckless idea. The advertising cost alone would exceed 100 million yen. We had repeated discussions, saying, ‘It’s impossible,’ and ‘Let us do it,’ but the son wouldn’t back down. So I gathered 30 to 40 executives and said, “Let’s make a majority decision. I’m against it.

The result of the vote at …… was a “complete defeat” for his father.

Only two executives agreed with my opinion. The rest of them were all on my son’s side. I thought to myself, “What? I thought, ‘What? But once I decided to do something, I had to do it. I was still an active MC at the time, so I put a lot of effort into it.

The Challenge Day was a success and remains an important project for the company. Mr. Takada was convinced of the growth of the next generation, and at that time he began to think about his own retirement.

Then, in January 2003, he relinquished his position as president and became chairman of the board. In January 2003, he relinquished his position as president, and he also firmly declined the chairman’s position. He completely stepped down from management.

Investment of 100 billion yen

Japanet has continued to grow with its unique model of “carefully selecting” products and “proposing” value, and annual sales in 2012 reached a record high of 272.5 billion yen.

However, even at this scale, the company has not listed its shares on a stock exchange. One of the reasons for this is “Nagasaki Stadium City,” which opened last year with an investment of 100 billion yen in its hometown of Nagasaki Prefecture. The facility is a large-scale complex that includes a soccer stadium and a hotel, and was developed by Japan Net, a wholly owned subsidiary of Japan Net, to bring new life and employment to Nagasaki, which is suffering from a declining population.

This regional development project was only possible because we were unlisted. If we were listed on a stock exchange, we would not have the freedom to manage our business. The Nagasaki Stadium City project, which my son promoted, is a 100 billion yen investment, but if we had gone public, the shareholders would have vehemently opposed the project and we would never have been able to realize it. Although it is my son who is promoting this project, the underlying idea is the same as mine. The creation of Stadium City will bring more people from outside the prefecture and enrich the city. As a businessman, I am more than happy to be able to contribute to the creation of a bustling hometown.”

This decision is a departure from the logic of listed companies. Underlying this decision was the “mission” that Japanet holds dear.

In the end, I believe that everything should be for the people. The foundation of a company must also have the mission of ‘contributing to the happiness and joy of others. If that is clear, employees and local people will be motivated to work together. I believe this is how society as a whole will become brighter.

This philosophy was proven in the restructuring of V Faren Nagasaki, a J2 professional soccer team that was on the verge of bankruptcy in 2005.

At the time, there was no salary. I just told the players, ‘I will take care of the management, so please focus on playing.

Mr. Takada dispelled the concerns of the players and strengthened the bond with the supporters. Then a dramatic change occurred.

We went 13 rounds without losing a game, and that year we won our first promotion to J1. The team was on the verge of bankruptcy, and now they are …….
It is the same in any world. It’s all in the mindset. The moment you really think, “Okay, I’m going to do my best,” you will show more strength than you have. Even if things don’t go well, it’s okay to think, ‘I can do it again.

It was also the “power of communication” that changed the mindset of the players of “V. Faren Nagasaki. The symbol of this is the high-pitched TV shopping program. Why did that unique product introduction attract so many people?

Our job is not just to sell products. Our job is not only to sell products, but also to make our customers’ lives happier by using our products. For example, when selling a voice recorder, it is meaningless to just tell the customer that it can record. Thinking about the elderly, we should say, “If you put it by their bedside and press one button to record, ‘I will do this tomorrow,’ they will never forget it again. It is important to tell the story of how the product helps the customer’s life and what value it creates.

This month, Mr. Takada celebrated his 77th birthday. Ten years have passed since he stepped down as president, and he may look a little thin. ……

He said, “These days, I spend my time leisurely, only coming to work for these interviews and giving lectures.” In 2008, he also stepped down as president of “V Faren Nagasaki,” and his only company is his personal office. I am thinking of increasing the number of times I play golf in the future.

The man who built an era is now enjoying a peaceful time.

From the December 12, 2025 issue of FRIDAY