Hi, I’m a Japanese university student who is working on a project of spreading the beauty of Japanese wedding culture (Wakon) of Kyoto to the world.
Nishizen is a kimono compony in Kyoto. It was established in 1961 and have produced wedding kimonos since then.
We conducted a wedding photography plan and an event for people from other countries using beautiful kimonos. Some of them were produced by Nishizen.
We interviewed Hirokazu Nishijima who is the president of Nishizen about his company and kimono industry. Check it out.
What is your worth of doing job?
The worth of this job is to make a profits and return it to the society. It’s the importance of this business. I will lasting hundreds and thousands of years for company and revert the profits, not stop in the temporary stage. For the outcome of return, I could pay taxes, support our employees. Also can give bonus to make them delight and connects to the contribution of our field.
If I organize the order of priority it would be:
Employee’s delight
Delight of kimono craftsman
Customer’s delight
These are my worth of my job.
What is the strong point of kimono?
Kimono brings out the speciality for Japanese wearing. To be honest, the chance of wearing kimono is decreasing continuously. Even I wear kimono about 3, 4 times a year. I almost never seen a person wearing kimono everyday. Maybe a teacher of tea ceremony or special person could wear. For those reasons, Kimono makes Japanese to realize the special day for wearing the traditional costumes. The special day could be a wedding ceremony or the party.
Which customer base are you targeting? And what was the reason to be decided?
It’s up to kimono. Now in this period, we are targeting for people getting marry. Also, kimonos are depends on events for analyzing their age group easily and the methods of advertising. For example,
coming-of-age ceremony or graduation ceremony. But I’m not sure to bring kimonos to overseas for a while.
What is your opinion about the decrease of people who wearing kimono?
I think there’s no enough chance to wear kimono. It would be a good way that public holiday which is wearing kimono day or make halloween for wearing kimono. Kyoto is famous for people who wearing kimono than other districts. The lack of suggestions for the young people are the problem these days.
Is inbound marketings are growing fast than the past?
I think it is. Most people who planning about the new business in Kyoto are targeting foreign customers. Young people tries to establish a company and start a new business in Kyoto recently. Their targets are almost chosen by foreign customers. For those reasons, I feel Kyoto is the famous inbound marketing place.
Do you overview the possibilities of overseas expansion?
Yes. I already find the new partner who is thinking about the overseas expansion. For based on the result, I’m planning to make a company. I wish to bring the Japanese technology to overseas from now on.
Conclusion
How was the interview? Despite the hard situation for kimono industry in this era, Mr. Nishijima doesn't stop trying. He analyzes current market carefully and even prepares for the next stage: outside Japan. Kimono is such a beautiful traditional cloths. We strongly hope that the world know more about it. It also connects deeply with spread of Kyoto wakon.
Thank you for reading!
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