【Continued】Local Gurgle [115]Impanatore: Energizing Small Factories
One evening, I headed to Minaro Co., Ltd., near Yokohama Hakkeijima. I was there to speak with President Kenji Midorikawa, who also serves as the NPO chairman organizing the "All Japan Manufacturing Spinning Top Tournament."
This tournament brings together small and medium-sized manufacturers nationwide—the so-called town factories—who bring their own spinning tops to battle in a bego-style (one-on-one) format. It's gained attention on TV, so some of you may be familiar with it.
The rules state that a top with a diameter of 2 cm or less and a height of 6 cm or less wins if it continues spinning the longest on a 25 cm diameter ring. While the first Grand Prix was won by a conventional top, each subsequent tournament has seen "incidents." There's the "Blow-Away Guy," which spins almost horizontally to knock opponents off the ring. The "Cat Punch" opens its wings when spinning to disrupt the enemy's axis. As for the "Tenka Fubu," which uses a motor to spin endlessly, it's questionable whether it even qualifies as a spinning top anymore. The battles, where participating companies rack their brains, exploit loopholes in the rules, and read their opponents' moves, are brimming with ingenuity and thoroughly entertaining.
Why continue running the labor-intensive Koma Battle, which saw eight tournaments held nationwide last month alone? While the vision of "revitalizing Japanese manufacturing" is certainly part of it, Midorikawa's sense of purpose was even clearer.
"I want to cultivate impannatori in Japan."
In Italy's textile industry, which, like Japan, has many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), people called "Impannatore" play an active role. Once merely "order takers," they evolved with the times, acquiring the ability to circulate information like "That person wants this" or "It's better to make this kind of thing." Today, they connect local SMEs with global markets.
"I've been feeling a bit less confident lately, but Japan's small factories possess incredibly high levels of skill. However, it's true that years of working as subcontractors for large corporations have left them weak in information gathering. To unite Japan's small factories and project their amazing technologies and products to the world, I want to cultivate a Japanese version of the Impannatore."
I see. "Koma Wars" isn't just about participating and having fun, or simply raising public awareness of small factories. I learned for the first time that its major purpose is to create opportunities for small factories, which normally have no connection, to meet and collaborate.
Parallel to building this network of small factories, Mr. Midorikawa launched a team with consultants and specialized trading companies that deeply understands global market trends. They're already challenging the world's ultra-wealthy, for example, through Dubai.
By treating the vision of "revitalizing Japanese manufacturing" not as mere rhetoric but as a serious challenge, the weakness of "poor information gathering capabilities" became apparent, crystallizing the concept of a "Japanese version of Impanatore." The Koma Wars serves as a means (concrete measure) to realize this, while also tackling information procurement from the Arab world. As the Koma War demonstrates, Japan's small factories aren't just technically advanced; they're also rich in ideas. If the Japanese version of Impala works, the day of manufacturing's revival may not be far off.
Listening to this passionate story left me parched, so on the way back, I wondered where to stop. This area once famous for "Koshiba's shrimp" – maybe some delicious fish? Or perhaps Cantonese-style roast pork with skin in Chinatown? After much deliberation, I ended up at Noge, the "holy ground for old men." I hit the bars with my junior colleague, Kohei Morimoto, sampling standing-style fried foods and gyoza.
"When outsiders like us in advertising—people who aren't product creators—come up with ideas like 'What if we made something like this?', big companies would probably turn us away at the door. But with people like you, Midorikawa-san, the 'let's just make it first' approach seems like it could work, right?"
"Totally. This is getting interesting!!"
As usual, I got too excited and drank too much.
Here, have some!
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Sōo Yamada
Dentsu Inc.
Meiji Gakuin University Part-time Lecturer (Business Administration) Using "concept quality management" as its core technique, this approach addresses everything from advertising campaigns and TV program production to new product/business development and revitalizing existing businesses and organizations—all through a unique "indwelling" style that immerses itself in the client's environment. Founder of the consulting service "Indwelling Creators." Served as a juror at the 2009 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity (Media category), among other roles. Recipient of numerous awards. His books, "The Textbook of Ideas: Dentsu Inc.'s Circular Thinking" and "How to Create Concepts: Dentsu Inc.'s Ideation Methods Useful for Product Development" (both published by Asahi Shimbun Publications), have been translated and published overseas (in English, Thai, and the former also in Korean).
