Yasuhisa Kojima: Taking on a Title of One's Own

2021/11/12

"What kind of work do you do?" Answering this question is very difficult.

I am the manager of Kojimaya, a specialty store for dried fruits and nuts that operates a physical store in Ueno Ameyoko and an online shop.

Since online retail is still not widely understood, I am often asked, "What do you do in a typical day?" but explaining it is difficult.

For orders and inquiries (though I handle specialized matters), I basically rely on outsourced contractors in China and my staff. Shipping is handled at an outsourced warehouse in Shizuoka, and the website is created by professionals. I sometimes develop new products, but that isn't my main focus.

On recent business cards, perhaps to make the work seem impressive, there are many titles like "Frontier Division Media Project Promotion Office Technical Product Management Senior Manager and... (continued)" that seem to explain but don't really explain anything. It just makes it hard to fit onto a delivery slip.

To avoid such situations, until 2016, my title was "Managing Director and Head of Online Sales Department," but I still struggled when asked, "What do you do?" When I thought about my work, I finally realized: perhaps the explanation of my work should be about "What kind of person do I want to be? What kind of impact do I want to have on the world?"

So, I simplified my business card to "Kojimaya Executive Director / Advanced Explorer of Dried Fruits and Nuts," deciding to give myself a title.

Sometimes I contact customers. Sometimes I issue slips, and sometimes I think of marketing strategies.

However, my job is "to know dried fruits and nuts from around the world more deeply and to spread that knowledge."

Since adopting the title, people's questions have focused on dried fruits and nuts. Naturally, I had to study to be able to answer them. As a result, I appeared on "The World Unknown to Matsuko" for the "World of Dried Fruits" segment. Since then, I have been invited by many media outlets.

"What do you do?"

To answer this, I believe you need to decide on your own title, and that will create your own future.