Greeting

I am Hiroyuki Kato, currently the manager of Irohaya.

My parents ran a liquor store before I was born, but I did not like a lifestyle as a child of self-employed parents.  This was because my parents had very little time off, so I had a little travel experience with my family.  I dreamed of traveling all over the world one day.

My first experience of seeing the world was when I studied abroad at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (USA).  After graduating from university, I had the opportunities to work for foreign companies in Tokyo, and by working with people from countries other than the United States, I realized that the US was not the center of the world; I embarrassingly believed that American style behavior would be useful for other countries.

I feel that ``seeing the world'' means looking back at Japan objectively. I like the awareness that arises there, and I am learning every day that the standards of correctness differ depending on the country and culture.

By engaging in the import business, I would be happy if my customers enjoyed the products I brought to Japan. It would be my pleasure if this led to customers becoming interested in the country of import. Let's open the door to the world together and enjoy life together.

Hiroyuki Kato