Apelza Co., Ltd. Makoto Ishihara

Aperza Co., Ltd. is headquartered in Yamashita-cho, Naka-ku, Yokohama, right next to Yamashita Park. We spoke with Makoto Ishihara, the representative director.

Yokohama is the first location on 1-chome. If you want to go global, you won't be able to be persuasive in a dimly lit room.

--Why did you choose Yokohama as your office?

My previous company was based in Tokyo. However, when I founded Aperza, I felt that Tokyo was different, so I started looking for various places around Tokyo. One of them is Yokohama. The company name Aperza is a coined word that combines the Latin word "aperto," which means "open," and the Japanese word "za," which means a group of craftsmen (guild). Yokohama was the first port to open when Japan opened its doors to the world, and I don't think it would be an exaggeration to say that this location was the first port on 1-chome when it opened. When I think about it that way, I think there is a strong connection between them. That was quite a deciding factor.

You can see the scenery of Yokohama from the office, and you can even watch fireworks.

--Your previous office was in Tokyo, so why did you think Tokyo was different?

If a company aiming to go global was doing business in a dimly lit room in a multi-tenant building in Tokyo, it wouldn't be very convincing (lol) Even in Silicon Valley, it's not like they're doing business in downtown buildings, but in the suburbs. Companies that start up in For example, Google. When I thought about it from a global perspective, I thought there was no point in being in Tokyo. By the way, when I was working in Tokyo, I always thought it would be nice to see the down platform across from the station empty when I went to work. I believe that if you use up your power just to go to work, it will not only have no effect on your business performance, but it will also be bad, so if that's the case, you should set up a company in a place that you can get to by taking the train down. I thought about having people work efficiently and using the energy they used to go to work to grow the company.

Only in Yokohama can you turn the entire city into a campus.

――Are there any good things about having Yokohama as your base, or do you think it was different from what you expected?

It's close to Yamashita Park, so you can have a meeting while walking around the park. Even when we have one-on-one meetings, it's easier to talk to each other if we go outside and look out at the ocean, rather than in a private room in the office. It's also nice to be able to walk from Kannai, Motomachi, and Chinatown to Minato Mirai. Sometimes I walk from the office to Pacifico Yokohama while talking with employees. Although we can't build a fancy campus like Google, it's attractive that we can turn this entire city into a campus.
What was different from what I expected was that there were very few medium-sized offices. When you are first starting up and have a small number of people, a small office is sufficient, but when the number of staff increases and you want to move, you find that the office is too large. If you do that, of course the rent will go up significantly, so it's difficult. One of the attractions of Yokohama was that the rent was cheaper than Tokyo, but that will no longer be the case... I think it would be great if there were more offices of various sizes.

It's about a 2-minute walk from Yamashita Park, which he often visits for walks. You can also have a meeting while enjoying the sea breeze.

From Yokohama to overseas. Our goal is to become a company that can contribute to the local community.

--Are there any connections with other startups in Yokohama?

We have a president's meeting where we gather together with the presidents of startups who have become friends through speaking together at city events. In Tokyo, it is possible to connect with companies in the same industry or the same size, but it is difficult to connect with companies that go beyond that. There are not many startup companies in Yokohama, so I think it's unique to Yokohama that it's easy for people to gather, and you can make connections with other companies of different industries and sizes. Although we are both managers now, I want my employees to interact with people outside the company, so I hope that such an opportunity will be created in Yokohama.

--Please tell us about your future goals and prospects.

Our current goal is to expand overseas. I want to become a startup company from Yokohama that can expand overseas. Another possibility is that the company may be listed on the stock market. As with overseas expansion, I believe that listing on a reasonably large scale in Yokohama will also lead to contributing to the local community. We are clearing things one by one, and the Yokohama BayStars are currently sponsored by DeNA, and I hope to be able to do something like that in the future. This is true not only in baseball but also in soccer and basketball. Our goal is to become a company that can contribute to Yokohama.

T-shirt with recently updated logo. “Comparing Amazon’s “AtoZ”, Aperza has “A/Z””

FAVORITE SPOT

“Kakinhanten”
At a restaurant run by a fresh fish restaurant, if you ask them, ``OK, this is what you want'' while talking to them, ``What kind of fish do you have today?'', they will cook it and serve it to you, arranging it for Japanese customers. It's not a fancy Chinese food, it's authentic and delicious!

"Yokohama Park"
A Japanese garden located in Yokohama Park that is surprisingly little known. I recommend it because it doesn't feel too orderly in a good way, but it is in harmony with nature and is very relaxing. It's about a 5-minute walk from my office, so I go there often, and I think that's one of the great things about Yokohama: it's close to everything.