Dialogue 02

Aya Maeno
Representative Director, Cras Inc.
Representative, FP Office will
Previous job: School nurse
Current job: Financial planner

Satoko Abeshima

Hiroyuki Nagata

Yoshimi Takahara

Kenta Murayama

Previous jobs: Merchandise Planning Section,
Specialty Store Business Promotion
Department, MARUI CO., LTD.
Institute of Future Research,
MARUI GROUP CO., LTD.
Current job: W omen’s Shoes Section, Omni-Channel
Retailing Department, MARUI CO., LTD.

Previous jobs: Store Support, Marui Family Shiki,
MARUI CO., LTD.
Field and Men’s Bags, Kichijoji Marui,
MARUI CO., LTD.
Current job: Card Application Center,
Kawasaki Marui, Epos Card Co., Ltd.

Previous jobs: STUDIO1, Shinjuku Marui Main
Building, MARUI CO., LTD.
EPOS Cardholder Recruitment, Marui
City Yokohama, Epos Card Co., Ltd.
Current job: Business Promotion Division 2, Business
Promotion Department, Epos Card Co., Ltd.

Previous jobs: Editing Section, Shoes Business
Division, MARUI CO., LTD.
Women’s Shoes, Marui City Yokohama,
MARUI CO., LTD.
Current job: Sales Representative, Marui City
Yokohama, MARUI CO., LTD.

Dialogue 02
A New Form of Financial Security
and Future Potential      
As part of a Groupwide effort to provide new financial services,financial planner Aya Maeno was invited as a lecturer for a series of six financial seminars about
people’s relationship with money, with the first taking place in September 2017. Group employees applied toparticipate in these seminars on their own initiative, with each session being attended by 14 Group employees,
who were separated into teams of seven. Employees were encouraged to leave titles, experience, and age at thedoor to foster a relaxed environment in which participants would be able to engage fully with finance, share theirown concerns about money, and learn. In the following pages, we have compiled a dialogue between
four employees that participated in these seminars and instructor Maeno.

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Decision to Participate in Financial Seminars    
Aya: Please tell us your reasons for participating in thefinancial seminars, specifically, what inspired you to join.
Also, for this discussion I would like to maintain the same
relaxed environment as in the seminars.
Hiroyuki: Hello, my name is Hiroyuki, and I will be representing the “in their 50s” crowd. The laidback atmosphere of the seminars was refreshing. I was previously
positioned in the Group’s credit card company, after
which I gained experience on the sales floor at Maruistores. Today, I sell insurance products at an EPOS card
application center. I want to be able to recommend products that I truly endorse to customers. I therefore choseto participate in the financial seminars with the aim ofstudying finance from square one.
Kenta: The majority of my 25 years of work experience
have been spent on the Marui sales floor. Recently, I havecome to feel that I could better bring joy to customers if
I were able to offer them a little advice regarding moneyor lifestyles. When I was a kid, nobody taught me aboutmoney, and I would get strange looks from adults if
I spoke of it. Regardless, money is an incredibly important part of living in society. I decided to take part in theseminar because I wanted to learn about money as soon
as possible to prepare for having kids or other changes
that could occur over the course of my life.
Satoko: MARUI GROUP is promoting the concept offinancial inclusion. This idea really resonates with me.

I hope one day to be involved in finance, and this is what
inspired me to participate in the seminar. I am currently
engaged in developing private brand shoe products. At
the moment, we are expanding the range of sizes of ourshoes and otherwise working to make our shoes available to everyone. However, in this quest it becomes easy
to overthink things. I started studying financial planningwith the aim of broadening my perspective, but I could
not see it as relating to me, which kind of left me feelingunsatisfied. Hearing Aya’s lecture on the idea of thinking
backward from one’s goals in life really opened my eyes.
I now want to tell those around me about how I foundhappiness through the seminar and to help them build
a better future for themselves.
Yoshimi: At Epos Card, I am responsible for outside
partner facilities. I have thus taken part in deploying
EPOS cards at non-Marui commercial facilities in Tokyo
as well as in locations from Hokkaido to Kagoshima.
I have always had an interest in finance. This interest
grew deeper after I read a book entitled The 100-Year
Life. When I plotted my own 100-year life plan, I realizedthat I would run out of money if I did not change how
I live. In addition, the seminars coincided with my getting
married. I decided to participate so that I could thoroughly examine how much money would be needed now
that I am not alone. I had previously thought that I was
the only one who lacked knowledge about money.
However, I now know that the things that give me concern or that I do not understand with regard to the life23

Dialogue 02

stages I will undergo in the future are likely to be thesame for other people. If I study and get involved withfinance myself, I should be able to explain these matters
to our customers.
Aya: When you experience something yourself, you
exhibit a new passion when explaining it to others. It
makes it easier to explain your passion to others when
you make new and edifying discoveries or realize something you did not understand before.

a wider range of information. I think the type of financial
information MARUI GROUP staff will offer customers will
not be difficult to understand, but will rather unlock new
possibilities for them.

Joy Brought About by Financial Inclusion

Money Across All Areas of One’s Lifeand for Shaping the Future    
Aya: In the past, money could only be viewed in terms ofspecific applications; you buy insurance from insurancecompanies, deposit money in banks, invest throughsecurities firms, and purchase homes through real estatecompanies. There were no means of looking at money
across all areas of one’s life. People at MARUI GROUP,
however, possess such a means in the form of theirconnections with customers. Moreover, they are able toengage with these customers in a face-to-face manner.
This vantage point allows people at MARUI GROUP tomove beyond simply talking about money in terms ofhousehold finance or investment and act as partners that
help give form to the concept of money as it pertains to
one’s lifestyle or life.
Satoko: I think the idea of viewing money in terms of allareas of one’s life is very important. After participatingin this seminar, I started discussing the future with myfamily. This may be a bit of an exaggeration, but I havecome to think that talking about money can help people
shape their future. Realizing this has given me a newsense of contentment.
Aya: I am also fond of the idea of money being used for“shaping.” When I first spoke with President Aoi, I remember being moved by his talk of how MARUI GROUP sees
all of its business assets as being borrowed from society.
People may mistreat the things they see as belonging tothem, but they will be more careful in their treatment of
the things they borrow, striving to return them in a better
condition than when borrowed. I believe that increasing
the number of people who think about their lives andmoney is tantamount to returning borrowed assets tosociety after shaping a better future for them.
Hiroyuki: Customers come to Marui stores because they
hope to find something good there. In the past, this was
furniture and fashion. Today, we have grown to offer

24

financial services and peace of mind. There are a lot of
older customers who still associate Marui stores withyounger generations or with clothes. I think all we needto do is to tell them what Marui is offering now, which I’msure will change how they view our stores.
Aya: It would seem that, no matter how the products
MARUI GROUP handles may change, the desire of
employees to help customers and contribute to theirhappiness, which lies at the core of the Company’s activities, will remain unchanged. As Marui stores are open atnight and on weekends, customers can go whenever theyplease without feeling as though that time is “lost.” This
fact makes visiting Marui stores a positive experience.
Another strength of MARUI GROUP is that it can informcustomers, even those that are not currently concernedwith money, about the seminars it offers or the systems
it will introduce.
Kenta: What will change going forward is the products
we offer, not the desire to help our customers that has
always driven us. I look forward to increasing the range
of opportunities for customers to discuss money withease going forward. To those of us at MARUI GROUP, theability to issue credit cards on-the-spot in stores seems
completely normal, but it is actually something that isquite impressive. It would be even more impressive if ournext step found us supporting the lifestyles of customers.
Yoshimi: EPOS cards are not only issued at MARUI GROUP
stores; we also have application centers in other commercial facilities located throughout Japan. The scope of
our EPOS card operations will continue to grow in the
future. If employees have a better grasp of financial
concepts, they will be able to provide customers with    
Satoko: Most people have concerns regarding money,
even if these concerns are vague. These concerns linger
in the back of their minds, but they are often unable totake the initiative to resolve them. If we could provide aneasy opportunity for them to address these concerns in
an atmosphere of trust, it would contribute to co-creationand to a greater sense of happiness.
Kenta: By learning about finance, I came to understandhow money should be invested and saved and how tolive a happier life. I really think that money is integral to
our lives. Questions about money differ from, for example, questions about clothing, which one can now answer
for themselves simply by using the Internet. When it
comes to money, many people, myself included, are notvery knowledgeable. I am therefore confident that customers will take an interest in these topics.
Aya: The focus should not be the financial products
themselves, but the mission these products are meant tofulfill. This approach will better contribute to customer
happiness and to forming bonds.
Yoshimi: Such an approach would no doubt help us
resolve customer issues. In fact, it would enable us toassist customers in a very direct manner.

Hiroyuki: I have long thought that good customer service
was a form of added value. If we could go even further
and provide services with even greater value, it would besomething truly impressive. Such services would makeour work more enjoyable by providing more opportunities to offer customers the type of advice that will truly
help them and that they will fully appreciate. I want tobegin giving customers financial advice as soon as possible so that I can help them live content lives.
Aya: One day, customers may come to speak enthusiastically of all they learned when visiting a Marui store on
topics including credit cards, retailing, products, household finances, and investment. This excitement itself will
be a form of financial inclusion. After helping a customer
revise their insurance policy, for example, MARUI GROUP
employees could go a step further to suggest that they
invest the extra income the revision freed up for use after
retirement or utilize this income to go on a family trip.
Such proposals would make customers more proactive
toward money. Wouldn’t that be exciting? Moreover, suchproposals would build trust with customers while bringing the employees making the proposals more joy in theirwork. No matter how much specialized knowledge afinancial planner may possess, they still have to wait forcustomers to come to them. Marui stores, meanwhile,
have always been a viable way to connect with customers in their real lives. This means that you can offer consultation to customers in a place that they are very
familiar with. As a financial planner, I believe this ability
is an amazing asset that is unique to MARUI GROUP.

Aya Maeno
Representative Director, Cras Inc.
Representative, FP Office will

Previously a junior high school and high school nurse, Aya Maeno later got
married, left this career, and bought a home. She became a financial planner
after her spouse’s insurance provider went bankrupt, and has obtained
CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® status and is a 1st-grade Certified Skilled
Professional of Financial Planning accredited by the Japan Association for
Financial Planners. Ms. Maeno specializes in providing working women andfamilies raising children with a sense of financial security and an understandingof the potential of money by offering invaluable advice. Each year, she holds morethan 120 seminars and consults with over 300 people on an individual basis.
Moreover, Ms. Maeno has penned numerous works, including the textbook usedin MARUI GROUP’s financial seminars, which is aimed at people committed toreforming their household finances. More recently, she has been overseeing thesection of Epos Card’s insurance site that features comics explaining insurance.
www.fp-will.jp/ (Japanese only)25