My Vision No.49
2020.8Changing Ways of Living and Working
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Japanese government has requested that wevoluntarily restrain our movement and our contact with other people. The use of telework andtelemedicine has expanded rapidly as a result. Having been through this experience, how will ourways of living and working change in the future?

About this Issue

Changing ways of working and living against the background of the COVID-19
pandemic– What direction should companies take in the future?
Kazuhiro Higashi

NIRA Executive Vice President / Chairman and Director, Resona Holdings, Inc.
Keywords…Penetration of IT utilization, value unique to online services, breadth of choice, ease of access,level of detail of information, convenience, improved quality of life, changing lifestyles, optimum
combination of online and offline, path to corporate survival

Expert Opinions

Changing Ways of Living and Working
What type of changes are being produced by the COVID-19 pandemic?
How will our lifestyles and working styles change in the future?

Towards e-commerce that increases
consumer enjoyment

A sharing economy that is robust in the faceof change

Alexander Farfurnik

Yuji Ueda

Representative Director, Tenki Japan Co., Ltd.

CEO, Gaiax Co. Ltd. / Representative Director,
Sharing Economy Association, Japan

Keywords…Decline in consumption due topandemic, range of choice and low cost offered by
EC, marketing using artificial intelligence,
shopping experience offered by technology

Keywords…Online sharing economy, convenience,
enjoyment, rapid business transformation

The use of telemedicine, expanding as a result Diversification of work venues and timesof the COVID-19 crisis, will be the foundationof the next generation of medicine
Seigo Hara

Yoshihisa Aono

CEO, MICIN, Inc.

President, Cybozu, Inc.

Keywords…Essential value of telemedicine, change
in patient awareness, new sense of security,connection to medical care on a daily basis

Keywords…Experience of telework, choice in workvenue, flexible working styles, systems / tools /culture, flowback to regional areas, use of IT in
local government procedures

Fostering trust with open, dispersed
organizations
Daisuke Torii
COO & CTO, Mirai Translate, Inc.
Keywords…Remote work, significance of gathering
together at a company, communication withinorganizations, synchronous and asynchronous
tools, sharing of information, fostering trust
among employees

Interview period：June, 2020
Interviewer :Shota Watanabe(NIRA Research Coordinator, Researcher)
Ayumi Kitajima (NIRA Research Coordinator, Researcher)This is a translation of a paper originally published in Japanese. NIRA bears full responsibility for the translation presented here.
Translated by Michael Faul.
Copyright Ⓒ 2020 by Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

My Vision No.49
2020.8About this Issue

Changing Ways of Working and Living Against
the Background of the COVID-19 Pandemic– What Direction Should Companies Take in the Future?
The COVID-19 pandemic has completely transformed
the world. The number of cases worldwide exceeds 14 million,
and there are approximately 25,000 cases in Japan (as of July
21; WHO / Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare). In Japan,
a state of emergency was first declared for seven prefectures
on April 7, 2020. This was later extended to the entire country.
Responses were therefore demanded in relation to services
and working styles that involved person-to-person contact.
Amid a situation in which it was difficult to carry out a wide
variety of activities as usual, including economic activities,
Kazuhiro Higashi
medical care and education, the use of IT for such purposes as
NIRA Executive Vice President /Chairman and Director, Resona
telework, online education and telemedicine (the effectivenessHoldings, Inc.
of all of which has long been extolled, but the introduction ofwhich has not progressed), has taken off all of a sudden.
What type of changes has the current crisis actually produced in our lifestyles and ourworking styles? And how will our lifestyles, our working styles, our sense of values, and the way
companies are operated change in the future? In this edition of My Vision, we discuss thesequestions with five managers of companies that provide services that are at the cutting edge ofthese issues.

Online services are not simply an alternative
Amid restrictions on conventional face-to-face services in order to prevent infection, theintroduction of online services is proceeding apace. Our interviewees in this issue are all inagreement in stressing that online services are not merely an alternative to face-to-face (offline)
services. Online services provide added value that allow them to surpass offline offerings in termsof breadth of choice, ease of access, and level of detail of information.
Alexander Farfurnik, the Representative Director of Tenki Japan Co., Ltd., tells us that theadvantages of e-commerce (EC) are an overwhelming range of choice and the appeal of lower prices.
In Japan, EC has up to the present been no more than an alternative to shopping in brick-andmortar stores, but in future, reproducing the various types of enjoyment that consumers
experience when they go shopping will be a new theme for EC.
Changes are also occurring in the consumption of events and leisure activities. Yuji Ueda,
CEO of Gaiax Co. Ltd., a company that has established services including online experience-basedclasses and press conferences, stresses that “[…] having tried out experiences that they have only
previously had in real life online, people have realized for the first time that there is a convenienceand enjoyment that can only be had online.” He tells us that up to the present, value has been
ascribed exclusively to actually meeting with others and experiencing things in the same place,but people have come to understand that in reality it is possible to share experiences online, andto realize the convenience of having restrictions such as distance and time removed. If we become
able to easily share experiences with others without leaving our homes, our lives will no doubt
become richer.
This is a translation of a paper originally published in Japanese. NIRA bears full responsibility for the translation presented here.
Translated by Michael Faul.
Copyright Ⓒ 2020 by Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

My Vision No.49
2020.8It is also likely that there will be a significant change in the nature of medical care. It seems
that quite a number of people have been able to receive medical care from doctors with a sense of
security during the current crisis precisely because they were able to access telemedicine. Seigo
Hara, the CEO of MICIN, Inc., indicates that “There has been a significant change in the patient’s
sense that face-to-face consultations are the greatest source of safety and security.” In addition, Dr.
Hara tells us that telemedicine may have the potential to change the concept of medical care that
we have held up to the present. Most people only visit a hospital or clinic after they begin to feelill. Dr. Hara indicates that using telemedicine, daily monitoring will make it possible to implement
medical care at the appropriate timing. If it enables patients and doctors to exchange information
with each other, telemedicine will be extremely significant.
As indicated above, people are discovering new value in online shopping, experiences, andmedical care. They have begun to realize that rather than continuing to insist on conventional“face-to-face” services, the use of “non-face-to-face” services that connect them remotely online will
actually increase their quality of life.

Telework will change the way companies operate
Thinking about working styles has also changed significantly as many people have had theirfirst experience of telework. The interviewees in this issue point out the significance of people’s
realization that telework functions more effectively and is more convenient than anticipated.
Yoshihisa Aono, President of Cybozu, Inc., points out that what is happening at present is thediversification of work venues, and that “The next thing that effort should be focused on is thediversification of work times, enabling people to flexibly change the times that they work.” Mr.
Aono emphasizes the fact that in future, if potential work venues and work times become morediversified, and we realize more flexible working styles, constraints will be lifted from workers
who were previously constrained by place and time, and it will become possible even to work in arural area while employed by a company in Tokyo.
Daisuke Torii, COO & CTO of Mirai Translate, Inc., points out that when the number ofpeople working not only from home but also from rural areas and from overseas increases, systems
enabling open communication will become essential. It will be important to use not only
“synchronous” communication tools such as online videoconferencing, but also “asynchronous”
tools such as E-mail and chat apps, which allow the decision-making process to be recorded as text
data and shared among staff members. Even if staff members are scattered throughout the world,
each one will be able to decide for themselves what is correct based on the shared information, andto take responsibility in proceeding with the job. There are in fact an increasing number ofcompanies that are making telework their standard mode of work.
These transformations in our lifestyle will no doubt become part of our lives even when the
pandemic is over. Until now, Japanese companies have prioritized offline approaches in the areasof customer response and organizational management. However, in responding to the COVID-19
pandemic, many people, including the management class that was previously considered to lookdown on digitalization, have experienced a lifestyle that incorporates the use of online services
such as EC and telework, and must therefore have gained a sense of its significance. Companies
will be required to incorporate this shared experience as shared company knowledge, and toembody it in all aspects of corporate activity. Finding the optimum combination of online andoffline as quickly as possible and responding effectively using both will be the path to corporate
survival.
Kazuhiro Higashi is a NIRA Executive Vice President, Chairman and Director, of Resona Holdings, Inc., and Chairman
and Director of Resona Bank, Limited.

This is a translation of a paper originally published in Japanese. NIRA bears full responsibility for the translation presented here.
Translated by Michael Faul.
Copyright Ⓒ 2020 by Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

My Vision No.49
2020.8Expert Opinions

Towards E-Commerce That
Increases Consumer Enjoyment
There are those who claim that consumption via ecommerce (EC) is booming as a result of the pandemic. However,
it is not increasing sufficiently to offset the decline in
consumption in brick-and-mortar stores. Certainly, thesituation is providing an opportunity for seniors who have notpreviously used EC to commence using it, but consumption
expenditure per person is declining.
The excellence of EC is the fact that it offers an
overwhelmingly great range of choice. People living in Japanare easily able to make purchases from small stores in Paris,
Alexander Farfurnik
for example. You can purchase a wide variety of products from
Representative Director,
more stores than you could possibly visit, all without leaving
Tenki Japan Co., Ltd.
your own home. Prices are also a major source of appeal.
Because the store management costs such as rent and labor expenses that must be borne by brickand-mortar stores are significantly reduced in the case of EC stores, customers are able topurchase products cheaply. Members of the younger generations will be the future users of these
services.
Because it is possible to shop at brick-and-mortar stores no matter where one lives in Japan,
managers have not been able to escape from the outdated idea that purchasing goods at thesestores is the “primary” mode of shopping, and purchasing online is merely “secondary.” In China,
by contrast, young people in their 20s and 30s are managing large EC companies and actively
investing in EC. Marketing using artificial intelligence (AI) is commonplace. Consumers areanalyzed from every perspective, such as age, gender, family structure, hobbies, and past
purchasing behavior, and products that might be of interest to them are promptly recommended.
If similar technologies are introduced in Japan, it will be possible to obtain more accurate data
concerning products that are of interest to specific strata at a more appropriate time. In reality,
however, China has a considerable lead on Japan.
Currently numerous companies are taking up the challenge of developing “shopping
experiences” using technologies such as the IoT, AI, virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR).
Consumers are already able to click on items that they want to buy while window shopping invirtual stores online. By nature, shopping offline (in brick-and-mortar stores) is not an activity
involving only the purchase of goods, but also an activity entailing sociality. How to “translate” thevarious types of enjoyment that people experience when they really go shopping into online
shopping will be a major focus for the future EC industry. Eventually, it will no doubt become
possible to buy products from the home with a more real experience of “seeing” and “feeling.” Andadditionally, the technology will advance to the point that IoT devices will one day judge thecontents of our refrigerators, and order automatically for us. There is no doubt that the experienceof “consumption” will change dramatically for all of us in the future.
Tenki Japan Co., Ltd. is a company that leverages its strengths in the areas of e-commerce marketing technologies inorder to contribute to the growth of e-commerce businesses. Mr. Farfurnik has been active as a serial entrepreneur, andhas originated five start-ups in China since 2004. The fifth of these, Xibao, provides services to the Alibaba Group, andwas listed on the stock exchange in 2015. Mr. Farfurnik moved to Japan in 2016, founding Tenki Japan in order to focus
on the Japanese market. He has a deep knowledge of languages and cultures, and is proficient in Russian, Hebrew,
English and Mandarin. In Japan, he communicates in Japanese.

This is a translation of a paper originally published in Japanese. NIRA bears full responsibility for the translation presented here.
Translated by Michael Faul.
Copyright Ⓒ 2020 by Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

My Vision No.49
2020.8Expert Opinions

A Sharing Economy That is Robustin the Face of Change
Some people think that the sharing economy (thesharing of goods and spaces with others) is in danger ofdisappearing. However, in reality, the popularity of theonline experience-based sharing economy is actually
increasing. For example, Gaiax holds online events, runs
experience-based classes and press conferences, and hosts
an online job-hunting service. Of these, the online jobhunting service is attracting a great deal of attention, with
the number of student users, initially 800, now exceeding
Yuji Ueda
2,000.
CEO, Gaiax Co. Ltd. /Representative Director, Sharing
I believe that these online services will not end
Economy Association, Japan
when the coronavirus crisis is over, but will continue into
the future. This is because having tried out experiences
online that they have only previously had in real life, people have realized for the first time that
there is a convenience and enjoyment that can only be had online. For example, a home cooking
class taught by non-Japanese cooks, called “Tadaku,” allows students to easily search for theteacher that suits them best and study in the comfort of their own homes. If the student makes adish at home, they can also enjoy it with their family. As another example, if residents of rural
Hokkaido hold “fortune-telling meetings,” it is difficult to attract customers, but if they go online,
the audience will not be put off by travel time or transport costs, and the target customer segment
will be significantly expanded.
The reason that sharing economy companies are thriving is that they are responding tochanging needs and demands and rapidly transforming their businesses, as in the case of mycompany’s efforts to become more “online.” The essence of the sharing economy is the provisionof platforms for matching services. That is, “Matching people with these needs with people who
provide these services” is posted on Internet “bulletin boards.” If a business owner wants totransform their business, they simply prepare a modified platform for the new business on theInternet. What makes this possible is the fact that the company does not hire a service provider,but rather has the service provider use the platform. In particular in times of profound socialchange, such as the current pandemic, conventional organizations that have employees cannot
respond to the changes occurring. Platformers are expanding their business by focusing not on thedetails of services, but rather on where the demand is.

Gaiax Co. Ltd. is a company whose aim is to solve social issues through the utilization of social media and the sharing
economy. Its mission is to connect people with people, thus creating new “connections.” The company develops a variety
of BtoB and CtoC businesses, including ride sharing services and workspace sharing services. It actively supports
entrepreneurship among employees, and 60% of new graduates will establish a business. Following graduation from
Doshisha University, Mr. Ueda joined a company that provided venture support, before establishing Gaiax in 1999. He
is also the Representative Director of the Sharing Economy Association, Japan.

This is a translation of a paper originally published in Japanese. NIRA bears full responsibility for the translation presented here.
Translated by Michael Faul.
Copyright Ⓒ 2020 by Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

My Vision No.49
2020.8Expert Opinions

The Use of Telemedicine, Expanding as a Resultof the COVID-19 Crisis, Will Be the Foundationof the Next Generation of Medicine
With the spread of COVID-19 infections, two patterns
have demonstrated the essential value of telemedicine. The firstof these is that people who believe that they may be infected, andhence do not visit a medical facility for an examination, are able
to receive medical care from a physician by using an online
service. The other is that telemedicine enables people sufferingfrom chronic diseases such as lifestyle diseases to receive
treatment without concern over the risk of infection from a visit
to a hospital or clinic. There has been a significant change in thepatient’s sense that face-to-face consultations are the greatest
Seigo Hara
source of safety and security.
CEO, MICIN, Inc.
In addition, by offering a different type of “safety” and“security,” telemedicine holds the potential to change the existing concept of “medical care.”Conventionally, we have visited hospitals or clinics only after we have started to feel unwell.
However, the use of telemedicine will enable a type of medicine that provides treatment at a more
appropriate time by catching subtle changes and signs through constant monitoring. For example,
the blood pressure of hypertensive patients will be recorded daily, and both the physician and thepatient will monitor the data. As another example, the patient could photograph their oral cavity(a difficult area to examine) using a smartphone, and send the image to the physician from theirhome, offering a better image than could be seen with the naked eye. This would make it possible
to examine and diagnose daily changes, and (depending on the illness) the affected area, in greater
detail than is the case in face-to-face consultations. For the patient, this experience of being
connected to medical care on a daily basis would offer a greater sense of security.
There are three main challenges involved in realizing this “new medical care.” The first is
the problem of technologies and mechanisms. This is the development of technologies andmechanisms that enable, for example, auscultation and palpation to be performed online and blood
tests to be taken at home, making it possible to obtain the necessary and sufficient information
for diagnosis. The second is the linking of the current easing of restrictions on telemedicine to apermanent easing, from a regulatory perspective. And the third is, in addition to achieving
understanding among patients, deepening understanding in particular among the various
relevant personnel of large hospitals, and realizing more widespread use. In the future, if theexchange of medical data between doctors and patients becomes more common, we can expect
more widespread use of the so-called personal health records (PHR), which allow patients to holdtheir own data and use it for prevention and treatment. Telemedicine will also play a role as thefoundation for this next-generation medicine.
MICIN Inc. provides the telemedicine service “curon.” This service enables reservations to be made with medical
institutions, medical interviews to be conducted, payments to be made, and arrangements for the delivery of drugs to becompleted online using a smartphone. Dr. Hara graduated from The University of Tokyo’s Faculty of Medicine, and took
an MBA from Stanford University. After terms with companies and institutions including the National Center for Global
Health and Medicine, the Health and Global Policy Institute and McKinsey & Company, he founded MICIN Inc. in 2015.
He was also involved in formulating proposals for medical policy in Japan in 2035 with the Ministry of Health, Labourand Welfare’s Health Care 2035 Executive.

This is a translation of a paper originally published in Japanese. NIRA bears full responsibility for the translation presented here.
Translated by Michael Faul.
Copyright Ⓒ 2020 by Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

My Vision No.49
2020.8Expert Opinions

Diversification of Work Venues and Times
While the use of telework had not previously made significant
progress, the COVID-19 pandemic has seen large numbers of people
experiencing this mode of work. The merits of not having to commute orsit through long meetings have been widely recognized, andpsychologically speaking, without doubt for many people humanrelationships have become simpler, and the increased time spent withfamily has enabled them to feel a deeper sense of happiness. The
disadvantage of this working style is that it is more difficult to obtainthe type of information that can be compared to “noise”: the informationthat is all around one in the workplace, and which the worker picks up
Yoshihisa Aono
from being present there.
President, Cybozu, Inc.
The phenomenon that is occurring at present could be called thediversification of work venues. The ability to choose one’s own home as a work venue has increased,
and working styles have diversified. The next thing that effort should be focused on is the diversificationof work times, enabling people to flexibly change the times that they work. If the diversification of workvenues and work times proceeds, and flexible working styles become available, work would become
easier for people who previously felt constraints, and it would even be possible to work in a rural area
while employed by a company in Tokyo.
“Systems,” “tools,” and “culture” will be essential to advancing flexible working styles. Naturally,
it will be necessary to create in-house systems and prepare tools for the sharing of information, butultimately, changing the company culture will be the key to feasibility. If a company has a system ofchildcare leave, but male employees do not take childcare leave, there is a problem in the company
culture, and management will have to make the necessary decisions in order to change that culture. In
the future, there will be increasing polarization between companies able to offer these types of flexible
working styles and companies that cannot, and this will affect the hiring of human resources.
With the future diversification of working styles, the long-standing “unipolar concentration” ofJapan's population in Tokyo will likely change, and there will be a return (or “flowback”) to the nation's
regional areas. However, people who work for companies in Tokyo and are thinking of living in a ruralarea will not want to return to an older way of life. They will want to use IT judiciously in order torealize a lifestyle that balances happiness and efficiency. It will be necessary for each of Japan’s local
governments to interpret this message correctly. The first thing that local governments should do is tointroduce IT to their own procedures. Procedures in relation to the COVID-19 special cash payment
demonstrated a clear distinction between local governments that responded well and those that
responded poorly, depending on the degree to which they had progressed in introducing IT. Introducing
IT to a company does not necessarily require a large investment or specialized human resources.
Against the background of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people have experienced the ease with which
videoconferencing services can be used; similarly, the problem in relation to the introduction of IT isonly one of motivation. There is a strong possibility that the degree to which the introduction of IT has
progressed will lead to some regions being chosen by those leaving the cities and to others not being
chosen, resulting in a polarization of regional municipalities.
Cybozu, Inc. develops, sells and operates groupware and develops, sells and delivers methods to enhance teamwork forcompanies. The company provides a variety of services based on the concept of “Creating a society brimming with
teamwork.” Following graduation from the Information Systems Engineering Course of Osaka University’s School ofEngineering, Mr. Aono joined Matsushita Electric Works (now Panasonic), establishing Cybozu in 1997. He has also
served as an external advisor on the promotion of work-life balance to the Ministry of Internal Affairs andCommunications, and as a specialist member of the Information and Communications Council of the same Ministry’s
IoT Policy Committee.
This is a translation of a paper originally published in Japanese. NIRA bears full responsibility for the translation presented here.
Translated by Michael Faul.
Copyright Ⓒ 2020 by Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

My Vision No.49
2020.8Expert Opinions

Fostering Trust With Open, Decentered
Organizations
Many people have had no choice but to work remotely as aresult of the COVID-19 pandemic, and I am sure that the majorityof them have found that nothing went wrong when they did. Large
numbers of people experiencing remote work at the same time
provides us with a tremendous opportunity to reconsider themeaning of “gathering together at the company.” It is possible that
preconceptions regarding the way an organization should be will
crumble away all at once, and there will be major changes in the
future in a variety of aspects of organizations, such as working styles
and the hiring of human resources.
Daisuke Torii
As the number of people working remotely not only from
COO & CTO, Mirai Translate, Inc.
home but also from regional areas and overseas increases, how
to ensure communication between staff members will become asignificant issue for organizations. As the essential nature of communication changes, effective
utilization of IT tools will be indispensable in responding. There are both “synchronous” and“asynchronous” tools (Note). Not only the introduction of synchronous tools such as videoconferencing
services, but also the ability to make effective use of asynchronous tools such as E-mail and chat apps
is the key to success in utilizing dispersed working styles like remote work. Asynchronous tools assist
in recording important information as documents and sharing it with all staff members.
The creation of this type of open communication system will make it possible to increase thetransparency of decision-making and foster trust among staff members. One of the reasons that remote
work has not achieved full penetration up to the present is the fact that people were anxious that theywould not know what was happening in the office while they were not there. Asynchronous tools help
to eliminate this anxiety. In that sense, it is necessary to consider the language used to communicate
with overseas members of staff. If Japanese is used extensively in exchanges between overseas
subsidiaries and the head office in Japan, overseas staff will experience considerable stress. Using achat tool to automatically translate Japanese into English and allow the conversation to flow is apositive plan in this case. Text information can be shared with team members overseas in real-time. If
the necessary information and decision-making processes are shared across the language barrier, evenif team members are dispersed throughout the world, they will be able to decide for themselves what
is correct, and proceed with the job on their own responsibility.

(Note) “Synchronous” refers to communication tools that function in real time, such as telephone calls.
In this category, online videoconferencing services (Zoom, etc.) are currently attracting attention. Theyfulfill the important role of enabling the direct communication of feelings and emotions, and allow theother party’s reactions to be observed and their agreement to be confirmed. “Asynchronous” refers tocommunication tools that do not require an instantaneous response, for example E-mail or chat tools
such as Slack. Their particular advantage is the fact that information is saved in the form of documents,
allowing it to be shared by staff members.
Mirai Translate, Inc. is a company that provides text translation services for companies and voice translation API services
for vendors. The company’s vision is to make machine translation the new lingua franca to bring new life and work styleacross different languages. Following graduation with a Ph.D. from Graduate School of Informatics, Kyoto University,
Dr. Torii joined NTT DOCOMO, Inc. He was involved in the analysis of large-scale data using machine learning as aforerunner to the role of the data scientist. He has been engaged in the development of technologies for the natural
languages processing at Mirai Translate, with a focus on machine translation, since February 2015. Dr. Torii has since
become involved in the company’s overall management, becoming its CTO in January 2018, and its COO in December
2018. He is a Doctor of Informatics.
This is a translation of a paper originally published in Japanese. NIRA bears full responsibility for the translation presented here.
Translated by Michael Faul.
Copyright Ⓒ 2020 by Nippon Institute for Research Advancement