Number

124thIssue date

28-Apr-21

Praying for the success of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (this section has been quoted from President
Komaba's message.)
Although they should really be called the 2020+1 Tokyo Olympics, the Olympic torch relay was launchedon March 25th in Fukushima Prefecture, the site that received enormous damage during the Great East
Japan Earthquake, as a symbol of recovery. The relay passed nearby our own Kanuma Plant on March
29th, and following this, it continued its journey around the country and is scheduled to end up in Tokyo
on July 23rd to commemorate the Olympic opening ceremony, with the games continuing for two weeks
until the closing ceremony on August 8th.
However, as of April 28th, Japan is currently facing a sudden surge in the number of COVID-19
infections.
We are now left with the uncertain question of whether or not the determination to forge ahead with
the Olympics will be successful, considering that athletes from around the world have been invited totake part despite the fact that we are now under serious threat from virus variants. The government
appears to still be undecided over what it will place the emphasis on for the sake of Japan, and it is
impossible to eradicate concerns over whether it is capable of coming to an informed decision or not.
From a personal point of view, I love the Olympics, and I can never forget the moving scenes of theclosing ceremony at the end of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics when all of the participants, regardless of theirnationalities or the color of their skin, all came together harmoniously to hug each other. Encompassing
the view that “the purpose is not to win but to take part” as stated by the so-called “father” of themodern Olympic games, Pierre de Coubertin, I believe that the “ideals of the Olympics utilize sports toraise us higher as human beings and overcome culture, nationality and other differences through thespirit of friendship, solidarity and sportsmanship, and contribute to create an even better world throughpeace” will unquestionably enhance teamwork in the shape of a global team.
I am convinced that the spirit of the Olympics represents a policythat is both noble and extremely easy to understand for us at KSK as
we engage in teamwork with a wide range of frontrunners underthe concept of “Kaizen” for the purpose of strengthening ourintercorporate exchanges.
As a Japanese national, it is with mixed feelings that I regard theholding of the Tokyo Olympic Games this year.

Automotive area (Israel start-up company getting involved in EV platforms)
It was announced on May 21st, 2020, that REE Automotive, an Israel manufacturer of platforms forelectric vehicles (EV), has concluded a strategic partnership with KYB, a Japanese manufacturer ofsuspension and hydraulic equipment. Israel is known as the Silicon Valley of the Middle East and is amajor IT nation boasting a large number of start-up companies, and it is in great demand by companies
involved in designing the world’s innovations. REE Automotive, which announced the tie-up with KYB,
was established in 2013. We interviewed CEO Daniel Barel remotely, and he stated that the company
has adopted technologies that no other company is involved in to develop EV platforms that incorporate
the concept of a case.
REE Automotive’s EV platforms resemble nothing other than square smartphone batteries with wheels
attached. Most EV platforms, including Volkswagen’s MEB, tend to resemble each other, and the biggest
difference that the REE platform has is that there is no sign of a motor, drive train, steering mechanism,suspension, brakes or any of the other units that one would normally expect.
This, actually, is because everything is enclosed within a case-like wheel arch known as the REE corner.
Removing the wheels from the REE corner reveals an electric motor, a steering mechanism (bi-wire), a
braking function (bi-wire) and a unified suspension unit, each of which is a completely independent unit.
All of these units are monitored by a maintenance AI function, which allows defects and malfunctions tobe detected before problems occur. All repairs and updates are carried out OTA (over-the-air = online
via the same radio waves used by cellphones), which not only lowers the possibilities of the platform

via the same radio waves used by cellphones), which not only lowers the possibilities of the platform
being unable to run, it also lowers maintenance costs.
By incorporating the five available models of the REE
corner currently available with different sized chasses
that include battery packs, it is possible to create acomplete EV platform, bringing to mind the concept of
the ultimate module strategy.
EV platform developed by REE AutomotiveKeihin Seimitsu Kogyo (New regular recruitment employees)
As with every year, KSK’s new recruits joined the company on April 1st and began their training at theKanuma Plant.
Having received approximately three weeks of basic training as new employees at the Management
Training College, they will then take part in practical training sessions, be temporarily assigned to variouspositions, and visit customer factories depending on the spread of COVID-19 through until July, when
they will be assigned to their official positions, and this year they will also take part in various othertraining programs, including online training in teams, etc., from remote locations.
A declining birth rate in Japan is resulting in a reduction of high school and university graduates, which isplacing our regular recruitment activities in jeopardy. There were approximately 2-million youths aged
18 years old in 1990, but this dropped to 1.15-million in 2020 and is forecast to drop even further down
to approximately 900,000 by 2040, and although there has been no comparative reduction in university
graduates between 1990 and 2020, the number of high school graduates has been halved.
In order to put greater effort into our recruitment procedures and policies and ensure that the humanresources that enter the company are provided with high levels of training amid this environment, wehave modified our operations to create an organization that comes under the direct jurisdiction ofcompany administration. We are currently faced with a once-in-a-century situation, and we will leave nostone unturned to ensure that we put everything into acquiring and training the human resources thatwill carry the company into the future.

Post-editorial Notes: (One day when working from home)
I woke up on Friday morning to the sound of a Japanese bush warbler singing, and went to put out thetrash in front of the nearby park.
I then had breakfast in our combined kitchen, dining room and living room. I glanced at the faces of mydaughters, who had fallen asleep in the living room, and the photograph of their shichi-go-san ceremony(to celebrate children reaching the ages of three, five and seven) taken in America and marveled at how
they had grown up into fine young women, which enabled me to enjoy a brief moment of leisure before
starting work.
I began working with the sun streaming through the windows. Once you get used to working from
home, it gets easier to marshal your thoughts and promotes creativity!!!
(Yeah, right… v(^o^)v)
 Work completed! The weekend starts today  Off to see the sun setting over the ocean! I walked
from Koshigoe, which is a familiar place for members of the KSK Marine Club, through to the Katasecoast. Enoshima Island stood out clearly against the sky just before the sun set, and I felt in great spirits.
And then… I saw a couple of around 20 years old standing on the steps facing the beach and looking out
to sea while rubbing shoulders, and was reminded how great it was to be young… A closer inspection
revealed that the boy had his arm around the girl’s waist, and I (an old man) was momentarily struck by
a sense of indignation! (I remembered back to when a girl I was friendly with indignantly stating that shewas okay with boys putting their arms around a girl’s shoulders, but couldn’t forgive them if they
became more intimate and wrapped their arms around her waist  Having said that… we also…
eventually… went for the waist…)
In the evening that weekend, my daughters arrived home and the living room was filled with theirlaughter!
Their voices echoed around the tall ceiling, but for some reason, this sounded like background music to
the author…
Recently I have been working at a low table I placed in my bedroom, which is very convenient, and after
we have finished our happy family gatherings, I lie down on my futon mattress and listen to music by
Eiichi Ohtaki or Tatsuro Yamashita, who sing about the joys of spring and gently cuddling while staring
into each other’s moist eyes (brilliant!), while I partake in a small plate of cheese and a glass or two ofwine… And, when the sandman arrives, I just drop into a dead sleep. (Instead of losing my way andrequiring three times the amount to time to stagger home drunk, as I do when going out to drink, Ibecome a creature of a different color and move gently into the land of dreams when I drink at home).
Oh, yes! Something that amazed me recently is the fact that a girl who closely resembles the one shownin the picture below visited me in a dream… We stared into each other’s moist eyes… and our faces werein the picture below visited me in a dream… We stared into each other’s moist eyes… and our faces wereso close that I would swear that I could smell her sweet perfume.
When I was younger, I saw a news story about an old man in his seventies who had been cautioned by
the police for trying to hand a love letter across to a high school girl, and I remember wondering what onearth this old geezer was thinking at the time, but I now seem to have turned into an old geezer of thesame ilk (although, I’m still in my sixties…)
Well, I guess this proves that cute girls remain cute no matter how
old one gets… A long time ago (this is a story that I will not beSo
telling my own daughters…), my father, who was rather handsome
embarrassing.
and popular with the girls, told me with a big grin of pleasure thatmen concentrate on the faces of girls when they are young, but asthey grow older, their line of site tends to travel lower down theirbodies. Believing that the fact that I still tend to concentrate on
girls’ faces is evidence that I am still young at heart was somethingthat kept my stupid mind occupied on that long spring night.