Shedding the Light on “Japan’s Monozukuri”
It is not the strongest of thecompanies that survives,
nor the most intelligent, but
the one most responsive
to change.
Do you know what word the ancientGreeks employed before “literature”
was ever written in a dictionary?
The answer is “Techne,” meaning“to produce by letting appear.” Assuch, fables like Homer’s Iliad andOdyssey ‘produced’ strong culturaland social realities which allow today’s Liberal Arts practitioners apeek in the Hellenics’ culture. To
classify emerging genres of techne,“poiesis” (or to make) was added
UPUIFWPDBCVMBSZCVUJUTEFmOJUJPO
remained closely intertwined withthat of its predecessor. In Plato’s
dialogue ‘Phaedrus,’ poiesis is demOFEBTUIBUXIJDIishines bright…
and resplends.”
And that is how, more than 2300
years ago, the cultural junction between literature and light, truth andvisibility, understanding and perceiving, was born.
During the centuries that followed, light became a cultural symbol for goodness, beauty and life.
In religious writings, God used itto abolish darkness and create ourworld: “God said ‘let there be light,’
and there was light.” (Genesis 1:3).
Millenniums later, Shakespeare’s
Romeo uses light to depict the emotion he feels as he discovers thegrave of his only love, Juliet. “Agrave? O, no, a lantern, slaughtered
youth, For here lies Juliet, and her
beauty makes This vaults a feastingpresence full of light.”
From churches to theaters, lighthas carried cultural, social and biological assumptions that mold ourunderstanding of the world. Morethan a mere source of visibility, illumination has been proven to havea direct effect on our emotions.
Unsurprisingly so, light has grown
JOUPBDFOUSBMUIFNFJOUIFmFMETPG
architecture, design, photography
and more importantly, liberal arts.
In his academic keynote speechpresentation at the University ofCalifornia, Berkeley, in November
2018, Mr. Goro Terumichi discussed
the historical relationship between
natural lighting and the architecture of Kyoto’s temples and shrines.
“Just as each person has his or her
own background, each city has its

own unique culture and history.
Light in the city environments isassociated with various important
aspects of such background towhich there is no generally correct or absolute answer.”
Mr. Goro Terumichi, group C.E.O.
of Modulex Inc., a global corporategroup specialized in providing professional technical lighting solutions,has taken on the ambitious mission
to transform mere light into ‘lighting,’ therefore bringing a culturaland social impact that enriches society. “While visibility has an obvious function, light can be a media
UISPVHIXIJDIQFPQMFmOEUIFJSPXO
enjoyment. Like the sound becoming

music, light has the capability tointensively inspire human emotion inorder to enhance our life,” he states.
Similar to the relationship between culture and light, the group
C.E.O. of the Tokyo-based professional lighting company believes thatJapanese “Monozukuri,” or the artof “making things,” is solely derived
from the country’s historical, socialand cultural background. “Developedin the post-war Japan through trialand error, Japan’s ‘Monozukuri’ wasborn from a fundamental awareness
which saw people voluntarily comeup with their own development andproduction methods. ‘Monozukuri’
XBTTUSPOHMZJOnVFODFECZUIFiIJT-Photo Takashi Shigemoto“While visibility has an
obvious function, light canbe a media through which
QFPQMFmOEUIFJSPXO
enjoyment. Like the soundbecoming music, light has
the capability to intensively
inspire human emotion inorder to enhance our life.”
Mr. Goro Terumichi,
Group CEO of ModuleX Inc.
torical background” and “economicbackground” (the “Backdrop”) ofthe country.”
During Japan’s economic recession, or the so-called “lost decades,”which denominate the years of stagnation between 1991 and 2010, large
Japanese corporations (for instance,JOUIFFMFDUSPOJDmFME CFHBOMPTJOH
market share to competitors fromneighboring countries. Today, many
experts argue that the success ofemerging countries’ manufacturers
was due to their ability to “copy”
traditional Japanese ‘Monozukuri.’
However, Mr. Terumichi advocatesthat ’Monozukuri’ exists only in thecontext of the ‘Backdrop’ that haveconstantly inspired the appropriate
production concepts. Since different countries have developed with
their own ‘Backdrop’ and in pursuitof their own respective objectives,
the interpretation of Mr. Terumichi
claims that Japan’s “Monozukuri”
and those of its neighboring countries cannot be compared as they are
the result of different stages and erasof development. “Herein lies a major
misunderstanding,” he adds.
As certain large corporations
from Japan have yet to recoverfrom their economic downfall,

many manufacturers have aggressively relocated their factories tocountries with lower labor cost.
“To recover from the burst of the
bubble economy, many Japanese
corporations over-prioritized
QSPmU NBSHJOT UISPVHI DPTU SFductions without reviewing theimportance of manufacturing domestically,” he advances.
*OUIFmFMEPG%FWFMPQNFOU&DPOPNJDT  UIF imSTUNPWFST BEWBOUBHFwTUBUFTUIBUUIFmSTUTUPFOUFS
a market have opportunities to graba technological and pricing lead. By
exporting their production facilities
overseas, manufacturers without
their country’s unique characteristics could consequently lose thiscompetitive edge. In “The Origin ofSpecies,” Charles Robert Darwin advocates that “it is not the strongestof the species that survives, nor themost intelligent, but the one mostresponsive to change.” Instead ofPWFSQSJPSJUJ[JOHPOFBTZQSPmUNBSgin, Mr. Terumichi insists that Japanese manufacturers must primarily
reconsider their country’s Backdrop
to deliver next-generational value. “Ibelieve that a ‘Monozukuri’ which
expresses the characteristics of JaQBOT OFYUHFOFSBUJPO BGnVFODFT with the matured culture of a developed country, has an essentially
TJHOJmDBOUPQQPSUVOJUZUPEFNPOstrate the Japanese approach tothe global market, and will create
a new horizon that gives Japanthe first-mover’s advantage,” hesays. With this in mind, Mr. Terumichi mentions that the “Made byJapan” must leverage on its threecore advantages: superior Japanese
aesthetics backed by the country’s
unique Backdrop; integration oftechnologies supported by the maUVSFEDVMUVSFBOEmFMETFNQMPZJOH
big data utilization.
The philosophy of Mr. Terumichi

is present in ModuleX’s uniqueapproach to its market of predilection. With the recent rise ofLEDs, certain lighting devices havetransformed into simple “semiconductor items”. In a market which
has steadily grown emotionless,ModuleX has made it its mission
to stimulate human emotions.
“Our lighting solutions are carefully planned by understanding theTJHOJmDBODFBOECBDLHSPVOEPGUIF
various buildings, places and cities
we serve,” he explains.
To deliver natural human emotions, the Tokyo-based company has
developed a proprietary environment-adapting technology known
as “ModuleX Controls.” ModuleX
Controls is a combination of hardware devices, environmental design
and advanced controlling technology that comprehensively adapts
lighting to blend in with a given
environment. Through its uniquehardware technology and designtechnique, the company is able toreproduce natural lighting effects.
“ModuleX is not only a manufacturer that produces and sells lighting devices; it is also a company thatprovides a variety of added values
that enhance the impact of lighting
on human emotion.”
By virtues of its advanced engineering expertise, the lighting
mYUVSFT PG .PEVMF9 FOKPZ B IJHI
degree of modularity, which havebeen multi-awarded from the world.
As the head of lighting design, hardware engineering and group management, Mr. Terumichi’s creations
are composed of interchangeablecomponents that allow its products
to adjust to various demands simultaneously. By producing a processof selection in which customers
choose non-interchangeable solutions, ModuleX offers its clients
tailor-made solutions.

From Tokyo’s highest branded
hotel bars to corporate offices,
residences and luxurious fashion
stores, the prestige of ModuleX’sclient base is only matched by its
diversity. To cater for such a disparate audience, the company has
combined its engineering modularity with a unique organizational
structure where design, production
and after-sales are closely related.
“We are strategically adopting amanagement method that is difmDVMUUPBDIJFWFGPSMBSHFSDPNQBnies; realizing completely different
types of design-ins in both development and production within asingle proposal, as well as addedvalue.” By keeping both design andproduction geographically adja-cent, ModuleX has shortened thecommunication gap between its
divisions and can incorporate its
client’s demands from the earlystages of development.
To preserve its integrated management method, the company has
maintained its production facilities
in Japan, largely disregarding theTUSBUFHZUPTFDVSFIJHIFSQSPmUNBSgins through factory relocation. “Wehave been focusing on the challengeof creating added-values throughwhich we can receive distinctive
appreciation from the market. We
call our brand ‘ModuleX made inTokyo’ to symbolize this concept.”
And perhaps, also to symbolize thejourney ‘Monozukuri’ must take torediscover its light.
ADVERTISING SECTION