DDIALOGUE 05

Ishikawa: In the past, society has stressed a single path toValues Spreading Among Millennials

success, underscored by the idea that good lives come fromREIKO
KOJIMAYOSHIKIISHIKAWAHIROSHIAOI

Happiness Arising from Well-being Amid
the COVID-19 Pandemic
The idea that physical and mental health is intrinsically linked to happiness is at the heart ofthe concept of well-being. As we are pressed to reassess our values amid the global COVID-19 pandemic,
the concept of well-being is gathering attention. In July 2020, President Hiroshi Aoi and MARUI GROUP’s own
Dr. Reiko Kojima spoke with Yoshiki Ishikawa, a leading well-being researcher and an advisor at the Company,on the topic of how to achieve happiness in the new era.

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Aoi: A lot of talk of stakeholder capitalism has been taking place

working at good companies and going to good schools. My

since 2019, representing the rise of a new sense of value thatgeneration grew up amid the last breaths of this view. People

prioritizes contributions to the interests of all stakeholders, ayounger than me, on the other hand, are more interested inshift from the approach of solely focusing on shareholder inter-finding the lifestyle that they personally think is best. Hardly any

ests. During the process of examining the interests of stakehold-of them are obsessed with becoming rich at all costs. This isers, we couldn’t help but wonder just how many people areunderstandable considering you don’t need to be rich thesesatisfied purely by having their monetary interests accommo-

days to be happy. People can afford most things.

dated. Monetary interests are, of course, something we need toAoi: I think that people who have fully sated the desires foraddress. However, we are also expected to provide value thatphysical things that can be satisfied with money will find them-cannot be measured monetarily. This statement is backed byselves starved for things money can’t buy. This hunger arises

data showing that around 60% of millennials expect companies

from a sense of external pressure that restricts and prevents one

to place the resolution of social issues above the pursuit offrom feeling free. This pressure could be seen as associated withprofit. This belief, which is antithetical to the prior approach of

the desires of younger generations for things like diversity,

shareholder capitalism, has been spreading rapidly in recent

sustainability, and well-being.

years. This trend serves as the backdrop for the recent focus on

Ishikawa: Up until now, the idea of capitalism was seen aswell-being.

absolute. The children of today, however, probably do not agree.

Ishikawa: I have only been promoting well-being in Japan for just

We cannot help but wonder what the right way to live is. In theabout two years. At first, this idea was met with question marks,past, people wanted expensive things. Today, they are seeking

but it has since spread rapidly. This is perhaps due to younger

something more pragmatic. One company I am looking at in thisgenerations coming into power. For example, the presence ofregard is HAIR O'RIGHT INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION.

millennials is increasing among shareholders and venture capital

Aoi: We have one of their stores in Yurakucho Marui.

firms. In fact, it is likely that millennials will become the main

Ishikawa: One tube of O’right toothpaste costs about ¥3,200.

proponent driving society by around 2025. Sustainability, diver-People might initially be put off by the price, but they will soon

sity, and, yes, well-being are all values that millennials haverealize the value as this toothpaste is made from 100% recy-

grown up with.

clable materials and is good for their health in addition to theAoi: Ah, so the value that we had noticed, but previously beenenvironment. In fact, it is made entirely from food. Considering

unable to name, was well-being.

that, we could almost say that ¥3,200 was the right price for

Well-being could be seen as an indicator that hints at the possibility offuture social unrest. Well-being is therefore of utmost importance toensuring medium-to-long-term stability in management.
Yoshiki Ishikawa, PhD
Representative Director
Well-being for Planet Earth Foundation
AdvisorMARUI GROUP CO., LTD.
Born in Hiroshima in 1981, Yoshiki Ishikawa is a preventative medicine researcher with a Doctor of Medicine,which he received from Jichi Medical University after graduating first from the School of Integrated Health
Sciences in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Tokyo and then from the Harvard School of Public
Health. He is now the representative director of the Well-being for Planet Earth Foundation and is engaged ininterdisciplinary research on what constitutes a good life together with companies and universities. He specializes in fields such as preventative medicine, behavioral science, computational creativity, and conceptual engineering and has written books on the subject of fulfilling lives.

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DIALOGUE 05

toothpaste and that the stuff we have been using up until now
has been too cheap. I suspect that the people of the future willbe drawn to more sustainable and virtuous options.
Aoi: You touch on something incredibly important there. On thesubject of sustainability, the biggest topic of late has been
France’s Danone S.A., which rewrote its articles of incorporation
to define the company as an entreprise à mission (company witha mission). French corporate laws apparently are also changing
to require companies to do more than just generate profit.
Danone’s rewriting of its articles of incorporation was a responseto this regulatory change. It also looks like Danone has established a Mission Committee with a positioning similar to that of
the board of directors at a standard company. If the company
wants to do something that goes against the interests of shareholders, they have to get approval from the Mission Committee.

Importance of Well-being for Both Societyand Companies
Kojima: You mentioned younger generations coming into powera little bit ago, Mr. Ishikawa. One change I have noticed is that, inthe past two years, we have had three employees join who cited

We were also concerned that the restrictions
imposed in response to the COVID-19
pandemic would diminish employees’ passion
for work, but the result was the exact opposite.
Reiko Kojima
Executive Officer
Company Physician
General Manager, Wellbeing Promotion Department
MARUI GROUP CO., LTD.

Aoi: I definitely agree that the way people spend their time andtalk about the weekly well-being surveys conducted in themoney is changing. This is probably mostly due to the change inUnited Kingdom. Every week, the United Kingdom polls 2,000

how time is used, which is giving rise to new ways of using

randomly selected individuals on their levels of happiness andmoney.

satisfaction. The results of recent surveys have been incredibly

Ishikawa: Some people talk about how they allocate their money

interesting. Happiness and satisfaction have been falling for thebased on how they use their time.

past decade, but for some reason they jumped up following theAoi: Like how people who spend a lot of time at home also

lockdowns. I am sure that there are some people who are suffer-spend a lot of money on their home.

ing under these conditions, but, on the whole, the people are

Ishikawa: Exactly. It was suggested that, if you spend one-tenthhappier and more satisfied. The reason is still unclear, but I thinkof your time awake in transit, you should spend one-tenth of yourit might have something to do with the fact that capitalism has

money on transportation. This idea clicked with me. Whether

long brainwashed us into believing that money would buy ustime or money is well spent may depend on the values of themore free time. However, with their living spaces greatly restricted,spender, but I think that this approach toward spending is in line

when it came to doing something, the people of the Unitedwith the times.

Kingdom were forced to reevaluate what was truly important

Kojima: You mean they should spend their money on well-being.

to them.

Ishikawa: The COVID-19 pandemic has changed people’s values.

Kojima: We were also concerned that the restrictions imposed inPeople are now focusing on how best to spend their money

response to the COVID-19 pandemic would diminish employees’in their more limited life spaces. In this regard, I would like topassion for work, but the result was the exact opposite. Scoresrelated to work engagement and stress have improved over lastyear in the stress checks that are taken by almost all employees.

their reason for joining as a desire to participate in the Wellbeing

Ishikawa: This is just a theory, but I think the restrictions have

Promotion Project Team.
Ishikawa: That is amazing. A little while ago there was a com-Ishikawa: One way I can think of is cost reductions, as suchpany in which employees were forced to telework for a period.

efforts would have a large impact by lowering recruitment andWhen deciding the approach to be taken going forward, abranding costs. Moreover, chronically “low happiness” can cause

younger employee suggested, to the president no less, that they

political and social unrest after enough years. The fall of the

only go to the office if there was a reason warranting a visit. This

Soviet Union is one example of this, as is the United Kingdom’sstatement was founded on the belief that it should be thedecision to leave the European Union. For this reason, well-being

employee, not the company, that chooses the work style best forcould be seen as an indicator that hints at the possibility ofthem. This story made me realize that we are entering into an era

future social unrest. Such unrest does not result in decreased

where people have more power than companies.

happiness. It is the decreases in happiness that leads to thisKojima: The members of the 2020 Wellbeing Promotion Projectunrest. The same can be said of companies. If we look at indi-

Team helped plan an online school festival at a high school

vidual departments in a company, a department where well-located near our head office in place of the regular school festi-

being and happiness continue to decrease is incredibly likely toval that they were unable to hold because of the COVID-19

have some issue down the line. Well-being is therefore of utmost

pandemic. Rooted in this project was the belief that happiness

importance to ensuring medium-to-long-term stability incomes from bringing joy to someone else, whether they be frommanagement.

within or outside of the Company. In other words, what these
employees craved was not some expensive car, for example; it
was to bring joy to as many people as possible. Regardless,

Changing Use of Time and Money Stemmingfrom the COVID-19 Pandemic

when I talk about MARUI GROUP’s wellness and well-being

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management practices at times such as when giving lectures atIshikawa: An important element of well-being is how people

other companies, I still have people ask me how these efforts

spend their time and money. When comparing different decades,improve profits.

we will see a clear change in how money is used.

made it easier for people to focus on the moment. Up until now,
it was easy to be preoccupied with the future, always seeking
more. This “more is better” mentality may have been replacedwith “less is more.”
Aoi: If we look at that idea in a slightly more abstract way, it
could be seen as a form of harmony. The prior preoccupation
with more, after all, did not allow for harmony.
Ishikawa: Happiness is an incredibly abstract notion. However,I think it boils down to how much joy you can find in your daily
routine. For example, I used to hate washing dishes. My hands
got chapped and it was boring. Realizing this was a problem,
I put a portable speaker in the kitchen. When I first tried washingdishes while listening to music, I could not help but wonder why

This belief, which is antithetical to the priorapproach of shareholder capitalism, hasbeen spreading rapidly in recent years.
This trend serves as the backdrop for the
recent focus on well-being.
Hiroshi Aoi
President and Representative Director
Representative Executive Officer, CEOMARUI GROUP CO., LTD.

I did not think of listening to music in the kitchen much earlier.
Kojima: It is often said if you change your mind, your behavior
will change; if you change your behavior, your habits will change;
if you change your habits, your personality will change; and if
you change your personality, your life will change. The current
era might be the timing at which people decide to undertakesuch changes.

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