Staff in the United States Share How They Have Experienced a Silver Lining in the Midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The biggest difference has been that we now wear masks all the time. Wearing masks in public was never a widespread practice before the pandemic.

Although I just arrived in January 2021, my impression is that preventive measures are stricter here than in Japan. I had to make a reservation to apply for a social security number, and people are warned if their mask does not cover their nose.

Even football fans have team masks, and it’s not uncommon to see people wearing masks with colorful designs or even handmade ones. It’s interesting how they’ve become part of daily life here as a means of self-expression.

In TCUSA, even before the pandemic, we were occasionally working from home using the company’s teleworking infrastructure. So there have been no major problems adapting to teleworking. TCUSA handles a considerable number of small ticket lending projects related to trucks and forklifts, and one of its strengths is the ability to quickly handle the entire process from applications to funding. I admire the way our truly dependable staff has been able to maintain that fast responsiveness even under a different working environment.

There are broader possibilities now for hiring excellent personnel, regardless of geographic location. We basically work from home now at API, but thanks to our free and open corporate culture, we’ve adapted quite well.

While there is some benefit to not having to travel, the quality of communication between face-to-face and online contact is quite different, so we hold more online meetings to coordinate. We regularly discuss ways to raise operational efficiency and productivity and continually strive to do better.

After more than a year of working from home, people got bored of the “same old” events. So, we try something new every day to maintain a sense of unity among employees.

TCUSA has also been known for its free and open working atmosphere. One employee even brought a dog to the office on Fridays. I think we are maintaining the same atmosphere even when working from home.

Although COVID-19 has created unprecedented challenges, we have also become familiar with a variety of digital tools we couldn’t have imagined in the past, like Zoom, Teams, and RingCentral, which in turn have broadened the possibilities for our business. This is a silver lining, a positive change, made possible by the pandemic.

Remote work has also led us to review our operations. TCUSA has staff working night shifts to serve customers across the United States. We have taken this opportunity to consider working more efficiently, and this has led to an ongoing collaboration in which Oregon-based API will take on the night shift operations of New York.

API is an independent general leasing and financing company focused on small and medium-sized trucks and arbor equipment and vehicles. API aspires to provide services that go beyond financing for manufacturers, vendors, and dealers that constitute our partners. For example, we serve customers seeking trucks by offering a proposal describing a specific model truck provided by a partner company and the optimal financing service. In a sense, we provide services that add strength to the sales activities of vendors, including manufacturers.

API joined the Group as a startup company, which is unusual for Tokyo Century. While it has relocated to Oregon, the company originated in the Bay Area of California, the sacred land of venture businesses, and has a liberal and creative corporate culture.

Although we are currently not able to travel freely within the country, regular web meetings several times a week have made me aware and appreciative of API’s dynamic and responsive corporate culture as well as its business process and thinking, which are different than those of Tokyo Century.

API became a member of Tokyo Century Group, and this has created synergies even during the COVID-19 pandemic. North America is also home to CSI Leasing, Aviation Capital Group, and GA Telesis, with which we collaborate on a daily basis. We hope we can continue delivering excellent services to customers across the world in collaboration with members of Tokyo Century Group located around the globe.

We are focusing on ways to deliver our services to customers who have not had access to financing services in the past. Every day, I feel there are greater business opportunities outside Japan, and I’m looking forward to working with our partners to deliver even better services.

I’d like to deepen my understanding of Tokyo Century Group and do my part to achieve Group-wide growth. In addition to developing a mutual understanding of our respective businesses and seeking closer collaboration, I hope Tokyo Century Group can contribute to initiatives on sustainability toward achieving the SDGs, which has become a global challenge.