When I joined Kodensha in the 1990s, translation software was a niche product used by a few users. Times have changed, and now it has become a field that attracts so much interest and attention that even the world's largest IT companies have entered the field, and I am deeply moved by this.

As the need for translation software grows, so does the number of companies entering the field, and competition is fierce. In this age of overwhelmingly rapid technological advancement, what kind of products will we be able to deliver to the world? And what kind of human resources can we produce? As I face these questions, I am reminded again of the heavy responsibility I have assumed as President and Representative Director. I also feel a sense of elation as I take on these heavy responsibilities.

As we approach the year 2020, translation software will be required to work with handwritten input, speech recognition, and text-to-speech. Due to the nature of our business, we have formed alliances with prominent overseas companies and research institutes, and we are fortunate to be able to procure technologies that we have not developed ourselves, regardless of national borders. We will continue to discover outstanding technologies from other countries and combine them with our own technologies to create synergies.

With the determination that "technology is life and people are treasure" and "the second founding of the company will be made possible by the collective efforts of all employees," the entire company will work together to develop products and services that will be of service to our customers.