LIFE HOUSING LIFE HOUSING JAPAN Co., Ltd.
CEO Mr. Daiki Hayashi
– First of all, what did make you do business in Cambodia?
I have a dream that one day I build a hotel in Las Vegas, so I was looking for an opportunity for having an experience in the real estate business overseas. At the same time, my former colleague, who was a representative of a company in which I was a director, was creating a broad range of personnel connections in Cambodia, doing his business like establishing a school, and I was introduced to many of those people when I visited Cambodia and saw a lot of things which I would never see in Japan, which encouraged me to think of doing business in Cambodia.
– It seems to be a big dream to own a hotel in Las Vegas.
I have a lot of foreign friends as I’ve studied in America, and was always frustrated by the weak presence of the Japanese in the world all the time. Therefore, I thought that building a hotel in Las Vegas could promote our presence to the world.
– Why’d you think of the real estate business in Cambodia?
I’m in the real estate business in Japan as well, and when I inspected some lands in Cambodia, I felt that there was no reason to hesitate to do business there. Cambodia is a country where our skills are truly tested as there are no stereotypes like Japan does, like “It should be like this” or “We must do it only in this way”, so we could create a new stereotype by ourselves in Cambodia. In this way, we can grow to make the country grow as well.
– Could you tell us the details of your business in Cambodia?
There would be some people who’d come to Cambodia for real estate investment because of the soaring land prices with the economic growth whereas our company concentrates on vacant lands which we develop, like installing electricity and water supply, to add value to the lands and sell it. It has much higher risks than just reselling lands, but I have a principle that nobody can be unhappy with my business.
I have been created by a person who I had truly trusted, and have been scammed and had a large debt in my life as well. Therefore, there is a premise that if people become happy with my business, then we make money as the result of making people happy. That’s the strongest idea that I have for the business.
– So, do you think of a long-term business here?
Yes. There are ways to make money on a one-off basis, which could make some immediate profit, but I do not think that we can grow in personal stature in such a business. I think that I have to do something for society first, which has some risks but I’d take it even out on a limb.
– What do you think about educating your employees?
I think that the way how a business works in Japan can be used everywhere in the world. I thought so through talking to various kinds of business owners and the experience of studying in America. It’s not about the aggressiveness but the way of thinking or the desire toward work. I’d like to initiate my employees into these things.
First of all, I think it’s necessary to teach them the proper etiquette for business, and then, the way of thinking toward working and efficiency. I’d always make them think themselves about how to improve efficiency. Therefore, whenever my employees ask me something, I ask them conversely “What do YOU think of the best way for it?”. The details would be more specific as I spend more time with my staff, as there should also be some customs and culture that I have to understand in Cambodia.
I’d like to produce Cambodian people who can succeed in the world as a result, which will also raise the standard of the country in the world. That’s what I hope through my business.
– You’re still 26 years old. What makes you have such a firm belief in yourself, compared to the other people of the same generation?
I don’t think that the ages matter but what kind of experiences a person has had would change his thoughts. When I enrolled in elementary school, my father said to me “I’ll teach you just one important thing about life. Don’t be the same as others. How you are different from others and how many different things you achieve from others will enrich your life.”
That’s how started doing different things from what others do, which has been making me experience a lot of things that others couldn’t experience and it has been affecting my life vastly.
On the other hand, how I was different from others made me bullied throughout my whole school years in elementary school, junior high school, and high school. It was very painful at the time, but I thought it’d be cool to be a person in the future who could help people when they are in trouble, even the people who have bullied me once, so I had never thought of submitting to the bullies to be the same as them.
– Lastly, what is your object in Cambodia?
To make a town. We are developing land in which we’d like to set up various types of places like a supermarket and a karaoke club that attracts people and makes them want to live there. That’s why the land and the housing that we will sell are called “Life•Town”.