Cross Talk

I lived in New York for six years after graduating university. After that, I went to Germany and went from one rural town to another. During that time, I felt such kind hospitality from my host families that I became interested in the accommodation industry. I had no experience as a full-time employee after I got back to Japan, so I joined MIMARU as a part-timer initially.

I was born in Germany and got a part-time job at a hotel after graduating from university. My love for video games and interest in languages made me want to study Japanese towards the end of high school. When I finally came to Japan, I had a bunch of interviews for various hotels, but they all gave off such a stiff aura. CHM on the other hand, looked so colorful and fun, so I decided to join the company.

I was born in China and came to Japan in pursuit of love when I was still in university. After visiting a Japanese language school for two years, I enrolled at Kanagawa University. Student life was amazing, and I joined the Japanese workforce soon after. I was employed by a famous company in the food and beverage industry and was mainly in charge of store halls. Around that time, I happened to meet someone from CHM and got scouted. When I asked a colleague about CHM, he looked into the company and was impressed. He suggested I give it a shot.

Asami, you are basically always at the hotel, but do you feel a difference between the front desk and the head office?

The back office is staffed by professionals in their respective fields who make decisions that are difficult for the hotels to make and help everyone's dreams about MIMARU take shape. On the other hand, hotel staff, such as hotel managers, need to have a wide range of knowledge related to hotels, from building-related information to even human resources, instead of concentrating on a specialized area.

I'm at the head office now, but originally I worked at the front desk. As I gained experience, I came to think that I wanted to work on making communication between the hotels and the head office smoother.
Also, during my time as hotel staff, I felt like I wasn't able to make full use of my skills and realize the projects I actually wanted to work on, so I consulted with my boss and took on a new challenge in the form of a transfer to the head office.
Now I am more satisfied with what my work entails, and I think I am able to make the most of my strengths.
There are issues with new projects, for example, that I can only see clearly because I have front desk experience, and I would like to support everyone at our hotels so that they can spend as much time as possible on customer service instead of other hotel operations.

As an area manager, I am very fortunate to be able to influence the growth of our hotel staff.
CHM has a high percentage of foreign staff, and there are lots of new staff that struggle when they join the company, as they are not used to speaking with Japanese honorifics or do not yet know much about Japan's company culture, for example. When I see these staff members working hard, growing step by step, and even becoming hotel managers, it almost feels like watching my children grow up.
What do you find most rewarding about your job, Mao?

We have so many staff members from various countries, and each country's culture, values, and things they cherish are different. There were times when I couldn't get used to a Japanese management style, so I created rules and opportunities to foster mutual understanding.
When I first joined CHM, most of the employees at the head office had only worked for Japanese companies, and it was difficult to strike a global balance. By creating a dialogue between everyone, I feel like things are getting better little by little.

MIMARU is growing significantly as a brand.
While working with people related to media, foreign influencers, creators, and artists, I was able to expand my world view. I would like to tackle even more challenges and use these experiences for brand management in the future.

I would like to learn more about management at a global company so that the number of foreign managers and area managers increases further. Some foreigners find it difficult to work at a Japanese company, so I would like to support them going forward.

I am on the same page. As a global company, I would like to expand MIMARU around the world. For that to happen, we need to nurture a more tight-knit relationship between the hotels and the head office. I would like to build a MIMARU hotel overseas someday.