Naoki Yoshida Top Message
(July 2020)

I humbly offer our continued appreciations for your support of the PPIH Group's business. Thanks to all of you, we have been able to begin our 41st fiscal year in operation as a company as of July 1st, 2020. As you are no doubt aware, the previous fiscal year presented a very difficult journey for us, with the consumption tax increase and the worldwide spread of a new virus (COVID-19), each impacting our business. It is because of your support and understanding that we were able to safely weather this storm. For this, I would like to express my profound gratitude to you all.
This is also the 40th anniversary of our company's founding. Not only that, but it is 31 years since the opening of our first Don Quijote store, and the 50th anniversary for UNY, which has joined our Group as of last year. These winding journeys have been the product of the long years of warm support from all of our customers as they patronized our businesses. Under our principle that The Customer Matters Most, we, the PPIH Group, pledge to unwaveringly devote ourselves once again in this 41st year of our operation. I ask for your renewed support as we step fearlessly into a new year.

On to matters of administrative importance, the Company has renewed its website. This new website serves as a powerful message from the PPIH Group, reflective of a company that stands for The Customer Mattering Most, the traits of a true CEO as outlined in "The Source" ("Genryu"), our Group's collection of management philosophies. These ideas appeared in the first edition of The Source on its publishing in 2011, penned by Takao Yasuda, our founder and now Founding Chairman and Supreme Advisor（"The Source" About [Philosophy of PPIH group]）. Further, in The Nine Rules of Management, added to The Source in the second edition released in 2013, it is clearly stated that "Mate employees are the PPIH group's greatest treasure". A "mate" refers to any employee who is not a full-time employee. Mates make up an overwhelming majority of our PPIH family. In the interest of having our own thoughts reflected on this website, we have enlisted the aid of POP writers, many of whom are mates, to create what is called the POP Edition in addition to Japanese and English editions. Here, we use our POP lettering and style, familiar from our Don Quijote storefronts. I hope you will take a look at your convenience（POP Text version page）.

Today, though it may seem counterintuitive with the industry's hardship and struggles, the PPIH Group is experiencing an internal boom, with all of us working together in furious passion and pace. Even as a major retailer, we shall not forget our humility; we seek to follow the teachings in The Source that tell us to boldly granting authority to those at the center of things, all the while seeking to realize a strong governance. To that end, we have implemented a system of individual companies as of July 1st. Company Presidents and CMOs (Chief Merchandising Officers) are delegated broad authority. On the topic of overseas businesses, we will establish an Asia company and a North America company, continuing to boldly pursue growth and expansion. Further, we are establishing a brand-new position of CSO (Chief Strategy Officer) so that we, the holding company, may continue to provide strong support for business expansion. Two other new positions include the CMIO (Chief Marketing & Integration Officer) and the CDO (Chief Digital Officer), key figures for breaking into new fields in our quest to take on new, bold challenges. This new organizational structure will be implemented in the first half of this fiscal year, and will boldly delegate authority not only to members of management but also to the front lines. In this new organization, we will have a clearer picture of strengths and weaknesses in the company, exercise competitive principles, and handpick capable, exceptional hands-on leaders regardless of age or experience. We will also be giving our teamwork a boost in order to take advantage of economies of scale.

As an aside, we are aware of the Black Lives Matter movement, which originated in the United States (where we also do business) and has become a major social movement around the world. It is worth noting that, in The Source, it clearly calls on superiors to Accept the diversity of their subordinates. It also stipulates that "the anticipation and excitement" of our shop floor should offere customers with diverse values a shop floor that almost crackles with the possibility that at any moment they might make some wonderful discovery.

As the saying goes, "start small." When it comes to our SDGs, we are taking our first steps within the Group. In order to ensure that the reorganization mentioned above is not some pie-in-the-sky dream, our Corporate Philosophy Promotion Headquarters will be defined as an independent organization, a pillar of the PPIH Group's behavioral guidelines. It will be run by eight executive officers（Organization chart as of 07/01/2020）. In 2016, we launched a full-scale initiative for Group diversity devised by the Founding Chairman. This initiative set out to revise company work rules and other areas related to LGBTQ issues, as well as to support social movements. We aim to be a company in which all of our employees can enjoy a level playing field, engaging in friendly competition without discrimination based on gender, age, nationality, job, beliefs, opinions, hobbies, or preferences, each of which are to be properly recognized. We believe that the inclusion of diversity within our company is directly connected to The Customer Mattering Most, as we work in harmony with society's diversity.

In these times of great uncertainty about the future, PPIH will continue to blaze a trail in creating shop floors alive with the anticipation and excitement called up by astonishingly cheap goods now and forever, as provided for in Article 2 of our management philosophy. In seeking to provide our customers with what we call "EDET" (Everyday Entertainment), all of us will once again redouble our learnings and efforts this year as a unified Group. As we embark on this new journey, I once again ask for your continued support and guidance.

July 2020
Naoki Yoshida, President and CEO, Representative Director