From digital microscopes and endoscopes to OLED gadgets and OEM gear, 3R Solution blends high-precision imaging, smart design, and creative tech to magnify innovation and bring clarity to every corner.
To begin, could you please give us an overview of your company and the group as a whole?
Our corporate group traces its origins back to 2001, when we first established operations. Since then, the organization has expanded into multiple businesses, and today the group generates approximately 4 billion yen in total annual sales with around 120 to 130 employees across our various entities. In 2016, we formally spun off 3R Solution as an independent corporation, though the business itself has a history of about 20 years.
Within the group we currently operate between eight to ten distinct business divisions. 3R Solution represents roughly one-quarter of the overall group’s business activities. From the very beginning, our guiding philosophy has been to cultivate multiple business pillars. By doing so, even if one venture falters, the entire organization remains resilient. This approach is somewhat unusual in Japan, where companies often concentrate on a single line of business. In our early years, we focused on planning and selling PC peripherals, and as e-commerce expanded through platforms such as Rakuten and Yahoo! around 2008, we also moved into smartphone peripherals. By then, our online sales had grown strong enough that we ranked among the top sellers in Kyushu on Rakuten. Later, however, as competition intensified, we transitioned away from consumer retail and instead focused on developing higher-value products and shifting towards B2B solutions. That transition took place around 2010, and as I mentioned earlier, we incorporated 3R Solution as a separate company in 2016.
About a decade ago, during the boom in solar power following the government’s feed-in tariff scheme, we also entered the renewable energy sector, including solar construction and later battery storage solutions. Along the way, we acquired a software development company, which has been critical in strengthening our capabilities. What differentiates our group is that we are able to handle both hardware development and manufacturing as well as software development entirely in-house. To my knowledge, there are no other companies in Kyushu of our size—about 100 people—that can do both independently.
Why was it important for you to combine hardware and software development capabilities under one group?
Initially, we outsourced software development, but as our business expanded it became clear that outsourcing was neither efficient nor aligned with our philosophy. As I said earlier, our group strategy is not about concentrating everything into a single business. Rather, it is about continuously adding new ventures and strengthening our foundation through diversification. Acquiring a software company was a natural step in that direction.
You also mentioned earlier that your group exports traditional Japanese products overseas, such as bonsai tools, incense, matcha, and kitchen knives. Could you elaborate on this part of your business?
Parallel to our technology-driven businesses, we also see value in bringing traditional Japanese craftsmanship to international markets. We export items such as bonsai tools, incense, matcha, kitchen knives, and nail clippers—products that embody Japanese tradition and quality. What is particularly unique is that our overseas marketing and sales efforts are led by a diverse team of foreign nationals based in Fukuoka. We currently employ people from around 10 different countries, including France, the Netherlands, Spain, Germany, El Salvador, Indonesia, Hong Kong, and others. Having local perspectives within our team allows us to market products in a way that resonates authentically with each target country. For example, French staff market to French consumers, which is far more effective than having Japanese staff try to market abroad without that cultural insight.
Of course, all product procurement is managed by Japanese staff, and in China, where much of our production is based, negotiations are handled by Chinese staff. Structuring an organization like this is not easy, but it gives us the ability to run a global operation in a very grounded and locally sensitive way.
Japan faces a rapidly aging population, with projections showing that by 2035, about one-third of the population will be over 65 years old. How important is internationalization and the recruitment of foreign talent for your company and industry?
Internationalization is absolutely critical. For Japanese SMEs like ours, it is perhaps even more important than for large corporations. If you look at Japan’s leading listed manufacturers—companies such as Olympus, Keyence, Nidec, or Shimadzu—the ones with the highest profitability are those with a strong overseas sales ratio. They succeed not because they rely on domestic demand, but because they thrive in international markets.
The Japanese domestic market alone is no longer sufficient for sustained growth. Competing domestically means facing an environment where it is very easy to lose. By contrast, international markets, while competitive, offer greater opportunities. Our guiding belief is to adapt to change and seek out environments where we have the best chance of winning.
Your company has operations in Beijing, Dalian, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. What roles do these Chinese bases play within your business?
Each location has a distinct role, but broadly speaking, China serves as our production base. The majority of our products are manufactured in China. Shenzhen, in particular, is the global hub for electronics manufacturing. Companies such as Huawei and Apple have their products manufactured there, as do countless PC and electronic brands.
We operate as a “fabless” manufacturer, meaning we do not own our own production lines—similar to companies like Nike or Nintendo. Instead, we focus on product development, branding, and marketing, while leveraging China’s unmatched production ecosystem. From a marketing perspective, our international staff handle promotion in their respective markets. For example, earlier this year, our team successfully placed our products with Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. This kind of locally driven marketing is our strength: a French team member markets to French consumers, a German team member to German consumers, and so on.
Looking ahead, what overseas markets and strategies do you consider most promising for both 3R Solution products and your traditional Japanese product exports?
First, let me say this: in my 20 years of running businesses, no strategy has ever gone exactly according to plan. The reality is that adaptability is more important than strategy. That said, our current approach involves both retail and wholesale channels.
At present, we are active mainly in retail, but retail markets move extremely quickly and often favor companies with vast resources. Competing on price against giants like Alibaba is impossible for a company of our size. We once ranked among the top five online retailers in Kyushu, but over time margins shrank and it became unsustainable. Companies like Alibaba enter new markets by deliberately incurring massive losses in order to capture market share—for example, selling smartphone cases at prices below our production cost. That is not a battle we can win.
Therefore, we are shifting focus to high-value B2B products and niche Made-in-Japan goods, where quality and uniqueness matter more than price. These can be marketed worldwide, and not only as “Made in Japan.” For example, if we had the right team members, we could market “Made in France” products to Africa. The key is leveraging local people and perspectives, not enforcing a single global standard.
That ties into something you mentioned earlier—that you prefer to speak of “internationalization” rather than “globalization.” Could you explain that distinction?
Yes. When I speak to my staff, I always stress that 3R does not pursue “globalization” but rather “internationalization.” By globalization, I mean the creation of unified global standards. But setting global standards is something driven by American giants—the so-called GAFA companies—with influence as powerful as national governments. Competing on that front is impossible for SMEs.
Internationalization, on the other hand, embraces diversity. It means respecting differences and allowing each product, culture, and tradition to succeed in its own right. Japanese products should remain Japanese. Indonesian products should remain Indonesian. Spanish products should remain Spanish. If marketed properly, they can all find success abroad without needing to conform to a homogenized global standard. That is the philosophy we embrace.
You have identified “open innovation” as a group slogan for 2025. Could you elaborate on what this means in practice?
“Open innovation” may sound like a trendy buzzword, but in our group it has a very practical meaning: work with those beside you. Collaborate with colleagues, with neighboring companies, with partners in other prefectures, and with partners in other countries. I emphasize this strongly because, in an age where AI reduces human-to-human communication, I believe that analog, human-centered collaboration is more important than ever.
I even encourage activities that may seem old-fashioned in Japan today, such as business dinners and social gatherings. Consultants will tell you to just set KPIs and manage electronically. But if KPIs alone were enough, the world would already be a better place. In reality, human trust and informal relationships still matter enormously. So open innovation, for us, is about fostering real collaboration—both in product development and in market expansion.
What kind of synergies exist across the different companies within your group?
On a personal level, I currently oversee about 11 companies, large and small. That experience itself is a strength—I have seen manufacturing, software, retail, construction, entertainment, and international business firsthand. The most immediate synergy is that we can easily introduce customers to one another across businesses. If one company has a client who could benefit from another’s services, we can connect them right away.
At present, about 10% of the group’s total sales come from overseas. Our goal is to balance that to 50:50 in the near future. Achieving this requires more than just one business unit, which is why we rely heavily on our international team as the vanguard of our overseas expansion.
Are there new businesses you would like to add to the group in the future?
Many ideas are under consideration. One that excites me is creating a global marketplace for one-of-a-kind products—items such as traditional ceramics or handcrafted works that cannot be mass-produced. Today, selling such unique items online is difficult because building individual product pages is too costly. But with advances in AI, I believe it will soon be possible to generate product listings automatically simply by uploading a set of photos. Within the next two to three years, I want to make this vision a reality: a global auction-style platform for unique works from around the world
Finally, if we were to interview you again in five years, what would you hope to have achieved by then?
Concretely, I want group revenues to reach between 10 and 15 billion yen. I also want to have cultivated around five highly capable presidents within the group—leaders who can run their businesses independently and with confidence. Equally important, I want people to say, even more than they do now, that 3R Group employees are fun and inspiring to work with. Creating a positive culture is as critical as financial results.
On a broader level, I often say that we aim to revive the spirit of the Hakata merchants. Historically, before the Tokugawa shogunate, Hakata merchants controlled trade across the East China Sea. They were immensely prosperous and influential, investing their wealth in cultural activities, traditional performing arts, and festivals. That legacy was eventually suppressed, but I believe the time has come to revive it.
My ambition is for 3R Group to become a company that represents Kyushu in the same way those great merchants once did—earning wealth not just for its own sake, but to reinvest in cultural, artistic, and traditional industries that might otherwise disappear. Throughout history, great patrons—from Italy’s Medici family to powerful figures in ancient China—have preserved culture by using their economic strength. I want us to play a similar role for Kyushu and for Japan. Whether we can achieve it or not remains to be seen, but that is the aspiration that drives me.
For more information, visit their website at: https://3rrr.co.jp/
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