"Fostering a sense of unity": Kirin Beer's new factory manager's struggle

[mostakimvip04]

Taking a break from picking up beer cans scattered outside, a veteran female employee passes around a paper bag containing boiled eggs that she had made for everyone before coming to work.

"Thank you very much. I'll eat it." Noriya Yokota of the Kirin Beer Sendai Factory still feels a bit unfamiliar with being called the "factory manager," but he takes one out of the bag.

It was 10:30 a.m. under a cloudy sky. We all sat in remove background image a circle on the grass and started peeling the shells. Salt was passed around, and then came the pickled cabbage. Another female employee had also made this at home.

"It's delicious," "Really? That's good," "It's not long until lunch, so let's eat some eggs and do our best." Working all day, covered in mud and crouching, is hard on the legs and back. Even though it is hard work, smiles spill out from the circle.

The sunlight is getting stronger, and a month has passed since "that time." A little distance away, a similar circle has formed, and everyone is also eating something together.

Although they had not predicted the earthquake, Yokota's first time as factory manager was at a crucial moment. President Matsuzawa Koichi, who had experience as a factory manager, told Yokota, who was to be posted to Sendai, which had been hit by the disaster,

"There is no one behind the factory manager." Everyone involved in the factory was watching the factory manager's every move. Especially right after an unprecedented disaster. Even though he was a new employee, Yokota had to be conscious of the fact that he was the factory manager.