Can you walk us through your journey at the company?
I joined in 2013 as an operations staff member, working directly with guests and getting hands-on experience running our accommodations. In 2017 I took on the management of one of our boutique machiya hotels, and at the same time moved into a manager role in the Reservations department, taking on responsibility for everything from booking management to general operations.
From 2020 I moved into a dedicated role in Reservations, and now oversee bookings across more than 70 machiya properties. Today I am part of the Machiya Operations headquarters, working across both the field and the central organization to support the company as a whole, which has given me a much broader perspective on how everything fits together.
What has kept you motivated to stay for so long?
From the very beginning, being in an environment that connects closely with my own desire to share the best of Japan with the world has been a constant source of motivation.
There has always been space here to draw on my overseas experience, and from early on I was encouraged to take on new challenges and try things before overthinking them. Being part of the company’s growth over the years, and having the opportunity to step into new areas as that growth happened, has kept me engaged and moving forward.
What has stayed the same about the company, and what has changed?
What has stayed the same is the culture of welcoming new ideas and challenges. Regardless of seniority or role, there has always been an openness to fresh proposals, and I think that spirit has been central to how the company has developed.
What has changed is the strength of the organizational foundation. In the early days, a small group of people was holding everything together. Now the Reservations department, Operations department, and other functions are clearly defined, and the organization has matured into something more professional and more consistent. That evolution has been noticeable and meaningful.
What do you find most appealing about working here?
The willingness to move quickly on new ideas is something that sets this company apart. The distance between a proposal and putting it into action is short, and you can see fairly directly how your efforts translate into results. That feedback loop makes it easier to stay motivated and builds a natural momentum toward the next challenge.
Being able to see real improvement through the work you do also makes it easier to think long-term. That sense of progress is one of the things that keeps me here.
What gives you the most satisfaction in your work?
The day-to-day work is built on careful, consistent attention to each interaction. Within that, seeing individual team members grow in confidence in how they handle guests is one of the most rewarding things I experience.
Receiving a message of appreciation from a guest, or seeing the team naturally share information and support one another without being asked, reminds me of the value of the role I play. It is those moments when the growth of the team as a whole becomes visible that truly drive me.
What are you hoping to achieve, both personally and as a team?
Going forward, I want to deepen my ability to keep both the company and the team moving in the same direction. Reservations is not just about responding to inquiries. It plays a direct role in driving revenue, and I want to be the kind of person who can make strategic decisions and choose the right course of action in any given situation.
As a team, I want to maintain a consistently high standard of service while building operations that are reliable and repeatable, so that we can keep delivering strong results over the long term.