Time flies, and there are less than 40 days left in the year. Cyclocross—a true winter seasonal tradition—has begun, and in the mountain villages, the insects have become scarce, making forest rides more pleasant. We pass many cyclists on mountain passes before the roads freeze over. Perhaps due to the influence of the El Niño phenomenon, it has been a mild winter so far, and I think this is a fantastic season for cyclists.
Thanks to all of you, Circles will be celebrating its 12th birthday on December 1st of this year. We owe this entirely to the many customers, staff members, partner factories, and manufacturers who have supported the Circles community.
We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude.
This year has been marked by many significant starting points and turning points, and I would like to take this opportunity to introduce a few of them here.
The biggest development of all was establishing another base overseas. Putting it into words now, it feels like a rather grand (or reckless?) vision, but we managed to make it a reality and get it up and running. In response to the growing voices from overseas seeking SimWorks products—which are born from combining the technology and traditions cultivated by our predecessors with our own experiences in bicycle parts and related goods—we had few options when considering how to correctly convey our essence and provide the best and most reasonable (REASONABLE / which literally does not mean cheap) products to our customers. It also doesn't feel like a mere coincidence that the strong desire of a female employee to work abroad resonated perfectly with our team's conviction that "nothing is impossible." I honestly felt that I was lucky to be working with colleagues I met precisely because I ride a bicycle.
It is essential that the SimWorks and RAL products we create are made in factories here in Japan. The greatest advantage of this is, much like the foundation of human evolution, communication. Even between Japanese people, I believe the key is how many common languages we can share with one another, and the fact that we are all people who have made our passion our profession can serve as one important common language. It is precisely by stacking up communication among those who share so much in common that we can make decisions and take action quickly, generate an intuitive "in-sync" feeling, and minimize misunderstandings.
To further solidify this, we sent several staff members to Shin Hattori Works, located in the same prefecture, where SimWorks commissions its original frames. This has led to an even tighter connection with the manufacturing site. The passion Mr. Hattori, the representative, has for bicycles and the story of how he set up his own business as a frame builder are truly admirable (ask the chatty man himself for his philosophy). We share many common points in how we view and think about things, and the advantage of being in the same prefecture brings us many benefits.
To digress a little, I believe Aichi Prefecture is one of the premier playfields in Japan, surrounded by many mountains and facing the sea. As bicycles are beginning to be seen as purely fun activities as well as being healthy, the residents of depopulated areas—which many local governments have started to consider very effective for regional revitalization—are accelerating their level of cooperation. In fact, in the Inabu district of Toyota City, where we are focusing our efforts, we are collaborating to secure human resources for local businesses, and we are also sending our own manpower to carve out a playground (bike trail) as we speak. The fundamental idea was: how can we get promising young people to decide to relocate to mountain areas, where they can make a stable living while balancing work and hobbies?
The situation was such that everyone had half-given up on the "dying mountains," but the answer we arrived at—after thinking deeply about how people who love bicycles could live freely in this land—is the INABU BASE PROJECT, and we have loudly advocated for the unification of play and life. It felt just like the powerful surfers who are always chasing the best waves, or the snowboarders who move to snowy mountains to create new communities. And seeing that many young talents have already decided to move to the Inabu district, and that it will be practically operational from next fiscal year, I am deeply moved, feeling that a new era is truly beginning.
Our manufacturing activities with Hattori-kun, who also lives in this region, are becoming a truly precious treasure that we could never have known through just the sales and design work we primarily focused on. If all of our staff, including myself, correctly understand the experiences gained here and start communicating more closely, I think more people will become interested in who, why, how, and where things are made, beyond just the price tag.
Furthermore, RIDEALIVE finally crossed the sea this year, and we were able to hold the first-ever Girls RideAlive, a women-only event in Bend, Oregon, USA, and Niseko, Hokkaido. Setting aside the fun-loving Americans, the fact that the RideAlive held in Hokkaido was planned and executed entirely by women, and that so many female cyclists gathered from all over the country, was a testament to the direction not just Japan, but the world should be heading—it was the sprouting of true hope.
I often think about something. I believe it was true in the past and will remain true in the future: Japan is a bicycle kingdom that the world can be proud of. The point I can be most confident in is not the use of bicycles as an activity or our world-renowned manufacturing prowess, but rather the fact of just how many Japanese people use bicycles in their daily lives. The majority of those users are women; there is no denying that so many people use bicycles for everything from daily shopping to dropping off and picking up children, and from commuting to school and work. Just imagining what would happen if those women—who know the convenience of bicycles in their bones and make full use of them—started using and enjoying them outside of their daily routines makes my heart race.
We are asked to repair "mamachari" (city bikes) every day, and when joining Circles, training begins in our mamachari pit. This is because we want staff to learn our philosophy, thoughts, and the ideals we strive for at that very site. The most important thing among them is to clearly distinguish between what must be done and what one wants to do, and how to achieve those goals through one's own power. In Japanese society, I want new staff to feel and think about the main ways that the tool called a bicycle is used, and to cultivate the realization of their dreams beyond that with their own strength. We call the power of continuing to learn, continuing to move one's hands and feet, and never stopping—all from the repetition of these daily actions—"Jiten-ryoku" (Cycling Power/Self-Rotation Power).
I am deeply moved to think that this year, by having everyone on the Circles team utilize the "Jiten-ryoku" they each possess, we were led to the results mentioned earlier. However, the dreams for Circles are still big, the road ahead is long, and in order to continue creating the world's greatest cycling nation, I ask for the continued cooperation of everyone across Japan.
Thank you for reading this long message to the end.
And Circles believes in bicycles.
Circles Inc.
Representative: Shinya Tanaka