To all the cyclists and fun-seekers around the world, thank you as always for your continued support. I’m Tanaka, the representative of Circles.
It feels like it was only two or three months ago that I was thanking you all for our 16th year, and the fact that I’m already being asked to write a 17th-anniversary greeting makes me feel like this year has passed with particular speed. With this being the year that the pandemic truly eased, many events resumed across the country. We also successfully achieved one of our long-held goals: exhibiting at MADE, the handmade bicycle show in America. Between reuniting with friends we hadn’t been able to see for such a long time and staying busy, I truly feel that this has been a very fulfilling year.
Now that we have returned to normal life, I am strongly reminded that Circles, which was born in Nagoya 17 years ago, has been loved and supported by so many bicycle enthusiasts and our community. Circles began in a very small barn in the Fukiage district of Nagoya. Of course, I was determined to make it work, so from the very beginning, I struggled and did everything I could to make the shop a success. As a result, gratefully, many bicycle lovers and curious people began to visit us almost daily. I remember watching as conversations would start between customers without any input from me, and seeing a community spontaneously form; as a fellow cyclist, I found the "self-propelling power" (Jitenryoku) they possessed to be deeply inspiring.
For me and the rest of the Circles staff, the bicycle is life itself, so there are many times when, much like trying to describe oneself to another, we struggle to find the right or best way to express it. However, we rack our brains and pour our individual passion into conveying and spreading the charm and potential of the bicycle—a tool we love deeply—as well as the importance of the self-propelling power that one can surely gain by continuing to pedal. This has been our mission since the very beginning.
First and foremost, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all the cyclists around the world who have resonated with these thoughts and ideas, and who have walked alongside us as supporters of Circles and as fellow playmates. We have reached our 17th year, and for that, I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. Thank you so much, as always.
I felt it was important to share that the growth and evolution of Circles up to this point have included several different business developments, so I would like to introduce them here.
The most representative business under the Circles umbrella is SimWorks, a bicycle parts manufacturer established in 2009. We have also developed a diverse range of businesses: the D.I.Y. bike shop Culture Club, which has a slightly different character than Circles; C.W.D / Circles World Distribution, which handles wholesale and trading functions; and in the food and beverage industry, the American breakfast restaurant EarlyBirds Breakfast, the sandwich bakery Pine Fields Market, and the casual Italian restaurant CERCHI, which opened at the beginning of this year. We gave each department a slightly different personality and mission, and I believe this expansion and development has brought our staff and the Circles community new possibilities and much joy regarding our evolution.
SimWorks, established in 2009, represents the manufacturing industry that Japan has proudly nurtured for many years. We are a manufacturing division that develops products by carefully distilling our designs with a constant awareness of local sensibilities and the speed of shared language. We do this because we want to prevent the total loss of the bicycle industry we love—an industry facing a dilemma born from an era that over-prioritized efficiency and productivity, leading to an excessive reliance on other nations. Perhaps thanks to that effort, enthusiasts in the United States—a superpower that had already lost most of its manufacturing sites long before Japan—took an interest in SimWorks products, and today we have accounts with over 300 bike shops. We have always believed that we should handle our own distribution, and we cannot forget the existence of SimWorks U.S.A., which was born from that process.
One courageous young woman studied day and night to achieve her dream of living in America, and by utilizing her exceptional communication skills, she dove headlong into the American cycling community. After exhibiting at NAHBS twice in the past, being able to participate this year in MADE, the handmade bicycle show held in Portland, Oregon—the holy land for American cyclists and the home of SimWorks U.S.A.—was deeply significant for us. Experiencing firsthand the immense gratitude, new ideas, and feedback from bicycle lovers all over the world, and feeling the strong trust and expectations placed in our products, I truly felt we had climbed to a new level. It also allowed me to envision a greater mission given to us for our future growth.
Culture Club, our D.I.Y. bike shop, serves as a place for bicycle enthusiasts to assemble their own bikes, perform maintenance, and supplement their lack of knowledge and skills with the help of fellow cyclists. Based on the self-propelling power I have been repeating, I started this shop seven years ago in Matsubara, Naka Ward, believing that the spirit of D.I.Y. is an issue that will be especially necessary for Japan’s future growth and cultural formation. Depending on how you look at it, much of our work resembles that of a non-profit organization, so if you ask me if the path has been easy, I’d have to say it never has been—every day is a high-wire act. However, to continue operating for the sake of the development and enrichment of future bicycle culture, the support of cyclists like you is absolutely essential. I hope you will come visit us and discover the "joy" of fixing your own bike. We will continue to strive to be a community space that can properly instill in both cyclists and the general public the most important awareness for self-propelling power: "the ability to finish what you start with your own strength." Thank you for your continued support.
Our food and beverage division—EarlyBirds Breakfast, Pine Fields Market, and CERCHI—constantly contributes to the development of our community as a place where the cultures and sensibilities of food and cycling intersect. Since bicycles are fundamentally human-powered, I felt that food was deeply connected to the experience, which is why I built a wall on the Circles property ten years ago to start EarlyBirds Breakfast. Now, including CERCHI, which launched this year, all three shops have begun to cultivate their own self-propelling power. They are visited by many customers—not just cyclists—who feel the unique character and charm each shop offers. We will continue to cherish every meal as we express the importance of food and communication, serving as a place to spend enjoyable moments with friends and family. Next year, we plan to actively host more events that delightfully intertwine food, bicycles, and other cultural spheres, so I would be happy if many of you could join us and feel the crossover of our cultures.
Hearing this, it might sound like everything has been smooth sailing, but over our 17-year history, we have taken on many challenges and experienced various successes and failures, both big and small.
Beyond just expanding the potential of the bicycle as a vehicle, we have worked and challenged ourselves to constantly break fixed concepts and carve out new off-road paths, including developing our culture, improving individual skills and knowledge, and considering the social environment. Much of this has been trial and error. I still live keenly aware of my own immaturity, but I also have the desire to make things better next time. I feel that these many challenges have undoubtedly become the driving force for the growth and evolution of our staff, including myself, and I also believe that they should be passed on to the future as the philosophy of Circles.
As an organization, another major issue we think about is how to successfully weave together the awareness that the bicycle is a pure "fun tool" for activities, and that it is an important "infrastructure tool" for human life. This is easier said than done, and we have reached the conclusion that it is impossible to figure out how to balance and layer these two elements through our strength alone. Our staff never forgets that the trajectory of our balancing act to date has been supported entirely by your cooperation, support, trust, and shared awareness, and we wish to move forward into a new future axis together with you.
On a different note, I have some exciting news. Next February, Circles will take on a major new adventure. We will be opening a new shop, Circles Tokyo, in the Toranomon Hills complex in Tokyo.
While we have tried to express our thoughts and ideas as carefully as possible from our base in the regional city of Nagoya, I am looking forward to connecting this opportunity to our next phase of growth. By disseminating the bicycle philosophy we believe in from Tokyo—Japan’s undeniable central city and a major hub for information—we hope to allow even more people to experience the charm of cycling and our community.
We will provide more details at a later date, so please look forward to it.
Moving toward the future, we, the Circles crew, sincerely wish to break through established concepts, aim for innovation based on growth, continue to create new projects and ideas as part of that process, and walk and grow alongside as many of you as possible. I believe the potential of the bicycle is infinite. If we can carefully incorporate technological progress and cultural development into that potential, share and consider our vision with more people, and use our "self-propelling power" to generate the momentum needed for a sustainable, healthy society to mature, then I believe the coming era will be even better.
Finally, as we reach our 17th anniversary, I would like to express my deep gratitude to everyone I have met along the way. I promise to continue working for the sake of our comrades and friends who believe that play is essential to life, and to make the Circles company an even more attractive community. Above all, I want to express my heartfelt thanks to all the staff who work hard every day to get closer to our ideals, and to all the families who support them.
Let’s continue this wonderful journey together.
Thank you for reading this long message to the end.
Shinya Tanaka, Representative Director, Circles Inc.