New Year Greetings

I would like to take this opportunity to extend my best wishes to all this New Year.

Furthermore, as the business year resumes, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to all who have continued to patronize Mitsue-Links. Thanks to your support, this year will mark our 35th year in business. Amidst constantly changing economic and social conditions, I would like to reiterate that we feel very fortunate to continue progressing and developing our corporate activities.

Toward end of last year, I had the opportunity to chat with one of my executives over oden -a type of Japanese hotpot. During our casual conversation, I once again reflected on the growth of Mitsue-Links.

The executive has, for many years, had a strong willingness to contribute to society. This has seen him constantly researching new technologies and then, through our organization, extending those technologies to society. On the other hand, he has studied multiple process management methods and has worked to create an internal organizational culture based-on continuous quality improvement. This leader, with his differing orientations, sometimes initiated disagreements, but persevered to achieve internal dissemination of his policies.

Perhaps the reason that our organization is said to be relatively flexible with a solid management base is because we have succeeded in organically integrating these two aspects.

Currently, we have a well-nurtured, young workforce, and are making strides toward the next era. So, please look forward to even more fascinating Mitsue-Links developments in the future.

We look forward to your continued support in the coming year and wish you prosperity and good health.

As a final note, on New Year's Day, an earthquake of magnitude 7.6 occurred with an epicenter located on the Noto Peninsula, Ishikawa Prefecture. We pray for the souls of those who lost their lives and express our deepest sympathy to all those affected by the earthquake.

Firstly, I would like to express our deepest sympathies for all those impacted by the Noto Peninsula earthquake disaster. Secondly, going forward, we wish a Happy New Year to all.

Mitsue-Links will begin its 35th year of business this coming spring. Our company, when founded, had the name “Mitsuei Links”, this meant the “flourishing of three things” - those three things were "people, products, and information”. I once enquired to our founder Masashi Takahashi, “Usually people refer to ‘people, products and money’, why information?” to which he replied, "because we didn't have any money”. We started from zero, and through being involved in the voice, fax, and the web information industries, we are now looking forward to celebrating our 35th anniversary - I can only express my gratitude to all those who have been involved in the process.

Regarding the word “information” in the aforementioned paragraph, when read in Japanese, the characters for the word, “情報”, can also be read as "rewarding mercy." This made me wonder, at the end of last year, why the character for "mercy" is used to represent "information”. Well, in Japan, the word “情報 (information)" was coined by Ogai Mori when translating Prussian General Carl von Clausewitz's theories in “On War”. The translation is of the word “Nachricht”.

In subsequent research, I found that the sentiment of the kanji "情" used in “information” is not "mercy" but rather closer to the meaning of the character “状” in the word "状況”（situation）- which signifies "facts".

Furthermore, the meaning of the kanji character "報" is not "to reward," but "to inform," as in a commentary or a daily report. So, the meaning of the Japanese characters used for "情報 (information)" has the nuance "to inform of facts".

Presently, with the growth of the web, people are now able to access a wide variety of information and data. Utilizing such content, we are now able to quickly grasp tangible situations. Book One, Chapter One (paragraph 6) "What is War?" of Clausewitz’s “On War”, mentioned above, contains the following statement:

However, if you read further, you will find the following statement in Book 1, Chapter Six, "Information in War" (in German Nachrichten im Krieg).

The above article validates the notion that while information usefulness is a basic premise, it’s important not to be swayed by such information, but, in light of reality, to make judgments based on knowledge of people and things. While the vast amount of information on both the web as well as that generated from evolved generative AI output is far more reliable than wartime information, it would be meaningless to utilize information that is not connected to real people and products.

As for me, in accordance with the origin of the name of Mitsuei Links, I would like to further promote activities that support the sharing of correct information for the prosperity of people and enhancement of products.

We look forward to your continued guidance and support in the year ahead.