＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:https://skawa68.com/
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
Nowadays, age doesn’t matter at all in the world of internet business. In an age where a 7-year-old genius “child YouTuber” can earn 2.5 billion yen a year, it’s safe to say that the world of internet business is dominated by the younger generation.
<Some child YouTubers have earned more than $100 million!>
In the case of “child YouTubers,” children simply remove the wrapping paper from their favorite toys and have fun playing with them while explaining how to play with them, and then with the help of their parents, a professional cameraman, and a staff member specializing in editing the videos, they post them on YouTube.
However, the 17-year-old high school student entrepreneur we are introducing this time has started up an “electronic payment business” on his own, so it’s only natural that attention is being drawn to his business skills.
１．the Masayoshi Son Educational Foundation
The foundation was established in December 2016 by Masayoshi Son, founder of the SoftBank Group, with the aim of “discovering and supporting exceptional talent” under the age of 25, and is funded with Son’s own funds.
The foundation’s website states, “We support the people who will create the future. We provide an environment where young people with high aspirations and unique abilities can develop their talents, thereby contributing to the future of humanity.”
２．Mr. Soto Yamauchi
Soto Yamauchi is a high school student entrepreneur who set up an office in Roppongi, Tokyo’s downtown area, at the age of 16 in the fall of 2017. He is one of the 96 people who were selected for support by the Masayoshi Son Educational Foundation in July 2017.
At the end of September 2017, we raised 100 million yen in funding and started an electronic payment service company called “ONE FINANCIAL.”
３．Details of “Electronic payment service industry”
The “electronic payment-related business” that Yamauchi is involved in is an app called “ONE PAY” that allows you to easily make card payments with a smartphone.
Yamauchi says, “Recently, person-to-person buying and selling transactions on sites like Mercari have become more common. For each party to process payments for buying and selling transactions independently, they would need a dedicated terminal that could cost tens of thousands of yen each. However, with ONE PAY, you can easily make card payments on your smartphone even for person-to-person transactions or transactions with small stores, and the commission is only 5%.”
Sellers simply download the app, register, enter the payment amount, and then scan the buyer’s credit card to complete the payment. It seems that major credit cards such as VISA, American Express, and MasterCard are already accepted.
４．Countermeasures against fraudulent transactions such as counterfeit cards
The system has a monitoring system that makes use of complex algorithms, and payment transaction data is shared with card companies to ensure constant monitoring.
５．His business prospects for the future
He said that his goal is to achieve a total circulation of 1 trillion yen, but that he will continue to make steady progress in his business. He also said that he is involved in the Bitcoin business.
However, there are many cases of rapidly growing companies started by young founders failing because they spread themselves too thin, so I hope that Mr. Yamauchi will keep his feet on the ground and steadily expand his business.
A recent example is Rizap, which rapidly spread its “one-on-one training (personal gym)” service using the catchphrase “Committed to results” (trainers are committed to helping you achieve the body you want) and commercials featuring celebrities, and achieved great success with its core “fitness club” business.
However, in the past four years, they have acquired a massive 75 companies through M&A, becoming a “huge group.” These acquisitions were across all industries, including clothing retailer “Jeansmate,” women’s underwear maker “Marco,” and the famous publisher of “Manga Goraku,” “Nihon Bungeisha.”
Encouraged by the great success of its fitness clubs, the company may have been aiming to diversify its operations and realize economies of scale, but it seems to me that it has fallen into the trap of aimless “buying companies without thinking management” (a very dangerous type of disorderly diversification).
He should learn from the mistakes of others.