Review of the year

Hello!

This is a HushTug Hariuner.

There are only a few more days until 2019!
So many things happened this year that it just flew by. It was such a fulfilling year.

What kind of year was this for you?
We experienced a lot of successes and failures, and in some ways I think it was a good year.

Today is the last working day of the year for the Mongolian side of HushTug.
Now that production has finally settled down and we have a moment to catch our breath, we'd like to take this opportunity to look back over the past year.

Looking back at myself at the beginning of this year (around January 2019), I was a new employee at HushTug who had only been employed there for three months. I had no experience and my Japanese level only covered everyday conversation. In one word, I was still a "kid."

I have grown a lot through my work at HushTug.
I would like to introduce some of them.

Interpretation in the workshop

I love speaking Japanese so I chose to work as an interpreter.
When I first joined HushTug, I had only just returned to Japan and had no experience as an interpreter. My Japanese was only conversational, so it was extremely difficult to do interpreting as a job!

Before I started working, I thought that interpreting meant simply translating what was said exactly as it was.
However, in reality, the most difficult part was picking up on the subtle nuances so that the Mongolian craftsmen and Mr. Kawada, the Japanese team, could communicate without any problems.

I felt it was a very responsible job because the speed at which the work progressed depended on how I communicated.

I had to take into consideration many things while interpreting, such as different cultures, differences in ways of thinking, and different people's attitudes towards work, and I made a lot of mistakes over the past year, but it was a good experience.

Now, in addition to working at the Mongolian workshop, I am also able to interpret when purchasing leather, so I feel like I have finally reached the starting line as an interpreter.

Export business to Japan

Even though it is called export business, the work does not just involve sending products to Japan.
Of course, we started from scratch, so we began by preparing the items needed for delivery, such as researching delivery companies and looking for cardboard boxes to use for delivery.

We are able to deliver to Japan thanks to the help of everyone around us.

(DHL delivery)
I hope we have even more cardboard boxes next year!

A year ago, we were only able to export around 40 bags per month, but now we are able to successfully export around 600 bags per month.

We will do our best to export more next year!

Mongolian Company Manager

Starting this year, in addition to my work as an interpreter, I am also working as a manager.
Of course, I have no knowledge or experience of being a manager.

I was involved in a variety of tasks, from checking Kawada's visa, checking company documents and contracts, interpreting for lawyers and accountants, to interviewing new employees.

He's doing things that I don't think even Japanese managers go to this extent.

Thanks to that, I was able to gain knowledge about various things, such as the necessary information to set up a company in Mongolia and how to obtain a visa for Japanese people.

I believe this will be useful for other Japanese people doing business in Mongolia in the future.

I've recently started writing a blog!

At first, I only acted as an interpreter, but as time went on, I found myself using Japanese in more and more situations.

I translate the "Letters from the Craftsman" that are included with the products, translate pages, and translate the HushTugPV, and recently I've been writing the blog that many of you are reading.

Before I started writing, I was worried whether I would be able to do it, but after writing it I thought "Ah, I think I can do it", "It's fun to write", and "I think my Japanese is gradually improving", and I've only been thinking positive things.

I wanted to tell everyone about the many good things that have happened since I became an employee at HushTug. I hope I was able to get that across.

This is my personal reflection, but I would also like to briefly look back on my experiences at the Mongolian workshop.

My thoughts on the workshop

This is what we talked about at the MTG in the beginning of 2019.

"By the end of this year, the workshop will be able to make around 500 bags a month."

I believe at that time we had four craftsmen and were producing an average of 80 pieces per month, and I was the only employee at the Mongolian company.

Currently, there are 23 craftsmen making HushTug products, and the Mongolian team as a whole has about 30 people.

That number is six times higher than a year ago!
I'm very happy to have more friends working with me.


※There are about 10 people missing from this photo. Lol

With this number of people, we can produce about 600 pieces per month.
You might think that it takes a lot of craftsmen to make bags, but most of the new members are inexperienced, so those who already have experience are working hard to make up for the lost time.
I think that next year, once our current inexperienced workers have grown, we will be able to increase production even more.

We are currently receiving some delivery time from our customers in Japan as they have placed pre-orders, but we hope to have a good stock of inventory next year so that we can produce even higher quality products than we do now.

summary

Many people were involved in making HushTug known to as many people as possible.
As the company grew, more problems arose and it was a difficult year.
Everyone at the HushTug workshop has worked hard, and I believe this year has been the year in which we have finally been able to establish ourselves as a leather brand.

The challenge for next year is that there are still many inexperienced craftsmen, and we are unable to produce stable production volumes or quality. Therefore, I personally think that the most important thing is to improve the education of craftsmen.

HushTug is a brand that never stops trying new things. I want to make next year another challenging year. I want to welcome the new year with determination and hope for a better year.

Thank you so much to all our customers for your support this year!
I hope next year will be a wonderful year for everyone!

HushTug
Hariuna