Vol. 8: Leaders Welcome Recruits at Ceremony in Tokushima

Read the full article with photos at:

https://www.otsuka.co.jp/en/company/globalnews/2013/0401_01.html

Each year, hundreds of new staff are hired in Japan by the Otsuka Group and within Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. this year, 164 college graduates were selected to be part of the path blazing corporation.

The best and the brightest are recruited in Japan and globally every year to join the Otsuka family. And for the new hires in Japan, the passage from student life to professional life starts in Tokushima, Japan, where Otsuka was founded and where the New Staff Welcome Ceremony is held every year. The beginning of the fiscal year in Japan is April 1st, and that is the day most Japanese companies hold new hire welcome ceremonies across the country. And if parents had a chance to attend, they would be brimming with pride and even tears in the corners of their eyes, just like the day their children graduated from universities.

The event started with congratulatory and welcome speeches from nine of the company heads under the Otsuka Group. On behalf of Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. President Taro Iwamoto, Ph.D. welcomed the new employees by first sharing with them what leadership meant to him: energy, the capacity to energize others, edginess for achievement, execution and passion.

And then Dr. Iwamoto asked students if they possessed what it took for them to become leaders of tomorrow. With positive replies, he said he was confident that the company will do well under them.

The ceremony is only the beginning of a one to six-month training period in Tokushima. These young men and women will learn about the history of Otsuka, the various Otsuka businesses and how to establish themselves within the company, as they bond with other new employees who may well become their teammates for many years to come.