Akino Zayasu, President of Polestar Communications

The intensifying competition with Lawson prompted Okinawa FamilyMart to make a major shift from uniform product deployment toward emphasizing regional characteristics. This direction was powerfully driven by the decision-making speed that America-returnee Goichi Itokazu brought, along with his demanding standards and meticulousness in discovering "master craftsmen" with specialized expertise and continuously "igniting" their motivation.

In fiscal 2012, when they introduced "self-service coffee" to all stores based on American convenience stores, Okinawa FamilyMart's revenue was approximately ¥43.2 billion (212 stores), compared to approximately ¥82.5 billion (337 stores) in fiscal 2024—nearly doubling over 12 years.

"What Okinawans like, tourists also like, so sales grew in both directions. Local preferences came first, with tourists following. How to create flavors Okinawans prefer and stores they find welcoming actually traces back to the Hot Spar era (later Coco Store) that FamilyMart acquired," he reveals.

Hot Spar spread to various regions as a community-rooted convenience store from the 1980s onward. Particularly in Okinawa Prefecture, it was beloved under the nickname "Hopper," maintaining its original character until being absorbed by Coco Store in 2007 and FamilyMart in 2015.

"The fu champuru and goya champuru bento that Hot Spar made in-house were exactly Okinawan home cooking flavors. Okinawans prefer soft goya and noodles. They like things wilted and slightly sweet-salty seasoned. The Okinawan bento made by that Hot Spar manager was incredibly delicious. FamilyMart dismissed it and wouldn't adopt it, but I thought it was absolutely necessary. I visited repeatedly to persuade him and poached him. He's now the head of product development at Okinawa FamilyMart."

This is Executive Managing Director Yoshikatsu Taira (62). He joined Hot Spar about five years after its Okinawa entry, handling everything from store operations to product development and logistics reform. While under Ibaraki headquarters management, operational control was substantially delegated to local staff.

"Unlike FamilyMart, there were almost no recipes or products coming from headquarters, so we had no choice but to create everything ourselves—ingredient and packaging material procurement, manufacturing, and delivery. Even though FamilyMart was operated by Okinawa's Ryubo, residents saw Ibaraki-based Hopper as more of an Okinawan company and used it more frequently," Taira explains.

At one of the several recruitment meetings where Itokazu summoned him by pager on a holiday, Taira finally agreed: "If I can do things my way." With this powerful ally, Okinawa FamilyMart subsequently established a dedicated bread factory in joint venture with local bakery "Daiichi Pan," consolidated wholesalers to create a joint delivery center, and embarked on logistics reform.

What Taira constantly kept in mind was that "convenience stores are a means of organizing necessary infrastructure for the island." "Rather than doing what we can within existing facilities, we set goals and organize necessary facilities. We break down existing methods and rebuild systems. Localization only comes alive on top of that infrastructure," Taira explains.

Store expansion conscious of logistics and manufacturing facility infrastructure is clearly evident in Okinawa FamilyMart's determination to challenge expansion to the four remote islands of Miyako, Ishigaki, Ie Island, and Kume Island—the highest hurdle for the convenience store industry.

Amid intensifying competition, they devoted as much energy to store location strategy as product development. Particularly in the early 2000s, they focused on expanding per-store sales through repeated opening and closing to relocate to better locations. That experience is now demonstrating the resilience to avoid losing ground to Seven-Eleven's dominance attacks. They have a history of protecting market areas through detailed measures, such as connecting different non-competing stores to locations vacated by relocations. The contribution of another talent Itokazu poached from Hot Spar was actually significant in securing these "prime locations."

"Good locations were always secured first by Hot Spar. Okuma was constantly behind that," Itokazu recalls.

Okinawa FamilyMart Managing Director Naoto Okuma (61) joined mid-career after receiving passionate approaches from Itokazu during the same period as Executive Managing Director Taira.

"As a remote island prefecture with a car-dependent society and towns around U.S. military bases, the conditions for prime locations differ most from other prefectures. There are perspectives only residents can understand," Okuma explains.

"Itokazu basically never rejects our proposals and lets us do things our way. Instead, he asks detailed questions about why we think something is necessary and the substance of our thinking. So we always provide detailed prediction and verification data (sufficient to withstand explanation). If there are gaps, Itokazu absolutely won't overlook them. He always aligns with everyone's perspective, has rich imagination, combines gentleness with toughness—he's a leader you want to follow, which is why work has been interesting for over 20 years since joining," he says.

There's another thing locals associate with "Okinawa FamilyMart": close involvement with regional events and sports teams. Through numerous sponsorships and partnerships—including B.League professional basketball team "Ryukyu Golden Kings," the talent development school "Okinawa Actors School" that produced Namie Amuro, film festivals, school club activities, and middle school volleyball tournaments—their signage exposure ranks among the prefecture's highest.

The background to this commitment to "local contribution" lies in a successful experience Itokazu was involved in. In 2001, when they decided to provide tens of millions of yen in sponsorship—a first for the company—for the music event "PEACE OF RYUKYU" held to commemorate the Okinawa Summit. This was Okinawa's first concert featuring numerous Okinawan artists at their peak, including Namie Amuro and DA PUMP. When revenue was still in the ¥20 billion range, "tens of millions of yen in sponsorship was unthinkable" (spokesperson), but Itokazu intuited "with this lineup, it won't be less than ¥100 million—it's cheap" and argued they should become the main sponsor.

"Are you kidding?" "This can't possibly work"—Okinawa FamilyMart's management executives uniformly showed reactions suggesting it was completely worthless. Unable to give up, Itokazu sought a breakthrough from a slightly different angle. At a reception following an Okinawa FamilyMart board meeting attended by Tokyo headquarters executives, he moved to where headquarters executives were gathered and casually mentioned, "There's this event that I think is a great opportunity, but it was rejected internally..." The executives immediately got excited, saying "That's amazing, we should definitely take it on," and he achieved a complete reversal on the spot.

Bringing unprecedented projects, sponsorships, and investment proposals has been routine for Itokazu since his days as a regular employee without title. How has he persuaded supervisors and management executives within the vertical company organization?

"For important matters and heavy proposals I absolutely want to get through, I never discuss them in tense meeting environments. The method is to convey them when the other party is relaxed and comfortable, then get approval. When inviting them to lunch and eating delicious food, in the car during store visits, when the boss is relaxing in the passenger seat.

'Oh, by the way, manager, I'll handle that matter this way' or 'There's this opportunity, so I'll respond this way.' One-on-one situations when you can listen to complaints and understand each other as people—those natural moments are the target," he laughs.

Now, regarding the unprecedented music event that received the green light for Okinawa FamilyMart's first "high-value sponsorship"—Itokazu had to achieve results exceeding the investment amount and prepared his ace up his sleeve.

Even with local autonomy, committing sponsorship funds in the tens of millions of yen was no straightforward task. What was Itokazu’s ace up his sleeve?

They announced a completely closed campaign: "Free concert tickets for 10,000 people selected by lottery from applications with attached Okinawa FamilyMart receipts." This resulted in customers flooding each store daily, ultimately generating over 160,000 applications and becoming a major talked-about event.

"Young people asked family and relatives to do all their shopping at FamilyMart. The stores completely became destinations. Then people unexpectedly discovered how convenient they were and what variety they offered, so sales remained elevated even after the campaign ended. The scale of that response remains in company history. It undoubtedly became a major catalyst for recognition as a local store," Itokazu recalls.

In Okinawa, which faces multiple barriers to purchasing power—lowest average income nationwide and high prices due to heavy logistics costs—the significance of Okinawa FamilyMart gaining support without being buried in the generalized convenience store business format is considerable. Without solid management of local companies connecting food and supply networks across remote islands, community survival and maintenance of emergency/disaster relief bases could easily become unsustainable.

What drives Itokazu?

"When I returned to Okinawa after being in Tokyo and overseas, I was amazed at what an incredible place this is. Having that bird's-eye view, I understand Okinawa's potential all too well. Originally, Okinawa should become Japan's wealthiest place. It's positioned to contribute to world peace, yet that potential isn't being fully realized, which makes me angry. I'm quite frustrated that Okinawans don't recognize or acknowledge this possibility, and that might be the driving force behind my commitment to economic growth (which should come first)."

Okinawa FamilyMart's workforce is 98% Okinawan. Rather than organizational "titles," conversations often begin with "which city/town, which school," "whose parent or relative"—team building based on community-specific communication that strongly supports the "hyper-local" strategy.

Furthermore, Okinawa FamilyMart fortunately possesses "self-determination" through decision-making and personnel authority recognized by the local company. From this foundation, Itokazu's leadership embodying "globally standard Okinawa" attracts diverse people and information. On this base, envisioned concepts are materialized through convenience store sales floors and elevated to national value—a noteworthy achievement.

However, challenges remain. How to develop talent capable of inheriting Itokazu's "international perspective = management perspective"?

"I originally had a curious nature, and I was fortunate to have good supervisors and opportunities, allowing me to gain experience in various places including America. Rather than my ability, I think the difference lies in having more experiences, which creates a wider range of possibilities for ideas. So I want curious employees to gain as much experience as possible. I'm always looking for motivated people wherever I go."

Okinawans at the crossroads of diversity originally sailed their own "sabani" (small boats) across the sea, acquiring unknown information along with fish and bringing it back. By cultivating a bird's-eye perspective on this broad relative foundation, they earned big on small islands, shared wealth, and enjoyed the great trading era of prosperous Ryukyu through self-reliance.