Hi everyone, Iqbal here.

On the evening of 29 October 2026, I went to the kanjikai (幹事会) of the Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry Taito Branch Youth Department, held at Wine & Dining EKA in Taito. I am not one of the kanji (the officers), but Mr. Uryu kindly invited me to speak, so I had the chance to tell the members about my business and the problems I am facing with it right now.

What the Kanjikai Is

The kanjikai is the highest decision-making body of the Youth Department. The kanji from each group (班, han) come together, bring the issues from their groups, and decide how the Youth Department is run. If the monthly meetings and networking events are where members get together, the kanjikai is where the direction of the Youth Department gets decided.

So being an outsider and getting to talk about my own company in that room was a rare experience for me.

Two Speakers at "Fusawa Tairiku"

The talks were part of a session called 「風澤大陸」 (Fusawa Tairiku, roughly "Fusawa Continent"), where members talk about their business and their problems and the room responds. It is named after Mr. Toshikazu Fusawa of Fusawa Shoji Co., Ltd., who moderates the session and asks the speakers questions. This was the second one. There were two speakers that night.

The first was Mr. Junichi Sasajima of Do it Planning Co., Ltd. One theme from his talk was "decide what you will not do", which tied in nicely with my own talk later, and Mr. Fusawa picked up on it too.

I was the second. After introducing myself and the company, I picked my problems from a list the organisers had sent beforehand (sales, people, borrowing, promotion and so on). I chose three: sales, promotion, and whether the product actually fits the market (what people in my industry call PMF, product-market fit).

As soon as I started, questions and opinions came from all over the room. Some people told me straight that they could not follow my explanation. I have to admit that 15 minutes was nowhere near enough, and Mr. Akiba, who was the MC for the whole evening, gave me five extra minutes. Haha.

What I Got From the Members

Because everyone in the room works in a different industry, I heard a lot of views that would never come up inside my own industry. "Talk about the other person's problem, without the jargon" and "give us a concrete example" were hard to hear, but they are advice I can use right away.

Most of the people I talk to about IT and AI are in the same industry as me. So when I speak in a room like this, I find out quickly that words I take for granted do not get through at all. I will sort out the questions from that night with my team and use them for how we explain Kafkai and for our materials.

PR Time

The evening ended with PR time from the members: event announcements, new businesses, flyers being passed around. It was short but lively. I also handed out flyers for the exhibition we are joining next month.

Mr. Fusawa also mentioned that I used to publish reports of the Youth Department's meetings on our blog, but had stopped. I have not been to many meetings lately, so I felt a bit guilty about that. I hope this post restarts the series.

I just checked, and if you search Google for 「台東支部青年部」 (Taito Branch Youth Department), one of our posts comes up fifth. That makes me quite happy.

Closing

It is not often that you can tell business owners from other industries about your own business and get honest opinions back. Thank you to Mr. Uryu, the head of the Youth Department, for giving me this chance even though I am not a kanji, to Mr. Akiba for being the MC, to Mr. Fusawa for moderating Fusawa Tairiku, and to everyone who asked questions that night.

Reports from other Youth Department events

Join the Youth Department

If you are a young business owner or successor running a business in Taito and you are interested in the Youth Department, come along to one of the monthly meetings or networking events. Meeting people across industries might open up new chances for your business.

There are some conditions for joining, but if you are interested, please contact the secretariat below.

Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry Taito Branch Youth Department Secretariat

Address: Taito Ward Community Center 1st Floor, 2-6-5 Hanakawado, Taito-ku, Tokyo 111-0033

TEL: 03-3842-5031