User:Y.Saito.nomi/sandbox

BE FORWARD Co., Ltd. is a Japanese used car exporter, selling used cars and auto-parts to over 124 different countries through its own ecommerce site. The firm’s main operation, used vehicle export, marked 12,000 vehicles as its monthly export volume and 146,925 vehicles as annual export volume for the latest fiscal year (as of July, 2015). It is a truly unique and globalized company with employees from 26 different countries working at its Tokyo Headquarter, where 30 different languages are spoken daily.

Summary
Founded in Tokyo in 2004 by Hironori Yamakawa, this company is among the first in Japan to offer online shopping of used cars to be exported abroad. With its cross-border ecommerce site developed exclusively for the firm, the company entered into ecommerce business for global market, selling and exporting used cars. Their selection is versatile: from Japan-made vehicles to Imports (American / European vehicles) that had been used in Japan, or from 4-door sedans to buses and trucks. Sale of auto-parts to compliment the vehicle export had been added since April, 2015. BE FORWARD’s cross-border ecommerce site marks 56 million PV per month (as of May, 2015), an overwhelming number for a used car exporter in Japan, which places the company within the top 15 of MostFrequently Searched companies after Google or Yahoo (often exceeding the Wikipedia’s ranking) in the dominant African markets including Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi. Additionally, the company is aiming for diversified-practices by offering “Consultancy for Japanese Entities to Venture into African Markets” program and sponsoring professional football team (“BE FORWARD WANDERERS”) in Republic of Malawi.

Corporate Slogan
Name of the company, BE FORWARD, derived from a phrase by a renowned Rugby football coach, the late Chuji Kitajima. The man who led the herd at Meiji University, one of the best College teams, for 67 consecutive years as their Head Coach, was -- and still is, to this day – the most well-known man ever in the history of of Rugby in Japan. And the episode that the legendary coach used to sign his name, when asked for his autographs, with an addition of a phrase that signified “Take a Step Forward” is widely known among Rugby population. It was a reflection of the legend’s philosophy that his team should “always take steps forward,” physically and mentally, even if players were completely defeated and losing the game, because their Goal is Always Ahead of them, Not Behind. Hironori Yamakawa, also Meiji University as his alma mater, had deeply been moved by this episode and decided to name his company after his phrase. So, hence, “Be (positive and always) (Take a Step) Forward.”

For the readers’ references, Hironori Yamakawa was not a ruggerman at Meiji University: he was too busy doing a part time job on top of his school work. But he takes employees to College Rugby game,when Meiji University team is playing, every year just to show them the legend’s spirit to keep moving Forward.