[DESCRIPTION]
Miyakoda Kensetsu isn’t your run-of-the-mill Japanese homebuilder. They believe in doing things a bit differently. For one, they care more about what you want than what they want. With a boldly progressive sales model that places the customer’s vision ahead of business expedience, they manage to personalize and humanize an industry that has historically been viewed as pushy or even predatory. Miyakoda Kensetsu isn’t about cramming buyers into boxes. They’re about fitting homes to families.
Another thing they care about is the environment, and they care a lot. Firmly committed to green building practices using all-natural local materials like native woods, the company has been recognized at the local and national levels in Japan for its eco-friendly approach to home construction and community-conscious environmental activism. They’re not just out to build great houses--they want to build a better Japan, and maybe a better world while they’re at it.
The way Miyakoda Kensetsu sees it, good families make good homes, good homes make good towns, and good towns draw good families. Read more about this unique company and its vision of a more sustainable homebuilding paradigm. They may only build homes in Japan right now, but their perspective on what makes a home a home and how companies should go about the business of building real homes and real communities holds valuable lessons for us all.
[EXCERPT FROM PROLOGUE]
“The reason I put ‘World Presidents’ in the title of this book is because I want to think about things in a new light. I want to see Japan through the eyes of a foreigner and discover what shines through as appealing. I want to rethink how we should go about transforming our everyday living spaces into something wonderful. If it were the prime minister’s job to convey to the rest of the world what makes Japan a good place to live, what would he say? What would he point to in his attempts to convince the presidents and prime ministers of the world of Japan’s worth? ...In this book I’d like to share with you the three things that I want the prime minister of Japan to know about what my company stands for: 1) the way Japanese homes should be; 2) the way Japanese people should feel about the world; and 3) what kind of future Japan can build for herself.”
[CONTENTS]
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER 1 ARE YOU THE HERO OF YOUR OWN LIFE?
-Spreading hospitality the Miyakoda Kensetsu way
-Imagine the future of your dreams by passing through our homebuilding “Dreamgate”!
-Wood homes--good for your health and good for the environment
-At one with the land--he most natural approach to homebuilding
-Shindo Fuji: Body and Soil are One
-The Japanese cultural legacy of coexistence with the forest
[ABOUT THE AUTHOR]
Hiroaki Hodai was born in Wakayama, Japan. He holds a degree in optoelectronic and mechanical engineering from Shizuoka University’s Faculty of Engineering and a degree in architecture from Chiba University’s Faculty of Engineering. Known in business circles in Japan as a highly charismatic company president, Hiroaki has been promoting and developing a lifestyle concept he calls “DLoFre’s”--a portmanteau suggesting a band of comrades united by the ideals of Dreams, Love and Freedom. The motivation behind the DLoFre’s message is to use homebuilding, landscaping and the sale of furnishings and other sundries to foster powerful feelings of inspiration and resonance with a life philosophy grounded in those core ideals.
Miyakoda Kensetsu isn’t your run-of-the-mill Japanese homebuilder. They believe in doing things a bit differently. For one, they care more about what you want than what they want. With a boldly progressive sales model that places the customer’s vision ahead of business expedience, they manage to personalize and humanize an industry that has historically been viewed as pushy or even predatory. Miyakoda Kensetsu isn’t about cramming buyers into boxes. They’re about fitting homes to families.
Another thing they care about is the environment, and they care a lot. Firmly committed to green building practices using all-natural local materials like native woods, the company has been recognized at the local and national levels in Japan for its eco-friendly approach to home construction and community-conscious environmental activism. They’re not just out to build great houses--they want to build a better Japan, and maybe a better world while they’re at it.
The way Miyakoda Kensetsu sees it, good families make good homes, good homes make good towns, and good towns draw good families. Read more about this unique company and its vision of a more sustainable homebuilding paradigm. They may only build homes in Japan right now, but their perspective on what makes a home a home and how companies should go about the business of building real homes and real communities holds valuable lessons for us all.
[EXCERPT FROM PROLOGUE]
“The reason I put ‘World Presidents’ in the title of this book is because I want to think about things in a new light. I want to see Japan through the eyes of a foreigner and discover what shines through as appealing. I want to rethink how we should go about transforming our everyday living spaces into something wonderful. If it were the prime minister’s job to convey to the rest of the world what makes Japan a good place to live, what would he say? What would he point to in his attempts to convince the presidents and prime ministers of the world of Japan’s worth? ...In this book I’d like to share with you the three things that I want the prime minister of Japan to know about what my company stands for: 1) the way Japanese homes should be; 2) the way Japanese people should feel about the world; and 3) what kind of future Japan can build for herself.”
[CONTENTS]
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER 1 ARE YOU THE HERO OF YOUR OWN LIFE?
-Spreading hospitality the Miyakoda Kensetsu way
-Imagine the future of your dreams by passing through our homebuilding “Dreamgate”!
-Wood homes--good for your health and good for the environment
-At one with the land--he most natural approach to homebuilding
-Shindo Fuji: Body and Soil are One
-The Japanese cultural legacy of coexistence with the forest
[ABOUT THE AUTHOR]
Hiroaki Hodai was born in Wakayama, Japan. He holds a degree in optoelectronic and mechanical engineering from Shizuoka University’s Faculty of Engineering and a degree in architecture from Chiba University’s Faculty of Engineering. Known in business circles in Japan as a highly charismatic company president, Hiroaki has been promoting and developing a lifestyle concept he calls “DLoFre’s”--a portmanteau suggesting a band of comrades united by the ideals of Dreams, Love and Freedom. The motivation behind the DLoFre’s message is to use homebuilding, landscaping and the sale of furnishings and other sundries to foster powerful feelings of inspiration and resonance with a life philosophy grounded in those core ideals.
