Changing jobs to join a company I had always dreamed of working for.

After graduating from law school, I worked in law firms and the legal departments of IT companies. I was strongly interested in working in an industry that I love, so I set my sights on a career change to a firm involved in entertainment, such as video games, anime, or manga. Among the companies I received job offers from, I decided to work for Sega because I was very impressed with the personalities and atmosphere of the heads of the egal department, the managing director, and the human resources manager who interviewed me. I still vividly remember that I could strongly imagine myself working there and enjoying my job. In addition, Sega was a company that I had longed to work for since I was a child.

It has been several years since I joined the company, and I still enjoy working here every day. This is largely due to the good personalities of our employees, which I sensed during the interview process.

Actively involved in new businesses and creating "the norm” for the future

After joining the company, I was put in charge of a wide range of legal work related to Sega and Atlus' games business. As a member of a team that creates products alongside developers, I found the prospect of being involved in production from the development stage and providing legal advice highly stimulating. For example, there are many legal issues that need to be cleared during the development of a live operation game. Due to the nature of games, the balance between a certain level of stress and its release and game-wide continuity, is one of the most important factors for increasing user satisfaction, but legally we are required to keep this within a certain framework during development. In that sense, legal decisions affect the quality of products and services and play a role in their development. I was very happy when my name appeared in the end roll of a game I had worked on.

Since I became in charge of legal affairs at Sega Sammy Holdings, following a reorganization, I have been responsible for solving legal problems in each of the Group's businesses. This has further broadened the scope of my work. Since the Sega Sammy Group is engaged in a wide range of businesses, many of them were new to me, especially the sports business. I attended seminars held by law firms and industry associations and gathered information from books and specialist websites. While resolving legal issues on a daily basis in response to measures implemented one after another in the field, I am also constantly working to anticipate legal issues that may arise for the sports business in the future.

A company can function without a legal department — this is why we pursue "added value”

To be honest, a company can function without a legal department. In fact, there are many companies that do not have one at all. In this sense, we consider the legal department to be a value-adding one. I believe that how much value we can provide to the company's business development efforts our raison d'être.

Japan is a mature and stable society, and laws naturally permeate our daily lives and are sensibly observed. In other words, if we live a “normal” life, there is not much that happens that violates the law. Legal affairs is a job that cannot materialize unless it is considered useful, so we must think of how to create and provide added value so that people see it as something not necessary, but yet convenient to have. For this reason, we believe that a steadfast sense of commitment, coupled with creativity among the legal staff, is essential. All of our legal team’s members are expected to have expert knowledge of legal issues, risks, and the challenges facing all of the Group's business areas and to be able to make recommendations when and as needed.

My goal for the future is to broaden my perspective and build a diverse environment. A fixed group of people of the same mindset is strong, but it has limited potential for development. We believe that creativity is born from an environment and organization marked by diversity, and above all, isn't that more fun? I want to build a creative and value-adding legal department that clears issues one by one.

Message to students and those who want to join our company

Sega Sammy Holdings is an excellent place to work. Not only is there a good atmosphere among workers, but the company also provides a comfortable working environment with flexible hours, work-from-home capabilities, childcare leave, and a free-address seating system. It has been several years since I joined the Group, and every year the company updates these systems and other measures to support employees, such as various trainings and even a free English study program offered by Sega Sammy College, making it easier and easier to work. In this respect, I think the company has high expectations for the future.

If the future you envision and the direction we are moving in are on the same path, why not join us?