Kirin
Brewery of America LLC
21241 S. Western Ave, Suite110, Torrance, CA 90501
http://www.kirin.com
The location for Kirin Brewery of America is in an area
called Torrance, which in recent years, has been a place
where many Japanese companies have been relocating from
the downtown area. The actual administrative district
in which the company is located is in the city of Los
Angeles but because the postal office belongs to Torrance,
in general, the area is called Torrance.
As mentioned earlier, Torrance is known to have many Japanese
companies with its U.S. subsidiary headquarters. There
is Toyota Motor Sales USA, American Honda Motor Company,
and in adjacent Gardena, Nissan North America, Inc. with
its U.S. headquarters.
The number of Japanese restaurants in this area will surprise
your eyes. Sushi and tempura are standard, and the variety
of food such as soba, udon, typical Japanese set meals,
and ramen make you think you are in Japan. The plentiful
variety of Japanese cuisine is proof that Japanese businessmen
and their families are converged in Torrance.
And what Japanese food cannot be short of is Japanese
beer. The Kirin Beer that Kirin Brewery of America makes
is in essence, a Japanese beer. As the U.S. affiliated
company of Kirin Brewery Company Limited that was established
in 1907, the company is involved in the local production
and the sale of beer. We visited the company headquarters.
External view of glass building. The company
relocated from Santa Monica in November of
2004. President Tsukahara says, “We
decided on this building taking into consideration
employee security”.
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Kirin Beer’s red logo is placed in the
entrance.
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A Japanese cat figurine that brings prosperity
to business. In Japan, this is a superstitious
object that invites good luck for business.
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Bright conference room. Twice a year, field
staff from all across America gather in this
conference room.
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In a corner of the office is Kirin Beer’s
brightly colored barrel. |
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Although there are 15 sales staff across the United States,
there are only 7 people that work out of this office.
Even the president himself is frequently out of the office.
With a spacious 3500 square feet with a 5 private office,
reception area and conference room layout, desks that
are not in private offices are also partitioned. As Mr.
Tsukahara says, “Each person acknowledges his own
responsibilities and achieves his own targets”,
that kind of feeling can be felt in this professional
work environment. |
