A marriage maestro wed to innovation: Masahiro Hirose has successfully customized nuptials to revive the wedding industry

Japan, Inc., Jan, 2005 by John Dodd

TOKYO businessman Masahiro Hirose is a bit of a maverick. He runs one of Japan's most innovative wedding planning and production agencies, yet secretly he yearns to be a politician.

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SO FAR HIS AMBITIONS have been frustrated by his success in business, but, ironically, his search for the competitive edge is now bringing him closer to politics in local government. His present goal is to introduce a radical new trend in Japanese weddings--involving public park space and lots and lots of guests.

Hirose has always been interested in politics and the mass communication of ideas and concepts. As a high school student he learned from history books that the charismatic individuals who were the forerunners of today's politicians have brought about great changes. Then later as a junior at Hosei University he joined the Shinjiyu Club, a politics study group, and got to hear such speakers as Kakuei Tanaka expound on financial issues. He also got involved in the debating club and did a lot of speechmaking. In fact he enjoyed university so much that it took him 6 years to complete a 4-year course. His father finally had enough after the fourth year and warned him that he'd better graduate then find something useful to do.

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Hirose's answer to Dad's threat was typically independent. He took charge of his own finances, continued his studies, and put himself through the last two years of school by holding down a variety of part-time jobs as well as studying. He worked on an evening railroad gang in the Tokyo subways, delivered newspapers on-campus, and later was employed as a short-order cook at a beef bowl (gyudon-ya) chain. If nothing else, he learned from slaving in a hot kitchen that there had to be a better way in life. He also learned that hard work is the way out of poverty.

After graduation from college, Hirose was preparing to take the next step in fulfilling his dream to be a politician by becoming an assistant for a Diet member. Then a friend pointed out that in order to represent the people, he first had to experience the life of the people. Hirose recalls later, "Maybe this friend realized that I didn't have the brain power to think on my feet!" In any case, the logic struck a chord in the young Hirose and he promptly joined a small securities company. His rationale was that his new employer, Tokyo Securities Ltd., would allow him to study the inner workings of capitalism and just how finance helped Japan stay strong.

While learning about the mechanics of finance, Hirose kept his hopes of being a politician alive by honing his public speaking skills. He chose an unusual way to do it, by moonlighting on weekends, acting as a Master of Ceremonies at the weddings of friends, then later MC-ing on a professional basis. Again, Hirose's choice of the high road meant he worked 365 days a year. But the financial and professional rewards kept him at it.

As Hirose gained experience, he outgrew the small firm he originally joined, and entered Merrill Lynch. This was his first experience with an international finance firm and he embarked on an intensive period of learning just how finance and political events are tied together. Thanks to his outgoing personality and can-do attitude, he also got roped into some of Merrill's more difficult real estate negotiations, and had some experiences with Japan's underworld that he would rather forget. Hirose laughs, "Merrill Lynch was a good experience for me, but I never did learn to speak English well. Luckily I was a pretty good negotiator, so even in the depth of the recession in the mid-nineties, I was still of value to the company."

However, after 12 stressful years in the securities industry, and specifically after a particular run-in with a Yakuza-related company, Hirose started to question his choice of career and his earlier dreams were rekindled. He knew that he would need time of his own to further any political ambitions, and decided the best way to do this was to run a company of his own. He established his company, Bridal Hirose, in December 1993 at the age of 36.

It was only natural that he would pick the industry that he'd been moonlighting in all these years, but in true maverick fashion, he wanted to shake up the conservative players. His radical idea was to give customers the freedom of choice to decide programs for their own weddings.

To understand why Hirose's concept was radical, we need to consider conditions back in 1994, when the burst of the bubble wreaked financial and psychological havoc in Japan. Back then, most weddings were held according to a set formula in downtown city hotels. Weddings were less a celebration of union and more a rite of passage--especially for the bride's father, who was being saddled with an average wedding cost of [yen] 10 million.

At the time the standard wedding consisted of a series of mini "rites" developed by the hotel industry over the previous 30 years. The couple would be offered a basic program, then some add-on services to boost revenue. Needless to say, the hotels in particular would prey on the bride-to-be's concern about getting everything just right, and slip in extra services to make her feel that her wedding was more complete. Couples who wanted the flexibility to add dancing or music played by friends were turned away by the hotels.