Worn & Wound
What I Learned Touring Casio’s Ultra Modern Factory (and Museum)
I have a confession to make: I (politely) turn down 90% of press junkets offered to me. So, when Casio reached out to me earlier this year with the opportunity to visit their Yamagata factory and the Tokyo headquarters, I was not too sure. I thought about it for three days on how this would be different from any other watch factory visit, and how I would narrate my visit without the usual “Maison’s” PR team influencing my writing. There were two reasons I accepted Casio’s invitation. First, Casio is unlike any other watch company, so it will make for an interesting visit and observations. And second, Casio culture is different from other watch companies, including their PR and marketing folks. They are transparent about everything; they allowed me to ask the tough questions and did not influence my story. I will touch on both points further in this article. The original G-SHOCK There were three journalists on this trip including me, so it was a small group for this visit. We visited Casio’s Yamagata factory the first day, their museum in Tokyo the following day, and on the final day we visited the headquarters to meet and interview executives overseeing the watch division. All three visits were so different from each other – the first was so technical, the second was all about design and history, and the final visit was about strategy. For our visit to the Yamagata factory, we woke up early to take the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Higashine city, in Yamagata ...
