Thank you for your hard work in 2018!
Monosus Year-End Party Report

There are only three days left in 2018. For many people, today is their last day of work.
Thank you for your hard work this year!

Monosus aims to end the year early every year with the earliest possible end-of-year party in Japan.
This year, it was held on December 21st. After everyone cleaned up the office, we had a lively end-of-year party following the end-of-year party.

The last report of 2018 is the closing party and year-end party!

Looking back at Monosus' year-end party with numbers and awards

Monosus' year-end party is divided into three parts every year.

1. Summary of this year and talk about next year
2. Monosus in numbers
3. Monosus Award

First, our CEO, Hayashi, will look back on the past year at Monosus.

"This year will be a big turning point when we look back on it in 5 or 10 years. I think what happens this year will have an impact both inside and outside the company from next year onwards," he said, before going on to talk about this year's sales, the company's plans for the next term, and other things he wanted to share. Everyone listened intently.

Monosus in numbers

Next, we will look back on this year at Monosus from various perspectives, including about the company and departments.

Figures from various angles were announced, such as the percentage of people who won the competition and, more unusually, the number of invoices. It was a time to really get a sense of the hard work that had gone into the past year.

Next, the numbers related to our members. First, the annual event...

This is an increase of 1.5 years from last year. It is steadily increasing.

Last November, on Monosus' 14th anniversary, each staff member had time to think about their own "personal project" that they wanted to realize. On this day, we voted for the ideas that everyone came up with, and six of the ideas came out on top.

Maybe the seeds of these six ideas will come to fruition next year?! Maybe the day will come when we can report on that.

The design department mentioned the number of projects where drones were used, and

This is the third article about drones this year . Kawarazaki's enthusiasm is evident!

From the Monosasu website: the number of articles published this year.

This year, 240 articles were created! Next, the ranking by number of posts.

This year, as Hayashi's series on Open Marketing has ended , Haga from the BtoB team took the top spot. He was followed by Nagai , who told us about the island from the Suo-Oshima satellite office that opened in March of this year. I'm grateful to all the members for this year. Thank you so much! And thank you for your hard work.

Next, the number of deliveries of "Oton," the lunch meal provided by the chef at Izakaya Tansui, was announced.

The chef came to our office to make udon and ramen for us, and we were so grateful for all the delicious food this year!

Monosus Awards 2018

The Monosus Award 2018 will be decided by a vote of all members.
This year's Monosus Awards are as follows:

• My favorite article on the Monosasu site this year
• Project of the year
• Step Up Award
• Rookie of the Year
• Best Monosasist Award
• Annual MVP

This year marks the 9th anniversary of the event, and Sakuyama and Tatsuta, who have been working hard to prepare for this day, will be the hosts.

This year's presentations will continue, with Tatsuta's sometimes sharp and sometimes warm comments exciting the audience.

My favorite article on the Monosasu site this year

The first one was "Monosasu Site's Most Favorite Article of the Year." The winner was " It doesn't matter if you have something you want to do or not... I guess... " written by Iwaki, who is in the production department and also works in the editorial department!

The recommendation comments for Iwaki were a flood of sympathy for the article, which made readers rethink the meaning of "work", with comments such as, "I was exhausted from thinking too much about my autonomy, but this article helped me to relax," "I thought about how I wanted to live my life and felt that this was OK. That's what this article was about," and "I don't really have any particular reason for working either. I just want to pursue new skills or deepen my knowledge, so I could really relate to this article."

Iwaki commented, "Since the editorial department interacts with everyone, we hear the most real voices within the company. As the company was changing, I felt a bit frustrated myself and had a hard time making progress on writing, but I finally completed the article. Some people contacted me individually to say they had read it, so it was a difficult process, but I'm glad I wrote it."

By the way, the second place was Murakami's "Unnoticed, but they're by my side ! The world of lichens quietly spreading out close to us" for reasons such as "it's too niche" and "the 'unnoticed, but they're by my side' theme overlaps with the author's personality"! The third place was 7 books. Since we have the opportunity, we would like to introduce them!

・A man of incredible kindness. Designer Tomoya Imai (Submitted by Uemori)
・The Measurer "The Recommendation of Permanent Residence" 4 Things I Learned by Working at Another Company (Submitted by Uemura)
・NO BORDER The World Cup is a global festival (Poster: Okubo)
・Feelings that go beyond love turn into respect ~The road to Mouko Tanmen Nakamoto~ (Submitted by Yamanaka)
・Update! The Food Hub Project wins the Good Design Gold Award! (Posted by: Editorial Department)
・Water supply cut off for over a month? How would you survive in that situation? (Posted by Nagai)
・It's been a year and a half since I chose to "belong to a company." How I feel now after changing the way I work. (Posted by Kobayashi)

This is an article that was written with great effort. It shows that our in-house members are also carefully reading the "Monosasu Site"... This is an award that makes us very happy as an editorial department.

Project of the year

Next up is the Project of the year.
This award is given to the project that has been most meaningful to the people, team, and company growth involved over the past year.
Seven projects were nominated this year, and the winner was a large-scale event project in which six resident members were involved!

The reasons for the nomination included "It's impressive that they managed to complete the project despite all the numbers doubling compared to last year," "They did a great job of overcoming the accident," "I hope they continue to do their best," and "Each member played an important role in getting through the event. Even if one person was missing, it wouldn't have gone as well." The award was given in recognition of the attitude of everyone putting their all into a large, highly stressful event.

Speaking on behalf of the project, Uemura commented, "This is an event that gets bigger every year. When it's over, we feel relieved for just a moment and then immediately start thinking about next year. But receiving recognition like this from everyone makes us feel like 'we really did work hard,' and it makes us feel like we've reached a turning point, so we're very happy." A big round of applause followed.

Step Up Award

The Step Up Award is given to the member who has made the biggest step up in their career this year.
This year's winner is Hata Minetake from the Coding Factory (CF) club!

Everyone praised his ability to lead the members as CF's sub-leader, with comments such as "Before we knew it, he had become a reliable leader for CF," "He travels all over the country and abroad while handling his own projects. This year's CF would not have been possible without him," "This year, we felt like we could turn to Hata Mine for anything," "He sometimes makes us chuckle with his humor, but his tenacity in solving problems is amazing," and "I'd like to vote for Hata Mine, who is always positive even when he's struggling."

Hata Mine (center) receives a comment from presenter Kurihara that he is a "good person."

The manager, Kojima, also known as Tokumitsu in the CF, was also in tears as he commented joyfully, "I'm sure it was really difficult in a lot of ways, but I'm glad. I'm happy too!"

Hata Mine spoke with a smile about her joy at receiving the award, saying, "I became sub-leader at the beginning of this year, but at first, the organizational chart didn't say that I was sub-leader, so everyone was confused at first, like 'Really?'. It's been a hectic year in which we pushed forward despite being unfamiliar with the role, so I'm happy to receive such warm comments from everyone. It's good that I worked hard. Thank you!"

Rookie of the Year

This award is given to the member who became a full-time employee or contract employee this year and who has been the most outstanding member this year. This year, out of six nominees, it was decided that it was Natsumi Kadowaki from the CF Division! Following on from being the MVP of the month in December , she also won the Rookie of the Year award.

Votes were garnered for her hard-working and single-minded attitude, with comments such as, "She's always cheerful and smiling when she works, and her results are a model for newcomers," "I thought that being positive and honest could make people grow to this extent," "She comes to work early every day, leaves early and leaves behind good numbers. That's just amazing," "She's expanded the scope of her activities thanks to the teachings of her mentor, Mr. Sugano," and "She's so reliable, it's hard to believe she's a newcomer. She seems easygoing, but in fact she's calm and collected and willing to take on any challenge."

Sugano, who trained Kadowaki, encouraged him, saying, "Don't get too cocky. Next year is the real start."

Kadowaki (center) receiving comments from his master Sugano (right)

Upon receiving the award, Kadowaki commented with her usual smiling face, "Thank you for both the kind words and the harsh words. Whenever I'm struggling with a technical issue, my seniors stop what I'm doing and give me advice. It's all thanks to my seniors that I feel fulfilled every day, even in terms of numbers. I'll continue to do my best next year."

Best Monosasist Award

The Best Monosassist is an award given to the staff member who exudes the Monosass character and creates the Monosass character. If the staff member wins the award twice in a row, they will be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

The presenters were Hall of Famers Furuhat, Okubo, and Iwaki.
"One, two, three... This year, it's decided that Yamauchi Makoto will be the winner!"

He is the first male Monosasist! The reasons for his award include "Just one word, his presence", "The way he casually does what he thinks and likes, such as flea market events", "He planned a DIY event that is typical of Monosas", "He has been showing even more of a strong presence recently", "He doesn't spend much time in Yoyogi, but his mysterious presence makes everyone happy", "Even if he has an idea, it can be difficult to make it a reality because of how busy he is, but his ability to get everyone involved and make the flea market a reality is amazing", etc. He was recognized for his ability to pursue what he finds fun with enthusiasm, and before you know it, everyone is having fun too, and for getting everyone involved.

In an article he wrote this summer , Yamauchi summarized his ideas about how it would be great if everyone's favorite things could be mixed together to create something new. Based on these ideas, the company held an in-house flea market called " Migrating Things " earlier this month. It was a much bigger success than expected.

Yamauchi commented, "I didn't think the flea market would have such an effect (laughs). I originally planned the event because I wanted to create the Monosus feel that I felt with everyone again. I'm glad that everyone felt the same way. I'm only in Yoyogi about once every two weeks, but I love listening to everyone's stories and I'd like to continue holding events in the future, so please keep supporting me." By the way, the runner-up was a hug from the representative, Hayashi.

Annual MVP

The final announcement of the Monosus Awards was the annual MVP, given to the person who has contributed the most to the company's performance this year.
After a fierce battle, the 9th winner has been decided to be Tsunoda Taiga from the CF Club!

"I'm sure this year has been a tough one, but it's cool that he doesn't let it show," "Since returning to Yoyogi after his resident assignment he has already been in high demand for various projects," "Actually, I don't know him well, but whenever a problem arose at Monosus, Sunami-san would solve it," "He's like Superman who appears out of nowhere to help with production. His contributions are immeasurable," "Even though he's in Kamiyama, I often hear that he's simply amazing as a coding engineer. He's a valuable person even when you look at the company as a whole," "He was so focused on his goals that I thought he might die," and "He's one of those people who is able to work independently." There are many recommended comments from members who have seen and heard about Sunami's hard work, which is not often seen on the surface.

Manager Kojima commented, "Just like supporting the Monosasu Site, he has often worked hard behind the scenes, so I was happy to see that many people are watching him. I think that Kakunami has completely changed since he returned from his resident role. He has a different perspective. He's not just thinking about himself, but about what CF as a whole should do. Not just in terms of technical aspects, but his attitude and the way he speaks has changed, and I think that's really wonderful."

In response to the passionate comments, Kakunami said, "To be honest, I was planning to ask someone else to support the Monosasu Site, but I've started thinking about doing it again next year (laughs). I'm the type of person who can't help but see someone in trouble. I'm glad that you saw me helping out. I hope to be able to use my skills to help the company next year as well," to loud applause.

We wouldn't have been able to get through the server trouble we had in the summer without him... The editorial department is also grateful.

This concludes the Monosus Awards 2018.
Sometimes we were serious, sometimes we were laughing. This year's year-end party, where we all reflected on the past year, ended without a hitch.

Year-end party

The 2018 year-end party was held at a venue called " 12 SHINJUKU " near Shinjuku Station this year.

There is a large kitchen, so we start by preparing a feast, led by members of the "home cooking club," Tanaka, Kadowaki, and Tatewaki, who cook lunch in the company kitchen almost every day.

Vegetables are served in a salad with plenty of fruit.

What to make with bechamel sauce prepared the day before...

Two types of seafood and chicken gratin!

Hayashi, who finds joy in grilling meat, will also be serving roast beef.

Once the food was ready, Best Monosassist Yamauchi led the toast to start the festivities.

This year, we held an arm wrestling tournament for men and women. Surprisingly, it was the female members who put up a fierce battle.

Katori's husband, Lucky, who we've previously introduced in an article, also came along to help make the curry.

Pakistani curry, which is different from Indian curry, is very popular.

The party is in full swing. Everyone is having fun playing bingo and talking about recent events, but we'll close the year with a "ippon-jime" (a traditional Japanese traditional song that is traditionally used to tie the knot)!

Thank you very much for your support this year.
And thank you for visiting the Monosasu site.
Thank you for your hard work in 2018.
May 2019 be a fruitful year!