Kenji Maruyama

Taking up the challenge of running an unprecedented hall

I supervise Theatre Workshop’s Facility Operation Department, the main responsibility of which is the operation of Hikarie Hall and Hikarie Conference, located, respectively, on the 9th floor and 11th floor of Shibuya Hikarie, a retail and office complex that constitutes a leading project in the Shibuya Station area redevelopment plan. Our mission at Hikarie is to ensure that the 1,000-square meter Hall A, 300-square meter Hall B, and four conference rooms are fully utilized. Because Theatre Workshop has been entrusted with the operation of these rental spaces with their prime location at the heart of Japan’s foremost commercial district, Facility Operation Department staff members are working hard day in and day out to meet client expectations. Theatre Workshop won the contract based on its established track record in theaters and halls, and its highly rated management and operation plan, a fruit of the company’s involvement in the Hikarie project from its consulting stage.

The current role was assigned to me because of my energy and willingness to break the mold and take new approaches. I was formerly a student of Theatre Workshop representative Masaji Ito. After working on various media and events at a video production company, I became involved in urban development projects. I took up my current assignment in the summer of 2011, when Hikarie was still in the making, attracted by the project concept of creating an unprecedented hall. The versatile and richly diverse organizational character of our department is evident not only in the fact that I am leading it but also in the diverse backgrounds of department members. Because Hikarie Hall and Hikarie Conference aspire to offer hotel-like services, a former hotel professional has been appointed to manage them. The department also has a sales expert—a younger fellow student from my former high school’s drama club whom I recruited—who was a top-selling salesperson at a major appliance retailer.

Breaking new ground in the theater business

Shibuya Hikarie is a large, high-rise office and retail complex with a theater, named Tokyu Theatre Orb, for musical productions on the 11th through 16th floors, offices on the 17th through 34th floors, and shopping and dining on the lower floors. A wide variety of events are held daily using various spaces throughout the complex. Each event requires goods to be brought in and out, but doing so smoothly is no mean task given the limited number of routes for vertical traffic.

Another challenge is the diverse nature of the performances hosted at Hikarie Hall, which is conducive to such diversity because its entire main floor is flat. Sometimes there are fashion shows and clubbing events, while at other times there are rakugo, shareholder meetings, or symposia. We accommodate organizer requests as much as possible, so as not to restrict their freedom. And whatever event the Hall caters to, it always has to be swiftly returned to its initial state for the next user.

The experience we have built by meeting such challenges has contributed to the business expansion of the Facility Management Department, which has been entrusted with the management and operation of a second venue, namely the iTSCOM Studio & Hall at Futako Tamagawa Rise. We look forward to further expanding our portfolio of work.

Theatre Workshop is a company full of possibilities—potentially, a general trading company that deals with everything to do with theaters and halls. Because it participates in a theater/hall project from the initial planning stages that impact large budgets, Theatre Workshop is ideally positioned to apply its know-how and network to develop various forms of business. A company with unconventional beginnings, Theatre Workshop looks forward to taking on further new challenges, such as providing content and program packages.

Kenji Maruyama

Executive Officer, Facility Operation Department

While a student at Waseda University's School of Letters II, he met Ito, the president of Theatre Workshop.After graduation, he joined the advertising department of a video production company, where he was involved in the launch of various media such as magazines, radio and TV programs, and was also involved in event projects.Later, after participating in urban development projects as a cultural entertainment manager, he joined Theatre Workshop upon the opening of Shibuya Hikarie.He has been active as the general manager of the facility operation department since its inception, and has also established a cultural business production department, working on a multifaceted approach to the post-completion phase of the facility.