Dialogue between outside directors and institutional investors
On December 9, 2025, we held a small web-based meeting with 16 institutional investors and all five of our outside directors.
Perspective as an outside director and stance on management participation
Please tell us how you perceive the role of an outside director and what approach you take to participating in management.
Outside Director Mimura
"I believe the role of an outside director is to oversee and advise. I was appointed in 2018 as our company's first female outside director. At that time, there were few female managers, so I thought we should first focus on DE&I (Developmental Exploitation and Inclusion), and I have been supporting women's advancement and promoting sharing and discussion of this at board meetings. Now, we are transforming into a company where women can thrive without having to specifically promote DE&I. Going forward, I see expanding our regional focus as important, and I will continue to support this as an outside director."
Ino, Outside Director
"Our company has declared its transformation from a 'toy' company to a 'play' company, and we are working to expand our reach across age groups and regions. I would like to leverage my long experience in the entertainment industry to support our efforts to enhance our corporate value."
Regarding the Board of Directors
Could you tell me about the atmosphere and characteristics of your board of directors (how they differ from other companies)?
Outside Director Arisawa
"I serve as an outside director of our company, and at the same time, I hold the position of CHRO at Isuzu Motors, so I have primarily gained experience in human resources. A distinctive feature of our board of directors is the open discussions that take place. We engage in discussions as much as time allows, and I feel that we share the goal of improving corporate value. In particular, we position the linkage between management strategy and human resource strategy as a key theme, and each director leverages their expertise to deepen discussions on how to connect human capital management to our competitive advantage in 'play' and our corporate strategy."
Regarding the Medium- to Long-Term Management Strategy 2030
What do you think will be the challenges in achieving this goal?
Director Tonomura
"Regarding our medium- to long-term management strategy, we believe it is progressing smoothly from a financial perspective. We are promoting our growth strategy from both age and regional perspectives. On the age side, we are aiming for growth through the development of products for kids, including 'TOMICA Premium.' On the regional side, we are looking at the global market and developing strategies tailored to the characteristics of each region. We face many challenges and issues, such as strengthening global products and IP, building a global organization and operating model, and linking manufacturing with the global supply chain, but we are addressing all of these as important issues for the growth of the company."
Yasue, Outside Director
"We are steadily approaching our goals, but global success remains a challenge. We recognize the need to strengthen our efforts toward building a global supply chain, including growing our IP globally and creating a globally competitive organization, including governance."
Regarding overseas business
What kinds of discussions are taking place regarding increasing profitability in North America?
Director Tonomura
"As an outside director, I recognize that the profitability of our North American business is a critical issue. In our medium- to long-term management strategy, the key will be how we share and strengthen our global products as we expand our geographical focus in addition to our age-based focus. Until now, we have developed products on a regional basis, but we aim to improve product strength by taking a global view of our products and developing them in-house across the entire group, as exemplified by our North American expansion of gacha (capsule toys). Strengthening our global organizational capabilities is essential to achieving this. We are reviewing our organizational management, which is a challenge for Japanese companies, and working to improve the profitability of the entire group, including optimizing the supply chain."
Business Portfolio
What discussions are taking place regarding the review?
Outside Director Arisawa
"The primary objective of an outside director is to enhance the future value of the company, and meeting the expectations of shareholders and investors is one of those objectives. We discuss at each board meeting how to adapt our business portfolio to market conditions and the growth potential of each business, as well as how to review our vast intellectual property assets. We will continue these discussions in order to meet your expectations."
Ino, Outside Director
"Our business felt like it was concentrated on toys. But if we become a company focused on 'play,' we believe we can create various kinds of value through collaboration with other industries and fields. We're not just doing it all ourselves, but we're having discussions about what kind of partners we should collaborate with, which markets we should target, or even whether we should create new markets altogether."
Regarding the abolition of takeover defense measures
Could you tell me about the discussions regarding the abolition of takeover defense measures?
Outside Director Mimura
"We believed that eliminating takeover defenses was one option for increasing the company's value. Even without defenses, we thought that if a third party expressing an intention to acquire us were to appear, we could simply communication properly and prepare how to respond. This was the basis for our decision."
Strengthening governance
Please share your expectations for the executive team going forward and your aspirations for strengthening governance.
Outside Director Arisawa
"Many of our outside directors have diverse areas of expertise and knowledge. I believe they also offer a high level of transparency to the executive side. I can confidently say that, compared to other companies, we are able to manage and supervise from a governance perspective while involving the executive side."
Could you please tell us what policies the board of directors uses to oversee operations?
Outside Director Mimura
"We utilized a third-party organization to evaluate the effectiveness of our directors. Based on the results of external surveys and individual interviews, the Board of Directors is engaging in active and constructive discussions. On the other hand, as we expand into overseas markets, we recognize that there is still room to strengthen governance across the entire group. Going forward, we will work to strengthen group governance by enhancing the supervisory function of the Board of Directors."
Succession planning for business owners
What are your thoughts on Mr. Toyama's appointment as Representative Director?
Director Tonomura
"Regarding the selection of our president, we extracted talent requirements such as realizing our management strategy of 'playfulness,' quality, health, vibrancy, and global presence, and selected a candidate from both inside and outside the company. We believe Toyama is the ideal person to be an evangelist and messenger of 'playfulness.' Within the company, he is a leader who can guide everyone from young employees to senior staff, elevating toys to the world of 'playfulness.' Furthermore, he has a track record of success at TOMY International, and we recognize that he is a strong driving force for global organizational transformation."
Our approach to enhancing shareholder value and achieving long-term corporate growth.
How do you envision increasing your company's value?
Outside Director Mimura
"The values, brand, and commitment to quality that TOMY Company, Ltd. has cultivated over 100 years have been passed down through generations. We believe that continuing to maintain this commitment to quality will contribute to the enhancement of our corporate value."
