<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n\u2015I understand that you, Kato, joined COVER in 2020 as the head of both the Administration and Human Resources Department, but please tell us about your career path up until joining COVER and what your job involves currently.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>
I joined Japan Post as a new graduate, before getting my certified public accountant license and taking on a position at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. I then worked at a start-up as a COO, until I was hired by COVER in 2020 through a recruitment agency, and I have been here for 5 years. Looking back now, I feel like I have gained a range of knowledge and experience I can draw upon from my time at both very large and start-up companies as well as being involved with the governance of various companies during my time in auditing.
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\u2015Please tell us more about your efforts to create a safe environment for talents, and managing risks specific to the talent business.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>
We have continued to develop talent support initiatives in stages since around 2020, from company establishment support and the introduction of tax accountants, to slowly increasing business-related support and last year introducing a health check-up system. We heard from talents that they were having trouble managing their health when their activities ramp up, so we are providing more opportunities for talents to undergo regular health examinations, including talent-oriented counseling and mental health care services.
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<\/span>The Path to Organizational Reform in a Growing Company: Taking on Reasonable Challenges<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n\u2015You must have seen the company undergo tremendous change from when you first started up until now, but, from the perspective of the Administration Department, have there been any changes you have noticed that left an impression on you?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>
While we handle requests from other divisions as flexibly as possible, there is a risk, in line with the rapid expansion of the company, that we may not handle such matters fairly all the time. Accommodating individuals may be unfair towards other divisions, and could potentially increase the risk of an unexpected incident, and now that the company has expanded as much as it has, matters that we may have handled by playing it by ear previously now need to be dealt with more seriously.
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<\/span>More Opportunities to Consider Company-Wide Optimization<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n\u2015You took on the role of Senior Vice President (SVP) in 2023, but what kind of changes did you experience compared to prior to the role change?<\/strong><\/div>
I became SVP at the time that we were first introducing the SVP system as part of our IPO preparations, and the biggest change was to the decision-making processes. We had more opportunities to catch up on requests and issues from various divisions through management-level discussions and I felt more responsibility on a daily basis as a manager that was expected to make decisions from a more senior position.
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\u2015What are some ways you have improved within the organization as head of HR?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>
A prominent feature of COVER is that we have a lot of dedicated and highly-skilled staff working for us, but at times, the serious nature of some people can lead to a difference of opinions and friction between divisions. Therefore, we are continuously finding new ways to become \u201cunited without boundaries,\u201d one of our company values.
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\u2015\u30db\u30ed\u30ab\u3067\u306e\u4ea4\u6d41\u304c\uff01<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>
Exactly! The Human Resources Department holds classes for beginners that any employee can freely attend where one can learn how to create their own deck. These are usually popular events with around 10-20 people in attendance.
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\u2015What kind of systems and training are in place to train and develop staff?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>
We have expanded many staff development initiatives based on the feedback received from staff members themselves by increasing the budget for training systems, and providing a variety of programs suited to the level and role of employees.
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<\/span>Reaching Global Standards: The Steady Development of the Entertainment Industry<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n\u2015What is your main focus as head of the Legal and Intellectual Property\/Crisis Management Department as COVER ramps up its global expansion efforts?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>
Although we are continuously receiving numerous applications from highly skilled creatives, we are continuing to increase our proactive recruiting efforts focusing more on business and corporate skillsets. While we are currently focused on recruiting those who can speak both Japanese and English, we expect to see an increase in English-only speakers in the future as well.
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\u2015Are there any issues in the industry surrounding COVER? How are you dealing with such issues?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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<\/div>
In recent years within the entertainment industry, anime in particular has seen a significant increase in the demand for proper compliance. This isn\u2019t just demanded of us as a publicly listed company, but as the result of a structural shift within the industry as a whole.
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\u2015\u2015What word or phrase do you think best describes COVER as of right now?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>
I feel COVER is now \u2018a company entering adulthood,\u2019 having felt the importance of making sure we have sturdy foundations as a company particularly over the last year.
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<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u30fc Thank you very much!<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
COVER Corporation, the home of the VTuber agency hololive production, is aiming to be a major player in the general entertainment space, and behind the scenes of the company\u2019s rapid rise is Takashi Kato, who supervises the now Administration Department that supports the activities and work of COVER\u2019s talents and staff alike (along with also […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2648,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_locale":"en_US","_original_post":"https:\/\/dkgy1yki8xgbd.cloudfront.net\/?p=2647","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[168,53,14],"class_list":["post-2670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-corporate","tag-168","tag-53","tag-interview","en-US"],"acf":[],"categories_info":[{"slug":"corporate","name":"Corporate"}],"tags_info":[{"slug":"%e7%ae%a1%e7%90%86%e9%83%a8%e9%96%80","name":"Management Development"},{"slug":"%e5%9f%b7%e8%a1%8c%e5%bd%b9%e5%93%a1","name":"Senior Vice President"},{"slug":"interview","name":"Interview"}],"thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/coveredge.cover-corp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/DSCF7871_top-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coveredge.cover-corp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coveredge.cover-corp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coveredge.cover-corp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coveredge.cover-corp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coveredge.cover-corp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2670"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/coveredge.cover-corp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2677,"href":"https:\/\/coveredge.cover-corp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2670\/revisions\/2677"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coveredge.cover-corp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coveredge.cover-corp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coveredge.cover-corp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coveredge.cover-corp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}