Focus on Sapporo, a Regional Core City

So where should Daibiru expand? The candidates were Sapporo, Sendai, Nagoya, Hiroshima, and Fukuoka—all of which were the core cities of their respective regions. The company quickly began researching and considering candidates from the perspectives of population, economy size, future potential, and investment feasibility. Ultimately, Sapporo, Hokkaido was selected as the expansion destination. The reasons were that as Hokkaido’s core city, Sapporo had a more concentrated economy and population than other cities, it was the gateway to Hokkaido with numerous tourism resources, and future expectations for the city included an extension of the Hokkaido Shinkansen and a bid for the Olympics. Furthermore, Daibiru’s parent company, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, had introduced a new ship on the Oarai–Tomakomai ferry line, so its high level of affinity for Hokkaido was also taken into account.

However, choosing Sapporo was not a quick and easy decision. Each city Daibiru surveyed had a high level of investment risk due to the smaller size of their markets compared to Tokyo and Osaka, which made it extremely difficult to select the right property. Sapporo was no exception, and although many at Head Office expressed hesitance in investing there, others believed in Sapporo’s potential and voiced strong views in favor of expansion. Ultimately, expansion to Sapporo was approved. However, the building Daibiru decided to acquire and operate in Sapporo was a commercial building in the city center rather than an office building, which had been the company’s forte.