Each year, we have an opportunity for Sony Board members to visit one of Sony's operational sites for our Outside Directors to deepen their understanding of Sony Group's businesses. In 2015, we visited Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (SPE) in Culver City, the semiconductor factories in Kumamoto and Sony/Taiyo in 2016, and Sony (China) Ltd. in Shanghai in 2017. This year, on September 27-28, we made our way to San Mateo, California, to visit Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (SIE), which oversees our PlayStation business.

With participants of the Site Visit (click image to show names)

On the first day, John Kodera and other members of SIE management provided an overview of SIE's business. They also gave us a tour of the San Mateo Studio, one of SIE's Worldwide Studios which develops first-party games for PlayStation. The following day, we also visited several start-up companies in Silicon Valley.

The Game & Network Services segment is on track to achieve both the highest sales and operating income out of Sony's eight business segments for the current fiscal year. For the nine-year span of FY2009-2017, the Financial Services segment produced the highest profit. Today, PlayStation Network, with direct connections with users, has grown to become the most important Direct to Consumer (DTC) service within Sony Group. Precisely for this reason, it was especially significant to have our Outside Directors visit SIE at this moment in time.

From this point, I would like to touch upon my visits to Sony Group sites and others both prior to and following the Site Visit, together with some pictures.

■ New York

With SME executives (click image to show names)

This picture was taken just after the roundtable meeting which we had at the headquarters of Sony Music Entertainment Inc. (SME) in New York together with Rob Stringer and members of this executive leadership team. We discussed changes occurring in the music business as well as intra-Sony Group collaboration together with leaders of our record labels such as RCA, Arista, Columbia, and Epic, as well as The Orchard which supports indie artists, and heads of various corporate functions at SME. While SME's performance is favorable, we discussed how to best respond to major industry trends such as the rapid rise of streaming services like Spotify. I felt it was a very productive discussion with a healthy level of shared sense of urgency.

■ Culver City

With Marty

As with SME, headquarters of Sony/ATV Music Publishing (Sony/ATV) is located in New York but their Culver City office is situated inside SPE's Akio Morita Building. During my visit to SPE, I visited Martin Bandier, who will be leaving Sony next March. I thanked him personally for steering Sony/ATV to unprecedented success since he joined in 2007, and I was extremely hearted to hear Marty promising to help ensure the smooth transition to the new management team.

At the SPE Town Hall meeting with Tony

At SPE, I took part in a Town Hall meeting with Tony Vinciquerra and their senior leadership team. There were many participants, including those who called in from remote and overseas offices. I took this opportunity to speak on the current changes in the entertainment industry, my expectation for SPE to further strengthen its core business of content creation and my hopes for harnessing Group synergy. Tony and I then held a Q&A session, and answered many questions which ranged from future investment strategies, to the market's views on Sony, and even aibo. I later heard that the participants were pleasantly surprised to find how management in Tokyo keenly understood the U.S. entertainment industry and business, and there was a high degree of interest in the Group collaborations that I touched on in my speech.

While in Los Angeles area, I met with others including an institutional investor that currently holds over 7 million Sony shares. He offered a praise saying "those new noise canceling headphones (WH-1000XM3) are really great." I myself enjoyed using them on this business trip during flights and at the hotel.

■ Santa Rosa

Last but not least, I want to share the story of my visit to the Charles M. Schulz Museum. Located in Santa Rosa, Sonoma County in Northern California, it is dedicated to the works of Charles M. Schulz, creator of "Peanuts." Though I was only there for 90 minutes, I had the honor of being guided by Mrs. Jean Schultz, wife to the late Mr. Schulz who passed away in 2000.

As many of you know, Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc. currently holds approximately 39% equity interest in the Peanuts IP. At the museum, I spoke with museum members who dedicate themselves to managing the integrity of the Peanuts licensing business. They provided me further insights into the quality and care behind an IP business. Incidentally, the original Peanuts comic strip first appeared in US newspapers back in October 2, 1950. This visit reaffirmed the economic and social value that a globally loved IP can bring over its long life span.

■ The Importance of Direct Communication

Through my visits to SME, SPE, SIE as well as the Schulz Museum, I reconfirmed the importance of direct communication. It was invaluable for me to have the opportunity to share my thoughts on the value of IP which captures people's hearts, the importance of strengthening DTC to deliver such IP, and the creation of Sony unique Group synergies directly with the management teams running our businesses. I would like to continue to visit our various business sites by practicing "getting closer to people".