2019 began with the January 7 launch of Sony's Purpose & Values and our press conference at CES, held in Las Vegas, US.

■ Sony's Purpose & Values

Sony's Purpose & Values (Purpose & Values) has already drawn a large response from many after its launch. In revisiting our previous Mission/Vision/Values, the positive feedback I received from many of you through this blog proved to be a great encouragement and invaluable reference point for defining the Purpose & Values Statement. I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone again for your input. I also hope that the newly established Purpose & Values will prove to be a solid cornerstone on which to reaffirm the Sony Group's identity and for keeping aligned in our endeavors to create customer value. Since, this is a very important topic for us, and I would like to speak in more detail at our next Sony Group Quarterly Meeting scheduled on February 5 in Tokyo.

■ CES

I believe many of you have already followed our CES press conference, through the livestream or the article on Inter Sony. The key message of our presentation there was that Sony is "a creative entertainment company built on a solid foundation of technology," which I also touched upon in Sony's Purpose & Values Story. Several artists joined us on stage to highlight Sony's technological prowess and product strength from their perspectives as creators of music, film, and more.

Backstage shot following the press conference
(click image to show names)

At the press conference, world renowned Sony Music recording artist Pharrell Williams joined the stage representing the music industry, while Phil Lord and Christopher Miller spoke as one of the leading creators in in the film domain. Just the previous evening, their movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse took home the Golden Globes for best animated feature. All of them spoke passionately about Sony's technology and branded hardware which empowers them to connect with their audiences. I believe that by telling the story of how our technology and branded hardware enables creators to fully realize their vision and artistic intent, we were able to demonstrate Sony's commitment to its technology and our branded hardware business.

In keeping with the message of our press conference, the design concept for this year's Sony booth was "studio", reproducing the working environments of creators. At the center stage, we invited professional photographers, sound engineers, and other guest creators to share how Sony's technology contributes to their creative process.

>Professional photographer speaking at the center stage of the Sony booth

I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all of you who worked on our CES press conference and helped put together the Sony booth, as well as to everyone who was on hand at the show floor throughout the duration of CES.

■ Sony Open

The day after the CES press conference, I flew to Hawaii to take part in the Sony Open. This year marked the 21st Sony Open in Hawaii, and every year, all proceeds from the tournament are channeled back into the Hawaiian community and donated to charitable organizations that support children, women, the elderly, and the impoverished. Each year, as an effort to generate more social contributions for charitable cause, we hold various events at the Sony Open venue to entertain the guests. This year was no exception. We organized a pro-am golf tournament, a reception party to show our appreciation towards Friends of Hawaii Charities who manages the grants program for the raised funds, and the Waialae Country Club which is an official PGA Tour course, as well as a gala dinner which also featured an awards ceremony for the pro-am tournament. This was my first Sony Open since becoming President and CEO, and I joined Hirai-san on stage during the gala dinner and charity reception.

Hirai-san expressing his thanks to guests and members of the Hawaiian community at the gala dinner.	The Sony Open is Hawaii's largest charity sports event. (Click to enlarge)

To strengthen business ties, we invite Sony Group's various business partners to the Sony Open each year. This time, I took part in a conference with our business partners hosted by Sony Electronics. Attendees included our retail partners and our business partners from the creative industries such as professional photographers and broadcasters. Here also, I reaffirmed Sony's role in connecting users and creators through our technology and branded hardware products.

Additionally, at this year's Sony Open Sony Imaging Products & Solutions' Media Solution Business Div. team captured the event in 8K video quality to utilize the footage for 8K promotional purposes in the future. This is an example of how Sony's technology and products connect the creators and users, from creating content in 8K to the viewing experience on 8K TVs.

Guided by our newly established Sony's Purpose and Values, as well as our continuing corporate direction of "getting closer to people," I look forward to drive Sony unique initiatives that connect creators and users. Let's all work together to generate new values in 2019.