Smiles CEO Masamichi Toyama's book "A Business Model for Doing What You Want to Do: The History of PASS THE BATON" (published by Kobundo) will be released on the 18th of this month.

Through the recycle shop PASS THE BATON, which opened in Marunouchi Brick Square in 2009 and opened a second store in Omotesando Hills the following year, Toyama proposes a business model centered on what he envisions as "what you want to do." The book also includes conversations with his co-creators of PASS THE BATON, including Masamichi Katayama of Wonderwall, Ryosuke Uehara and Yoshie Watanabe of KIGI, and Akira Minagawa of mina perhonen. To commemorate the publication, events are scheduled to be held at the Aoyama Book Center main store from 6:00 PM on the 22nd, at the MARUZEN Hakata store on the 12th of next month, and at Daikanyama T-Site in the middle of next month. Born in 1962, Toyama graduated from the Faculty of Business and Commerce at Keio University before joining Mitsubishi Corporation. In 1999, the first Soup Stock Tokyo store opened at Venus Fort in Odaiba. The following year, in 2000, he founded Smiles Co., Ltd., the first venture company within the company, and in 2008 acquired 100% of the shares before leaving Mitsubishi Corporation. While active as an artist, he also runs the necktie brand Giraffe.