Factory Tour : Inspiration, Respect, Honor, the Motivation that Fuels Megabass

Introduction: In November of 2013, we were given the opportunity to accompany Megabass of America VP, Yuskei Murayama and four of his US Pro Staff, on a mission back to Japan where we toured Megabass headquarters and fished Lake Biwa. During our tour of the factory, we sat down for an extended discussion with Megabass founder, Yuki Ito to learn more about the continued drive and motivation behind his designs for the company and his products.

We accompanied US Pros Aaron Martens, Chris Zaldain, Luke Clausen, & Edwin Evers (not in photo) as they made the journey across the Pacific to Megabass Headquarters in Hamamatsu, Japan.

TT: Megabass customers throughout the United States were very happy to hear of your merger with Megabass USA to create Megabass of America. Although prior to the announcement, I'm sure many didn't actually realize you were two separate companies. What were some of the factors involved with your decision to merge the two companies rather than continue as separate entities?

It's here where we toured the factory.

Y.Ito: There were a couple of reasons. The first was to provide a uniform platform with which to convey the emotion drive and value set behind Megabass. This uniform platform allows us to communicate more strongly with international markets, specifically the United States which is home of bass fishing.

Got a sense of operations.

The second reason was synergy. By combining to one company, we reduce the lag time between development of product and actual roll out. Our recent event here in Japan where we flew in our top four US prostaff for product development meetings and Japanese domestic media coverage could not have been accomplished so easily before. Now that there is this direct line of communication, they have access to our cutting edge technology as do we have access to their experience fishing across the United States so that we can develop product that is relevant in both countries as well as internationally.

And got a look at some mid-level prototypes.

TT: We've already seen the effect of the merger with your introduction of the Orochi XX line of rods. These appear tailor made for the US market with faster tapers and a bit more conservative design. Are there any plans for a higher end series of rods tailored for the US market as well or is your preference to build a more global catalog of rods and focus less on specialized markets?

The Orochi Double X rods have been such a success in the States, Megabass rolled them out in Japan as well and we were on hand for the premiere!

Y.Ito: Our goal with the Orochi XX line was to present the Megabass experience to a broader audience. It was an extreme challenge internally to build a product at a certain price point without sacrificing quality in build or material selections. The side benefit to this project was it forced us to re-examine many of our manufacturing processes in order for us to maintain quality and in some cases, it helped us to improve in this area.

The pros were center stage here as they discussed their experiences on tour with these rods.

After the event fans stuck around to get autographs of these famous US pros.

Next Section: A cultural exchange through products