April 7, 2008

 

                                                                       Service Center

                                                                       Yokohama Branch Headquarters

                                                                       Yamato Transport Co., Ltd.

 

Managing Director

Japanese Association for Science Fiction International Communication

 

Apology

 

Dear Sir:

 

Thank you for your kind patronage of our company.

Regarding the import and export (hereafter "the Operations") of display materials etc. (hereafter "the Materials" ) for the 65th World Science Fiction Convention/46th Japan Science Fiction Convention Nippon 2007 held by your company from August 30 through September 3, 2007 at Pacifico Yokohama in Yokohama City, as the persons responsible for the operations of the company branch involved, we deeply apologize for not smoothly executing the Operations which you so kindly entrusted to us, thereby causing worry and inconvenience to you and all others involved.

Ｉagain deeply apologize of late report of the investigation you asked since last year.

 

It is the usual practice of the Yamato Group to which we belong for international import and export work to be handled not by us, Yamato Transport Co., Ltd., but rather by Yamato Logistics Co., Ltd. (hereafter "YLC"). YLC not only carries out the procedures for overseas import and export of goods which is its specialty, but also the transport within Japan before export and after import. 

In this case as well, it was understood from the start that the Operations you entrusted to our company were international in nature, and we attempted to arrange for YLC to undertake all of the Operations. However, up until that time, there had been no direct transactions involving transport between your organization and YLC. In many cases of overseas import, a considerable amount of advance money payment etc. is required, so that transactions with a new client are difficult to complete on short notice, and thus when we asked YLC to undertake the Operations, YLC replied that it would be difficult for them to conduct direct transactions with your organization.

Despite this, the Customer Business Representative at our Isogo Logistics Systems Branch did not want to refuse your kind request, and without giving the matter sufficient thought agreed to undertake the Operations even though they should have been carried out by YLC and even though this Isogo Logistics Systems Branch which specializes in Japan domestic transport had insufficient knowledge of the complex import and export procedures. This Customer Business Representative made this hasty commitment thinking that the Operations could be done somehow through close consultations with a representative of YLC, but as it turns out instead created the situation which later caused all kinds of inconvenience for your organization.

 

The delay occurred in the export of the Materials because when the Customer Business Representative at our Isogo Logistics Systems Branch received the request from the Japanese Association for Science Fiction International Communication, he agreed without giving the matter sufficient thought to undertake this work, instead of requesting that YLC undertake it as he should have, even though his branch had insufficient knowledge of the complex import and export procedures. What is more, after there were delays in these export operations with which this branch was unaccustomed, he made a false report which confused all those involved, and after all this he did nothing to rectify the situation.

However, the Branch Chief of the Isogo Logistics Systems Branch who is responsible for monitoring the dealings of this Customer Business Representative and giving him instructions and guidance did not notice that there was a delay in the export operations being carried out by this Customer Business Representative. Thus, the fundamental cause of our blunders which caused you inconvenience is that the Branch Chief did not have an understanding of the situation as he should have. We are very sorry for the great inconvenience we have imposed on you and all others involved.

 

Further, the long time it has taken to provide you with an explanation of the events leading to the delay in the export of the Materials to the Japanese Association for Science Fiction International Communication was caused by the problem of the falsified receipt document (memorandum).

Regarding this document, as stated above, the Customer Business Representative himself was not familiar with the procedures involved in the Operations. Thus, he was not aware that before agreeing to undertake the Operations, a cost estimate had to be prepared, a request had to be made that your organization pay beforehand an amount of money approximating that which is needed when passing through customs, a receipt document (memorandum) for the monetary amount (guaranty money) received beforehand had to be prepared, etc., not only for the benefit of your organization, but also for internal auditing within our company.

Thus, when in September 2007 our company’s auditing division started a check of this branch and an auditor asked whether the \2,500,000 in deposit money was there, the Customer Business Representative hurriedly made a false deposit document (memorandum) as evidence that this payment had been made.

If these events had been immediately reported to your organization, we would not have caused additional inconvenience to you and you would not have come to mistrust our company, but despite this, at this time the Customer Business Representative himself did not take this opportunity to inform you. 

 

We should have been aware that preparation of such a document without the confirmation of one of the involved parties is unacceptable from the point of view of compliance, even without your admonition. After finding out about this falsified document, we questioned the Customer Business Representative himself. He stated that he made this document to cover up his oversight during the check that was being performed, and that he only intended to use this document within the company. Thus, we pledge that the existence of this document has not had any adverse effect on your organization in the past and will not in the future, and so we request that you forgive our actions, improper though they were.     

Further, these improper actions not only have caused inconvenience to your organization, but also are impossible to be taken lightly by our own company. We are considering strict punitive measures for the persons involved in this wrongdoing according to our company rules, and we hope you will approve of how we deal with them.

 

Finally, we apologize again for the great inconveniences which the various careless actions of our employees have imposed on you, your company, and all others involved.

For our company’s part, we will plan and carry out thorough educational guidance of our employees so that we do not cause inconveniences like these to any of our customers in the future.  We dedicate ourselves to making every effort in order that the trust of our customers in our company will be restored.