Hijiya Corporation

The Hijiya Corporation is a family owned business headquartered in Hijiya Tower, located in the city of Hashiri in Sumitori, Shinzen. It is well known for its groundbreaking innovations in several fields, most notably in energy generation with the invention of the EVA Driver, a palm-sized device capable of powering a home with no fuel or byproducts, plus development of what are by far the world’s most advanced artificial intelligence programs.

While Hijiya products are a rare sight in most of the world, they’re everywhere in their home country of Shinzen, where the company is a national icon celebrated for not just it’s work and products, but also for both its extensive humanitarian efforts and its staunch dedication to remaining independent, never outsourcing work or selling to foreign companies like 11K and Concordia. Among past, current, and prospective employees, the company is also renowned for its highly considerate people-first attitude, making it one of only a handful of corporations in Shinzen that are not victim to the rampant workaholism of the country.

Assets¶

Known primarily for their EVA Drivers, Hijiya naturally owns a significant portion of the energy sector in Shinzen. However, beyond that public perception, Hijiya is actually much more focused on technological advancement and research, once being considered the world leader in their fields. While they still hold an overwhelming lead on the world in the field of artificial intelligence, their company was forced to make wide, massive cuts to their operations, leaving them in a position of relative struggle.

While their total revenue is still massive, their profits are so minuscule that there is a quite significant risk of taking losses significant enough to require making further cuts to avoid bankruptcy if they meet too difficult of competition. In an attempt to mitigate that risk while also working back to their former glory, Hijiya has begun to diversify into new fields, most notably in finance, and also rents out most of its defunct office space.

One unexpected venture for Hijiya, though, was their contract with a virtual idol group in Shinzen. Their prototype android, K-17 T0, was scouted by the idol group during one of its video game livestreams, a form of media that had seen explosive growth in Shinzen that various idol groups capitalized on. K-17 T0’s live streams from then on became a surprisingly significant source of not only revenue, but positive public reception and interest for the company, becoming the unofficial face of Hijiya among virtual idol fans. The company is currently exploring further investment into this field.

Company activity by revenue share:

1. Artificial Intelligence - 22.2%
   • Licensing - 63%
   • Contract work - 21%
   • Consulting - 16%
2. Energy - 22.1%
   • EVA Drivers - 94%
     • Sales - 61%
     • Maintenance - 39%
   • Consulting - 6%
3. Electronics - 17.4%
   • Industrial systems - 29%
   • Microelectronics - 27%
   • Consumer electronics - 24%
   • Nanoelectronics - 16%
   • Bioelectronics - 4%
4. Robotics & Cybernetics - 12.3%
   • Sales - 31%
     • Industrial applications - 44%
     • Medical applications - 37%
     • Assistive technologies - 15%
     • Other - 4%
   • Consulting - 27%
   • Maintenance - 22%
   • Security contracts - 20%
5. Finance - 9.8%
   • Insurance - 36%
   • Venture Capital - 28%
   • Commercial Banking - 23%
   • Wealth Management - 13%
6. Automotive - 7.3%
7. Office space rentals - 4.8%
8. Aviation - 3.4%
9. Entertainment - 0.7%

History¶

Originally founded by Harutaka Hijiya as a simple household appliance manufacturer to provide for the family, his son, Kaede Hijiya, showed great ambition and desire to work towards them, so it wasn’t long before ownership of the company was passed down to him.

Kaede quickly revolutionized the company by establishing a technological research division, where he spent most of his time, and branching out into the energy and electronics fields. The company board had full confidence in Kaede’s ability to manage the company despite his rare appearances at meetings, evidenced by the rapid growth of the company and his impeccable foresight.

When he later married a woman named Hana and immediately gave her the position of chairman of the board, suspicions began to arise as his appearances became even less frequent, and even she regularly failed to appear for meetings. Only stressing matters further, for a few years, nearly all company profit was directed to the research division, the work of which was kept strictly secret to all but the people working in it.

All suspicions and concerns were immediately dispelled in 1998 when both Kaede and Hana interrupted a meeting with the fruits of their labor: The EVA Driver prototype. After several demonstrations within the company, the technology was prepared for production and a dedicated department was formed in the energy division to further develop, manufacture, and maintain these devices.

When they hit the market in 2000, the company became a global sensation virtually overnight, as they appeared to have just achieved the impossible: unlimited energy. Company growth was beyond explosive, and Kaede capitalized on it to the fullest potential, branching the company further into technological fields and focusing on research.

With their laser focus, the company became the world leader in almost everything it researched and ran away with the lead, becoming impossible to compete with and forcibly pushing the world far forward. Hana also capitalized on this opportunity in her own way by leaving the company and returning to her previous job as neurosurgeon and neuroscience researcher, inadvertently bringing with her the support of the Hijiya Corporation as her husband dedicated a small branch of the company to provide services and sponsorship to her and her team. At this time, Kaede and Hana both also dedicated a portion of their time to humanitarian efforts throughout the country, helping build the Hijiya reputation into one that puts the people first.

As the company continued to branch out, it also continued to struggle with its performance in the international market, as they were stuck behind an unbreakable international perception of the Hijiya Corporation as “the company that made the EVA Driver” and couldn’t bring enough awareness to their other products, even as they continued to push the boundaries of science.

That was ultimately their downfall, when in 2016, the Hijiya family was involved in a lethal plane crash in a private plane made by their company, which was powered by an experimental EVA Driver. The only survivor of the crash was their five year old daughter Nozomi, though she was permanently crippled.

News of this incident quickly became global news, and the company reputation tanked all around the world, devastating the company as their international market virtually dissolved within a week. However, their standing in Shinzen was largely unaffected, even slightly improved, as by this point the company had become a celebrated and treasured national icon. As the country mourned the loss of Kaede and Hana Hijiya, the company devoted itself almost entirely to developing far more advanced safety protocols for all EVA Drivers after the former head of the experimental research division, Minori Sakaguchi, was appointed as interim president.

To stay afloat after the loss of their international market, several branches of the company were shut down entirely, including the majority of its research centers, and funding was decreased significantly for many others. While they still remained the world leader in some fields by quite a significant margin, it was a massive hit to morale as the company began to stagnate.

Slowly but surely, without a visionary to lead the effort, they lost their lead in many fields as the world finally caught up to them. As Nozomi grew up, however, it became clear that she was most likely just as gifted as her parents, if not more, so morale began to increase again as they found a new hope for the future.

Unfortunately, while she is the rightful heir to the company and has never resisted the idea of taking over, she has also never shown the confidence, charisma, and business savvy to fit the role, so it was decided to allow the interim president to remain until she was ready, though some company decisions are still brought to her for approval first out of respect.

After her first public appearance on behalf of the company ended in her fainting and subsequently refusing to talk to anyone for a week, though, the prospect of her taking over was greatly diminished. Fortunately for her, the event wasn’t televised, but people from the company treated her differently from then on. Company morale remains high since then, because despite losing the hope that Nozomi will soon take over the company and restore it to what it once was, she became something of a princess to them.

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