The joy of building something from scratch

Even at the lab level, when thinking about new materials or methods, there are always things you can't try with the existing equipment.
I ran into this problem myself. I thought hard about how to solve it — whether there was any way to work it out without bringing in new equipment — and tried all sorts of approaches.
When I finally managed to make it work with what we already had, I remember feeling incredibly satisfied. It was a small piece of equipment, but because I had built something from nothing, I developed a real attachment to the research that used it — a double dose of happiness.

Straight to the Point — Why I Chose This Company: What I Love About It

Because this company was packed with everything I wanted to do.

During my university years, I researched layered compounds.
Lithium-ion batteries are also layered compounds, so I developed an interest and studied them on my own.
That led me to become completely captivated by the appeal of secondary batteries (laughs), and I spent my job search applying exclusively to secondary battery companies.
Among them, Santoku stood out — despite being a much smaller company than the others, it was actively pursuing secondary battery technology. Compared to the other companies I had applied to, I could sense during the interview that research, development, and production were closely integrated here, meaning what I developed could be reflected in production in a short time.
Drawn by both this enthusiasm for secondary batteries and the appeal of a short development-to-production cycle, I decided to commit to this company mid-way through my job search and turned down all other offers.
Another reason was that the company works with rare earths — a substance that sparks my curiosity as a researcher. I believe rare earths still hold unknown possibilities yet to be discovered.
I find myself daydreaming on my own about how batteries using rare earths might be interesting in the future!