Niigata-based Venture Tackles 'Lack of HR Departments' in Local SMEs, Reorganizes Business Structure Based on 10 Years of Collaboration with 89 Companies, Local Governments, and Schools
Inquiry LLC, a Niigata-based company, is reorganizing its business structure to mark its 10th anniversary. Aiming to solve HR challenges for local SMEs, it will support regional talent development and utilization through three pillars: HR Partner, Learning Design, and Impact Design.
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- 📰 Published: April 30, 2026 at 18:00
- 🔍 Collected: April 30, 2026 at 09:31
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: May 1, 2026 at 09:13 (23h 41m after Collected)
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You are a Japanese business intelligence AI. Thoroughly analyze the following press release and simultaneously translate it into English (en) and Traditional Chinese (zh).
## Press Release Information
Title: Niigata-based Venture Tackles 'Lack of HR Departments' in Local SMEs, Reorganizes Business Structure Based on 10 Years of Collaboration with 89 Companies, Local Governments, and Schools.
Subtitle:
Company Name:
Industry:
Body (first 8000 characters):
Niigata Crossover Festival" (Chuo-ku, Niigata City) held in December 2025.
Inquiry LLC (Representative: Kazuki Yamamoto, Location: Niigata City, Niigata Prefecture), which has collaborated with companies, local governments, and educational institutions in regional cities based in Niigata, underwent a rebranding to commemorate its 10th anniversary in March 2026.
Over these 10 years, Inquiry LLC has collaborated with 89 companies, local governments, schools, and organizations. It has been involved in establishing "Regional HR Departments" in 3 regions, which recruit, develop, and utilize people across the entire community. The young talent development program "Rookies College®" has been deployed in 6 prefectures and 8 regions. In the Mogami region of Yamagata Prefecture, the in-prefecture employment rate for new high school graduates improved from the high 60% range to the 70% range, demonstrating regional-level results. To spread this knowledge nationwide, the "Regional HR Department Alliance Network," a mutual aid network for regional HR departments launched in April 2022, has expanded from 3 organizations to 24 organizations.
Building on these achievements, Inquiry LLC has reorganized and refreshed its business domains into three pillars: "HR Partner," "Learning Design," and "Impact Design," establishing a system to approach local people and organizational challenges more structurally.
1. Why is a "Regional HR Department" needed now?
In addition to the social problem of youth outflow, many local SMEs lack dedicated HR personnel. In reality, recruitment, training, and evaluation are handled concurrently by management or on-site managers. As a result, issues such as "difficulty in hiring, retaining, and developing people" become chronic, creating a negative cycle that causes young people to leave the region. In fiscal year 2024, bankruptcies due to labor shortages reached a record high (according to Teikoku Databank), and this structural issue is becoming increasingly severe year by year.
For the past 10 years, Inquiry LLC has practiced the approach of "solving problems that cannot be solved by one company, with the entire region." In addition to providing accompanying support to individual companies, it collaborates with diverse stakeholders such as local governments, schools, and NPOs to co-create mechanisms for recruiting, developing, and utilizing people across the entire region. This is the "Regional HR Department" advocated by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Inquiry LLC has uniquely practiced, researched, and modeled this concept.
Image of a Regional HR Department (Source: Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry)
2. New Business Structure: Three Domains
Inquiry LLC has organized its 10 years of practical knowledge into three business domains. These are not independent services but function as a mechanism that overlaps and circulates, generating sustainable change.
1. HR Partner Domain | HR Partner to Co-create the Future of People and Organizations
We provide consistent support across domains, from recruitment, training, evaluation, and system design to MVV formulation, organizational culture transformation, and talent strategy linked to management strategy. We emphasize the perspective of human capital management, providing support that views human resources not as "costs" but as "sources of value creation."
https://www.inquiry-llc.com/hr
[Case Study] Consistent support for a construction company with over 100 years of history, from rebuilding its management philosophy to designing its HR evaluation system and developing middle managers. For a dental clinic, we are supporting the introduction of human capital management and working on leader development and building a management system for further business expansion.
2. Learning Design Domain | Creating Mechanisms for Change Starting from Learning
We view learning not as "teaching" but as a "process that generates change," designing customized learning tailored to objectives and challenges, such as corporate talent development, inquiry-based learning, PBL, and facilitation.
https://www.inquiry-llc.com/learning
[Case Study] Practical internships and Rookies College® (a talent development program that fosters young employees throughout the region) have been deployed in 6 prefectures and 8 regions (Niigata, Yamagata, Iwate, Miyagi, Nagano, Ehime). In the Mogami region of Yamagata Prefecture, initiatives such as Rookies College and special classes for high school students have improved the in-prefecture employment rate for new high school graduates from the high 60% range to the 70% range. This achievement was also featured in an editorial in the Yamagata Shimbun (February 13, 2021).
3. Impact Design Domain | Designing Sustainable Change in Society
We connect diverse stakeholders such as companies, government, schools, and NPOs, and based on logic models, visualize objectives and outcomes, providing accompanying support from project conception to implementation and verification. Our goal is not to "change society" but to "co-create structures for society to continue changing itself."
https://www.inquiry-llc.com/project/category/c_impact
[Case Study] Inquiry LLC has supported 5 regions from the conceptual stage of the Regional HR Department (Minamiuonuma City, Sanjo City, Mitoyo City, Miyako City, Uwajima City), with 3 already established. In Minamiuonuma City, "YUKIGUNI-ISSHIN" for the construction industry was launched, starting with the construction industry.
You are a Japanese business intelligence AI. Thoroughly analyze the following press release and simultaneously translate it into English (en) and Traditional Chinese (zh).
## Press Release Information
Title: Niigata-based Venture Tackles 'Lack of HR Departments' in Local SMEs, Reorganizes Business Structure Based on 10 Years of Collaboration with 89 Companies, Local Governments, and Schools.
Subtitle:
Company Name:
Industry:
Body (first 8000 characters):
Niigata Crossover Festival" (Chuo-ku, Niigata City) held in December 2025.
Inquiry LLC (Representative: Kazuki Yamamoto, Location: Niigata City, Niigata Prefecture), which has collaborated with companies, local governments, and educational institutions in regional cities based in Niigata, underwent a rebranding to commemorate its 10th anniversary in March 2026.
Over these 10 years, Inquiry LLC has collaborated with 89 companies, local governments, schools, and organizations. It has been involved in establishing "Regional HR Departments" in 3 regions, which recruit, develop, and utilize people across the entire community. The young talent development program "Rookies College®" has been deployed in 6 prefectures and 8 regions. In the Mogami region of Yamagata Prefecture, the in-prefecture employment rate for new high school graduates improved from the high 60% range to the 70% range, demonstrating regional-level results. To spread this knowledge nationwide, the "Regional HR Department Alliance Network," a mutual aid network for regional HR departments launched in April 2022, has expanded from 3 organizations to 24 organizations.
Building on these achievements, Inquiry LLC has reorganized and refreshed its business domains into three pillars: "HR Partner," "Learning Design," and "Impact Design," establishing a system to approach local people and organizational challenges more structurally.
1. Why is a "Regional HR Department" needed now?
In addition to the social problem of youth outflow, many local SMEs lack dedicated HR personnel. In reality, recruitment, training, and evaluation are handled concurrently by management or on-site managers. As a result, issues such as "difficulty in hiring, retaining, and developing people" become chronic, creating a negative cycle that causes young people to leave the region. In fiscal year 2024, bankruptcies due to labor shortages reached a record high (according to Teikoku Databank), and this structural issue is becoming increasingly severe year by year.
For the past 10 years, Inquiry LLC has practiced the approach of "solving problems that cannot be solved by one company, with the entire region." In addition to providing accompanying support to individual companies, it collaborates with diverse stakeholders such as local governments, schools, and NPOs to co-create mechanisms for recruiting, developing, and utilizing people across the entire region. This is the "Regional HR Department" advocated by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Inquiry LLC has uniquely practiced, researched, and modeled this concept.
Image of a Regional HR Department (Source: Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry)
2. New Business Structure: Three Domains
Inquiry LLC has organized its 10 years of practical knowledge into three business domains. These are not independent services but function as a mechanism that overlaps and circulates, generating sustainable change.
1. HR Partner Domain | HR Partner to Co-create the Future of People and Organizations
We provide consistent support across domains, from recruitment, training, evaluation, and system design to MVV formulation, organizational culture transformation, and talent strategy linked to management strategy. We emphasize the perspective of human capital management, providing support that views human resources not as "costs" but as "sources of value creation."
https://www.inquiry-llc.com/hr
[Case Study] Consistent support for a construction company with over 100 years of history, from rebuilding its management philosophy to designing its HR evaluation system and developing middle managers. For a dental clinic, we are supporting the introduction of human capital management and working on leader development and building a management system for further business expansion.
2. Learning Design Domain | Creating Mechanisms for Change Starting from Learning
We view learning not as "teaching" but as a "process that generates change," designing customized learning tailored to objectives and challenges, such as corporate talent development, inquiry-based learning, PBL, and facilitation.
https://www.inquiry-llc.com/learning
[Case Study] Practical internships and Rookies College® (a talent development program that fosters young employees throughout the region) have been deployed in 6 prefectures and 8 regions (Niigata, Yamagata, Iwate, Miyagi, Nagano, Ehime). In the Mogami region of Yamagata Prefecture, initiatives such as Rookies College and special classes for high school students have improved the in-prefecture employment rate for new high school graduates from the high 60% range to the 70% range. This achievement was also featured in an editorial in the Yamagata Shimbun (February 13, 2021).
3. Impact Design Domain | Designing Sustainable Change in Society
We connect diverse stakeholders such as companies, government, schools, and NPOs, and based on logic models, visualize objectives and outcomes, providing accompanying support from project conception to implementation and verification. Our goal is not to "change society" but to "co-create structures for society to continue changing itself."
https://www.inquiry-llc.com/project/category/c_impact
[Case Study] Inquiry LLC has supported 5 regions from the conceptual stage of the Regional HR Department (Minamiuonuma City, Sanjo City, Mitoyo City, Miyako City, Uwajima City), with 3 already established. In Minamiuonuma City, "YUKIGUNI-ISSHIN" for the construction industry was launched, starting with the construction industry.