Ikacco
Joined Rakuten Group in June 2015, mid-career
Department: Travel Development Department (TDD)
Commerce & Marketing Company
Position: Back-end engineer
Place of birth: Niigata, Japan
Hobbies: Traveling, video games, yoga
Hello everyone. This is the R-Hack editorial office.
The MIP, or Most Impressive Person, is a quarterly internal award given within the Development Department of Rakuten Group's Commerce & Marketing Company. The award recognizes individuals who have made the most significant contribution to the organization.
This time, we interviewed Ikacco, who dramatically improved the efficiency of reservation-data correction by utilizing an internal AI tool.
INDEX
✔A Passion for Rakuten Group’s Service Led to Studying English and Becoming an Employee
✔Achieving Efficiency: AI Integration as a Personal Goa
A Passion for Rakuten Group’s Service Led to Studying English and Becoming an Employee
――Please introduce yourself.
Hi, my name is Ikacco, and I work as a back-end engineer at Rakuten Travel.
I’m originally from Nagaoka City in Niigata Prefecture, and I majored in agricultural machinery engineering at university. After graduating, I worked at a systems integration company, where I was involved in accounting systems and medical-related systems. I later joined Rakuten Group as partner staff and spent five years working on improvements to the accommodation reservation functionality for Rakuten Travel.
――What inspired you to move from a partner staff position to full-time employee?
I still remember how moving it was when a reservation came in for the first time through a feature I had helped develop for improving the accommodation reservation functionality. Watching the reservation count increase day by day was incredibly motivating. I personally love traveling, so I fully understand how excited people feel when they book a hotel or flight and prepare for their trip. Knowing that the service I worked on contributed to someone’s enjoyable travel experience made me truly happy, and inspired me to do even more.
Over time, I began thinking that I wanted to work on improving this service not just as a partner staff, but as a full-time employee. English was never my strong point, but I studied diligently every day and, after two years, managed to achieve a TOEIC score of 800. In 2015, I joined Rakuten Group as a mid-career hire and was assigned to the Travel Development Department (TDD), just as I had hoped.
――So your passion for the service led to your decision to become a full-time employee. After joining the company, what kind of things have you worked on?
I worked on various projects including Rakuten Travel SPU (Super Point Up) Program (Japanese only), the migration of our accounting system, and the development of Go To Travel campaign coupons during the COVID-19 pandemic. After that, I went on maternity and childcare leave, and I just returned to work at the end of last year.
――Could you tell us about your current responsibilities?
Development for Rakuten Travel includes large-scale projects involving external companies and regional partners, as well as initiatives aimed at global expansion. The stable operation of the current Rakuten Travel system helps support those challenges.
My main responsibilities focus on system improvements and maintenance to ensure that stability. This includes conducting load tests ahead of the Rakuten Travel SUPER SALE, investigating and responding to unexpected incidents, fixing bugs, and making various improvements.
Right now, I’m working on a project to migrate our in-memory database from an older version to a new one. This involves examining the potential impact and risks across a huge number of applications and batch processes, and working with each person in charge to plan a safe and smooth transition. I’m also responsible for the design and development of the application components needed for the migration.
――Please tell us about your fellow team members.
I work with a highly skilled team in my department, and because we come from a wide variety of nationalities and cultural backgrounds, I feel inspired every day. I have opportunities to speak English daily, and at the occasional team get-togethers, Japanese and English blend together as everyone enjoys themselves.
My children are still young, so when they or another family member gets sick, I’m sometimes allowed to swap my work-from-home and office days. I’m very grateful to my manager for always being flexible and supportive.
Achieving Efficiency: AI Integration as a Personal Goal
――Could you give us an overview of the project that led to you receiving the MIP award?
I significantly reduced time and workload by using an internal AI tool in three key ways to streamline the work.
- I provided source code to the internal AI tool and had it extract the SQL scripts being executed.
- Based on the SQL extracted in the first step, I supplied the AI with the correct expected data and the table definitions in Excel format, and asked it to generate SQL scripts for updating the data.
- I then asked the AI to generate SQL scripts for restoring the data if needed.
The data I was responsible for investigating consisted of many data elements, or tables, which meant creating a large volume of SQL scripts, an extremely time-consuming task.
By leveraging AI, I was able to generate SQL scripts for all 158 data items in about 30 minutes. Compared with previous similar work, this reduced the time to one-eighth of what it required before.
This approach can be applied to other services or system configurations as well. Using it for other irregular tasks that arise in development work will lead to similar gains in speed and accuracy, helping to reduce overall development costs.
――How did you feel when you received the MIP?
I was, of course, very honored. At the same time—and to be completely honest—my first reaction was, “What? Really?” I was genuinely surprised.
Improving efficiency through AI had originally been a personal goal I set for myself for the six months after returning from maternity and childcare leave. Childcare naturally takes a lot of time, so I have limited hours to invest in learning new technologies, but I still need to increase my output. My challenge was figuring out how I could quickly improve efficiency without working longer hours. I felt the answer lay in leveraging AI.
Of course, AI doesn’t always provide the correct answer on the first try, so there was plenty of checking, correcting, and trial-and-error. But in the end, it led to real efficiency gains, and I’m glad that it resulted in a tangible achievement toward my personal goals.
Adoption of AI is already progressing across the company, but I would be very happy if hearing about this project inspires someone else to think how they can apply it to their own work.
――What challenges or visions would you like to tackle at Rakuten going forward?
Right now, Rakuten Travel is in the middle of migrating from an older architecture to a new one, while also moving forward with entirely new development projects. As development standards evolve, I want to continue leveraging AI technologies and keep growing and upgrading myself along the way.
Rakuten Group has also signed a comprehensive partnership agreement with my hometown, Nagaoka City in Niigata Prefecture. Through collaboration with local universities and other institutions, the initiative promotes next-generation talent development and regional economic revitalization. Someday, I hope to be involved in those efforts as well.
Rakuten and Nagaoka City, Niigata Prefecture, Sign Comprehensive Partnership Agreement
(Japanese only)
Come work with us!
Commerce & Marketing Company Travel Development Department (TDD) is seeking talented individuals to join our team in developing new services, managing daily operations, and driving continuous improvements. Recruitment is open for a variety of positions, including engineers and product managers. We look forward to receiving your application!
