From Cry Baby to Bully Kazuo Inamori Story 2

Even on the first day of the elementary school, Kazuo Inamori cried.  He wrote "the moment I realized that my mother would leave me behind at school, tears welled up in my eyes and I couldn't stop crying."  His mother had to stay in the classroom till the end of the day because he didn't stop crying.

He continued to be a cry baby.  His family tried convincing him to go to school by himself, but to no avail.  They often had to put crying Kazuo on the back of a bicycle and carried him to school.

It took him a while, but he eventually got used to the school life.  He even liked studying.  At the end of his first year, he got straight As.

Kagoshima, the area Inamori grew up in, is known for a strong samurai tradition.  At the end of Japan's feudal times, many Kagoshima samurai's fought the Shogun government in Tokyo to bring Japan to modern age.  As Inamori was raised in the culture.  he became interested in the role of leader.  He became a bully, he says.

He was not just a bully.  He knew physical strength alone would not earn respect from his peers.  He realized he had to have a strong will and a warm heart.  He sometimes gave his subordinates medals of decoration made of road side weeds.  He even divided his own afternoon snacks and gave them to his peers.

Cry Baby Kazuo Inamori story 1

Kazuo Inamori is a founder of KYOCERA Corporation, which has more than 200 subsidiaries in its group.  The KYOCERA group employes more than 70,000 people all over the world.

Inamori was born on January 21, 1935 in Kagoshima city.  Kagoshima is located in Kyushu island.  He was born as the second son among seven brothers and sisters. Around the time Inamori was born, Kesaichi, his father,  started his own small printing shop.  Kesaich was a quiet and honest worker, whose motivation was to do just good jobs.  He was not interested in earning more than he needs to barely support his family.  Inamori's mother, Kimi, on the other hand, was very energetic and cheerful person.  Kimi was the one who managed everything in the house and housewives in the neighborhood who helped the print shop.

Kazuo Inamori says he inherited his fathers prudent personality.  During the WW Ⅱ, Kesaich lost his print shop after many bombing which attacked Kagoshima city.  Although Kimi wanted Kesaich to restart his print shop, he was reluctant to spend money to invest on new machinery.   Kazuo Inamori says he is also prudent just like his father.  His management style without bank borrowing shows that he took after his father.

At the same time, Kazuo Inamori, says he took after his mother's optimistic personality.  He never gives up under any circumstances, and stays always cheerful even in time of trouble.

It is hard to imagine from his present success, but Kasuo Inamori says he was a cry baby when he was a boy.  He followed everywhere his mother went tugging on to her Kimono sleeves.  When she was busy doing her chores and leaving him alone, he just cried. He cried and cried, Kazuo Inamori says.  His mother used to complained to others that once Kazuo started crying, crying lasted three hours, Kazuo says.

I started reading on Kazuo Inamori, the founder of Kyocera

I'm thinking about writing an book on zen-like spirituality among Japanese tech companies' CEOs in English.

I have started reading biographies of Japanese tech companies CEOs, and now I am reading a auto-biography of Mr. Kazuo Inamori, the founder of Kyocera.  It is quite an interesting story.  I'd like to introduce some episodes from the book which reflect his spirituality on this blog.

Mr. Inamori was born in Kagoshima prefecture, Japan in 1932.  According to his auto-biography "My resume: Kasuo Inamori, Bulliy's auto-biography," he was quite a bully when he was a boy.  As he grew up, he went through many hardships; bombing during the WWⅡ, flunking, failing school entrance exams, suffering tuberculosis, and so on.

"I lost everything during the war.  I couldn't get a job after the war.  Nothing goes the way I want, I thought, " wrote Inamori.  There are many ups and downs in life.  Some people are blessed with good fortunes, others with bad fortunes.  Yet kinds of events the life serves you doesn't really matter, says Inamori.  What matters is how your heart handle those life events.  "Through hardships you should never forget hope for bright future.  When you succeed, you should never forget to thank people and to be humble," wrote Inamori.

Translation of Morning Words of Tempu Nakamura

The following words are those of Tempu Nakamura, a Japanese philosopher who have influenced many Japanese business people and politicians in the 20 century.
These words to be read in the morning to energize your spirit.

Now I am born again with power, brave heart, and strong belief, in order to prove that I am such a person who is connected with the Universe by doing what such persons would do.
I will do my daily work with overflowing passion.  I will progress with joy and appreciation.
I will set all my goals and all my purposes with what are definitely right.
I will stay always in good moods and happy and try to become somebody useful to the world.

Start over again

It's been a while since my last post.  A lot has changed.  I am no longer the editor of chief of TechWave.jp, one of the leading tech blog media in Japan.  Since I quit TechWave, I have been reading a lot of books on Zen and other topics.  Technology is not the only field I am interested now.  I am interested in any mechanism that changed the world.