Taro's Blog

One of my favorite books ever written by Dr Ken’ichi Omae is 「やりたいことは全部やれ！」 (“Whatever You Want to Do, Do Them All!”) In his book, he also stressed, “Whatever you want to do, do it now. Don’t wait”. This was one of the important books that changed my life. I’ve been following his advice truthfully.

Right now, I am learning to drive a bus, because I wanted to do it. In May 2025, I abandoned my permanent residency in Australia and came back to Japan because I wanted to do so, in addition to I thought it was good for my son’s education. I utilized my paid holidays and scuba dove when Qlik had the employee summits in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, in January 2014 and Cancun, Mexico, in January 2015. I migrated to Australia in 2015 because I wanted to do so, in addition to I thought it was good for my son’s education. In April 2019, I drove to Uluru (aka Ayers Rock) via Coober Pedy and drove back through Alice Springs, Adelaide, the Great Ocean Road, and Eden with my son and then-wife in the duration of 2 weeks. We camped at every stop, and my son and I had a blast. When I had opportunities to take a couple of pleasure cruises, I grabbed them and went with my son, 2 weeks in December 2022 and a week in June 2023. In that aspect, I did pretty well.

Gene Simmons of KISS is a man I admire (Me, Inc.). Contrary to his public image (a money-hungry has-been rock star), he is an intellectual man with discipline. I wanted to raise my son like he did his children, but I was not able to do so due to the family situation back then.

In Japan, we quite often sugarcoat the name of organizations, and their facilities. We call our military 自衛隊 (Self-Defence Force). We call The Defeat of WWII 終戦 (The End of the War). We call Occupaiton (占領) Invasion (進駐), thus, we say something like 「戦後は、アメリカ進駐軍が7年間日本を平和的に統治しました。」”After the End of the War, the American Invasion Forces governed Japan peacefully for 7 years.” instead of ”After the Defeat of the WW II, the American Occupation Forces ruled Japan peacefully for 7 years.”

Make a long story short, my son decided to submit himself to 児童相談所 (Child Consultation Center), which actually meant Child Detention Center, for two weeks while I was away learning to drive a bus. I insisted that he would be OK living by himself, but in the end, I respected his decision with an unnoticeable smile. A day or two later, he regretted. He realised he had made a bad decision. He thought he would be staying in a single suite in the resort. Instead, he found himself in prison. For me, it was a blessing in disguise! He had learned some discipline that he lacked there, in my opinion.

Peter Frampton said, “I landed back at the bottom of the ladder. I quickly picked myself up. and started to fight my way back. I now believe that this was a necessity for me,” when he was accepting the Rock Hall Induction in 2024. Likewise, I wish my son would say, “That was a necessity for me” someday in the future.