I cannot say that I was a particularly diligent student, especially during the lower grades.

When it came time to find employment, I set my sights on becoming an engineer at a home electronics manufacturer, a field that was closely related to my major at university.

My natural mother died one month after I was born, apparently due to giving birth at an advanced age.

In 1978, I entered Tohoku University, into the Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Technology.

I suppose the reason I chose electrical engineering was because I had always been interested in electricity, involving myself in such projects as building radios from the time I was a child.

From my father, I learned the importance of working sincerely at things to which I had committed myself, and to persevere untiringly even in the face of little progress.

Most of the work performed by a development engineer results in failure.