1970年代前半、やはり日本は目立つ存在だったのでしょう。
After boot camp, I returned to my reserve unit as a company clerk, which angered the commander. So, I was assigned to drill sergeant school for two years. Believe it or not, by going through drill sergeant school and being a drill sergeant for about two and a half years, I learned how to teach. I didn’t like the subject-matter, and I was not a very good drill sergeant, but I did learn some things, particularly how to stand up in front of a group and teach as I mentioned.
In those days, my life was managing the store at FW Woolworth’s and going to Army Reserve meetings. I noticed at that time I still had a great desire to get into international business in any way I could. I always found myself in the stockroom reading the origins of the merchandise Woolworth’s was bringing in from Asia, particularly Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong. Business with China had not started in those days. That came years later. I was continuing to read business magazines and what the United States was importing and exporting worldwide. With the huge figures of products imported from Japan particularly to California, I decided to start studying Japanese. I was around 26 years old at that time.
I signed up for an adult education Japanese class right in San Jose. That was an interesting experience, because here I was in a class mostly of third and fourth generation Americans of Japanese descent who wanted (or were pressured by their direct parents) to learn the language to be able to talk to relatives back in Japan. They all kind of wondered why I was putting myself through so much pain to learn that extremely difficult language. In those days, I too found the language extremely difficult.
But a Chinese guy, Kwang Peng (above) encouraged me very much. He told me to just sit in the class and try to follow the lessons as best you can. He originally came from mainland China and then Taiwan. He comes from a highly educated family. I met him long after he had finished graduate school in advanced engineering. As I was not doing it for anyone except myself, I decided to flunk myself two times in the entry level Japanese class. I finally got an understanding of the material after the third time around in the beginning class. Classes after that became much easier for me.
Ronさんのセミナーいかがですか。苦労の多かったRon-sanの青春時代やキャリア形成の話、特に何故日本に来る決断をしたのか、などを聴いてみたいですね。それとRonさんが楽しみにしている出席者と皆さんとのノミニケーション。年末にはできそうですね。
皆さんがおやりになっている勉強会などに出張し講演させていただきます。
ただし、Ronさんが住んでいる東京都大田区から日帰りできるところとさせてください。
もっとも台湾でも日帰りは可能ですが。
After boot camp, I returned to my reserve unit as a company clerk, which angered the commander. So, I was assigned to drill sergeant school for two years. Believe it or not, by going through drill sergeant school and being a drill sergeant for about two and a half years, I learned how to teach. I didn’t like the subject-matter, and I was not a very good drill sergeant, but I did learn some things, particularly how to stand up in front of a group and teach as I mentioned.
In those days, my life was managing the store at FW Woolworth’s and going to Army Reserve meetings. I noticed at that time I still had a great desire to get into international business in any way I could. I always found myself in the stockroom reading the origins of the merchandise Woolworth’s was bringing in from Asia, particularly Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong. Business with China had not started in those days. That came years later. I was continuing to read business magazines and what the United States was importing and exporting worldwide. With the huge figures of products imported from Japan particularly to California, I decided to start studying Japanese. I was around 26 years old at that time.
I signed up for an adult education Japanese class right in San Jose. That was an interesting experience, because here I was in a class mostly of third and fourth generation Americans of Japanese descent who wanted (or were pressured by their direct parents) to learn the language to be able to talk to relatives back in Japan. They all kind of wondered why I was putting myself through so much pain to learn that extremely difficult language. In those days, I too found the language extremely difficult.
But a Chinese guy, Kwang Peng (above) encouraged me very much. He told me to just sit in the class and try to follow the lessons as best you can. He originally came from mainland China and then Taiwan. He comes from a highly educated family. I met him long after he had finished graduate school in advanced engineering. As I was not doing it for anyone except myself, I decided to flunk myself two times in the entry level Japanese class. I finally got an understanding of the material after the third time around in the beginning class. Classes after that became much easier for me.
Ronさんのセミナーいかがですか。苦労の多かったRon-sanの青春時代やキャリア形成の話、特に何故日本に来る決断をしたのか、などを聴いてみたいですね。それとRonさんが楽しみにしている出席者と皆さんとのノミニケーション。年末にはできそうですね。
皆さんがおやりになっている勉強会などに出張し講演させていただきます。
ただし、Ronさんが住んでいる東京都大田区から日帰りできるところとさせてください。
もっとも台湾でも日帰りは可能ですが。
