I have a difficult time explaining where I am from. First of all, I was born in Tokyo. My father is American and my mother is Japanese. I lived in Tokyo until I was fourteen years old. During that time, I attended The American School in Japan located in Chofu-shi for eight years and was exposed to people from about 40 different countries. After I graduated from middle school, my family moved to Hong Kong, where I attended an international school there during my high school years. Again, the school had a very diverse student body, allowing me the opportunity to expand my view of the world.
I spent my university years in Nashville, Tennessee in the U.S., where I eventually (and barely) graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering from Vanderbilt University. In my Freshman year, I picked up rock climbing as a hobby because I was bored with life. Despite my fear of heights, rock climbing became my primary hobby. I also gave skydiving a shot, but just once.
After graduation from university, I accepted a job working in the commercial air conditioning industry in Lexington, Kentucky. Most people find it quite boring there. Fortunately for me, Lexington was only about 100km from some of the best rock climbing in the world. Needless to say, my weekends were spent all day climbing. There was also a Toyota plant about 50km away, so there were many Japanese people and restaurants in Lexington. Also, my aunt, cousins and cousins’ children live in and near Lexington, so I had the opportunity to see them as well.
Music has played an important role in my life. I started playing the saxophone in elementary school. I picked up the guitar in high school, but didn’t really learn how to play it until I was in my twenties. Just before leaving the States, I had guitar and vocal duties in an alternative rock band, which was really great fun.
I returned to Japan in March 2006 to attend an aikido instructor’s course for eleven months. Since the course has finished, I have been broadening my martial horizons by picking up Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Muay Thai. Despite all the training, I am still very weak, but have discovered the joys of training hard.