【Global Leader Interview】Mr. Tadayoshi Tazaki: Founder of Tazaki Foundation and JAC Recruitment

My parents were one of the catalysts to how this all began. After the war (WWII), my father, who was a soldier in the army, decided that working for a company was just not for him, so he started his own business. This, however, eventuated in the business piling up debt, forcing our family to move out of our own home on multiple occasions due to being chased by debt collectors. In the midst of all this, I began to realize in the back of my mind that no matter how hard I studied and worked to get into a prestigious university and company, respectively, in Japan, I would never be able to pay off my father’s debt.
  Another was the fact that I was already in an environment brimming with information from abroad. During the war, I was evacuated to Manchuria with my grandparents and was unable to return to Japan for a while. Soon after the war ended, the Soviet soldiers occupied our house and we lived with them for about two years. I was about two years old at the time, but by the time I was five, I was fluent enough in Russian to interpret for my family. This experience enabled me to become quite receptive towards going abroad.
  When I was in high school, the United States and the Soviet Union (now Russia), were the two great world powers and I expected that the Soviet Union would dominate the world going forward. My thought then was to study at the Moscow State University and so I headed to the Soviet Embassy for consultation only to be told that I was too young to apply and that I should come back after I graduated from university. I wasn’t satisfied with this suggestion. Did I then decide to consider studying in the U.S.? Not quite. Many of my peers had already been to the United States. I wanted to choose a different path.
  It then occurred to me that the United Kingdom might be a good choice. I had some knowledge of the U.K., as my grandfather had been stationed there. As I was searching for various contacts, I learned that there was a young British professor at the University of Tokyo. I went straight to him, and he was extremely helpful in guiding me through the process. He even offered his parents as my U.K. guardians, for which I was very grateful.
  In retrospect, my feelings were twofold: I wanted to escape Japan and I wanted to do something unprecedented. When I made up my mind and told my friends that I would be going to the U.K., the news spread quickly and widely throughout my school, so there was no backing out. On the day of my departure, a dozen of my friends came to the airport to send me off. At that moment, I vowed to myself that I would not come back to this country empty-handed.

I entered Kingswood thanks to an introduction from the British professor at the University of Tokyo, who continued to support me. Naturally, at first, I had no idea what I was getting into, including what to study there. The GCE Advanced Level (A Level), the main qualification for admission to U.K. universities, usually requires two years to complete, but due to having limited funds, my goal was to finish the qualification in one year, whilst studying English. I admit, this was very tough.
  In British public schools, it is customary for a student to take part in an interview with the headmaster to assess the student’s academic motivation. With my limited English ability, can you imagine how my interview went? I nervously pulled out a dictionary in front of the headmaster and told him that I wished to matriculate to a prestigious university such as Oxford or Cambridge. Needless to say, he told me that it would be a challenge to attend any university in the U.K. There were only around thirty universities at the time and the acceptance rates were around 2%. In addition, the government paid full tuition and board for the students, so admission was extremely competitive.
  The headmaster then advised me to firstly study English strenuously and even offered me private lessons. The headmaster was aware of my extremely shy personality and told me, “If you seriously want to get better at English, just talk about anything.” As a mere listener before that, I then had an epiphany: Why not just talk? From there on, I started speaking actively. I expressed my thoughts, listened to the opinions of others, and responded to them. Through this repetition, my English steadily improved.
  As with the classes, I did well in mathematics, so I additionally took Higher Math. To apply to Oxbridge universities (Oxford and Cambridge), you needed to pass (with a grade of over 50%) English as well and this was the challenging part for me. I also took Physics and passed the test despite my laboratory equipment being broken during the test —I had to improvise and justify my answers by writing in the answer sheet, “If the equipment worked properly, my answer would have been (so on and so forth…).”
  My hard work paid off and I was accepted to Cambridge University after earning my GCE-A Level qualification in one year. The system when matriculating to Oxbridge essentially enabled a gap year due to the timing of the final examinations and encouraged students to experience life before entering university. My guardians (to whom I am eternally grateful) allowed me to stay at their home during this academic hiatus, but I couldn’t just stay home and do nothing. So, through their introductions, I was able to work on dairy farms, in factories, and at post offices. I must have had seven or eight jobs throughout the year, but these were some of the best experiences I have had in my life.
  As mentioned earlier, university tuition and boarding were paid by the government, but this only applied to British citizens. As a foreigner, I had to pay full tuition. I thought about asking my family again for their financial support, but after their hard work to finance my public school tuition, I just did not have the heart to rely on them again. I then mustered up the courage to ask the university for help. To my surprise, they agreed to provide a student loan for the entire amount of my tuition and board, as well as living expenses (as boarding students were not allowed to have part-time jobs). I could not believe the risk they took without any collateral, but I was very impressed by the generosity of the University of Cambridge and by extension, the country of Great Britain, and I was determined to return the favor someday.
  When I entered Cambridge, I asked the professor why he accepted me to the university. He said, “Your English was a mess, but to be honest I don’t think I would have accepted you had you been able to speak English fluently.” He then went on to say, “You look Japanese, and you come from a Japanese background, and this universities, with a history and tradition of over 800 years needs a student like that.” Around 70 percent of the faculty came from other universities and I in fact did not have any professors who were graduates of Cambridge. I believe this is because embracing diversity is essential for the development and advancement of any organization.

I would say the biggest difference is the usage of textbooks. In the U.K. there are no standard textbooks. They may be useful when teaching the same subject to the same group of students but studying the same things as others would only drop the class level, hence lowering the motivation of students who are able to excel. If the requirement is to just read textbooks, how different is that to what AI can do in students’ stead?
  In British secondary schools (equivalent to high schools in the U.S.), textbooks or books differ according to teachers’ choices and expertise. Each teacher uses a different book for each exam, thus end up using many books. This is where the creativity and uniqueness of each teacher come into play.
  One of the best features of British education is that it focuses on practical learning. For example, at Kingswood School, there was a proper kitchen as part of the school’s facility. There was even a farm nearby for students to actually grow produce and then cook food in the school’s kitchen to better understand the global food crisis. The school is well-invested when it comes to educating their pupils.
  Another aspect of British education is that in university, students are expected to specialize in at least one field as they have already mastered other subjects in their A Level studies. In Japan, on the other hand, students learn various topics broadly, but not in-depth. Japan is strong when it comes to nurturing generalists and people gain practical experience for the first time after they enter the workforce. This, I believe, impedes the growth of diversity and inclusion.

Back then, Japanese graduates from Cambridge were unprecedented so I had received several offers from companies in many different countries. The Japanese economy was perceptibly picking up and companies from the U.K., the U.S., Switzerland, Germany, and other industrialized nations approached me as they were considering dealing with Japan going forward and needed people who understood the Japanese culture.
  Since I had student loans to pay off, one of my conditions in selecting a company was that they would take over the debt. A company in Switzerland offered to pay off my whole debt and even chartered out a five-year career path for me. Amid my job search, I had the opportunity to meet someone in London: He was the president of the London subsidiary’s Mitsubishi Corporation, and although quite outspoken, he was a fair, very kind gentleman. He said to me, “You may be able to speak English well, but your Japanese is questionable.” He then followed, “Japan will soon boom economically so I suggest that you study Japanese. If you work for a Japanese company, you will have the opportunity to work in a field that would directly contribute to Japan’s economic growth.” This left a strong impression on me and I decided to join the company then and there.
  After I joined Mitsubishi Corporation’s London office of about 300 employees, of which around 50 were Japanese nationals, I was assigned to the Machinery Department. With half of the company’s clients coming to London to inspect this division, it was the busiest. As Japan’s economy grew, many companies needed to make machines, engines, and many other technological devices for large-scale production. I was responsible for making appointments with such companies, interpreting for them, and accompanying them on factory tours and other business engagements. I left Mitsubishi Corporation after one year but learned and experienced a lot from the people I met through my work.

After Mitsubishi Corporation, I joined the London branch of an American non-ferrous metals company where I was hired as their first Asian futures trader. I was engaged in that job for about five to six years and then moved to Sumitomo Corporation. I was only there for one year, as I was preparing to start my own business.
  As Japan was entering its economic prime, I knew this was my advantage in starting a business. And as many Japanese companies were going global, my first thought was that the Japanese expats and their families needed housing. I thought, why not get into the realtor business? They also would want to have Japanese food overseas, so why not import Japanese food and establish Japanese restaurants? I accomplished all this within a year or two of establishing my company in London.
  I never really considered all this work to be arduous and in fact, this all came naturally to me. Something interesting happened every day and it was very fulfilling. In the U.K., you only need one pound to establish a company. Buying a company was also easy. I must have set up about twenty companies to accommodate each type of business I was operating.
  What is important in managing a company is knowing the right people and getting acquainted with the experts. When I was at Cambridge, I was a struggling Japanese student and perhaps I had emanated an image of a distinguished person. Using this to my advantage, I got acquainted with a prominent British solicitor, who helped me set up my company. He then introduced me to the head of a consulting firm who in turn introduced me to the director at Barclays Bank. With my establishment of a one-pound company, I was able to connect with several people who found my ideas interesting.

My wife was working for a Japanese bank in London at the time. She has been extremely talented with a great sense for business so I recruited her to my company. I put her in charge of the recruitment business, and through her hard work the business grew rapidly. She came from a completely different professional background, but she turned that into an advantage and worked hard to achieve our objectives.
  As far as the secret to a successful partnership goes, when it comes to husband and wife, a pair of coffee mugs given to us by a good friend of mine in London say it all: one reads, “Mr. Right” and the other, “Mrs. Always Right.”

Do something unprecedented.
  I recently gave a two-hour lecture at the University of Tokyo, consistent with this message. Yes, students at the University of Tokyo are extraordinary and perhaps many have already laid out their future paths. But the key to success is to deliver something unprecedented. I understand the difficulties of executing something purely through one’s own will and power. Have the courage to abandon what has already been done and work on something innovative, and just imagine how we may be able to turn this country around. Without such people (leaders), we have no hopes and futures for Japan. People may turn or go against you and your parents may urge you to take the safest path, but at times, you may need to defy them!

The person I most respect and whom I have actually met in person is Mrs. Thatcher, Britain’s former prime minister.
  Mrs. Thatcher taught me that to lead a country or an organization, you must become an expert. She had just become the prime minster when she attended her first G7 summit. One of the agendas at the summit was the oil crisis, but she had no knowledge of the industry at the time. So, she brought in presidents from major oil companies and had them lecture her on the topic. By the time she got to the summit, she had become well-versed on the matter. That takes a tremendous amount of time and dedication!
  In 1982, a container ship carrying frozen food that I had imported from Japan was blocked due to a strike by the port authority. I decided to send a letter to Prime Minister Thatcher. The next day, she called me directly to tell me that she had instructed for the issue to be solved right away. She also kindly advised me with a solution when I had a difficulty obtaining a work permit for an employee coming from Japan. Despite her extremely busy position, Mrs. Thatcher went out of her way to lend a helping hand to a foreigner, which truly showcased her spirit of fairness.

To reiterate, do something unprecedented! It all comes down to that. Where is the fun in following the footsteps of someone who has already accomplished something?
  Another piece of advice would be to find a niche. Just as the word origin of niche suggests—to create a unique environment where beautiful things can be displayed—it is important in the world of business to also fill in the gaps by building something successful. Do something new and aim for your niche, and one day, you may be able to make a breakthrough!