Koi Ni Ochitara

I was going to have this as a Japanese only post but thought that some of you may be interested.
As part of my Japanese language learning process, I watched many Japanese dramas. I actually acquired much of my spoken Japanese from watching dramas - much of what was taught in University is not actually used in daily Japanese.
The other 2 Japanese dramas that I found were different than the rest were Chance! with Nishida Hikaru and Mikami Hiroshi, Ace Wo Nerae with Ueto Aya. All the other dramas are the gooey yucky she-likes-him-but-he-likes-her-sister-who-is-actually-a-man type stories.

Now the reason I want to babble on about Koi Ni Ochitara is because it really has had an impact on my life of late - it has been very inspiring for me to watch and I related to it well.
Its about Shimao Suzuki - a chap who runs his own screw (screw as in nuts and bolts and screws) factory. His factory machinery etc end up being possessed by loan sharks and his mother dies from a heart attack after those sharks came to do their thang. Suzuki and his sister are down and out and poor.
Before suzuki's mother died, the doctors told him that she might be saved after a heart transplant ( I think it was the heart ) but that it would cost 50 million yen (about $500K US).

Suzuki says to himself one day that to earn 50 million yen, he would have to work 35 years. I really related to his words because when I reflect on the past, I say to myself that if I stayed where I was 5 years ago, I would have had to work 30 years for every 2 years that I work now just to earn the same amount of money. A life time.

Suzuki just happens to be a god-type programmer who gets hired by Takayanagi - the boss of leading IT company Frontier. The whole story is about how Suzuki makes his way to the top of Frontier and how both Takayanagi and Suzuki loose everything after treating people like scum. Suzuki starts of being humble but changes as he gains more power. The drama then goes on to show how Takayanagi and Suzuki recover from their downfall.


I don't plan on continuing to work for others for too long as I plan on starting my own company soon. My current boss is not disillusioned either - she knows I will be off to do my thing one day. Koi Ni Ochitara is a story which inspires me and is just one of the things that spurs me on to start my own thing sooner rather than later.

Now don't get me wrong - I am not saying that there is anything wrong with working for others. Working for others was an essential step to get me where I am now.

I believe the work place should be somewhere where you can exhibit your best, learn and gain - at the same time the company will benefit from your actions. You should make good use of your surroundings at work - meet as many people as you can in all the locales that your company is located in. Use your position to meet as many people as possible in the same industry. Do as much as you can and push your self to the edge in your current environment.
If you are unable to do any of this then you are probably in the wrong place. You should also always have an idea of your destination. Where are you going? What do you want to achieve in your current role? How long will you be in your current role? Having an idea of your destination will help you focus on what's important as you go about your everyday employee life.

Focus is key - I try to remain focused on my destination and Koi Ni Ochitara is just one of the few things that helps me do that.

For those of you who missed the series, my agents tell me that the series is available on P2P networks...

Above: Kaori Shirakawa played by Nao Matsushita - rather erm nice.

Above: Programmer Shimao Suzuki played by Tsuyoshi Kusanagi.

Above: Frontier boss Toru Takayanagi played by Shinichi Tsutsumi.