Before
facing economic crisis and tremendous earthquake in Japan, I worked very hard for
myself and for pursuing my personal interests. At that time, my interests were to achieve
high IRR and make profit for my clients. It was really fun and exciting to
invest in commercial property and divest it with incredible high price in short
term. I always thought how to maximize profit and return. What I did was to seek
good investment opportunity and acquired it with low price, and sold it with
high price without adding any value. But, economic recession put an end to our
game, and many funds and REITs which couldn’t create any value left the market.
In
Mar-2011, we experienced unforgettably impressive big earthquake. Tremendous
earthquake and tsunami wiped out everything and carried off the reason for
living from many people. Many people lost their family and their loved one. Over
300,000 people lost their house and still living in shelter. Many people lost
their hometown due to Fukushima nuclear power plant accident. Fukushima nuclear
power plant is still leaking radiation and polluting atmosphere even though two
years has been passed since earthquake. Before having such a big accident, all we
thought that nuclear power generator was eco-friendly and more economical. But
now, no one knows the total cost of decontamination and cost of tear-down
Fukushima nuclear power plant.
These
significant events drastically changed my priority and way of thinking. I strongly
felt that I wanted to become a professional who can create value and contribute
to build sustainable community for local people. That was one of my biggest motivations
to study abroad and joined grad school to study real estate. Two years have
passed since earthquake. I have not found "the true meaning of sustainable" and "how can I contribute to create sustainable community", however I feel that I have
begun to understand its meaning and how to contribute to local community through my study. My study will continue until I find the answer to those questions.