The NY brewery which has been delayed for so many years, is finally nearing completion. My departure to New York on 20th March draws near as well. By the time you are reading this entry, I may already be on a plane or a resident in the U.S.

Although this is embarrassing to say, but I do not speak English at all. On top of that, I can’t help but feel gloomy because in the States, cars are driven on the right side of the road, which is the opposite of Japan. With that being said, I bought a new Mustang as my mode of transport! Hold on, how is this even connected to the big picture? No, you will see how everything falls in place.

The Ford Mustang has been my dream car since I was a pimpled-faced junior high school student 50 years ago. I would stare at pictures of Mustangs in magazines until I could burn a hole in the pages. Then, there was the blonde, well-proportioned model leaning against the side of the car in a cardigan and slacks… (Hey now, that’s sexual harassment. My apologies.) My excuse for getting a car is a treat to myself. It is quite pricey for a treat though. I have always had a bad habit of pampering myself, so please go easy on me. (I am hard on others; my employees can testify to that.)

You would ask, why do I go to such lengths to go to the States? Afterall, the three staff members posted to NY are DASSAI’s first brewery manager and his successor, and another veteran with over 15 years of experience. I can say that technically, they are personnel in whom I have full confidence. What’s the point of me going there now? It is a natural question. Normally, the chairman of a Japanese company would not go under such circumstances. Why do I insist on going? Don’t I trust my staff?

No, I trust them wholeheartedly. However, the more capable the staff member being dispatched, the sounder their reputation, the more determined they are to succeed. We have taken every precaution to ensure that we do not fail. Nonetheless, we all know that no such thing is possible in this world. Even a nuclear power plant deemed flawless had an such a terrible accident.

My employees instinctively know this. So what will they do? They try not to fail, by not imposing high challenges on themselves. If one does not take risks, the probability of failure goes down dramatically. Then, they will look for reasons why they cannot take on challenges. The downside of this being, the more capable they are, the more incontestable and logical the reasons they discover.

In this case, it is not worth spending 72 million USD on brewery in America. That’s why I am going there. I am going there to fail with them, to find solutions, and to reach a higher level of achievement. My current plan is to stay in the U.S. for one year. I will be reporting on the happenings and life in the States of an unreasonably determined brewery owner, who is unaware of his 72 years of age, so please stay tuned.