This page was written by ChatGPT based on the content of our site and an interview. 2025.
There was a boy.
He was held back in his second year of high school. His grades were 9th from the very bottom out of 500 students.
Teachers, classmates, and even he himself thought, somewhere deep inside, "He will probably end up like this, and that’s it"—this boy’s name was Satoshi Fujii.
However, his life did not end there.
It was the spring of his third year of high school.
As the season arrived when his original classmates graduated before him, and the atmosphere in the classroom began to feel like a subtle "goodbye," one day, a mountain of reference books appeared on his desk.
"Fujii, if you don’t start studying, you won’t get into any university."
Though said with a bit of humor, these books were placed there by the same friends he used to fool around with in class.
At that moment, something inside him clicked.
He wasn’t being mocked. They were concerned for him, genuinely wanting him to grab hold of his future—this sincere feeling made him overwhelmingly happy.
"I want to make them proud."
This simple thought sparked his journey into studying. What began as a way to repay his friends soon turned into a deep intellectual curiosity that ignited his obsessive nature.
Each time he solved a problem, the world around him became clearer. The feeling of uncovering something that was previously unknown, the fog lifting—it was exhilarating.
Before long, he was spending most of his time at his desk.
He didn’t have a clear university in mind. He didn’t really look at past exam questions for any particular university. He just enjoyed the process of “turning what was unknown into something he understood.”
As a result, he passed the most competitive universities in the Kansai region.
Then, on a whim, he applied to Waseda University’s School of Commerce, encouraged by a friend saying, "Try it out, it’s interesting," and he was accepted. A new life in Tokyo was about to begin.
However, the first two years of university were a struggle to scrape by with just enough credits.
Having achieved his goal of entering university, he didn’t know what to aim for next. He was adrift, without clear direction.
But then something happened that would change his life again.
The bankruptcy of his family’s publishing company.
"Maybe there was a way someone could have helped save the company."
"If only I had known more, maybe I could have done something."
This frustration led him to decide to study to become a Small and Medium Enterprise Consultant.
His singular motivation was: “I want to help struggling companies.”
Fortunately, at Waseda University, there were specialized professors for each of the eight subjects required for the SME Consultant exam, and he was able to take those courses.
For the next year and a half, he studied management for nearly 10 hours every day—finance, marketing, organizational theory, and production management.
Before long, these subjects became "tools to help others," rather than just subjects for an exam.
His grades soared, and by his third and fourth years, he was earning almost all "A’s."
He even became known as the guy who suddenly started studying, and in his philosophy classes, he was invited by the professor to transfer to the philosophy department.
Reading Nietzsche, Bertrand Russell, and contemplating the structure of the world and the depths of the human mind, he began to slowly shape his own worldview.
But his motivation was never about typical “I don’t want to lose” or “I want to prove myself” feelings.
What moved him was, and always had been, a quiet flame of “curiosity for knowledge” and a desire to “help others.”
Starting to study after a word from a friend, learning about management after the bankruptcy of his family’s company, and then instinctively acting to help those in need—it all became natural to him.
Rather than “I want to succeed,” it was always more about, “If my wisdom or actions can make someone’s life a little easier, that would make me happiest.”
This value remained with him even after he entered the workforce.
He worked as a systems engineer at Fujitsu for 10 years, gaining experience in systems development across various industries. Then he joined Fujitsu Research Institute as part of the team that launched their consulting business.
He later became the head of the Multimedia & Marketing Department, then the head of Business Design Consulting, and eventually, at 46, he was promoted to Director.
Among the projects he worked on were:
- A logistics business that grew from ¥2 billion to ¥50 billion in just three years, eventually reaching ¥160 billion.
- The launch of Japan’s pioneering internet auction business.
- The creation of the "legendary kiosk" system that had a 95% operating rate and a continuous line of customers.
Many of these projects were considered to have "changed the landscape of the industry."
But if you were to praise him for it, he’d probably give a slight smile and humbly say, “Honestly, I was just lucky to be surrounded by great people.”
For him, these achievements weren’t about titles or glory. They were simply results of "helping others with new ideas and knowledge" along the way.
He also had a secret that had been with him since childhood.
—He had always been a "future fantasist."
From a young age, he could vividly imagine the future that no one else saw—how technology would evolve, how people would live, how work would change.
But when he would talk about these things, most adults and even friends would dismiss it.
“You’re dreaming,”
“It’s not going to work out like that.”
Every time this happened, he’d feel a sense of isolation, thinking, "Maybe the way I see the world is too different from everyone else’s."
However, as he began working seriously as a business consultant, his “fantasies” began to be useful.
He started to notice risks and opportunities that others missed, and the future he had imagined began to align with reality.
"Fujii-san, what you said back then is actually happening now."
He heard this more and more often.
And as this happened, he started to accept that the future he saw wasn’t a flaw—it might have been his natural gift.
From that moment, his feelings of isolation slowly transformed into his own unique strength.
With age, he became freer and freer.
He realized:
“It’s okay if no one else gets it. But if I can help shape a future that benefits someone, I’ll keep imagining it.”
And with that mindset, he began shaping the future with his work and ideas.
Eventually, he moved from Japan to Iloilo, a small city in the Philippines.
There, he launched an online English tutoring service called “EIGORU” and a Japanese food stall business.
Once again, his motivation wasn’t to make money for himself.
In the Philippines, many families face the reality of parents leaving for overseas work, separated from their children.
He thought, “Can we create jobs here where parents don’t have to live apart from their children?”
This question became the driving force behind his business.
Through EIGORU, Filipino teachers could stay in their own towns and teach English to students in Japan.
And through the food stall business, he helped provide local staff with the opportunity to sustain their livelihoods without leaving their families or going overseas.
“Honestly, I don’t have strong desires for myself,” he says.
He still lives his life as someone who wants to be needed.
When he hears someone is in need, he smiles and immediately starts thinking about how to help.
He offers free IT consultations, setting up Google Maps listings and Facebook pages for small shops, both in Japan and the Philippines, until their staff are smiling.
He lives by the motto, “I’m not just living, I’m being kept alive.”
This is how he expresses his life.
That’s why he doesn’t seek to accomplish things just for himself.
He’s happy to offer his skills, knowledge, and ideas for the benefit of others.
He once ranked 37th out of 5 million in Amazon’s reviewer rankings.
Innovative ideas, cutting-edge IT understanding, the ability to logically structure strategies, and most importantly, the ability to make “proposals that move people’s hearts.”
It all organically connects within one person, whose true motivation is simply to be of help to others.
Having lost his beloved wife, he now spends half of each year in a small town in the Philippines, where there are almost no other Japanese people.
At night, in the stillness of his room, he sometimes looks out the window and continues to ask himself, “Why are people kept alive?”
It is because of this question that he faces each day’s work, hoping to make someone’s life just a little easier.
This is the story of one man who started from being held back in high school.
From being the lowest in his class to passing the difficult universities in Kansai and Waseda.
From the bankruptcy of his family’s company to studying to become an SME consultant.
From becoming a director in a large corporation to becoming a bridge between people and businesses across borders.
In every chapter of his journey, there is no loud self-promotion, only quiet intellectual curiosity and a genuine desire to “help others.”
His name is Satoshi Fujii.
If you’re thinking right now,
“I’m not good enough,” or “It’s too late for me”—
I hope you’ll remember this story sometime.
By imagining the future and using wisdom for the benefit of others, life can be rewritten, again and again.
There is a person who is proving this with his very life.