“极度”认真地工作能扭转人生， 话虽这么说，但我原本也不是一个热爱劳动的人，而且我曾经认为，在劳动中要遭受苦难的考验简直是不能接受的事。孩童时代，父母常用鹿儿岛方言教导我：“年轻时的苦难，出钱也该买。”我总是反驳说：“苦难？能卖了最好。”那时的我还是一个出言不逊的孩子。通过艰苦的劳动可以磨炼自己的人格，可以修身养性，这样的道德说教，同现在大多数年轻人一样，我也曾不屑一顾。但是，大学毕业的我，在京都一家濒临破产的企业—松风工业就职以后，年轻人的这种浅薄的想法就被现实彻底地粉碎了。松风工业是一家制造绝缘瓷瓶的企业，原是在日本行业内颇具代表性的优秀企业之一。但在我入社时早已面目全非，迟发工资是家常便饭，公司已经走到了濒临倒闭的边缘。业主家族内讧不断，劳资争议不绝。我去附近商店购物时，店主用同情的口吻对我说：“你怎么到这儿来了，待在那样的破企业，老婆也找不到啊！”因此，我们同期入社的人，一进公司就觉得“这样的公司令人生厌，我们应该有更好的去处”。大家聚到一块儿时就牢骚不断。
"Extremistly" serious work can turn people around, but that being said, I was not a labor-loving person in the first place, and I used to think that the test of suffering in labor was simply unacceptable. When I was a child, my parents often taught me in the Kagoshima dialect: "The suffering of my youth should be bought when I pay for it." I always retorted, "Suffering? I can sell the best. "At that time, I was still a child who was not inferior. Through hard work, one can temper one's personality and cultivate one's personality, and such moral preaching, like most young people now, I have dismissed it. However, after graduating from university, after I took office at Matsukaze Industries, a company on the verge of bankruptcy in Kyoto, this shallow idea of young people was completely shattered by reality. Matsukaze Industries is a manufacturer of insulated porcelain bottles, and was originally one of the most representative companies in the Japanese industry. But when I joined the company, I had already lost my face, late wages were commonplace, and the company was on the verge of bankruptcy. The owners and families are constantly infighting, and labor disputes are endless. When I went shopping at a nearby store, the owner said to me in a sympathetic tone, "How did you get here, stay in such a broken business, your wife can't find it!" Therefore, those of us who joined the company at the same time felt that "such a company is annoying, we should have a better place to go" as soon as we entered the company. When we got together, we complained a lot.
当时正处于经济萧条时期，我也是靠恩师介绍才好不容易进了这家公司，本应心怀感激，情理上就更不该说公司的坏话了。然而，当时的我年少气盛，早把介绍人的恩义抛在一边，尽管自己对公司还没做出任何贡献，但牢骚怪话却比别人还多。入公司还不到一年，同期加入公司的大学生就相继辞职了，最后留在这家破公司的除了我之外，只剩一位九州天草出身的京都大学毕业的高才生。我俩商量后，决定报考自卫队干部候补生学校。结果我俩都考上了。但入学需要户口簿的复印件，我写信给在鹿儿岛老家的哥哥，请他寄来，等了好久毫无音讯。结果是那位同事一个人进了干部候补生学校。后来我才知道，老家不肯寄户口簿复印件给我，是因为我哥哥当时很恼火：“家里节衣缩食把你送进大学，多亏老师介绍才进了京都的公司，结果你不到半年就忍不住要辞职。真是一个忘恩负义的家伙。”他气愤之余拒不寄送复印件。最后，只剩我一个人留在了这家破败的公司。
At that time, it was in a period of economic depression, and I also relied on the introduction of my mentor to enter this company, and I should have been grateful, and I should not have said bad things about the company. However, at that time, I was young and vigorous, and I had long ago put aside the kindness of the introducer, and although I had not yet made any contribution to the company, I complained more than others. Less than a year after joining the company, the university students who joined the company at the same time resigned one after another, and in the end, except for me, there was only one senior student from Kyoto University from Kyushu Amakusa who stayed in this broken company. After discussion, we decided to apply for the Self-Defense Forces cadre candidate school. As a result, we were both admitted. But I needed a copy of the household registration book, so I wrote to my brother in Kagoshima's hometown and asked him to send it, and waited for a long time without any news. As a result, the colleague entered the cadre candidate school alone. Later, I learned that my hometown refused to send me a copy of the household registration book because my brother was very annoyed at the time: "The family sent you to the university because of the teacher's introduction, and as a result, you couldn't help but resign in less than half a year." What an ungrateful guy. Furious, he refused to send copies. In the end, I was the only one left in this run-down company.
只剩我一个人了，我非常苦恼。我那时候想，辞职转行到新的岗位也未必一定成功。有的人辞职后或许人生变得更顺畅了，但也有的人人生却变得更加悲惨了。有的人留在公司，努力奋斗，取得了成功，人生很美好；也有的人虽然留任了，而且也努力工作，但人生还是很不如意。所以情况因人而异吧。究竟离开公司正确，还是留在公司正确呢？烦恼过后我下了一个决断。正是这个决断迎来了我“人生的转机”。只剩我一个人孤零零地留在这个衰败的企业了，被逼到这一步，我反而清醒了。“要辞职离开公司，总得有一个义正词严的理由吧，只是因为感觉不满就辞职，那么今后的人生也未必就会一帆风顺吧。”当时，我还找不到一个必须辞职的充分理由，所以我决定：先埋头工作。不再发牢骚，不再说怪话，我把心思都集中到自己当前的本职工作中来，聚精会神，全力以赴。这时候我才开始发自内心并用格斗的气魄，以积极的态度认真面对自己的工作。
I was the only one left, and I was very distressed. I thought at the time that quitting my job and moving to a new position might not necessarily be successful. Some people may have a smoother life after resigning, but some people have become more miserable. Some people stay in the company, work hard, achieve success, and life is very beautiful; Some people have stayed in their posts and worked hard, but their lives are still very unsatisfactory. So the situation varies from person to person. Is it right to leave the company, or is it right to stay in the company? After the annoyance I made a decision. It was this decision that ushered in my "life's turning point." I was left alone in this decaying enterprise, and I was forced to this step, but I was sober. "If you want to resign and leave the company, you must have a righteous and strict reason, just because you feel dissatisfied, then your future life may not be smooth." 」 At the time, I couldn't find a good reason why I had to quit, so I decided: I'd bury my head in the work first. No longer complaining, no longer saying strange things, I focused my mind on my current job, concentrated, and went all out. It was only then that I began to face my work from the bottom of my heart and with the courage of a fighter, with a positive attitude.
从此以后，我工作的认真程度，真的可以用“极度”二字来形容。在这家公司里，我的任务是研究最尖端的新型陶瓷材料。我把锅碗瓢盆都搬进了实验室，睡在那里，昼夜不分，连一日三餐也顾不上吃，全身心地投入了研究工作。这种“极度认真”的工作状态，从旁人看来，真有一种悲壮的色彩。当然，因为是最尖端的研究，像拉马车的马匹一样，光用死劲是不够的。我订购了刊载有关新型陶瓷最新论文的美国专业杂志，一边翻辞典一边阅读，还到图书馆借阅专业书籍。我往往都是在下班后的夜间或休息日抓紧时间，如饥似渴地学习、钻研。
Since then, the seriousness of my work can really be described by the word "extreme". At this company, my task is to research cutting-edge new ceramic materials. I moved all the pots and pans into the laboratory, slept there, day and night, could not even eat three meals a day, and devoted myself to research. This "extremely serious" state of work, from the perspective of others, really has a tragic color. Of course, because it is the most cutting-edge research, like the horse pulling the carriage, it is not enough to use dead force. I ordered an American professional journal with the latest papers on new ceramics, read it while flipping through the dictionary, and borrowed professional books from the library. I often hurry up at night after work or on my days off, eager to study and study.
在这样拼命努力的过程中，不可思议的事情发生了！大学时我的专业是有机化学，我只在毕业前为了求职，突击学了一点无机化学。可是当时，在我还是一个不到25岁的毛头小伙子的时候，我居然一次又一次取得了出色的科研成果，成为无机化学领域崭露头角的新星。这全都得益于我专心投入工作这个重要的决定。与此同时，进公司后要辞职的念头以及“自己的人生将会怎样”之类的迷惑和烦恼，都奇迹般地消失了。不仅如此，我甚至产生了“工作太有意思了，太有趣了，简直不知如何形容才好”这样的感觉。这时候，辛苦不再被当作辛苦，我更加努力地工作，周围人们对我的评价也越来越高。在这之前，我的人生可以说是连续的苦难和挫折。而从此以后，不知不觉中，我的人生步入了良性循环。不久，我人生的第一次“大成功”就降临了。
In the process of such a desperate effort, the unthinkable happened! When I was in college, my major was organic chemistry, and I only studied inorganic chemistry a little before graduation in order to apply for a job. But at that time, when I was a hairy boy who was less than 25 years old, I actually achieved excellent scientific research results again and again, becoming a new star in the field of inorganic chemistry. This is all thanks to my important decision to concentrate on my work. At the same time, the thought of quitting after entering the company and the confusion and annoyance of "what will happen to your life" have miraculously disappeared. Not only that, but I even had the feeling that "the work is so interesting, so interesting, I don't know how to describe it." At this time, hard work is no longer regarded as hard work, I work harder, and people around me evaluate me higher and higher. Before that, my life could be said to be a continuous series of sufferings and setbacks. Since then, unconsciously, my life has entered a virtuous circle. Soon, the first "great success" of my life came.
