Opinion

The power of faith

By Caroline Pover

I recently met the vice-chairman of a major company in Japan, who told me what is probably one of the most inspiring stories about "international entrepreneurship" that I have heard in Japan. I want to share it with Shukan ST readers. The story goes like this:

A young Japanese man grew up with his family in the United States, where he fell in love with a certain coffee chain. When he returned to Japan, he brought back a dream to open this coffee chain in his home country, but didn't know how to start. He contacted the U.S. founder again and again, asking him for permission to introduce the chain to Japan, and even though he never received a response he never gave up.

One day the founder's secretary told him that the founder was actually in Japan at that time. The young Japanese man immediately contacted him, and the founder recognized the Japanese man's name, admired his persistence, and invited him to dinner that night. The young Japanese man told the American founder about his dreams to introduce the coffee chain to Japan. They talked for a long time, and the founder was so impressed that he agreed to give the ambitious young man the rights to open a coffee shop in Japan, using the brand name. He also said that he wouldn't ask for any money until the young man started making a profit. So the young man opened a small coffee shop in central Tokyo, and devoted his whole life to it. He even slept in the coffee shop so that he could start work early in the morning.

One day, an older Japanese businessman passed this coffee shop, and he liked the smell so much that he went inside. He loved the atmosphere in the shop. He started to talk to the young man behind the counter, and was very surprised to find out that he was the owner. The two men talked for a long time, and found that they had a lot in common. They shared the same opinions about entrepreneurship and about the importance of creating communities in society. They had also both studied in the United States, and of course, they both loved the coffee in the shop!

Then and there, the older businessman decided to invest in the younger man, and to help him to build a chain of coffee shops all over Japan. (He became the vice-chairman of the company.) Now, there are 200 coffee shops just like this one, and I am sure you know the name of the chain. It's Tully's!

There are many reasons why I love this story. It shows how somebody brought the things he learned from his experience abroad back to Japan, it shows how persistence and determination pay off, but most of all, it shows the power of faith - not only in yourself, but in other people you meet during your life.

Shukan ST: Oct. 8, 2004

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