<details> <summary>Language: English</summary> <ul> <li><a href="aboutme.md">English</a></li> <li><a href="aboutme.ja.md">Japanese</a></li> </ul> </details>

#### About Me

Hello, my name is Akira. I am Japanese.

This text is not so much a career summary (work history, industry, skill background) as it is a brief summary of my life. I hope this gives you some insight into who I am.

My main interests are programming and one other thing.

#### Childhood

I was born in 1971. During my elementary school years, when personal computers were still called microcomputers, I encountered the programming language BASIC. I saved up my allowance and bought an NEC PC-6001mk2, which I used to enjoy programming in BASIC. This was my first experience with programming in my life. Since I didn't have any external storage devices like cassette tapes, I would write programs, run them, clear them, and then write new ones.

#### High School Days

After my junior high school years, I entered Niiza Comprehensive Technical High School, which was quite an unusual type of school at that time. The school offered courses like Electronics and Mechanical Engineering, Information Technology, Fashion Design, Industrial Design, Culinary Arts, and Information Processing, making it similar to a vocational school (though the course names and structure have changed now). Since I aimed to work in programming, I was looking for a university or vocational school focused on that field, and this school was ideal for me. There, I learned the basics of programming and computers. I even won a prize in a programming contest with a program I developed in FORTRAN.

#### Working Days

After graduating from high school, I got a job at an IT-related company in Tokyo. I initially wanted to work on something related to operating systems, so I chose that company, but I was actually assigned to a different department. My first job was to port a program running on one OS to another OS. In other words, it was to rewrite a program written in one language so that it would work in another language. This was technically challenging, but we pooled our team's resources and successfully completed the project. After that, I was involved in many system development projects and overcame many difficulties.

#### Teamwork

As you progress in your career, you eventually get juniors and may even become a team leader. A team leader has to manage the entire team, focusing on project planning, execution, and verification. This can be highly stressful. Still, there was a sense of fulfillment in working together with the team to advance small projects.

#### The Cog in the Machine

Towards the end of my career at that company, I was assigned to a very large project. It was a project to rebuild a large, old existing system under the direction of a major corporation, working together with several partner companies. The system consisted of multiple subsystems, and I was chosen as the leader of the development team for one of those subsystems. The team was composed of members from several partner companies. There were many things to do, including tight schedules, cost calculations, quality assurance planning and execution, and coordination with other teams, all of which increased my workload and stress.

#### Cracks

Originally, someone else was the leader of that subsystem. However, my boss decided that person was not suitable, and I was suddenly called in as the leader. Therefore, I joined the project midway, lacking knowledge, and without the trust of other teams, which added to my stress. My boss was also very intimidating, so I couldn't even consult with him. I started having trouble with my team members, which began to affect the project's operation.

#### Career Break

Eventually, I developed depression, and the engagement with a woman I met through a relative's introduction fell apart. I quit the company and started recuperating at home. Fortunately, my depression was relatively mild, but from my perspective, it felt like a severe state of "not wanting to think about anything" and "not wanting to move." After about a year of recuperation at home, I spent several years at a disability support facility. The facility serves three main purposes: establishing a daily rhythm, maintaining social connections, and deepening understanding of disabilities.

#### Disability Support Facility

Disabled individuals attend the facility at set times every day and leave at set times. This repetitive practice of basic and crucial actions is essential for disabled people. While these actions may seem ordinary for the able-bodied, there are those in the world who find them challenging. At the facility, disabled individuals engage in recreation, communicate with each other under staff guidance, and do simple manual labor such as packaging.

#### Trying New Things

During my time at the facility, I began to think about what I should do next. An acquaintance introduced me to online schools, and I was drawn to the idea of working without being tied to a specific place or time. After leaving the disability support facility, I began preparing to start an online school focused on shiitake mushroom cultivation. However, at the final stage, I began to question whether this was really what I wanted to do. I couldn't clearly envision the future of this school. One of the motivations for wanting to start an online school was dissatisfaction with the low wages I earned at the disability support facility, and I thought I could earn more through an online school. However, the primary purpose of an online school is to share something valuable with customers, and that's not everything. My motivation seemed to be the opposite of what it should have been. I didn't have a passionate desire to share my knowledge of shiitake cultivation. This period lasted four months, and eventually, my savings ran out.

#### Warehouse Job

To cover my living expenses, I took a job at a warehouse. It was close to home, and the part-time work schedule allowed me to work short hours. For the first month, I worked diligently, but after a while, I couldn't maintain my motivation for the job. I'm naturally a creator by disposition and character. I want to create something from scratch, solve problems with it, and make the people involved with those problems a little happier. Driven by this energy, I worked in programming in the past. That's why, if the motivation is just "to earn a living," I can't continue any job, no matter what it is. Gradually, my health began to deteriorate, and I started taking more time off work.

#### Spiritual Awakening

Since childhood, I've been fascinated by mysterious and mystical things. Not that I have any special psychic abilities or can see ghosts, but I think I've always had a sharp intuition. During my time at the disability support facility, I often reflected on my life so far. I questioned why I was born on Earth, what the purpose of life is, what happens after death, whether there is a world beyond this one, whether God exists, and many other questions emerged. I contemplated a lot, absorbed a lot of information, and received a lot of guidance. Despite these internal changes, the world around me continued as usual, and I found myself working at the warehouse when I opened my eyes. Sometimes, it even brought me to tears.

#### What I Truly Want to Do

Bashar says, "What you want to do is not really what you want to do. What you really want to do is what you are already doing." When I heard these words, I asked myself, "What am I already doing now?" and answered, "Of course, programming." "Programming, which I've loved since childhood, is what I want to do and what I'm already doing. It's also what sustains me now and keeps me in a high vibration." When I took breaks from the physically and mentally taxing warehouse job to immerse myself in programming, it was a form of healing for me. From an outsider's perspective, it might have looked like slacking off, and socially, it might have been condemned. But at that time, it was a refuge for me. I really had no choice.


#### What I'm Doing Now

I quit the warehouse job. I have no income. I have no way to pay off the large amount of debt I owe to the credit card companies. Perhaps, in a little while, I won't even be able to make calls or use the internet on my smartphone. I've envied people driving luxury cars, doing what they want, eating expensive food, and traveling abroad so many times.

But now, I'm doing what I want to do. Programming. I'm in a state where I'm honestly following the strong urge within me. The creative energy flowing through me is driving me now. The more I do it, the more what I want to do flows into me as inspiration.

And I know that once this programming energy settles down, another form of creative energy will flow into me. Eventually, I plan to go to Nepal to take care of children, but that's a different story. Even I'm not entirely sure about it yet. How happy I would be if I could reunite with the girl I once separated from. She is my soul partner. I pray every day that we can carry out this plan together.

Now, I'm planning to seek sponsors for the open-source library I've been programming. But I don't know when sponsors will come forward. So, I'm very concerned about how to manage my finances in the meantime. It's more about living expenses than funds, though. It takes a lot of courage and effort to operate in the three-dimensional physical world of Earth.

Let me be honest. Could someone help me?