Chapter 4 　Birth of Setsuden-mushi (a profitmaking device) 　4.2 Setsuden-mushi's Growth Expectations and Setbacks 　4.2.5 Environmental awareness 4.2.5.3 Professor’s remark and his reply to me

　Returning to Setsuden-mushi, a little less than a year after the start of its development, both the free trial campaign and sales were not progressing as expected, and when I was feeling a little depressed, I had a chance to watch the Sunday Economic Scope, an economic program broadcast on NHK in the morning on Sundays.

　One day, I overheard one of the regular commentators, Professor Seiichiro Yonekura, who was then a professor at Hitotsubashi University's Institute of Industrial Management, Faculty of Commerce and Management, make a short comment on the program that "the way of survival for Japanese companies is to do business related to energy conservation.

　I was a little discouraged at that time, but I regained my will and felt like informing Professor Yonekura, a complete stranger, about my development of Setsuden-mushi.

The next morning (Monday), as soon as I entered the office, I opened a  university entrance exam book and looked up the address of Hitotsubashi University. As a matter of fact, I used to teach English to high school students until the mid-1990s, so I had a copy of the university entrance exam guide.

　There it was, the address of Hitotsubashi University.

　So I sent a letter to Professor Yonekura, adding his department, which was introduced in the NHK TV program, and my thoughts on the development of energy-saving devices, which I have been working on for the past year or so, as well as my thoughts on energy conservation and saving energy.

　I imagined that Professor Yonekura must have been a busy man, so I did not expect a reply. However, to my surprise, I received the following reply from Professor Yonekura by fax, which gave me a lot of energy and courage because I had been feeling down.

　The following is the content of the reply I received from Professor Yonekura.

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　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　June 21, 1995

Mr. Kamamoto: Thank you for your letter.

　Thank you very much for your letter. Mr. Kamamoto: Thank you for your letter. As you say, the technology that the world really needs now is the energy conservation and alternative energy development that you are working on. I was very happy to learn that a small company like KEC is seriously working on such technological innovation. I can't do much to help, but I would like to mention it every now and then. I hope you will continue to give a great stimulus to the shrinking Japanese industrial society.

　　For now, I would like to thank you.　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

　　Thank you very much for responding positively to my few comments I made in the limited time. I look forward to working with you in the future.

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