Yuri Sugie

“Building Something That Outlasts Me.”

When I was in elementary school, I always went to an after-school center once classes were over. It was a place for children that stayed open after school hours, with a gym and a library where we could spend our time however we liked. Since both of my parents worked and came home late every day, they sent me there so I would not have to stay home alone.

I was much more introverted back then than I am now, and I spent most of my time in the library reading manga without talking to anyone. However, being exposed to such a wide variety of works there—from Showa-era classics to the newest titles at the time, and from historical stories to science fiction—not only broadened my knowledge and interests, but also shaped the values that still guide me today. They gave me a belief that hard work should be rewarded, the courage to stand up for what is right, and a simple fondness for the culture of my own country that had produced these stories. Later, this led to a desire to pass on the things I had received from them to future generations in my own way.

The desire to do something for future generations has always remained one of the core ideas guiding my life. My decision to join a construction company was also driven by a wish to create something meaningful for people I would never meet through the act of building structures. While I do not think that choice itself was wrong, I cannot deny that, amid the busyness of everyday work, I rarely remembered the ideals I had started with and gradually became someone who was simply going through the motions. There were many times when I felt overwhelmed by work whose purpose, or whose benefit, I could no longer clearly see.

I came to Esade as I reached my tenth year of working, and I am happy to have the chance not only to study business again, but also to reflect on my own life. I grew up as someone who received the stories and culture left behind by others. Now, I want to become someone who can pass on not only what I received, but even more than that, to people I have yet to meet. I am still searching for a path through which I can leave something meaningful for someone’s future, one that I can also look back on with pride.