Who was Hiro?

This is a difficult question to answer in a few words or sentences because Hiro was such a unique character who lived a very adventurous and "abnormal" life. However, we all know for fact that he never liked to use his full name "Hiroyuki Kajima" or "Hiroyuki" even at the job interviews. He liked to refer to himself as "Hiro" or "Super Hiro" and his friends in Japan would call him "Kaji". Interestingly, I recently learned that his younger brother also shares the same nickname "Kaji" among his friends. I believe, Hiro liked to be called "Hiro" or "Super Hiro" because it sounds similar to word "hero", and he drew his inspiration from manga super heroes and super successful professionals. Let me name a few of them: Akagi, Jojo, Sakuragi Hanamichi, Bill Gates, Tiger Woods, Mike Tyson, Manny Pacquiáo, Klay Thompson, Koji Uehara, Masahide Kobayashi, Naomi Osaka, Anna Kournikova, Anh or Woodenman. He was equally inspired by handicapped children who turned their handicap to a true strength. He would cheer for the blind, the autistic, the ALS folks, the holocaust survivors. All these people and alike kept inspiring Hiro so much that he even put "Super Hiro" on his car license plate. ;)

From his early childhood Hiro was determined to be anyone but an average Joe. His biggest fear had always been to be a mere average - a person without goals and achievement; a person who repeats common mistakes due to lack of self-reflection; a person who is unnoticed; a person without a footprint. This may be a reason for leaving Japan soon after his graduate school and coming to San Francisco. He probably could not imagine himself in line with strong traditions and expectations Japanese society demanded of him where he would become one of many.

Self-development was essentially important to Hiro and he would work on it daily. He had a strong internal drive to become a professional while working equally hard to be a quality human being. I have no doubt that you, all, have experienced Hiro who was very diligent at work or at gym practice while very funny, friendly, crazy, considerate, loyal, generous, kind and thoughtful. On the other hand, he could be very stubborn, rigid and angry. And in those times, you'd better avoid him.

Hiro tried to be a human as hard as he tried to be a machine ;). By machine I mean Hiro's trait to find the most efficient way and automate it. He would experiment with efficiency and automation daily. For example, Hiro would find the most efficient way to clean Sanma (a type of fish), and he would implement it immediately and then teach me right away. If I reverted to my old way, he would get upset because the old way was inefficient and undesirable. I quickly learned to observe my habits and change my bad old ways :). Another example would be putting things in exact places to save time going through his day. Hiro would never put anything anywhere randomly, i.e. put keys in one place today and another place tomorrow. That would never happen. Or once he found the best way to kick during his Muay Thai practice, he would automate it by practicing over and over again so that he would be so efficient that hardly anyone in the gym could match his kicking speed. It was Hiro's engineering mind and genius that was his greatest asset but also his greatest enemy.

I learned quickly that the last thing an engineer wants are surprises! No surprises, please. Surprises are random and uncontrollable events. It is extra work to manage them. Surprises often do not bring what one wants. I remember Hiro always warning me about birthday surprises, sudden changes in schedule, etc. He had a low tolerance for them. He would say, "I don't want anything for my birthday." Why? Just imagine and engineer finding an unexpected bug or glitch in his software program that he has been diligently developing and testing, or an undesirable program's outcome that he has never intended. Hiro rather did not get any present than getting something he didn't want. And, of course, if you ask a person about what he wants, there is no element of surprise anymore. Hiro also always liked to have a plan for everything and for every day to keep focus and have purpose. As soon as he woke up, he would either write down a to do list or tell me his plan for the day. He would tell me, "Without purpose, intention and plan, one cannot pursue meaningful existence."

To escape his seriousness and deep thinking, Hiro often resorted to some crazy extremes that gave him lots of adrenalin, lifted his mood and created outlet for his creativity and zest for life. He would exercise to the point of vomiting and passing out, enjoy being intimidated and served junk foods in maid cafés of Akihabara (a Tokyo neighborhood), get completely drunk, eat for two or three people, make a super unique and funny costume, join friends' spiciest chili pepper contest, spend the whole night at pachinko parlor outsmarting the gambling machine, sleep on the beach without a tent, travel to Singapore for a day of marathon, control his body temperature and blood pressure on demand, and I can go on and on...

Hiro also liked to keep returning to childhood and reminding himself of keeping a child's curious, playful and flexible mind. That is why he liked to spend time playing with small children and he was fond of observing playful and intelligent animals. He was enticed by experiences and attitudes of children who did not have a typical childhood; children who had some type of a handicap, struggle or difficulty but who could persevere and raise above their challenges. He loved to celebrate their victories against all odds and expectations. He wanted to learn from them, celebrate and appreciate their spirit, and better understand life. In fact, he drew a lot of his strength and inspiration from them.

To be continued..........................

Share your anectodes about Hiro in Comment section.