I Made Money with a Personal Computer in My Student Days | Masaru Tomita (Dean of the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies)
2007.12.13
I used to hate computers. As a sophomore in college, I was forced to study mainframe computers in a required course called "Information Processing Practice," but I had no interest in it at all. However, in my junior year, when the world's first personal computer, the Apple II, was released (1979), I was captivated by the slogan "You can play video games at home" and quickly bought one, which sealed my fate. I discovered the fun of computers with the Apple II, became obsessed, and taught myself programming. Eventually, I started creating my own video games in machine language. Every time I completed one, I would take it to a microcomputer shop in Akihabara, negotiate a price, and they would buy it for several hundred thousand yen each time.
In my senior year, I completed the "Apple Kanji System," which enabled a personal computer to display kanji for the first time. Despite its clumsy, handmade font, it was featured in a pictorial article inShukan Gendaias a "revolutionary, world-first system" (laughs), and was released by a certain company for a list price of 29,800 yen. However, starting the following year, major domestic manufacturers began releasing personal computers capable of handling kanji one after another, and the "Apple Kanji System" was soon unceremoniously shelved.
After that, I decided to pursue a path in computer science, studied abroad in the United States, and even earned a Ph.D. But at the age of 36, I was captivated by the fascination of life sciences and switched to the field of biotechnology. I became engrossed in studying and researching cutting-edge biotechnology alongside my students, even earning another Ph.D., which brings me to where I am today.
I wonder what that "Apple Kanji System" meant for my life. It was a detour completely unrelated to my current work, and I sometimes think I could have taken a shortcut if I had started in life sciences earlier. But the experience of being engrossed in one thing, of marshaling all my intellectual and physical strength to achieve something, has undoubtedly become a solid source of confidence as I walk through life, even if the world quickly forgot about it.
(Date of publication: 2007/12/13)