He started photography when he was in high school, but it has only been 3 to 4 years since he became serious about it. His photos are straightforward and simple in composition. He doesn't try to make a display of eccentricity, so they come straight into the hearts of audience. Even though his career as a photographer is shot, I feel that it's his experience that supports his photography. Now, let me briefly talk about his personal history.
大As soon as he gradated from his college, he became a bartender. Surprisingly, he found the job on the newspaper ad. Even though the economy wasn't as bad as now, how wild is that! After that, he became a salesman of futures product and then a salesman for a trading company where he was headhunted by fellow professional. He switched jobs every 6 to 12 months and the perfect example is a car driver for a hospital. Again, he found it on the newspaper. Why did he become a driver? He "wanted to drive a car." And, there's more. He quit the job after 3 months because the car was old. At that time, he just wanted to get a variety of experiences, so he kept checking job ads meticulously. And, whenever he found something interesting, he switched without hesitation. Therefore, it was common that his next job had nothing to do with his former job. After the car driver, he suddenly started a company of tube manufacturing, plumbing, and welding with his acquaintance working at a juggling tool section at a department store (Mr. Scott loved juggling at that time and commuted to the section).
His journey in search of stimulation went on. Next, he became a sales staff for a heat-resistant paint maker and he made visits to petrochemical complexes and steel companies without making appointments. In his presentation, he sometimes climbed out of a chimney and painted it by himself. How is that? He still has too many other career episodes to introduce, but for now, let me talk about his turning point.
One day, he encountered what people call game. Yes, it was when the "invader game" was all the rage in Japan. Both children and adults were lost in playing. When Mr. Scott saw these people, he heard his inner voice, "This must be it. Nothing is more dreamful than this job." At that time, he was importing game machines from abroad, but he came to want to create arcade game machines by himself. Most companies weren't positive about his idea, but one day he was introduced to Nanao Co. Ltd in Ishikawa Prefecture. It was before they become famous for visual display products as we know it today, and only Nanao undertook the project. And finally, the game machine designed by him was sold. While it sold extremely well, the legendary machine "Family Computer" was released by Nintendo. Immediately after that, Mr. Scott started to develop video game software for the Family Computer. If you're born in the 1970s and were obsessed with video games, you should remember "Spartan X," Spelunker," Moon Patrol," and "Lode Runner." It is Mr. Scott who developed these legendary games.
From this point, his career is all about games. He was a coordinator for a US-based company, Broderbund and they were trying to transplant Japanese PC games in the States, but he became the President when the company started a joint-venture with 13 Japanese PC game companies. When the prospects for the launch became certain, SEGA and Nintendo entered the US market with their home video game machines. At that time, PC games market was taking a downturn. So, Broderbund tried to focus on home video games, but the majority of the joint companies opposed, except one company: BPS who becomes famous for Tetris. Because of this connection, Mr. Scott became the President of BPS. The SEGA Enterprises' (the present SEGA) arcade version of Tetris was very popular then and Nintendo transplanted it for Gameboy and it became a social phenomenon. His hard work is this period was recognized by Nintendo. Already, he was operating two companies: a game developer company and a consulting company for computer technology, but Nintendo offered a president position of Nintendo Software Technology (Seattle, wholly owned by Nintendo) and he accepted the offer. He still has lots of interesting episodes, but I think I should stop here... Anyway, I'm just overwhelmed by his career.
Some people may think he there's no principle in his career choices and he has been happy-go-lucky. And, if you ask him if he feels so, he may smile wryly and say, "you're right." But, I feel that he has been heading to the direction where his hand of heart turned, given himself to the current, and has been doing his best each time the hand turned. Here's another episode.
As I mentioned in the beginning, his name is "Scott Tsumura" (Scott K. Tsumura to be exact). I didn't check with him on this, but this is my guess. Perhaps, he started to call himself "Scott" right after he came to the United States in order to synchronize himself to the society as soon as possible.
He first planned to live in the US for 1 year, but it's been more than 20 years and he has a citizenship as well as a U.S. passport. Even though he feels slightly homesick each time he visits Japan because of the taste of the familiar delicious food, "I didn't want to live in the States with foreign nationality as if I were borrowing my life from the country." It was quite an impressive statement to me.
I wonder if someone with a variety of careers doesn't care about his/her accumulation of experience. And, they're free from the empty word "interest" or "readiness." They just follow the sign of their heart and give themselves to the flow. Of course, there're always difficulties because each time they change their careers, they start from zero. But, they feel accomplished each time they gather experience. I think photography don't only capture where the lens is headed, but also the ridgelines of the photographer.
