When I was 12 years old, I heard about the holy physician Dr. Sheweitzer, who worked in undeveloped areas of Africa, and dreamed of becoming a doctor for developing countries. After graduating from high school, I started a small company with my uncle in Tokyo to save up money to travel to the United States, and in 1965, at the age of 20, I went to the United States with a one-way ticket and $500 in my pocket. I studied hard and earned a PhD in Development Economics from the University of Hawaii in 1974. After that, I worked as an assistant professor at the University of Hawaii, a UN staff member, and a researcher at a Japanese aid organization, before going independent in 1997 and founding the Japan Development Institute (JDI).

Over the past 40 years, JDI has been involved in over 350 nation-building projects in 75 countries. JDI's unique feature is that, as a doctor of development, we diagnose a country's ailments, write prescriptions, ensure that necessary treatment is administered, and always act with the highest priority on combating challenges. Improvements in every field are necessary to enrich developing countries, but we believe that the most important thing among these is to attract domestic and international private companies (investors) and provide people with meaningful jobs. JDI intends to continue its activities as a "doctor for the countries of the world."