PRO-pose.

What "Professional Positions"
do GSAL grads move on to?

Studying philosophy - and mastering curry! / Marketing planner Shimizu Yuki Studying philosophy - and mastering curry! / Marketing planner Shimizu Yuki

The dynamism of working with the entire world

“I can dynamically engage with world markets. This makes my job both entertaining and truly fulfilling.”
These are the words of Shimizu Yuki, the marketing planner at the Planning and Marketing Department in Sony Imaging Products & Solutions Inc. Mr. Shimizu is currently in charge of marketing for home cinema projectors and movie projectors, His job requires cooperating on a daily basis with local sales managers all over the world, from East Asian countries to India, South America, Russia, and the Middle East. Mr. Shimizu also has a wide range of responsibilities, including business and sales support, market research, and marketing plan development.
“As a person in charge of business-to-business transactions (in other words, electronic commerce between enterprises), I have access to the expensive high-performance equipment Sony makes for business purposes. You do not get to see this sort of apparatus every day, so this is also one of the highlights of my job. I also occasionally have to write emails and make phone calls in English when negotiating with local managers. I learned the basics at university, but it often occurs to me that I should study a little more.”

The most important thing in my life, which I discovered as a student

Before he became a Tohoku University student, Mr. Shimizu had to spend an extra year preparing for entrance exams. In retrospect, this was the very period that became a huge turning point for him.
“Isaka Kōtarō’s novels made me fall in love with Sendai. Trying to transfer to Tohoku University, I chose physics and agriculture as exam subjects and failed. I did not give up, though. While studying for the next attempt, I had a spontaneous wish to read Heidegger and thus discovered Kida Gen’s writings and the unique approach he used to dig down to the roots of matters. Fascinated by the process, I decided to study philosophy at the Faculty of Arts and Letters.”
Mr. Shimizu admits that he has been interested in foreign countries, and particularly India, since childhood. This interest was given a huge boost after Mr. Shimizu entered the Faculty of Arts and Letters.
“I founded the so-called ‘Tohoku University Curry Club’, though we never registered if officially. To tell the truth, my interest in India was largely fueled by my curry ‘addiction’. During my university years, I strived to gain an in-depth knowledge of curry and to master philosophy with the same diligence.”
Mr. Shimizu explains that it was his identity as a curry lover that pushed him to work part-time in a curry restaurant, and then to take a year’s leave of absence and travel to India, where he spent half a year as an intern at a local factory. Incidentally, Mr. Shimizu is now the head of the company’s curry club, which counts one hundred members. It is hard to stand out in a company that tends to employ highly individualistic people, but ‘Curry Shimizu’ became a celebrity in less than a year.
“I hold both philosophy and India very close to my heart, and thanks to them I learned how wonderful curry was. That was a very important discovery.”

A bridge between Japan and India

Mr. Shimizu intends to become an overseas representative of the firm in the future. It goes without saying that he wants to work in India.
“Of course, my love for curry is one of the factors, but I would also like to help India and other developing countries by doing business with them. India will be the center of the world in ten years, and I think that by that time it will become the most important partner for Japan, too. I wish to serve as a bridge connecting the two countries.”
Philosophy, India, curry, bridge. Mr. Shimizu utters these words with quiet passion. He has never forgotten what Professor Toshima Kiyoshi said during one of the lectures on Heidegger.
“’You have to fill your life starting with the largest and most important things, or you won’t have place for them later.’ I got the idea immediately when I heard that comparison between a human and an empty vessel. In my case, I suppose, that greatest and most important thing was curry, which I discovered while studying philosophy. People often ask how philosophy or ethics can be used in real life after you graduate. Well, they helped me find my personal lifestyle. This is the ultimate goal of education.”
Mr. Shimizu’s job requires him to constantly keep an eye on trends in the world markets, but he continues to traverse his own path in life with equal zeal. Before long we will probably witness him build a bridge between Japan and India.

SHIMIZU Yuki清水侑季

Graduated from the Department of Philosophy, Undergraduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts and Letters, Tohoku University, in March 2016.
Employed by Sony Corporation (currently works at the subsidiary Sony Imaging Products & Solutions Inc.)
Title of the graduation thesis: “Kantō ‘Handanryoku Hihan’ ni okeru Bikanteki Handanryoku nit suite: Gadamā to Ārento ni yoru giron o fumaete” / 「カント『判断力批判』における美感的判断力について—ガダマーとアーレントによる議論を踏まえて—」