After reading the news of Japanese telecom giant Softbank buying 70% of Sprint yesterday, I learned that Softbank's CEO Masayoshi Son is a Zainichi Korean who was educated in the US! He apparently graduated from UC Berkeley, where he connected with all sorts of video game and tech people (often attributed to his success later on).
My own family has some personal history and connections within Japan so I'm always interested in these "temporary" Korean-Japanese citizens. Zainichi Koreans are the second largest ethnic group in Japan and are known to have settled in Japan in the early 20th century during the Japanese Imperial Period (basically 1910-1945). They are distinguished from other ethnic Korean-Japanese who migrated there later, mainly in the 1980s.
Softbank has recently expanding their influence in Japan by getting involved in aiding recovery after the earthquake/tsunami disaster of 2011--investing in solar energy as well as paying for 1,200 of the hardest hit families' living expenses and relocation.
The company's humanitarian angle certainly makes Son's nickname, the "Bill Gates of Japan," pretty understandable.
This is inspiring. Great rap up.
Posted by: Jessy @ Payday loan lenders | 10/19/2012 at 01:59 AM