"Link" Chapter 2: The Detours Necessary for Life / Episode 6

"Happiness is Different for Everyone"

6-1 People Who Are Satisfied by Being Praised

Spending a long time with my apprentices, I realized there were all kinds of people.
Even when I taught them the same things,

the way they grew,
the way they thought,
and what they valued were completely different.
And in the midst of that, we

gradually began to realize.
That what makes people "satisfied"

is different for everyone.
For example,

there were people who were satisfied by being praised.
"That's amazing!"

"You've gotten so good!"
"You're so reliable!"
When they were told things like that,

they would look so happy,
and they were people who could work hard toward that.
Of course, that's not a bad thing.

Everyone is happy to be recognized.
I was like that, too.
But, interestingly enough,

what happened after that was completely different for each person.
When I watched them practice

and I praised them, saying "Great job!"
they would tilt their heads.
"But... I always see you baking it even better right next to me. It still feels like something is off, doesn't it?"
There were people who said that.
They were looking at the "gap from their ideal"

rather than the fact that they were praised.
And those people

would go on to get better and better later on.
Conversely, people who were satisfied just by being praised

often saw their growth
stop at a certain point.
Of course, that doesn't mean it's bad.

Everyone has a different place they want to aim for.
But the people who eventually

became what we could call "apprentices" were all the former.
Even if they were praised, they weren't satisfied.

They wanted to do better.
They wanted to get closer.
In that way,

they were people who kept searching for their own challenges.
Those kinds of people,

in the end, start looking at the customers.
"I want them to be even happier."

"I want to make it even tastier."
"I want them to have an even more pleasant time."
Their consciousness

naturally turned toward the other person
rather than themselves.
And,

when I was talking about that with Rina-chan,
she told me about the
general store she used to work at.
"At my previous workplace,"

...
"They'd say, 'The big boss is coming, so clean the store and greet people energetically.'"

...
"I was often told things like that."

...
But Rina-chan

always felt uncomfortable with that.
"I felt like something was wrong."

...
"Are we doing this properly for the company bigwigs?"

...
"Shouldn't we be doing it properly all the time for the customers?"

...
When I heard that story,

I really empathized with it, too.
In the end, I think work is about

"who you are doing it for."
Is it to be praised?

Is it to be evaluated?
Or is it

to make the customer in front of you
happy?
And.

The people who really grew later on
were, as expected,
the people who were looking at the "customers."
But,

at that time, I
still couldn't put that feeling into words well.
So,

there were many times I would think,
"Why isn't that where their focus is?"
But, thinking about it now,

maybe it was just that the shape of their happiness was different.
There are people who can work hard by being recognized by someone.

There are people who can work hard because of a customer's smile.
There are people who find happiness in time spent with colleagues.
Everyone is different.

And,

to truly understand that difference,
we back then
might have still been a little young.

6-2 People Who Look at the Customers

When teaching at the crepe shop,
the difference in "what they were looking at"
often showed more than their technical skills.

For example,
even when baking crepes the same way,
there were people who were looking at "themselves"
and people who were looking at "the customers."

Can I make it well?
Will I fail?
How am I being seen?
There are people whose consciousness turns toward that.

Of course, I think that's natural at first.

Everyone is afraid of failure.
I don't want to be scolded.
And I don't want to be embarrassed.

But.
The people who grow little by little
change the direction they are looking halfway through.

"I've kept them waiting, so I want to make it more smoothly."
"That customer looks cold, so I want to hand it to them quickly."
"There's a small child, so I'll wrap it so it's easy to eat."

In that way,
they naturally start looking at the customers.

And,
those kinds of people,
in the end, get better and better.

Because people who do things "for someone else"
naturally come up with ideas.

I want them to be happier.
I want to make it more comfortable.
I want to make it tastier.

That feeling
raises even their technical skills.

Conversely,
when it becomes only about "how I am seen,"
growth often stopped at a certain point.

Of course, that's not bad either.
It's just that the direction they were looking was different.

And,
we were beginning to realize little by little.

That a truly loved shop
isn't a "skilled shop,"
but a "shop that looks at its customers."

That's why, when we taught crepes,
we didn't just teach the technique,
"Who are you going to have eat that crepe?"
"How do you think that person is feeling right now?"
We often talked about things like that.

⸻

Of course,
we back then
weren't perfect yet.

Rather,
it was a time when we ourselves
were running out of breathing room.

But even in the midst of that,
the feeling of "looking at the customers"
was something I wanted to cherish forever.

Because, in the end,
I think the places where people gather
are places where people are drawn to
an "atmosphere that cherishes someone."

6-3 Happiness is Different for Everyone

Having worked with the apprentices for many years,
there were things we
gradually came to understand.

That was,
"the shape of happiness is different for everyone."
Of course,

I thought I understood it in my head.
But,

when I actually got deeply involved with many people,
everyone was different more than I had imagined.
People who just want to get better.

People who are happy when they make customers happy.
People who like the time spent working happily with colleagues.
People who feel the appeal of a free way of working.
People who want to value a stable life.
People who want to be independent and have their own shop.
Even in the same crepe shop,

what they were aiming for was completely different.
Moreover, that difference

wasn't a matter of which one was correct.
It was just that "what is happiness for that person"

was different.
We back then

still hadn't fully understood that.
So, somewhere,

I feel like we were trying to guide them
toward "the shape we thought was good."
Of course, that wasn't out of malice.

We genuinely wanted them to be happy.
Because we ourselves

felt very happy in our connections with customers
and the time spent working while laughing with colleagues.
But that happiness
wasn't necessarily happiness for everyone.

For example,
we felt joy in creating a "place where people gather."

But for some people,
a quieter life might be happier.
There are people who want to work

more freely.
More easily.

Conversely,
there are people who want to succeed even more.
Everyone has different things they want to value in life.

Every time we encountered that difference,
we ourselves

began to think little by little.

"What is happiness for us?"
Is it selling a lot?
Is it becoming famous?

Is it growing the company?
Or.

Is it something else entirely?
And from around this time,
within us as a couple, little by little,

one thought began to grow.
"Was this the kind of busyness we really wanted?"

6-4 "True Happiness" Seen After Moving Forward

Around that time,
we started receiving messages from all over the country saying,
"I want to run a crepe shop."
Among them, the one that left a particularly strong impression

was Tama-chan.
He was a man one year older than me,

and because of his surname, Kodama,
I gave him a cat-like nickname,
and called him Tama-chan.
Our first meeting was a DM on Instagram.

"I want to learn about crepe shops seriously."
That kind of message arrived.
When I asked him about it,

Tama-chan had lived a quite unusual life.
When he was 18,

he came to Tokyo from his hometown in Hokkaido
without any plans.
Moreover,

at first, he said he was looking for work
while sleeping in a concrete pipe in a park.
And after that,

he joined a super famous, long-established soba noodle shop,
and while living in a dormitory,
he was training to be a full-fledged soba craftsman.
He was a person who had properly experienced

the "world of craftsmen."
After that,

he got married,
and this time he moved to Nagano.
Eventually,

he wanted to open a soba shop with his wife.
For that purpose,

first, while building up funds,
he also wanted to learn management.
Thinking that, when he was searching online,

he seems to have arrived at our crepe shop.
And,

when we were in Chiba for the second time,
Tama-chan and his wife
came all the way from Nagano to Chiba to hear our story.
From there, Tama-chan's

actions were amazing.
Believe it or not,

he left his wife in Nagano,
and came to train in a form like a bachelor assignment.
To learn crepes,

to build up solid experience,
and after that, to return to Nagano,
and to run a shop with his wife.
Moreover,

because he had originally experienced
full-scale craftsman training,
Tama-chan's approach
was truly serious.
In any case, he didn't compromise.

He wanted to get better.

He wanted to make it tastier.
He wanted to make customers even happier.
That feeling was incredibly strong.

And,

ultimately,
among the apprentices,
he became outstandingly good at making crepes.
We were also

impressed, thinking, "It's amazing that he can pursue it that far."
And,
having finished his training, Tama-chan

returned to Nagano,
and started a crepe shop with his wife.
The shop with his wife he had always aimed for.
But—

once it actually started,

this time, it seems their fights increased tremendously.

Work.
Life.

Money.
Fatigue.
Pressure.
Working together as a couple all the time
was more difficult than I had imagined.

Of course,
the shop was going well.

But,
in the midst of that, Tama-chan

began to think little by little.
"What was I working so hard for?"
I want to make delicious things

and make customers happy.
That feeling was, of course, genuine.

But.
What I really wanted was.

"To live happily and get along with my wife."

Wasn't that it?
Things like that.
He began to think about them little by little.

6-5 I Wanted to Create a Happy Family

Even after he became independent,
I kept in touch with Tama-chan frequently.

Asking about the shop's situation,
or being consulted about things he was troubled with.

Of course,
I also often heard about how it felt to run a shop as a couple.

Then,
Tama-chan gradually
began to say things like this.

"Somehow, when we run the shop together,
we just end up fighting all the time."

At first, I thought this.
"Well, that happens when you work as a couple, right?"

But that situation didn't really change.

Moreover,
we also knew their relationship well.

Tama-chan,
and his wife,
are truly kind.
They also love each other very much.

That's exactly why
I was always concerned.

And,
about two years after he became independent.
I received a consultation from Tama-chan.

"I'm a little worried about whether I should quit the crepe shop."
...

"And also, the soba shop, I've started to feel like that's not right either."
...

When I asked for the reason,
as expected,
the reason was that when they run the shop together as a couple,
they end up fighting all the time.

Work pace.
Commitment.
Way of thinking.

The longer they spend time together,
the more they clash.

And Tama-chan.
"Maybe we can get along better if we don't run the shop together."
He began to think that way.

Actually,
there was a reason why Tama-chan jumped out of Hokkaido at 18,
and went to Tokyo even living in a concrete pipe.
His father seems to have been a very strict person.

Even when they went on family trips.

"I want to concentrate on driving, so don't say a single word."
"Don't sleep."
He said that was the atmosphere.
And,

ultimately, his parents also divorced.
Therefore,

for Tama-chan,
"creating a happy family" was
a very big theme in his life.
Of course,

joining a famous, long-established soba shop in Tokyo,
training in earnest,
and wanting to run his own soba shop someday.
That dream was also genuine.
But,

having actually tried running a crepe shop as a couple,
"If we continue running the shop together like this, we might not be able to stay on good terms."

That feeling

grew little by little.
Of course, he loves his wife.

That's exactly why,

the feeling of "I want to stay together and get along"
became stronger and stronger.
But he had worked so hard up to this point.

Time.

Money.
Effort.
He had used it all.
Therefore,

he couldn't quit easily.
But,

moving forward like this
also feels like something is wrong.
And,

Tama-chan said this at the end.
"I'll quit the crepe shop. I'll quit the soba shop too. Is it better to just work somewhere normally and create a happy family...?"

...

When I heard that story,

I said without any hesitation.
"Tama-chan, let's quit!"

Then,

Tama-chan said with a surprised face.
"Eh? Is it okay to quit?"

Tama-chan was surprised, but

I thought that was good.
Because,

Tama-chan realized what "true happiness"
was.
There was one reason why Tama-chan was surprised by my words.

At that time, we were lending our brand name as a franchise to the apprentices who had become independent.
Therefore, if Tama-chan quit,

naturally, our company's revenue would also decrease.
But I wasn't doing it for the sake of making money.

If the amount we had borne when we were teaching
was returned, that was fine.

That was the extent of my feeling.
If it continued for about five years,

the amount we bore when we were teaching would be returned, so
I intended not to accept any money after that.
To recover the full amount, there were still about three more years.

Even so,
even if the money didn't come back,
"I met Tama-chan and we became friends, so that's enough."

I genuinely thought that.

In any case,
I wanted the Tama-chan couple to be happy.
And this event
was also very big for us as a couple.

Because,
more than the shop going well.

More than the business growing.
I was made to realize that there are more important things.

Moreover,
up to that point,
no matter how much time you used,

no matter how much money you used,
no matter how hard you tried.

If you realized that there was no true happiness beyond that,
I thought everything up to that point was
"a path that was necessary to realize true happiness."
So, that's fine.
And Tama-chan

quit the crepe shop,
and let go of the dream of becoming a soba shop owner.
But,
even now, we as a couple and the Tama-chan couple

are good friends.

The apprentices also
remain colleagues even now.
I am very happy about that.

6-6 We Were Colleagues, Not Master and Apprentice

Before I knew it, our relationship with
the apprentices
was no longer just "teaching and being taught."
Of course, at first, it was a master-apprentice relationship.

Teaching crepes.

Teaching how to work.
Teaching business.
But,

while spending a long time together,
little by little,
it changed into an important relationship as person to person.
For example,
the first apprentice couple.

The two of them came to train while they were still dating.
And,

from their training days, they always told us.

"We want to be useful to you, Hani-Hani couple."
They were truly reliable existences.

Moreover, when the two of them got married,
they even chose us as guarantors for their marriage registration.

Even after they became independent,

we met regularly
to eat delicious food,

and talk about recent events.
And now,
they have two children.
Their 4-year-old eldest daughter,

since she was able to talk,
"Hani-Hani!"

"Rina-chan!"
she calls us.
That made me so happy,
I even made my note name "Hani-Hani."
They are more like beloved friends than apprentices now.

And,
there is also an apprentice couple
who were a little older than us.

They started dating from their training days
with an Italian chef who was a great friend of ours,

and now they are a married couple.
Moreover, that apprentice
was someone who originally wanted to run a cafe and became an apprentice,

and as if to fulfill that dream,
they are now running a shop together as baristas.
The husband, the chef, and we as a couple
were friends who often talked until morning

while rubbing our sleepy eyes.
So, with this couple too,
I'm sure we will continue to be good friends
from here on out.

And,
we also gather with the Tama-chan couple
occasionally even now.

While eating.
Reporting on recent events.
Telling jokes like we used to.

It doesn't feel like a "master-apprentice relationship" anymore.
It's a relationship like important friends.
And then,

there is one more person we
can call an "apprentice."
He's a bit of a fool, but

he's honest and works hard.
He is still working hard at his crepe shop.

Now,
he even takes on the development of new locations for us,
and he is a truly reliable existence.

When I ask for something,
he always lends his strength within his capabilities.

They were colleagues connected by that kind of "trust."

And other students, too.
Even though it's far, they come to show their faces.
When they have a consultation, they go out of their way to come see us.

Even when they don't have any particular business,
"I just felt like seeing you."

they come.

We were able to have many people like that.

That was something
that made us truly happy.

Of course,
if you look at it as a business,
there might have been more skillful ways.

I think there were ways to be more efficient,

make more profit,
and grow bigger.

But looking back now,
maybe what we were really creating
wasn't a "crepe shop."

A place where people connect with people.
A relationship where someone can think, "I want to see them again."
I think we were creating such small circles

little by little.
And,
before we knew it, the apprentices

had become "colleagues"
instead of "master and apprentice."

🌿This work is fiction based on real experiences. While based on actual experiences, some composition and direction have been added.

If there are parts where you thought, "Is this a true story?", please ask in the comments. I will talk about it within the scope of what I can answer.

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