The Person Who Supports Breakthroughs

Once upon a time, in a certain village, there lived a young man with the mysterious name of Breakthrough. True to his name, he was skilled at helping villagers overcome obstacles when they hit a wall.
When a farmer got stuck on how to grow new crops,
Breakthrough would think it over with them and encourage them to try new methods,
When a craftsman faced a wall of difficult techniques,
Breakthrough would offer encouragement and show them the path to progress little by little,
When children were about to give up on their learning,
Breakthrough would stay by their side and teach them the importance of a heart that does not give up.
One day, the entire village faced a great hardship. A long-lasting drought meant that crops could no longer grow. The villagers were at a loss.
Breakthrough gathered the villagers and spoke to them like this:
"Walls can always be broken through. Let's try doing things we couldn't do before."
Encouraged by Breakthrough's words, the villagers began researching how to dig new irrigation channels and how to grow crops that could thrive with little water. Breakthrough supported every one of those challenges, and even when they failed, he continued to encourage them, saying, "That, too, is an important step."
Before long, the villagers' efforts bore fruit, and a path to overcoming the drought was opened.
Later, Breakthrough said this:
"Breaking through a wall is, in the end, the person's own power. I only believe in that potential and support them so they can have the courage to take a step forward. Everyone has the power to break through within themselves."
And so, the proverb "Beyond the breakthrough lies a new world" spread from this village.
And they lived happily ever after.
That was the preface to the 1042nd interview with an unknown person, written at 1:21 PM on March 19, 2025, by someone who thinks so!!!!!

[Preface: qbc / Yasuhiro Kuribayashi (Writer / Organizer of Interviews with Unknown People)]

Joining us this time is Shun!

Age: Late 20s
Gender: Male
Occupation: Company employee / Import trading company / Corporate sales in the food industry & sole proprietor / Breakthrough support

Current status: I just want to express what is inside me, without being affirmed or denied. I want to make it that kind of community.

qbc:
What do you do now?

Shun:
I am a company employee and I run a breakthrough community.

qbc:
What kind of work do you do?

Shun:
I do corporate sales at an import trading company.

qbc:
What is this breakthrough community?

Shun:
In the breakthrough community,I provide a place for you to have a dialogue with yourself.

qbc:
What kind of community is it specifically?

Shun:
To be specific, there are two things. The first is individual support. This individual support involves resolving worries and anxieties that cannot be shared with friends, family, colleagues, or bosses, and pursuing one's way of being. Secondly, by participating in this community, you can turn the breakthrough experiences of others into your own insights, providing a place for your own growth and for you to have a dialogue with yourself.

qbc:
So you are the person running that breakthrough community?

Shun:
Yes.

qbc:
I see, I understand. When you think about the balance of your life, what kind of balance do you see between being a company employee and the breakthrough community?

Shun:
Ideally, I would like to do the breakthrough community at 100. However, I also think that because I show the experience of breaking through as a company employee myself, value is delivered within the community, so I am acting with the intention of creating a good cycle of 100:100 for both.

qbc:
Does 100 mean 100 in total?

Shun:
That's right.

qbc:
Is the breakthrough community a for-profit organization?

Shun:
It is a for-profit organization.

qbc:
How are you feeling as you go about your daily life now?

Shun:
I feel very fulfilled right now.

qbc:
Compared to what do you feel this sense of fulfillment?

Shun:
First of all, I hired a coach for about nine months starting last July.

qbc:
Do you mean you took part in the Breakthrough Community?

Shun:
No, there is a coach who works independently (Masahiro Uemura), and through my dialogues with him, I feel much more fulfilled now than I did before last July.

qbc:
What happened that led you to meet that coach this July?

Shun:
Back in July, I was debating whether or not to change jobs. That's because, by July of last year, I had already decided to propose in December, but I had a lot of anxiety, wondering things like, 'Is it okay for me to get married as I am?' or 'Won't I stop being myself if I get married?'However, I couldn't tell my girlfriend or my family about this. When I realized that, a university friend was the first person to listen to my concerns. Since that friend was receiving coaching, they suggested I try talking to that coach once to see what it was like to express what I was thinking, and that led to where I am now.

qbc:
What actually happens in counseling and coaching?

Shun:
As for what happened, it wasn't that I was taught anything special, but rather that I explored things within myself. For example, on a trivial note—I am actually married now—there were things like whether or not to say 'thank you' or 'I'm sorry' to my wife, or worrying about how I would be perceived if I said these things, or feeling like saying them wasn't 'me.' I had these kinds of values, and I spent time exhaustively discussing these values with my coach to change my own interpretations.

qbc:
I assume coaching involves setting goals, so what goals did you set?

Shun:
I have two goals: one qualitative and one quantitative. My qualitative goal is to 'embrace all of humanity.' As for my quantitative goal, it is to 'provide coaching to a Japanese national soccer team player in three years.' I set these two as my major goals.

qbc:
So, you mean a session that was like coaching or counseling took place?

Shun:
That's right.

qbc:
Were you diagnosed with any mental illness?

Shun:
It wasn't anything like depression or anything of that sort.

qbc:
I see. And that Breakthrough Community is unrelated to that, right?

Shun:
It is completely unrelated.

qbc:
How did you come to start the Breakthrough Community?

Shun:
Actually, the Breakthrough Community itself hasn't launched its service yet; I'm currently in the process of shaping it while meeting with a friend. But rather than using words like coaching or counseling, I feel like I would have been saved if there were a community that could help me reinterpret my own values. Even now, there are still many people at my company who say they can't tell their families or friends about their struggles, and I often find myself listening to them. I work at a small-to-medium-sized enterprise, and I think people in these companies, as well as those in large corporations and startups, need 'time just to share' in their lives. By joining the Breakthrough Community for a very small fee, I want it to be a place where people can just express what's inside them without being affirmed or denied. That's the kind of community I want to create.

qbc:
Are you the one who started the Breakthrough Community, Shun?

Shun:
It's just the two of us, me and a friend (toki: https://note.com/toppa_mind).

qbc:
What kind of format are you using to run it?

Shun:
We mainly use note. Within the community, there's a plan that includes joining a Slack group to share what you're thinking. If someone who joins the community wants individual support, or conversely, if my friend and I want to offer support, we have a flow where we conduct paid sessions.

qbc:
Does the community itself exist right now?

Shun:
No, it doesn't exist yet.

qbc:
So you're in a state where you and your friend are just building the concept?

Shun:
That's right.

qbc:
I see. Since you say it's fulfilling, what is the emotion like in terms of joy, anger, pathos, and humor?

Shun:
If I had to pick one, it's 'joy.' It's a bit different from just being 'fun,' though.

qbc:
Is that joy something you've experienced before, or is it something new?

Shun:
I've probably experienced it before. However, while I used to feel it intuitively, now it's properly articulated. I understand that doing certain things leads to this joy, and that this joy is properly connected to my own sense of fulfillment, which makes me very happy to do it. I feel like it's something I can replicate.

qbc:
What are your hobbies?

Shun:
Not having a hobby is actually a bit of a problem for me.I do things like go to the sauna, read books, or watch YouTube videos of my favorite artists or business leaders I respect, but I don't really have a hobby that is just for my own enjoyment.

qbc:
Since you say it's a problem, does that mean you've tried various things?

Shun:
I have tried things. For example, I've tried mountain climbing, camping, and other outdoor activities, but they just end with me thinking, 'I like this, it's fun.' I basically like moving my body, so I live in the Shonan area now, and I run about 10 kilometers along the coast on one of the weekend days every week, thinking, 'I worked up a sweat today!' I wonder if that counts as a hobby. It's fun, and I think, 'Alright, I'll do my best next week,' but I don't have anything I can definitively call a hobby.

qbc:
But there are people who say that moving their body is their hobby. What do you think a 'hobby' is?

Shun:
I think a hobby is something that is just for your own enjoyment, where money isn't the reward—in other words, something that isn't work.

qbc:
What is something you've enjoyed recently?

Shun:
Yesterday, I went to a cafe in Hayama with my wife. Since Friday was White Day, we went to a cafe within that framework, had some trivial conversations, and then went home. Recently, we both like an artist group called timelesz, and they were appearing on 'Dokkiri GP', and my wife doesn't usually laugh out loud that much, but she was laughing hysterically watching that. It made me think how fun it is to watch things like this, and to go back to what I was saying, the time at the cafe, the time spent just having trivial conversations, it's fun, and I want this kind of time to last forever and ever. Actually, we will continue it, but I really think that kind of thing is fun. Also, my wife is a regular office worker, and she sleeps for about 10 to 11 hours on Friday and Saturday nights. Watching her sleeping face is surprisingly fun too.

qbc:
You find it fun to watch her sleeping face?

Shun:
What people find fun varies, but she really doesn't wake up—she really doesn't, and she won't wake up unless I go to wake her, but I find that really fun.

qbc:
How do people around you describe your personality?

Shun:
The biggest one might be 'considerate.' Things like 'You really listen to people,' 'hardworking,' or 'diligent.' But conversely, being told by others that I'm 'considerate' or 'Shun, you never change, do you?'—those kinds of words were very painful. Especially in high school, college, and even after becoming a working adult, it was tough.

qbc:
What do you think your own personality is like?

Shun:
I'm quite selfish, and once I decide on something, I want to achieve it regardless of the circumstances, or rather, I want to see it through. If not just me, but many other people are involved in that, I just feel like I want to work even harder.

qbc:
Is there a side of your personality that is mentioned by people close to you, like family, your partner, or best friends?

Shun:
Nowadays, it's things like 'You have a lot of confidence,' or 'You're not good at small details,' or 'You can focus on what you want to do, but you really don't do anything else,' or 'You surprisingly forget things quickly.'

qbc:
As of last year, it seemed like you didn't have much confidence, so at what point were you told that you 'have a lot of confidence'?

Shun:
It was two weeks ago. Since I often go out to eat with my wife once a month on our dating anniversary, we talked about various things. At work, I'm currently raising my hand to share my thoughts with various people, and we are at a stage where we are trying to create new businesses little by little with colleagues from all departments, ranging from people in their 20s to their 50s. I was talking about how, through the experience of changing small and medium-sized enterprises, I can face various organizational and corporate structures, and I think I can create an organizational culture that won't lose to competitors, and this was something I absolutely could not put into words as myself until last July. Of course, I had never said this to my wife, and although I felt in my heart that I could do more, it was a state where it was always kept inside. But two weeks ago, I had the conviction that I could do this, so by simply putting it out there, the feedback from my wife was, 'You have a lot of confidence.' That's how it went.

qbc:
What is your favorite food?

Shun:
If I eat it and it's delicious, I like everything. But what just came to mind is tonjiru (pork miso soup). The tonjiru my wife makes and the tonjiru my mother makes—it's always warm and delicious whenever I eat it.

qbc:
Thank you.

Past: I would go to the company and spend my days saying, 'I'm sorry. I'm sorry.' I started to wonder what kind of person I was. I began to think about whether I could be proud of myself to my family.

qbc:
I'm going to ask about your past. What kind of child were you when you were young?

Shun:
I was like Gian. Until about the middle grades of elementary school, I was a Gian, just constantly bossing people around, and I hated it if I wasn't the center of attention. That kind of boy.

qbc:
Were you a Gian even in kindergarten?

Shun:
Kindergarten might have been the worst. I remember it quite vividly, but when I was in my final year of kindergarten, there was something that bothered me about a girl, and I ended up doing a shoulder throw on her, and her elbow got dislocated. She came to kindergarten with a cast for about a month, and I still feel sorry for her to this day.

qbc:
Is Gian cured now, or would you say he's calmed down?

Shun:
That's right, I'm not Gian at all anymore.

qbc:
When and what triggered you to stop being Gian?

Shun:
Probably around 5th or 6th grade of elementary school.I have an older brother three years my senior who was always playing soccer, and we both joined the local youth team. I played soccer with the mindset that I never wanted to lose to my brother, but by the time I was in 6th grade, my ability was quite far ahead of my classmates and the younger kids. Since soccer is an 11-a-side game, I was the type who would lead the team with a very strong tone, telling the other 10 players or the bench, 'Do this more,' or 'Why can't you do this?' That local youth team didn't have any kids from other areas, and I went to the same elementary school as the kids on that team. Within that school environment,because I was so assertive during soccer time, I ended up isolated—not quite to the point of being ostracized, but isolated nonetheless. That's when I developed the values that if you truly engage with people, bad things happen, and that it's better not to speak your true feelings. I struggled with this for a long time.

qbc:
So that was during your upper elementary school years, and that's when your 'Gian' state calmed down?

Shun:
That's right.

qbc:
What kind of games did you play in kindergarten?

Shun:
My family home is a farm, so we had fields and rice paddies. I used to play in the water where it flowed next to the paddies, and I often went to catch stag beetles and rhinoceros beetles.Also, I'm not sure if you'd call it playing, but my father always loved soccer. I'm from Fukaya in Saitama, andwe often went to Saitama Stadium or NACK5 Stadium Omiya for Urawa Reds or Omiya Ardija matches.

qbc:
What were you like in junior high school?

Shun:
In junior high, I joined a local club soccer team. The coach for my age group was really strict, but that strictness wasn't about telling us to do this or that; it was strict when we lacked motivation or were playing with our heads down. He was the kind of coach who would watch each child carefully to help them grow. In elementary school, I felt like I had to do everything myself and was telling my teammates what to do, but the coach handled all of that. So, I just focused on continuing to grow, hoping the team would get stronger. I was part of the second generation of that team, and we wanted to make history by reaching the prefectural tournament and the Kanto tournament for the first time. It was a fun three years of engaging with the team, which was different from elementary school.

qbc:
What were you like in high school?


Shun:
In high school, conversely, there was an experience where my inability to speak up strongly placed a huge burden on the captain, who was also my best friend.When I was a third-year student, we made it to the All Japan High School Soccer Tournament. I was the vice-captain, and I supported the players who weren't in the games, those on the bench, or those in the starting lineup who were struggling or worried, by lifting them up from below. However, on the other hand, I would say things to the captain—who was sulking or lacked motivation, or to guys who were showing it on the surface—like, 'We really don't need you, just go home,' or 'We can't go to nationals with that attitude.' Because the captain kept pushing forward like that, other team members who were close to him ended up having bad relationships with him, andI regret that I should have become someone who could speak up more strongly.

qbc:
How was your time in university?

Shun:
There were two things about my university days. First, I went to a university in the Kanto region and played soccer there too. In my fourth year, I was vice-captain and managed about 100 members.Soccer became an obligation, something I had to do—that was the first thing. Secondly, I was vice-captain again, and the captain was someone who would speak strongly to those who weren't trying or had issues. I told myself I had to handle the situation, but since I had the experience in high school where people drifted away from the captain because of what he said, I decided that while I would provide support, I also had to step up when necessary. So, there were times when I had to be firm with both my peers and the younger students.

qbc:
How was it after you started working?

Shun:
Being a new graduate was hell.I joined a company that did personal sales of investment real estate. It was a very aggressive company, like the one in the movie 'The Wolf of Wall Street.'Trying to join this company is my biggest regret in my still-short life. I don't mean the company itself, but I regret my own way of being.

qbc:
What was it that you regret so much?

Shun:
After joining, I was making 300 cold calls a day, and since it was personal sales, I knew this going in, but dinners and entertaining clients became part of the job. I felt like I wasn't living my own life. When I joined, they had high expectations for me, but as time passed, after experiences like not being able to get appointments or being stood up when I went to an appointment because the person I called wasn't there, people started saying things like, 'Shun, you're useless,' or 'Shun, you're really not good for anything.' There were moments where people from other departments, about 10 of them, would loudly question me, saying things like, 'Shun, have you forgotten the feelings and thoughts you had when you joined?'I had the attitude that I would go to the company and face it, but when I actually got there, I was really just saying 'I'm sorry' all the time. At that time, I suddenly got a call that my mother had uterine cancer. I wanted to support her nearby or be there for her, but I was just spending my days at the company saying, 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry.' I started wondering what kind of person I was. I wondered if I could be proud of myself to my family. I thought, 'This is no good,' and about eight months after joining, I called and said, 'I'm quitting.' I quit, and although that company was in Tokyo, I returned to my hometown in Saitama Prefecture once.

qbc:
So you changed jobs after that?

Shun:
That's right.

qbc:
How was the job change itself?

Shun:
My job change was also a huge reflection. The thing is, I had this trivial pride when I first entered the real estate industry. I had gone to nationals for soccer in high school and was vice-captain, and in college, I was aiming to go pro the whole time, and I was the vice-captain of a team that achieved good results in the Kanto University Soccer League. I had seen my seniors go on to work at major companies, and seeing them earn 10 or 20 million yen just three years after joining, I labeled myself with the idea that I had to do the same, thinking it would set a good example for my juniors. That's why I joined a real estate company, but since I job-hunted with that kind of mindset, I ended up quitting the electric power company I moved to after just three months. I became lost, wondering, 'What is it that I actually want to do?'

qbc:
Do you mean you changed jobs again to your current company?

Shun:
I had one more job in between.

qbc:
So you changed jobs again before joining your current company?

Shun:
That's right.

qbc:
Thank you. Looking back on your life, where do you think the turning point of your life was?

Shun:
The biggest one is meeting my wife. I met her during my previous job when I was doing a resort part-time job for a year, and we got married three years later. My wife has always seen me for who I truly am, and she fell in love with that version of me. I love her just as she is, too. This was a huge turning point, or rather, a moment where I was truly saved.

Mirai: I think the prerequisite is to express yourself as you are and to properly share what is inside you, so first, share what is within yourself.

qbc:
I'd like to ask about the future. Looking ahead 5, 10, 30, 40, 50 years, all the way to the point where you eventually pass away, what kind of future can you imagine?

Shun:
One theme I have is that I want to build a history.There are many kinds of history, but my current company is a decades-old company with few young employees, few middle-management employees, and an organization filled with people over 50. I have a strong sense of crisis that such an organization might cause the industry to decline, so I'm currently reaching out to various places to develop new businesses. I really hate the idea that a single history would be cut off just because one company disappears, so while this is a short-term goal, I want to start by building a history. When I'm on my deathbed, I want to be the kind of person where people might look at a photo or video of me and think, 'There was a guy like Shun,' or 'Seeing his face makes me feel like I can do my best too.'

qbc:
What is the thing you value most, Shun?

Shun:
I value showing how I want to be above all else.

qbc:
Could you tell me what that 'how you want to be' looks like at this moment?

Shun:
It's quite abstract, but I want to be a person who embraces others.

qbc:
By 'a person who embraces,' do you mean physically embracing them?

Shun:
That too, but also indirectly. I want to show a way of being where, while talking, people think, 'I feel like I can share what I'm thinking with this person,' or even if they have something bothering them, they think, 'I'm okay with sharing this with Shun.' But to have people think that, I believe the prerequisite is to first express myself as I am and properly share what is inside me, so I start by sharing what is within myself.I don't expect any kind of return for that; I'm happy if they share back based on their own interpretation, and it's fine if they don't.

qbc:
Thank you. I have a 'what if' future question: if you hadn't played soccer, what kind of life do you think you would be living?

Shun:
If I hadn't played soccer, I might be playing baseball.At first, it wasn't about 'not wanting to lose at soccer,' but 'not wanting to lose to my older brother,' and soccer was just the means for that. I wanted to play either soccer or baseball. But soccer seemed more sparkling, the movements were more agile with the whole body, and I had an intuition that it looked fun, so I chose soccer. I think I would be playing baseball otherwise. But I'm glad I played soccer.

qbc:
If you had chosen baseball, do you think there would have been changes in the flow of your life, such as your job hunting? Or would it just be that baseball replaced soccer? What kind of life do you think you would have had?

Shun:
Perhaps, as a new graduate, I might have tried to become a firefighter or a police officer. However, I don't think I had changed that much until I had a dialogue with a coach. I think I was living my life based on the voices of my parents, friends, sports coaches, or staff, rather than the world within myself. So, from the time I chose baseball until last July, although the content was different, I think my way of living was probably the same.

qbc:
Thank you. The final question is, is there anything you would like to leave us with? It could be a last will and testament, a message for the readers, or just a monologue—is there anything you want to say before we finish?

Shun:
After all, my earnest wish is for people to 'please keep sharing what is inside you' as much as possible.

qbc:
Thank you.

Afterword

Life goes round and round!!!

[Interview, Editing, Afterword: qbc]

[Editing: Sameko]

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