The Day I Became Unemployed

I run a small company called Michikusa.
I registered it in October 2023, when I was 24 years old.
Our business is helping companies improve operational efficiency using AI.

"Your business is about efficiency, yet your company name is Michikusa (taking a detour), which is inefficient, isn't it?"

Clients frequently point this out to me.
It makes for a good icebreaker, so I like it.
Today, I am writing about the origin of this company name for the first time.

GAFA employee, suddenly unemployed

In August 2023, I quit Amazon Japan.
I did it to focus on an AI company I had founded with two friends.
However, due to various circumstances, I ended up quitting that company a month later.

I went from being a successful employee at a major corporation to being unemployed.
I had almost no savings.

For the time being, I canceled the lease on my expensive apartment.
I sold my furniture on Jimoty (a flea market site) to make a little extra cash.
After that, I returned to my parents' home in Mitaka, where my mother lives.

And so, I decided to start a business in the AI field on my own.
I couldn't survive without earning money, after all.

The first trial I faced when starting the business was deciding on a company name.

You need to fill out a mountain of paperwork to register a corporation.
Since you need to include the company name on almost all of them, nothing can move forward until you decide.

I headed to the nearby Inokashira Park to think about the company name.
I sat on a bench and just kept looking ahead.

"Inokou" holds many memories for me.
When I was in high school, the second round of our school festival after-party was always here.
On dates, I would pedal a swan boat with my girlfriend at the time.
When I was a university student, I drank alcohol here many times.
I always liked the middle-aged man who played guitar and sang in English.

I indulged in a bit of nostalgia, but then calmly returned to my own situation.
Takumi Usui, 24 years old, graduate of International Christian University, an unemployed man sitting on a bench.
I never imagined I would be unemployed in my second year of working.
I was surprised, thinking that life really can be anything.
While sitting there, I looked back on my 24 years.

My student days without dreams

Since I was young, I had never aimed for anything long-term.
Because I didn't have a dream or a vision of who I wanted to be, I changed my environment whenever I could.

In junior high, it was brass band and entrance exams.
In high school, it was volleyball.
In university, it was rugby and internships.
As a working professional, it was all about sales performance.

"When in doubt, take the difficult path."
My guiding principle for choosing an environment has always been clear.

Because I thought all of it would lead to something.
I didn't have a dream or a vision of who I wanted to be, but I was sure I'd find it someday.
I could even become one of those "somebodies" I felt jealous of when I saw them on social media.

Believing that, I disciplined myself and worked hard all this time.

Is unemployment the result of all that hard work?
I was pretty depressed about this.

I had worked many times harder than anyone else.
There were so many times when every day was painful, I had nightmares, I was afraid of going to sleep and tomorrow coming, and I felt despair upon waking up.
I had those periods so many times.
I had spurred myself on and endured it all.

Boo hoo, sob sob.
These were the first tears I'd shed since I cried because I was scared at my internship during college.
I felt embarrassed and hid my face with my sleeve.

After I stopped crying, I remembered a book I read when I was a college student.
It was "Michikusa Sensei" by Shizuka Ijuin.Michikusa Sensei.
It is a novel based on the life of Natsume Soseki.

Soseki's life went something like this:

- As a child, he was sent away to be raised by others due to financial circumstances, and this happened multiple times.
- He loved Chinese poetry and literature, but majored in English literature at university.
- After graduating, he became a junior high school English teacher.
- After studying abroad in London for two years, he became a lecturer in English literature at a university.
- During that time, "I Am a Cat" became a hit, and he became a writer.
- After writing one masterpiece after another, he died of a stomach ulcer at the age of 49.

He was, above all, a man who had known hardship.
And that experience is reflected in the delicacy that characterizes Soseki's literature.
His detours through illness and inner conflict were never in vain.
That is why his disciple, Torahiko Terada, called him "Michikusa Sensei" (Professor Detour).

And then it hit me.
Let's just call this painful situation I'm in now a "detour" (michikusa).

The hard work I did as a student, quitting Amazon which I loved, leaving the company I built with my friends and becoming unemployed—it's all just a detour.
This isn't the main path of my life; I'm just taking a detour.
I don't know when that will truly sink in.
But well, for now, that's what I'm going to call it!

And so, I named the first company I ever built in my life, Michikusa.

I did wonder if it was appropriate for an AI efficiency company to have "inefficient detour" as its name.

However, the reason we strive for efficiency is to create time.
And with that time, companies can focus on what is truly important.

What is important is centered on things like talking to customers, thinking up new businesses, and trying out various things to explore and create new value.
Well, that's a detour too.

Thus, I established Michikusa Inc. and began providing corporate AI training.

The best friend who helped build Michikusa

A year and a half has passed since then.
Over 100 companies have introduced our AI training.

My total social media following has exceeded 500,000, making me number one in Japan in this field.
Over 40,000 people have taken my individual AI training.

The AI learning community I host, called the AI Thursday Club, has grown to over 3,000 members.

Having overcome that painful period, I became the "somebody" I had always admired.

As the number of company members began to grow and I was expected to act like a business owner, I realized that I hadn't updated the company website at all.

When I first started my business, I didn't have any money, so I just threw together a site myself.
For the logo, I just typed 'Michikusa' in a random font.

At this rate, I wouldn't be able to land any jobs.
I decided to hire a professional to revamp the logo.

I put out a call on social media and talked to a few people, but nothing felt right.
For me, 'Michikusa' is an important word.
I couldn't entrust its expression to someone I didn't know.

So, I decided to ask my best friend, Jun.

I first met Jun 10 years ago.
When we started high school, it was Jun who asked me to help him start a boys' volleyball team.
Jun became the captain and I became the vice-captain; we built the club, spent a year recruiting members, and entered a tournament.
(Though, in the end, we never won a single official match in those three years.)

Since then, Jun has become the person I've taken the most 'michikusa' (detours) with.
We've hung out countless times, and even made radio shows and card games together.

He, too, is living a 'michikusa' life.
After graduating from the same ICU High School, he enrolled in Digital Hollywood University.
Later, he re-enrolled at Humber College in Canada to study UI/UX.

He was a non-returnee student who managed to get into a four-year Canadian university.
I often heard about his struggles over the phone—not just with the language, but with the cost of living and the culture.

I knew that if it were him, he would be the one to best bring my vision to life.
With that in mind, I made the request.

'An advanced design that feels like AI or IT, a service that promotes efficiency, but with that 'michikusa' feel of taking the long way around—I want both text and an icon.'

I gave him that impossible task.
And that is how the design was born.

First, these two curved lines represent taking the long way around.
Furthermore, they are also ellipsis symbols used in graphs and the like.

The blue and light blue gradient symbolizes the cutting edge of AI and change.
It was exactly the design I was looking for.

I'm so glad I asked Jun.
Apparently, Jun went through 36 sketchbooks to create this design; I really put him through a lot.

The reason I wrote this note today is because I got a message from him—the guy I've shared so many detours with—saying he had graduated from university.

It took him seven years to graduate since enrolling at Digital Hollywood in 2018.
I think it was a long, long detour.
He landed a full-time UI/UX designer position at a local company.
It's sad that he'll be staying over there for a while, but I'm rooting for him.

(As an aside, I currently serve as a specially appointed associate professor at his alma mater, Digital Hollywood University. It's an interesting connection.)

The Future of Michikusa Inc.

For me, AI is something I arrived at after all my previous 'Michikusa' (detours).

Teaching AI to others is something I clearly want to do, as it perfectly aligns my strengths, my passions, and market demand.

However, there are many bad actors in the AI industry who flood the market with ads to sell expensive, low-quality AI courses and refuse to offer refunds.

I find this deeply unpleasant, and it is a clear issue within the industry.
That is precisely why I provide AI training with a motto of being genuinely sincere in my business.

Corporate AI training, individual AI courses, and an AI community for individuals.
I find all of these rewarding, and I will continue doing this for a while.

However, I don't think I will do the same thing forever.
After all, work is constantly changing due to the evolution of AI.

So, all my past struggles, my current AI business, and my future ventures are all part of my 'Michikusa'.

Finally

Thank you to everyone who has read this far.
I would be happy if you could share your thoughts via comments, social media shares, or DMs.