He built his career at Fujitsu and served as an executive at an IT venture, and his path seemed to be smooth sailing.
However, that path suddenly disappeared from under my feet when I was laid off in my 40s.
My social roles, my confidence, and the values I had believed in until then all wavered, and the only question swirling around in the darkness was, "Who exactly am I?"
What saved me from this tunnel where I couldn't see the answer was my daily morning zazen practice. It wasn't about comparing myself to others or achieving something. It was simply spending time quietly facing myself, and for the first time, I was able to listen to my own "inner voice."
Chapter 1: The Day the Map Disappeared
Miki's Story
Who am I?" - The light I saw from the place where I lost everything
The Story of Utsunomiya
"I spent days suppressing my inner voice" - At age 40, I discovered the real question beyond stability
He spent 18 years at Suzuki, a major automobile manufacturer, immersed in his work as a production technology professional. It was a stable career, but gradually he found himself suppressing his emotions within the organizational logic. As he swallowed his words and obeyed without openly confronting anyone, he felt his heart quietly wear away.
This unvoiced conflict forced me to ask myself, "What do I really want to do?" and "What am I living for?" At the age of 40, I decided to give up stability and start walking a path with no answers, relying only on my own "excitement."
Chapter 2: Where two paths intersect
The birth of enmono - What began on the day it became zero
Miki had become "nothing" in the IT world, while Utsunomiya continued to have "questions" in the manufacturing industry. The paths of these two men, who had walked different paths, unexpectedly crossed at the IT venture they both worked for. Ironically, the fact that they both experienced layoffs at the same time became the direct starting point for enmono.
Having lost his social standing and being forced to start anew from scratch, Miki invited Utsunomiya to join him and say, "Why don't we start something together?"
There was no grand plan to save the world, just a sincere and personal desire to "once again, create with our own hands something that we find truly interesting."
"Making things through human connections." This was the promise we made to ourselves that we put into our company name. And the words "Invigorating the world through exciting manufacturing" were a guidepost that would invigorate us ourselves.
November 11, 2009. The history of enmono is a story of rebirth for us, beginning from an end.
Chapter 3: The era of trial and error - A path based on connections
They believed in their love, but the reality was not so sweet.
On November 11, 2009, Miki invited Utsunomiya to join him after a restructuring effort, and enmono was born. There was no particular business plan. The only thing that guided them was the passion they had for the company, which is to "create things through connections between people," and their passion for the product.
However, the reality is harsh. Trying to utilize his past experience, he works in consulting and IT support for the manufacturing industry, but he can't find anything that truly makes him feel like "this is it." What do he really want to do? As he repeatedly asks himself this question every day, he realizes that many people, just like us in the past, are suppressing their emotions and feelings within organizations.
In such circumstances, our only hope was to make connections with people. As we met and talked with various business leaders and engineers, we gradually began to grasp the outline of the path we should take.
Chapter 4: The Birth of zenschool - The "Place" We Really Wanted to Create
Representative of enmono Co., Ltd.
Joined Fujitsu Limited. After earning a master's degree in policy and media from Keio University, he went on to a doctoral course, served as an IT venture officer, and was restructured due to business deterioration. I started zazen every morning to recover from the shock. Started offering "zenschool", an innovation management method that utilizes mindfulness, based on the experience of meditation for one's own mental care and ideas for new businesses through zazen. Reported in "The Dawn of Gaia" in January 2016. In September 2017, he presided over "Zen 2.0", Japan's first international mindfulness conference, at Kenchoji Temple in Kita-Kamakura, and received high praise from domestic and foreign speakers. Held for five consecutive years, it has grown to become the world's largest international conference on Zen and mindfulness. We are working to make Kamakura a mindful city where Zen and IT are fused.
Chapter 5: And into the Future - Exciting Manufacturing Energizes the World
It's not about "making the world healthy," it's about the world becoming healthy.
When we started zenschool, we became convinced of one thing.
When people are engaged in something that truly excites them, that energy naturally spreads to those around them, gradually making the world more vibrant. It's not something we do proactively; it's the passion that wells up from within each of us that naturally makes the world more vibrant.
Our role is to help find that initial spark and continue to provide a safe space for it to ignite.
We will continue to nurture this "place" with the aim of creating a society where as many people as possible can feel that they are "walking their own life on their own two feet."
Our approach of "listening to your inner voice" has now attracted attention in international research, and our quest to connect Zen traditions with modern leadership has led to collaborations with researchers around the world.
Guided by fate, our journey has just begun, a path with no clear answers.