With the determination to “never give up”, Sumio Inoue has led numerous tunnel construction projects to success. Many people have come to share his strong beliefs and his attitude of never giving up, even in the face of adversity, and have come to trust him.
Profile
Vol.116 Sumio Inoue
SEIHO Construction , Head of Construction
Born in Fukushima City, Fukushima Prefecture in 1970. Raised in a single-mother household, he learned the strength to overcome adversity. After graduating from junior high school, he went to live and work in a Japanese restaurant in Tokyo. He then worked in various positions before moving into the civil engineering industry.
An apprenticeship at a temple in his third year of junior high school was a life-changing experience, where he developed his mental strength and acquired the perseverance to reach his goals. He has led numerous tunnel construction projects to success and has earned the trust of many as the work manager of SEIHO Construction . Known for his attitude of turning the “impossible” into an opportunity, he holds over 20 certifications. His favorite phrase is “open-minded and free-spirited,” and his hobbies are golf and ceramics. He continues to focus on problem-solving in the field and taking on new challenges with his colleagues.
Starting from Adversity
I was born and raised in Fukushima City. My mother, being a single mother, raised my younger brother and me from a young age while working part-time during the day and working at a bar-hostess at night. Watching my mother’s back, I think I learned how to be strong in the face of adversity. I was bullied in elementary school. Although I was tall, I was sometimes subjected to unreasonable words about my mother’s work. Things changed a bit when I entered junior high school, when four elementary schools were merged into one and the environment was changed.
When I was in a new class in the second year of junior high school, I befriended a twin brother who was what you might call a delinquent. I went in that direction. We played around at night, rode motorcycles, and so on……. But on the other hand, I was delivering newspapers as a part time job. Even if I played at night, I never missed my morning delivery. I was delivering newspapers at an apartment complex, with my fellow friends sharing the responsibility for each apartment. So I was already in a management position at this time.
However, my homeroom teacher discovered this and took away all my salary. The teacher saved it all. Coincidentally, that teacher was my mother’s homeroom teacher when she was a child. At first, my teacher was against me working, saying, “You shouldn’t work part-time! But she agreed because I had a single parent. By the time I graduated, I had 500,000 yen in savings. I planned to use it as a down payment for a motorcycle, but in the end, I did not use the money and still deposited it in a Japan Post Bank. It is significant money for me, indeed.
The Realization Gained Through the Training at the Temple – The Origin of my Philosophy
One day, a turning point came. It was before the summer holidays of my third year of junior high school. My homeroom teacher put me in the car and said, “Let’s go eat ramen!” However, we ended up at the front of a temple called Shobo-ji in Iwate Prefecture. It was in the mountains, about three hours from Fukushima. I was sent there for the whole summer holidays and was to live with the monks. Apparently, my mother and the teacher had already made arrangements, and my things had already been taken to the temple.
Life there was strict, with a detailed routine. I would wake up at 4:30 in the morning, sit in zazen for 40 to 50 minutes, read the Heart Sutra, and clean the temple. Shobo-ji is a temple with a long history, and its thatched-roof hōdō (lecture hall) is one of the largest in Japan and a designated national important cultural property. The hedges are 800 years old and are a national treasure. I also had the job of showing visitors around the temple. I would get up and go to bed with the monks. The food was simple, like pickles and miso soup. At first, I wanted to go home, but I persevered. The training was not easy, but it trained my mental strength. I even met the late Jakucho Setouchi and received personal guidance; in other words, she scolded me directly (laugh).
Through this experience, I thought to myself, “I have the strength to see things through, and I have the guts to set myself goals and work towards them. I can do it.” If I hadn’t gone through the training, I probably would have given up by now. The word “impossible” no longer exists for me. Now, the experience I had here has become the cornerstone of my philosophy.
My path as a working adult
After graduating from junior high school, I took a live-in job at a Japanese restaurant in Tokyo. I was washing dishes, taking menus, preparing food, etc., but I quit after three months. My twin friends came to Tokyo and invited me to go out with them, so I gave in to temptation. After that, I was just playing around with my remaining salary. However, I got involved in a little incident in Kabukicho, Shinjuku, and one of the twins was caught by the police. Their father came looking for them and took them and myself back to our hometown.
There, I was introduced to civil engineering work and worked for about six months, piling stones and pouring concrete for riverbanks. After that, two of my friends invited me to work at a conveyor belt sushi restaurant in Yokohama. I simply wanted to visit Yokohama. At the time, biker gangs were at their peak, and my friend was a member of the Rokuura Sakigake of the Yokohama Rengo group. Naturally, I joined as well, and we were an early-morning biker gang together.
We continued like that for about six months, but one day, I got tired of it. I decided to return to Fukushima. There, I became a rebar worker, partly through an introduction by a senior colleague, and at the age of 21, I became president of a subcontracting company, working together with my younger brother, who had already been working in that industry.
At this time, two of my friends came back to Fukushima with me. So, we talked about creating a biker gang in Fukushima. We named it Maido Onajimi Segami Ran (Segami Ran, As Always).” I was the leader of the special attack unit and in charge of carrying the flag. I was the “shingari” in the very back, in charge of directing traffic so that the group would not be divided by traffic signals. This biker gang group lasted for 26 years.
The biggest test of my life – the start of tunnel construction
When I was 24, I went through the biggest test of my life. It was the loss of someone I loved. I had met my girlfriend when I was 22, and I was thinking about marrying her. However, one day she was hit by a drunk driver near her home and killed instantly. The perpetrator was caught, but at the time the maximum sentence was two years in prison. Now, the sentence would be more than 15 years. The psychological damage was so great that I went crazy, and I couldn’t work at all, and the company went bankrupt. I completely lost sight of myself.
My mother, unable to watch me like that, seems to have consulted my uncle. My uncle was the worksite manager at SEIHO Construction at the time, and he took me to work on a tunnel construction project near Ohtsuki on the Chuo Expressway. He thought that if I went to the construction site, it might help me to take my mind off things a little. That was how I ended up getting involved in tunnel construction. There, I got to know the other workers and they looked after me in various ways. This helped to distract me quite a bit. My uncle subsequently served as managing director and then senior managing director. I became the work manager of SEIHO Construction and was in a position to manage the entire site.
The courage to blaze a trail – thinking “what can I do?
I have continued to work on tunnel construction projects, and every day on the site, unexpected problems and difficulties arise. However, I always try to think about what I can do in any situation. I can’t stop the rain, but I can think of ways to avoid getting wet. If a worker says, “We can’t go any further because there’s so much water coming out,” I suggest, “Why don’t we do it this way?” Instead of wasting your energy on things you can’t control, look for things you can do and do them. Even on the construction site, the opportunities are in the things that everyone else has thrown up their hands over as being impossible. If you do the impossible yourself, it becomes your own thing. Think of a way to make it work somehow, and see it through. If you do things with that kind of attitude, you will gain trust. People will come to think, “If we leave it to Inoue, he’ll make it work, so it’ll be okay.”
I currently have over 20 qualifications. From work supervisors for scaffolding assembly, excavation, restoration, specified chemical substances, and demolition work, to explosives, excavators, breaker demolition, aerial work platforms, mobile cranes, and slinging. I obtained all of these because they are necessary on the construction site.
My style is “no matter what happens, I won’t stop the site”. Tunnels are only worth something if they keep moving forward. Rather than saying “we can’t do it because we don’t have the materials”, we do what we can with what we have. Tunnel construction varies depending on the length, but the current site will take about 6 years. Normally, you go to the next site after the whole project is finished. However, my team works on multiple sites at the same time. When excavation is complete, the person in charge of excavation is sent to the next site to make arrangements. I and the people in charge of restoration and concrete move after all the remaining work is completed and the site is handed over. This way, we can keep the site moving efficiently without stopping. I am the only person who works in this way.
Knowing the value of life – living life to the fullest in the “Present”
Death has always been a part of the turning points in my life. When I was young, my father died. Then, my twin friends, who were my best friends in junior high school. When I was 16, my friends (older twin) lost his life due to sniffing too much paint thinner, and two years later, my other friend (younger twin) died in a motorcycle accident. When I was 24, I also lost my girlfriend. Since then, I’ve come to believe that when people are born and when they die, they are ultimately alone. That’s why I think it’s important to live each moment to the fullest.
When you encounter difficulties, instead of stopping and doing nothing, you should always have the courage to take the first step. That is my belief. As a worksite manager, I think it is important to be able to make such suggestions at all times. In this way, I have built up the trust of those around me. From now on, I would like to continue to do each job carefully while cherishing the present. Changing something that someone says “can’t be done” into something that “can be done” – that is my way of life.
I am honored to be listed alongside other famous people, and I am very moved. I experienced many hardships in my childhood, but I am happy if I can be of even a little help. Even if you experience a small setback, it can sometimes be the catalyst for a change in your life. Setbacks are a part of growing up, but I believe that “life is like a tunnel, and there is no path without light”.
Looking back, I feel that all of my past experiences have helped to shape the person I am today. The adversities I faced as a child and the rough lifestyle I led in junior high school also taught me important lessons. The workplace is always changing and new problems arise, but it is the responsibility of those in charge of the workplace to keep looking for solutions without giving up. My work cannot be accomplished by myself, but is something that I do together with many colleagues. From now on, I would like to continue taking on new challenges with my team, while remembering my personal growth.
SEIHO Construction , Head of Construction Sumio Inoue
The words of Mr. Inoue, who is digging a tunnel, are profound: “Life is like a tunnel, and there is no path without light.” They reminded me of the words of Kawabata Yasunari (Japanese novelist): ”After passing through the long tunnel at the border, I found myself in a snowy country. The train came out of the long tunnel into the snow country.” I encountered adversity many times, but by always pushing forward, I learned to overcome it. This has been done by believing that good things will indeed happen.
The way of life of Mr. Inoue is imbued with the power to overcome adversity and to carve out a path through determination and action. At the tunnel construction site where he works for SEIHO Construction , blasting is carried out every meter to remove the collapsed rock, and this repetitive work continues to build the tunnel. In this context, Mr. Inoue embodies the “power to see things through,” and his attitude of overcoming difficulties has impressed many people.
I witnessed the construction of national infrastructure first-hand and saw how Mr.Inoue, the warm and older brotherly figure working as the worksite manager who manages everything, is trusted by his colleagues. The phrase “Safety is Skill” was displayed in the office. It expressed the attitude of Mr.Inoue, and I felt that it was exactly right. Mr.Inoue’s efforts and passion are not only a driving force for his own growth, but also for raising the morale of the entire construction site. I look forward to seeing how his challenges will develop in the future, and I am particularly looking forward to the Hokkaido Shinkansen line being completed.
October 2024 at the Hokkaido Shinkansen construction tunnel, Kuromatsu East Work Station
Interview,Photo(iPhone 14 Pro Max), Editing: DK Sugiyama
Project Manager: Chiho Ando
Written by:Eri Shibata