“You’re a Bundle of Wants!” At a meeting a while back, the conversation turned to what motivates us at work. Maybe it’s making customers happy, growing through your work, or finding a new sense of purpose after starting a family. For me right now, one of my biggest motivations is the goal of buying a Porsche Panamera. So I decided to say it out loud. “There’s a car I really want right now… and buying...
I Thought I’d Have an Automatic-Only License for Life About a year and a half ago, I had the automatic-only restriction removed from my driver’s license. When I got my license at 18, I thought, “I’ll never drive a manual, so an automatic-only license is all I need.” I never imagined the day would come when I’d change my mind. The reason I finally went for it was simple: “My husband was going to buy...
Realizing How Limited My Perspective Was When I traveled overseas as a student, I was surprised to discover that what’s considered normal in Japan isn’t necessarily normal elsewhere. I remember my first trip to Australia. In Japan, I’d always assumed “trains are supposed to run on time,” so I was surprised to find that in Sydney, “trains are expected to be a little late.” (Things may be different now.) That experience reminded me just how...
There Aren’t Many Women Who Love Cars I think the number of people who are passionate about cars is shrinking year by year. We often hear about “young people turning away from cars,” and more and more vehicles are designed around practicality and fuel economy rather than the thrill of driving. In a world like this, a woman who’s genuinely into cars is a pretty rare breed… So it’s not often that I meet a...
Your Favorite Car—and Your Ideal Woman? My husband once told me: “A man’s taste in cars often has a lot in common with the kind of woman he’s attracted to. Based on my own observations over the years, I’d say there’s a lot of truth to it.” I’d never heard that theory before, but I decided to test it. “So what about guys who love Ferraris?” I asked. “They care about looks and like to...
Money Matters After I started working, I went through a period when I was in serious financial trouble for a particular reason. Those days were genuinely hard. There were times when I didn’t even have the money for transportation to a work meeting the next day. I searched every corner of the apartment I lived in alone and found a few old Nintendo DS consoles and games. Mercari didn’t exist back then, so one night...
My Beloved Panamera Today, I’m driving the Panamera to Kyoto for work. I could take the train, but there are several transfers, and if the connections don’t line up, I could end up waiting quite a while on the platform. So I’ve decided to drive. The truth is, November will probably bring my time with this 970 Panamera Edition to an end. It’s been about a year and a half since this Panamera joined our...
I Had Absolutely No Interest in Cars These days, I absolutely love my Porsche Panamera. My older brother, who’s two years ahead of me, has been a devoted Subaru fan for as long as I can remember and still drives a manual-transmission Legacy. (Apparently, he has his eye on a Levorg now.) You might think I grew up loving cars, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. I had absolutely no interest in cars,...
