In Jakarta, I was the one being helped

I still remember the day I first landed in Jakarta. The wall of heat the moment I stepped out of the airport, and the sound of horns from every direction. To be honest, anxiety outweighed excitement that day. I didn't speak the language, didn't know the streets, didn't understand how business worked here. The only thing I had was a decision: I was going to build a company in this country.

What followed were days of being helped, over and over.

A local staff member who queued beside me for hours at a government office when I was completely lost. A business partner who never once laughed at my broken English — he just slowed down and said it again. The lady at a small eatery who waved me in out of a rainy-season downpour and put a coffee in front of me. I am not exaggerating when I say that every step forward I managed in this country was built on the kindness of people whose names I often never learned.

Among them all, there is one Indonesian teammate who has worked with me since the day this company started. I won't write his name here — he'd be embarrassed. He speaks no Japanese; I speak no Indonesian at all, and my English barely gets me through. And yet, strangely enough, the important things always get through. Every time I misread a rule or a custom, he steers me back without ever once looking annoyed. To me he is a teacher, and at times something like a guardian.

To be honest, in the beginning we were 'owner and staff.' What changed that was a certain trouble. I won't go into the details here, but when we came through that one together, he stopped being 'staff' in my mind and became a comrade. If this company is still standing today, it is without question thanks to him. Let me say it here: thank you.

Indonesians have a phrase: gotong royong. Carrying the load together. I used to think it was a kind of slogan. Then I lived here, and I saw it breathing in everyday life. When someone is struggling, people help — no calculation, no hesitation. Again and again, I was pulled into that circle.

And the longer I work here, the more potential I feel in this country. The average age is in the twenties. Every corner of the city hums with the energy of small businesses, and everything moves on a single phone. Systems that took Japan decades to build, this country may simply leap over. You can feel that momentum everywhere in ordinary daily life.

How do I repay this debt? That has become the theme of my work. But that story is for another post.