About the Rep

The first time I've gotten to know Mr. Okamoto was sometime around the year 2006. At the time, I was interested in technologies such as Ruby(*1) and Ruby on Rails(*2), but there was nobody in Hiroshima with whom I can share my opinions on those themes, and I often joined study sessions in Kansai area instead, about 1 hour away with Shinkansen.

One day, my eyes stopped and focused on an email by Mr. Okamoto posted on the Ruby mailing list. Typically, a newcomer's first posted email on the ML is a simple greeting such as "thank you" or "cheers", but Mr. Okamoto's self introduction started from his birth and childhood, how he lived in Michigan (U.S.A.) from when he was 12 until when he graduated from college, how he was a musician in his twenties, and currently running a company, and so forth. Quite, in detail...

I had not yet met him, but I felt instantly attracted to him, not due to what we had in common such as Ruby and Hiroshima, but rather, to his unique background and even too strong of his self-assertiveness. I'm not that much of an outgoing personality, but I felt I had to meet him and talk with him, so I directly contacted Mr. Okamoto, which marks for the beginning of our interactions.

Like myself, he had just established an own company, so I felt sympathitic to his stance on how he was enthused to pump up the software industry. Also, we quickly identified with each other, for the common interests we had in technology and being around similar age, and so forth.

Since then, we did a lot of projects together, and nearly everyday, we discussed about topics from how we should go about on work, to our management policies, et cetera. We are of different companies, so different views and policies are just fine, but I felt like we've known each other since long, long time ago, and I do feel we really opened our hearts to discuss frankly on those issues together.

Looking back, each of us may have been absorbing what one didn't have from another by our daily discussions. Mr. Okamoto, with a rare background, has an ability to come up with ideas that nobody thinks about. Not only that, he has a strong core on his stance toward work and management, and also has very down-to-earth aspects along.

As companies, as individuals, we both have grown, and our environments have drastically changed since we met, but there's a thought on Mr. Okamoto that has not changed since when I first met him. That is, I think, "this man's gonna do something, I'm sure!".I think so, even now.

Anyone who knows Mr. Okamoto probably and surely feels the same way. I believe his preeminent sensibility and an ambition to explore technology, along with management senses, will blossom widely someday, and I'd like to give him my best support for it.

Tadashi Fukuyama, CEO Steprise Ltd.

(*1) Japanese native object-oriented scripting language
(*2) Open-source web application framework

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