MY PERSONAL HISTORY FOCUSING ON THE CELEBRITIES I MET

1947: Born in Suginami-ku, Tokyo.
1953: Entered Seijo Gakuen Elementary School.
1957: Lived in Queens, New York on account of my father's work (he was transferred from the head office to New York branch of The Bank of Tokyo). I lived there for about 2 1/2 years and attended P.S. 117 and P.S. 217.
1960: Entered Izumi Junior High School.
1963: Entered Toyotama High School. I was in the same class with Osamu Hashimoto during the second and third years of the high school. He has become a famous writer. At that time I thought I was a better story writer than him, however, I was amazed by his ability to recite the names of all successive emperors from memory.
1967: Entered Waseda University Law Department. I participated in the Tokyo Inter-Collegiate Debate League (TIDL) as a member of ESA, an English speaking circle, and was award the second prize.
1968: Met Yukio Mishima (novelist).
1971: Graduated from Waseda University. Passed Bar Examination.
1972: Entered Legal Training and Research Institute. For a practical training, I was sent to Fukuoka.
1974: Graduated from the Legal Training and Research Institute and joined Logan, Okamoto & Takashima.
1975: Entered University of Michigan Law School.
1976: Graduated from University of Michigan Law School (LL.M). Stayed at Reid & Priest, a New York law firm, for practical training. When I visited the Washington D.C. office of Reid & Priest, I saw John Lennon and Yoko Ono. I was riding a car with a young lawyer from Reid & Priest when I saw them. The lawyer who was driving the car passed John and Yoko, came full circle and slowly went by them. John was in a T-shirt and jeans and Yoko wore a big black cape. John was walking a few yards ahead of Yoko.
1977: Prepared a contract for production of a motion picture based on Kobo Abe's novel The Woman in the Dunes (Suna no onna). The other party was a famous actress, Raquel Welch. Although I was not able to meet Raquel Welch, I met Kobo Abe several times and was invited to plays given by Abe Kobo Studio. Kobo Abe was a serious person who spoke in a halting way. The picture was never produced.
1978: Prepared a contract for production of a motion picture based on Yukio Mishima's The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea (Gogo no eikou). We were asked by Ms. Yoko Hiraoka (Mishima), the widow of Yukio Mishima, to prepare the contract. Ms. Hiraoka happened to be a client of my boss. The picture was produced in England and it was a masterpiece. Another work I did for Ms. Hiraoka was to collect copies of the motion picture Patriotism (Yukoku) produced and directed by Yukio Mishima. In that picture Mishima played the role of a young military officer who participated in an unsuccessful coup d'etat and committed suicide by harakiri. Since I was fond of that picture, I was embarrassed by the fact that Ms. Hiraoka was trying to destroy the picture.
1980: Wrote several stories. Although I participated in a few novel contests, I was never successful.
1981: Joined Masuda & Ejiri as a partner.
1982: Prepared an agreement for production of the motion picture Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence directed by Nagisa Oshima.
1983: Prepared an agreement for production of a motion picture Ran directed by Akira Korosawa.
1984: Appeared in the picture Ran as an extra.
1985: Had a private dinner with Ms. Senri Yamazaki (actress).
1987: Prepared an agreement for production of the motion picture Dancer directed by Masahiro Shinoda. I also worked for Nobuhiko Ohbayashi (director) and Ryuichi Sakamoto (composer) around this time.
1990: Began training in the Nishino Breathing Method (Nishinoryu Kokyuhou) and was blown away by the ki (life force) of Kaoru Yumi (actress).
1992: Instituted lawsuits against Toho and MGM on behalf of Akira Kurosawa.
1995: Established Norisugi & Associates.
1996: Professor Ted Nelson, the founder of Xanadu, Hypertext, etc., visited our office.
1998: Met Professor Seidensticker and talked about Mishima Yukio