Episode 2 A family of carpenters

Growing up a boy with a passion for science　 A Breath of Craftsmanship in the Family Tree

I was born in May 1949 in Niihama City, Ehime Prefecture. The city prospered through the development of the Besshi Copper Mine, which began in the Edo period (1603-1868), and the surrounding industries. Even today, it is an industrial area with a series of large Sumitomo-owned factories along the coast. However, Sawazu Town, where I was born, was a typical farming village with spreading farmlands.

The Ukigawa family has been a family of carpenters for generations. During the Edo period, they were shrine carpenters in the service of the feudal lord. Many of my relatives were employed in the construction business even when I was born. According to some sources, the family name was originally “Ukegawa,” but the name was changed to Ukigawa during the Meiji period (1868-1912).

What is interesting is that the family divided up the roles. My grandfather was in charge of plastering. When you walk through the back porch of the house, you will see a large dirt floor. As you open the door, you will see my grandfather’s plastering tools all lined up in a row. When the Ukigawa family, each of whom had inherited their skills, gathered together, they could build a mansion.

Our house, called Shintaku, had a large tatami room. At the end of the summer, we held a family festival. About 30 to 40 people gathered.
However, we were not so fortunate financially. My father, a mechanical engineer, returned from the war with severe tuberculosis. He spent a long time in the hospital ever since I can remember.

Due to such circumstances, as I grew up, each time my father’s siblings got married, they gave away more and more of the land they had around the house. Fortunately for our family, my mother was a capable worker. When my father became ill, she started working as a temporary employee at the city office shortly before turning 30. She soon became a trusted employee and was the first woman to be promoted to a managerial position in the clerical section.

My life seems to connect with women who are capable of work. My wife Hatsuko, whom I met in college and later started JustSystems with me, is a skilled programmer. If I had not met her, “Ichitaro” would not have been born. At Just System, which the two of us ran together, half of the employees were women, which was unusual at the time. The same goes for my wife’s family. Hatsuko’s mother, Yoko, is a natural indigo dyeing artist who recently exhibited her work in France.

I was born into a family where I could hear the breath of manufacturing, even if they were not rich. When I was in elementary school, I read all kinds of books. I remember well the magazine “Kodomo no Kagaku” (Children’s Science), which my homeroom teacher recommended in the fourth grade. It was a monthly magazine first published in 1924. I read every issue of the magazine enthusiastically.
I liked not only science but also Japanese, social studies, physical education, and music. I knew that my father’s influence would lead me to create and design things in the future. This may have been the starting point of my later career in the computer industry.

Such a boy came across broadcasting equipment. When I was in the fifth grade, the day the broadcasting equipment arrived at my school is still vivid in my memory. Microphones, recording equipment, and six panels displaying the volume. It looked like cutting-edge equipment at the time. It was really cool looking to operate it. I played music during the morning assembly and lunchtime every day.

Of course, I never thought that the machine I would be working with in the future would be a computer, but I had not lost the feeling I had when I was fascinated by technology.

Me and my family when I was in elementary school
(second from the right is the author)