He left university to get a real education in Silicon Valley

Hash Lyve co-founder Takashi Fuke.

Takashi Fuke was a diligent and hardworking student. He aced his first year exams at university and was looking forward to his next challenge – but was shocked when he saw no one was really studying in college.

“School in Japan was just drinking every day,” says Takashi. “No one was studying. People just took notes in class and then cheated on the test.”

On the traditional Japanese career path, just getting into university is often enough. Students work very hard to get accepted, but then they totally slack off until their third year when job hunting begins and people pretty much stop going to class.

Takashi wasn’t satisfied. He left the university and convinced his parents to let him complete school in the US. He wanted to go there to learn about entrepreneurship.

To his own surprise, he ended up in Kansas.

He admits he started to second guess his decision at some point. But with his parents covering tuition, he thought it was best to stick it out. While he did learn basic management theory, his education on startups would have to wait.

Living in America. Photo credit: Pixabay.

After graduating, Takashi was faced with a choice to move away from the center of the US. Did he go north to Chicago, east to New York, or west to Silicon Valley?

We’re not in Kansas anymore

Takashi found the diversity he was craving in San Francisco and took up an internship at cross-border marketing firm Btrax. He mainly focused on business development, but also had to write for the company blog as part of the program.

That’s how Takashi was bitten by the journalism bug.

San Francisco opened his eyes while he was doing background research and talking to people from all paths of life for the blog. “This is the birthplace of startups,” he thought.

Takashi’s internship ended but his passion for media didn’t. He stayed in the Bay Area and picked up jobs at Japanese media sites Tech Watch and The Bridge. He conducted hundreds of interviews and started another internship at a venture capital (VC) firm where he was in charge of building its new video media.

Video news craze