My grandfather, Kaoru Fukuda (left), graduated from Waseda University and joined the Chugai Price Newspaper (later the Nikkei Shimbun).

He worked his way up from a reporter in the Sumo Department to head of the Political Department and then to the number two position at the Nikkei newspaper.

However, he lost a fierce power struggle with Jiro Enjoji (who later served as president of the Nikkei Shimbun for more than 20 years) and was transferred to the left as vice president of a subsidiary company (Nippon Educational TV = now TV Asahi).

The circumstances surrounding this are described in detail in “The Rise and Fall of the Media” (author: Takao Sugiyama, published by Bungeishunju), which won the Oya Soichi Nonfiction Award in 1993. It is a very interesting book, so if you are interested, please read it!

The story of computerized newspaper production, said to be more of a vision than the Apollo program for newspapers, is similar to the current DXing of newspapers.

This was around 1960.

In an era when newspapers were the largest media outlet, the newly established TV station was still a weak media outlet, and was the target of a leftward shift, but in hindsight, it was a “subsidiary with a future. However, Kaoru Fukuda died soon after his appointment at the age of 64.

My grandfather, Kaoru Fukuda, loved new things and had everything from a twin-lens reflex camera to a 5-inch auple reel recording machine.

The other day I found a 9.5m film tape from my childhood. Every year my family and I would go on vacation to Kannonzaki. It showed me as a 3 year old playing in the ocean. It is rare to find moving images of my childhood in my age group.

When I was a student, I found a book titled “The Job of a Vice President” on my grandfather’s bookshelf, which had remained intact. In the text, there was a highlighted section that read, “The difference between a vice president and a president is as great as that between a gatekeeper and an employee.

That may be the way power struggles are now and have been for a long time.

In the age of the Internet, joining a large company is no longer the only successful career path.

If my grandfather had been active in the 21st century, the heyday of entrepreneurship, what innovations would he have made? There is no if in history, but this is an old piece that makes me think about that.