• Message from Mariko Ohsato

  Today Is the First Day of the Rest of Your Life.

  The beginning of the New Year, despite the intense cold, is very stimulating.
  With the first day of the year come the New Year’s resolutions. What type of decisions did you make for 2015?
  
  As a child, I would always make tons of unrealistic resolutions, but they would all very quickly fall apart. In Japan, we express that idea with the expression “Mikka Bо̄zu” (Three-Day Bonze), meaning that you take on the training to become a Buddhist priest then abandon by day three. And that perfectly describes me: when school would start, I started hoping the next year comes fast so as to start afresh with my resolutions.
  
  I’m sorry for bringing up the “Three-Day Bonze” story so soon in the New Year (laughs), but if I had a time machine, I would give my younger self a pep talk and tell her that “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.” When I was young, I needed to have a major milestone to start over. So, although these words have not cured my “Three-Day Bonze” syndrome, they make me happy to know that I don’t need to wait until the following year to start things anew.
  
  Thanks to your support, Arc Communications will be reaching the ten year milestone on July 15, 2015. I strongly feel that, over the last ten years, we always kept the expression “Today is the first day of the rest of your life” at heart, were quick to take on new challenges, and kept moving forward whatever the situation. Although we no longer need a milestone to tackle new endeavors, I find it much more fun to have many milestones to celebrate.
  
  I wish you the very best in 2015!
  
  P.S.:
  Writing this New Year's greeting made me wonder who wrote this aphorism, and a quick search on the Internet taught me they were the words of Charles Dederich (1913-1997), founder of the drug rehabilitation program, Synanon, in the United States. I expected this phrase to be much older!

  Mariko Ohsato
  President & CEO
  Arc Communications Inc.

• Message from Mariko Ohsato

  Back Numbers

  • Today Is the First Day of the Rest of Your Life.
  • Global Communication: Being Persistent After a Rejection (Summer Greeting 2014)
  • Struggling with the Cyrillic Alphabet: Learning Russian before Going to the Sochi Olympics (Winter Greeting 2013)
  • Training Teaches the “How”; Education Teaches the “Why” (Summer Greeting 2013)
  • Arc Communications Year in Review: Top 5 “Globalization” News (Winter Greeting 2012)
  • Friendly Competition with New Comrades (Summer Greeting 2012)
  • Top 10 News Items for 2011 -- Official and Unofficial Versions (Winter Greeting 2011)
  • Communicate Locally, Market Globally (Summer Greeting 2011)
  • What Kind of A Country Is Kazakhstan? (Spring Greeting 2011)
  • Message from the President (Winter Greeting 2010)

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