Umehara appears on employment website for university students

Rikunabi, an employment website for university students, posted an article about Daigo Umehara and his pro gamer job on November 28 last year but we just have time to finish this post.

Quick summary

First part
- When Umehara was a junior high school student, all he did was playing games. His father used to say "Find the thing you like and go for it." He couldn't think of anything else. However, his father didn't stop him even though he wasn't pleased. Umehara himself also worried because everyone else chose studying or sports.
- He thought "If I'm only interested in gaming, then just do it."
- Since after 7th grade, he always took a train to game center. There were a lot of delinquents at the game center and there were threats (hitting cabinet or coming to see his face) but he vowed to never let that make him down, even there's no adult to rely on.
- He was the type that "If other players play 100 hours, I'll just play 300 hours." in order to gain more experiences.
- He thought he would take a part-time job at some restaurant and spend that money on gaming after high school graduation. But 5 years after the graduation, that kind of living didn't happen. Even winning (the past) Evo, he felt nothing had changed. And since gaming wasn't an occupation, he decided to quit gaming at age 23, to become a pro mahjong player.

Second part
- Umehara chose mahjong because it's man vs. man like fighting games.
- He spent 3 years studying mahjong while working at a mahjong club.
- He then took nurse job because his father was working in hospital, and his mother was a nurse. He also studied to become a certified home helper. The job was tougher than he thought as it requires physical strength and studying. However, he was happy to see the feedbacks from the people whom he took care of.
- His friends dragged him to the game center again, after 3 years and a half. The friends said he's still good at it so he began to go to the game centers again after work.
- He quitted the nurse job that he was doing for a year and a half when he signed the Mad Catz's contract.
- He said, in game world, there's no clear line between pros and amateurs. Sometimes the gap between them is short. But he wants to impress people by his gameplay as a pro. This's how he differentiate himself from amateurs. He may struggle but he's not giving up. He wants to give some inspiration to the viewers. Something like 'I'm going to continue to try my best, too."
- He said motivation is important. You can't just repeat the same thing everyday. Always assign yourself a task of what you can improve. If this part isn't good, then work to correct it. If people can do this faster, then find a way to do it faster, too. This way of thinking will eventually turn "duty" into "job."