Toyo Keizai is the publisher of one of the leading business magazines in Japan.
Notes (we skip some of introduction or what we already know)
- Headline is "The genius pro gamer who came back from nursing world."
- The article introduces him as world's number one pro gamer.
- Umehara doesn't think he's a genius.
- When J-League was established in 1993 and Famicom boom started to fade, Umehara who was about to become junior high school student was left playing game alone, because his friends shifted attention from games to soccer.
- At the moment of Evo 2004 comeback, Umehara concentrated so much he didn't hear the noises from the crowd when he parried. The article pointed out his power of concentration.
- One year from Evo 2004, Umehara resigned from gaming and studied Mahjong to become a pro Mahjong player.
- During this 3 years, he worked at a Mahjong parlour 12 hours a day.
- Umehara said you can't make a big progress if you're obsessed with match results.
- Umehara wanted to do something completely different so he chose nursing job. One reason is his parents' jobs were about medical care. One reason is he was tired of the strong competitive nature of fighting games and Mahjong.
- Among his patients was person who couldn't remember what he ate 5 minutes earlier or person who couldn't walk. That's when Umehara learnt that if you can't decide whether to Do It or Not, always choose Do It. (It's like YOLO.)
- For the play style, Umehara avoids pre-planned approaches like "If you do this you'll win" or "If you do this you'll control the game." Umehara thinks that formulae are necessary for sure but [if all you have are things on the paper then you'll become one-trick pony.]
- While some people think fighting gamers start losing reflexes at late 20 (age), Umehara believes his passion for gaming will maintain the strength he needs to continue.
