Haruo Yamaguchi

Just because my career has been in business travel does not mean that I am all work and no play. I still love to travel, and I have had many incredible trips over the years. The one that stands out most in my mind is a trip my family took recently, where I introduced them to my homeland. 

We traveled to my hometown in the countryside of Japan that I left when I was 15 years old. The trip was exciting for many reasons, the “flashiest” of which was a huge firework celebration that takes place there every August.  

As exciting as it was for me to relive my childhood, it was even more exciting for my kids to get a sense of what my childhood was like. I showed them the home I grew up in, my school and favorite places and talked about the sort of things I did when I was young. It was equal parts educational and enthralling to them.  

This trip meant so much to me because it essentially bridged my two worlds. I had the opportunity to show my sons an important part of my past, and hopefully, they gained an appreciation for their family’s history. I think for me, that trip epitomizes the beauty of travel in a nutshell; it is a way of bridging diverse worlds through exploration and discovery!