I’m from a town called Nagoya, which is about two hours on the bullet train from Tokyo. My mum lives by herself at the moment, so I go and visit her about once a month. I asked her to come and live with me but she said no. She’s a very independent person. I inherited that spirit from her.
The first time I ever went abroad I was 19 and I went backpacking by myself to Germany for 35 days. I didn’t even book any hotels before I left, I just went. I never questioned why I went by myself, it was natural for me, I just wanted to travel alone. I still enjoy it. When you travel alone, particularly to a foreign country, you spend a lot of time in your own company, talking to yourself. There’s a lot of self-reflection to be done and for me, that’s the most attractive part of it all. In my late 20s, I moved to Silicon Valley alone and when I was there I spent some time reflecting and I decided that my dream was to build my career in the international telecoms field. And my dream came true – now I work at Colt.
Fumie Nozawa | Service and Contract Manager | Japan