Story #1: A Journey Built Together: The Story of Kaz and Hatsuko Ukigawa

"I want to create something that supports human intellectual activity."

In 1979, I left behind six years as a salaried employee to found JustSystems. At that time, it was just my wife, Hatsuko, and me setting sail. We couldn’t afford a fancy office, so our headquarters was simply the reception room of Hatsuko’s family home in Tokushima City. We even set up our own sign in the home’s parking lot. There was nothing about it that resembled a typical company—it was a truly bare-bones start.

The world was on the brink of significant change. I asked myself if I would dive into this flow and seize the opportunities or just stand on the sidelines as a spectator. I chose the former.

Since then, it’s been a journey full of ups and downs. But I can proudly say that the decision I made back then was the right one.

The company Hatsuko and I built together, JustSystems, produced the major hit product "Ichitaro." Until then, handwriting was the norm, and creating Japanese documents on a computer—given the complexity of Kanji characters—was a challenge. Enabling anyone to do this easily became a huge point of pride for us. In our own way, we contributed to a revolutionary improvement in Japanese intellectual productivity.

In the late 1990s, we faced fierce competition from Microsoft in the United States. Unfortunately, Ichitaro gradually lost its place in the market, but that wasn’t the end of our journey.

In 2009, we founded what is now MetaMoJi, and, like when we started JustSystems, we made a fresh start together, once again as the "President" and the "Executive Director" team. Thankfully, our handwritten input system for tablets gained a lot of support, leading us to where we are now.

Technology today is completely different from what it was over 40 years ago, yet, as I’ve said, our purpose hasn’t changed. And one other thing hasn’t changed either—Hatsuko has always been by my side.

Reflecting on our shared journey through JustSystems and MetaMoJi, I am deeply grateful for the support of so many colleagues. But above all, Hatsuko’s presence has been my greatest strength. People sometimes call us a "model couple," and while we have our share of disagreements, our commitment has never wavered. From our first meeting as university freshmen on a campus in Matsuyama, Ehime, to today, we’ve shared life’s sweet and bitter moments together.