In this blog post, we will look at how a personal interest in building materials can be linked to specific career motivations and strengths in a self-introduction letter.
Growing up
When I was a child, I lived in a wooden house that my father built with his own hands. My father, who had been a carpenter for many years and took pride in his work, worked hard to make everything we wanted, from furniture such as desks and bookshelves to beds. Whenever he made something for us, he enjoyed showing us every step of the process, from sourcing and preparing the wood to gradually building the structure. I was amazed to see how something that looked like ordinary wood or planks gradually took shape. As I watched them gradually take shape and become a natural part of our lives, I was filled with admiration. When I got a little older, I tried to help my father with his work.
My sister, who had a more feminine personality, wasn’t interested in that kind of thing, but I was so strongly influenced by my father that I once dreamed of becoming a carpenter like him. Unlike materials such as metal and cement, which have no life and seem completely foreign to us, wood is an immortal existence that once had life and breath, traces of which remain in every corner of its body, and which knows how to harmonize with our lives. My sister said that she didn’t trust wood because it burns so easily, but I found that weakness even more appealing. Just as humans do not have the durability to withstand fire for long, wood is sensitive to moisture and fire, just like humans, so I felt a sense of familiarity in the similarities that allow us to live together in harmony.
School days
Rather than learning at school, I enjoyed following my father around and learning his long-standing know-how and knowledge about wood. It was much more fun to help my father trim materials and gradually shape them than to go to school and solve boring problems or memorize formulas and words. My mother, who wanted my sister and me to go to college in the city and become office workers, was disappointed in my choice, but I enjoyed listening to my father talk about the endless varieties of wood, their uses, and their place in our daily lives. I loved living in my father’s workshop, breathing in the smell of wood, and even though I often came home covered in sawdust, I enjoyed every day I spent there.
However, my parents wanted my sister and me to gain more knowledge and experience so that we could lead more stable lives than they did, so when I was in junior high school, I had to move to the city to continue my education. This was because there were few children in the rural area where I lived with my parents, and I had no choice but to move to the city to receive a higher education. My mother lived with us to take care of us, and she would return to my father’s house every weekend. I would also go back occasionally to help out as I had done in the past, but my father did not want to limit my potential, so he strictly told me to focus on my studies and finish college. For me, who had been living with the vague desire to follow in my father’s footsteps and become a carpenter, it was a difficult time as I had to suddenly devote myself to my studies and find my own path in life.
Personality
I am a person who strives to pay attention to the many things that naturally make up our lives. As a child, I wanted to follow in my father’s footsteps as a carpenter, so I was biased toward wood, but when I moved to the city to pursue a higher education, I gradually realized how narrow-minded I was. The world had already achieved such dazzling progress that it could no longer rely on the durability of wood, and there was a desire for buildings that would stand firm and not fade with time. As a result, the development of building materials and construction methods also progressed at a remarkable pace. It was a familiar sight to those who were born and raised in the city, but it was surprising to me, who had been living with the preconception that “they are not familiar because they do not breathe together.”
My dream of becoming a carpenter like my father and building houses that breathe with our lives shifted to a dream of building sturdy houses that would withstand the development of the world. In an attempt to quickly shift my focus away from wood, I became completely absorbed in my studies, and gradually decided on my career path. Rather than a quiet life of conforming to nature, I wanted to explore architecture that was more suited to the busy and intense life of the city.
Life philosophy
Don’t live too immersed in your own world; accept external stimuli. I grew up watching my father work as a carpenter, and this had a strong influence on me, so I tended to not want to understand how much research and effort went into improving the durability of buildings over time. If I had never moved to the city, I would probably have lived in the countryside, surrounded by nature, with a prejudice against people who live together in buildings made of complicated chemicals that are not good for their health.
However, when I came to the city, my preconceptions were shattered, and I realized how people build buildings using various types of building materials and pursue eco-friendly lifestyles. My father’s intention to expose me to more of the world and knowledge so that I could gain a broader perspective was spot on. Since then, I have been determined to learn about fields that I had previously neglected and neglected, and I am now on my current path.
Motivation for applying and future aspirations
Food, clothing, and shelter have always been important areas of concern for humans. With the increase in population and the tendency to live in densely populated cities, the field of architecture, which specializes in the construction and processing of houses, has also become much more standardized. Rather than simply processing existing materials and fitting them together, a new form of processing has been developed that involves creating materials that fit the shape of a house. When I was a child, I lived in a quiet rural area and was fascinated by wood, which was a common building material in the past. However, when I moved to the city and encountered specialized construction systems designed to accommodate people as efficiently as possible, I realized that cities have their own way of surviving.
Your company stands at the forefront of this survival industry, undertaking a wide range of architectural and construction work, and I decided to apply for a position here with the desire to further develop my knowledge and practical experience, which I still feel is lacking, through your many years of know-how. I hope to deeply learn the philosophy and technology that your company has developed to enable people to use space more efficiently in densely populated areas with advanced transportation and culture, and to contribute to your company with work skills that are increasingly optimized for modern lifestyles.
