My childhood and upbringing before SST in 1988 and in the SST organization in 1986.

I was born and raised in a nuclear family, north of Copenhagen, specifically Hareskov town, Værløse, Furesø Municipality.

My father and mother were self-builders and built their own villa in 1968. Before that, they lived in a summer house on the property since 1957. The villa was excavated, foundations poured and walls and roof built - all done by hand. At that time, self-build was common and people helped each other with their technical and professional knowledge. My father and mother's result was quite good.

Both my parents are very value-based, rest well and are very hardworking. My childhood can best be described by one of my closest friends throughout my life, who said to me once when we were in our 30s; "Kimu, are you clear about how privileged your childhood has been compared to most others? You were not only born with a gold spoon in your mouth, but with a diamond spoon!”.

I didn't quite understand what he meant, as I did not, like most of my other elementary school classmates and friends from Hareskov Skole, drive on a car or take a charter holiday south every year, but mostly stayed at home, in a summer house and since a single time had been in Sunny Beach, Bulgaria in the early 70s.

Only many years later did I understand what he meant. My childhood has been full of unconditional love and support from my parents - always and I have never doubted that I have been loved and both my parents would die for me at any time. I have never been wrapped in cotton wool, but have always been encouraged to test my limits in a good and healthy way. When I fell, I was picked up, comforted and lovingly reviewed what went right and wrong, and then put back on the horse. I am so lucky that my children have also enjoyed that upbringing and unconditional love. My parents have as much of a stake in my children as my wife and I.

Only many years later did I understand that there are very few people who have had an upbringing and childhood like mine. What the outside world sees and the truth can be very different.

Family-wise, what separated me from other families in Hareskov was my parents' profoundly different backgrounds. My father, who was a latecomer, became an orphan at the age of 9 when my grandmother died of cancer. He went to a step-sister for lye and cold water and joined the merchant navy at 16. He was trained as a chef at Restaurant Bellahøj, which was then the answer to one of the best restaurants in Denmark and the Nordics - an education that was to take him far and wide. An education which meant that he has made food and ice sculptures for royalty, AP & MM Møller, generals and admirals, all the children and adults of the road, for Mardi Gras road parties and for thousands of paying guests.

My father's curiosity led him to appointment as AP Møller's youngest butler, only 23 years old, naval officer, blacksmith, machinist, manufacturer, trade unionist, prestigious corporate board positions, arms developer and much more.

My father was well-travelled, curious childlike, knowledgeable and lightning-quickly intelligent. He has fought pirates quite a few times, been stabbed in the collarbone during the fights, been fired upon by heavy machine guns from the Foreign Legion after a happy trip in the city, where they were narrowly saved by a quick-witted ship captain. For many years he baked Mardi Gras buns and cooked food for all the children and parents of the landowner association, and organized badminton and football tournaments to the great delight of the street children. As a keen amateur photographer, and eager to learn from him, we very often saw slides from my father's travels, my mother and father's travels, our Japanese family, but also our childhood and upbringing were documented and remembered. And to my great delight, my mother always got flowers, me and my sister teddy bears when we were in Tivoli or on the Bakken, as my father, as a trained military marksman, took care of this in the shooting booths. However, it only lasted a few years, then all the owners of the shooting booths knew my father and then he was not allowed to shoot anymore.

My father passed away on a sunny winter's day, Sunday 4th February 2018 surrounded by all his family - it was a very beautiful and peaceful passing as most of us would wish. He is now in the family burial place, Hareskov cemetery.

My mother's family upbringing could hardly be more opposite. She comes from one of the most well-known Japanese noble families, with 2600 years of history and which has shaped Japan's history for a thousand years. My mother was brought up with "Estate, gold and green areas" with serving spirits and with family in the highest positions of society. My mother received a traditional Japanese education for the titled upper class; private school, private high school aimed at high nobility purposes, etiquette, Judo, Naginata and Jujutsu from the best instructors, etc. The first time it dawned on me who my family is and who I am perceived as was a walk in my family's hometown, Tottori, which was founded by my family 500 years ago and is the size of Odense. As a kid in short pants with a patch on the knee, I met an elderly couple and sister over the age of 80-90. It gave them a gasp when they saw me and in the middle of the pavement they threw themselves into seiza and kept their foreheads down on the pavement. I was very shocked and hurt, but my cousin just nodded, took my arm and we went on. I have experienced it several times since, the last time in 1989 in Fukushima, Japan, in the (Sensei) Nishiwake family's private home. It's something you never forget and I never liked it. To me it is humiliating.

Although the privileges of the nobility have been abolished and are purely titular, both in Denmark and in Japan, this respect for the family also has its greater advantages, which my wife, children, friends and have now also experienced quite a few times. SOPORG also experienced it in May 2018.

Japanese people are very pragmatic. This applies both in religion as the imperial house and nobility. If a noble or imperial house was dying out due to a lack of male title heirs, the best male candidate from outside was adopted, who then married a daughter of the male head of the noble clan family or the imperial house, and everything could continue as before. It happened to my father and mother too. But here the marriage was driven by love, which resulted in 61 years of marriage.

My mother lived an extraordinary childhood and youth, but gave it all up for the sake of love and adventure. She has experienced earthquakes on the Richter scale of 7.4, where a cast-iron bathtub saved her life when the family's 300-year-old palace collapsed. She has experienced American aerial bombing and allied occupation forces and a greatly changed Japan. The privileges and abolition of the high nobility - by the American dictated new national constitution, which is perhaps also the reason why respect for the 2000+ year old ancient noble families is still very high and has grown significantly in recent years. A change that my family has also repeatedly experienced, - the thing about being treated "royally", with undivided attention, everything is free of charge with very high limits and the fact that people "jump and jump" to fulfill your wishes and needs . My mother worked for Novo Nordisk in production for over 30 years. My mother still lives in the house in Hareskov, which my father and mother built by hand in the years 1967-1968. Children and grandchildren help her look after it all.

My childhood and upbringing.

In elementary school, I was a happy boy, but I didn't have much focus on the purpose of the school; To learn something. In the small classes I went to extra arithmetic and reading for a short transition, but unfortunately the purpose of the school still did not have my focus. That changed in the 8th grade, when I got an 8 for a style that I hadn't written in recess for the first time. It dawned on me that if I made an effort, the results would also be better. In an annual assignment I got three 13s and two 11s and was number 1. But the person who was most proud of me was Thomas, who was a close friend. He had received three 13 numbers, one 11 number and one 10 number. Thomas was exceptionally well gifted, ended up with an average of 12.7, slightly lower in high school and has quite a good career today. But unfortunately my focus did not last and that meant that despite being declared suitable for high school, it was with an allusion that I would benefit from a ripening wound in the 10th grade. And so it turned out. It was a wise decision, as I found my focus again and ended up with approx. 10 on average.

Many of you are thinking, where was my focus then? SPORT! Up until 6th grade I was a bully and I was really good at it. In 6th grade I beat a 10th grade student who was physically bullying some of my classmates. I was always selective and always defended the weak in my fights, but soon learned that the weak weren't always grateful to be saved, but there was a reason they were weak. This meant that I sometimes sat in the inspector's office and had late sittings. But fortunately, the inspector liked me and those who had been beaten by me, some of the teachers had been asking for for years, should get some over their necks. So it was a bit of a win-win .

My sporting gene meant that I joined the school team in both football, handball, badminton, basketball and volleyball and was mentioned with honor several times in Ekstrabladet. The same thing happened in secondary school, which unfortunately meant that I had not learned from my mistakes in primary school.

It developed absurdly as I did not want to opt out of some sports. It led to grotesque situations, such as playing for the club championship in badminton at a fairly high level. But had to give up in the second set 5 points before victory, as I had to go out to play a football match on the football field next to the hall. After which, right after the football match, I had to play mixed doubles in badminton. This meant at a later time and occasion that my friends had to call my father who had to carry me out in the car, as I had gone completely "cold" and could not actually move!

As a youth, I played what is equivalent to football in the Zealand Series today, badminton in the A/B series and handball at the highest level. Tennis and Jujutsu were also added.

The handball team was very special and already in the first year we became Zealand champions and three of the team's players ended up on the Danish men's national team and five in the 1st division. As Zealand champions, we took part in a big summer Denmark tournament where many of the future hand stars took part. I was 80 % goalkeeper and 20 % back, but I was most successful as a goalkeeper - mask because of my strong psyche. In this tournament there was one "striker" who was particularly feared and I got a psychological advantage over him, so that he cracked completely. He told me that I was a wall to him and he had never experienced anything like this before and started to cry. As a cool teenager, you didn't hug me, even though I wanted to, but just patted him on the shoulder and said he was the best handball player I'd ever seen. He smiled and shook hands. Several years later, I cheered in front of TVét when he, as one of the Danish team football boys, gave us so many experiences. But then I didn't play handball anymore, even though I had already been told that I would undoubtedly be selected for the national team. I had finally chosen and opted out.

I had chosen martial arts - and school, but that didn't last long...

In Folkeskolen I was defeated by a Christmas tree. One of my classmates had arranged a Christmas tree and for a moment, I was encouraged to kick the poinsettia down. The Christmas tree was on a slushy wet vinyl floor. So it ended ingloriously with a somersault and then it was written in the yearbook that Kimu was defeated by a Christmas tree at Christmas time . I did learn something from that, but we all had a pretty good laugh at this and other silly things I've done. Eg. I was the owner of the school "Hubba Bubba record - most chewing gum in the mouth". But it was a lovely time.

In high school I spotted a new species – girls! And so many gathered in one place. One day in 1st grade I was struck by lightning, I saw a blonde long-haired girl come floating down the hall. I was sold on licorice sticks. Two weeks later I was told that she was dating a three-year-old lumberjack called Michael. My whole world collapsed, I got tears in my eyes, the girls in the class tried to comfort me, but I took my racing bike with 12 gears and rode from Gladsaxe Gymnasium and home to Hareskov. Throwed me on the bed, cried my salty tears and was sick for a few days. Great teenage drama . A few weeks later there was a high school party and I was fit to fight again and had come to terms with my "hard fate". I've always liked to dance, so it got my whole arm out on the dance floor - and believe it or not, I was pretty good at that too. But..

Susanne and her friend then came out on the dance floor, and I didn't quite know what to do. A short time passed, then they danced next to us. I did my best to be cool. But all of a sudden I was hit by a butt on my hip, which to my surprise came from Susanne! I thought it was an accident and pretended it was nothing until I was hit again and again. It was almost like a hip injury! Then it occurred to me that Susanne might want to get in touch with me... but since she had a boyfriend and I was brought up based on values, I left the dance floor.

I could see that Susanne and her friend were frustrated, but it was only years later that I learned that Susanne had been deeply romantically affected by my reaction, when I was told that she was busy, that she just had to learn get to know me better. It never came to fruition, but she later became a successful international model.

One day in high school, an association came by that measured IQ - intelligence quotient. They were in the same hall as our classroom, so some from the class decided to take the test for fun. There were many others who did. I can't quite remember if it was one week or several weeks before they came back with the results. But the rumor was that more people could be accepted into their association, but something unusual had happened. One test had been out of measurement, indicating an extra super intelligent person. I knew straight away that it couldn't be me, as I was lying snugly a little above the middle in the class and still only had sports on my mind, - interrupted by a few girls. But everyone guessed who it could be and there was a lot of speculation going on.

Then the day arrived when the association called everyone in for a short interview to hand over the results. Every time someone came out, everyone asked “Did you find out who it was? Followed by; How did you do?”. Many think that the association's members were some strange self-congratulatory fish, but in the 80s the IQ thing was a bit of a hit, so everyone went anyway to hear about their results. There were quite a few surprises in between, as some of those who were at the top of the classes were not necessarily higher than those at the bottom of the classes. I had no illusions as I was sure I had made a lot of mistakes and misunderstandings as I had finished a little early. But I think it was really exciting and I have always, from a very young age, been able to walk into a glass bell and be 100 % engrossed in what I do - that is, if it interests me

Then it was my turn and I was greeted by 4-5 staring beings in the classroom. I thought - So for that one, I have to keep it hidden, I'm a moron! The silence was broken by a friendly young man in his late 30s who asked how I thought it had gone. I replied: Uh, not so good, since I finished a little early. He briefly lost his composure. He said that they would like me to come into the association for further tests. I was one big question mark. He asked if I had heard that there was one out of measurement. Yes, I said, thinking now I will know something that I can tell the others! It's you, he said shortly.

I completely lost my composure, it spun around and I got gel in my legs. He continued, we have not seen before that one person has solved all the tasks, on top of that ahead of time and 100 % correctly – and therefore you are out of measurement. I'm not weird and a geek! I stemmed. No, you don't and neither do we. I looked around the room and did not agree. Then I pulled myself together and asked about the outcome and whether this conversation was confidential. He confirmed that, after which I said that I was guaranteed not to be interested in coming for extra tests and that I would not be a member of the association. A warm smile appeared all the way up to his eyes and he said it was a shame, as they could use me. I shook his hand, said goodbye and thank you. Outside my companions were waiting and they asked; “You were in there a long time? Did you get any idea who it was?”. I answered "No, I was fine, I'm - NORMAL" and then I went out into the schoolyard and had to heal myself.

A few months later, the phone rang at my parents' house. It was the young man from the association who asked me to come to a meeting in a company and he guaranteed that it had nothing to do with the association. In the 1980s, all kinds of tests for hiring began to emerge, and not all were equally good. I was asked if I could test them, try to cheat them, give feedback, - and best of all, I would get paid for it! I did that for many years, until I became technologically out-dated and other methods gained ground. I think it was the most fun job I've ever had to date! A few years later I was called in for a briefing meeting and the now mature man simply said to me; "I knew it!" and smiled all over his head. I knew immediately what he meant, but now didn't care and to this day happily calls me a GEEK.

It was a fun time and I actually also worked for a few years as a clothes model for fashion shows and also became Denmark's hair champion together with hairdresser Tage Frandsen. Today I don't have any more hair, but I did back then. Tage Frandsen was the celebrity hairdresser of the jet set and the colorful magazines, where Lancôme also had their make-up artists attached. I learned a lot about the colorful world and that most celebrities were ordinary people like the rest of us. But also that some celebrities completely disagreed with that view - I avoided them.

I worked for one year at FL Smidth as a laborer after high school. At that time, you could apply for several programmes. High school was a good experience for me, but my focus was still on sports and I wasn't very mature or goal-oriented. My cut in the water crust made me apply for medicine, Diploma Engineer and officer and I ended up having to choose! I did not know my living advice, so I chose the most versatile education; Diploma engineer, Production with specialization in Supply Chain Management.

What should have taken 3½ years took 5 years for me. SST and Jokokan had entered the picture and there was my total main focus. My grades reflected my interest; One of the DTU studio's "superstars" within the management and SCM area, and the opposite within the technical specialist subjects which did not capture my interest. This meant that last semester I had to complete 11 subjects in order to become an engineer. All my professors advised against the attempt, as it had been tried before, but had gone badly and the sensible thing was to take another ½ year. Those who knew me said GO! I passed all 11 subjects, became an engineer and slept away for several weeks. Whether it was the parties or the lack of sleep, I can't say

My first job was in the shipping company J. Lauritzen in St. Another place. Here I solved a task that other experienced forces had failed with. It was about Japan and the Far East. What I just didn't know was that I was meant to fail the task and failed. So when they didn't keep their word, I got pretty mad and we agreed that "we should part ways".

It was a time of crisis, so I had challenges landing the next job. But at the same time I had met the love of my life, Anette, so time passed quickly. But here fate intervened. Mercuri Urval had invited me to an SCM job, but in the wrong office! But fortunately Colonel Helge Kroon took the interview at their Copenhagen office and it is one of the funnest job interviews I have been to. He concluded "That I was an unusually charming bandit, but would get bored r.. in the logistics manager job after a short time and he had something else in mind". A few days later, a letter dropped through the door from Danish Crown's corporate headquarters in Paderup - in Randers!

In the summer of 1991, Anette and I moved to Randers. Anette found an old mansion in Danmarksgade 12, st., 8900 Randers, where we lived for the next 6 years. Anette had quit her accountant job at KPMG to study at the business school in Aarhus, where she studied Cand.Merc. It was good she did this as neither of us expected that I would have more than 260 travel days per year for the next 6 years.

I took up the job as regional export manager for Japan, in the Danish Crown group headquarters. I joined a turnover that had crashed from approx. 30 million DKK to 2 million DKK and lawsuits with Japan's largest supermarket chain, which was also one of the world's largest supermarket chains. The first day I took office I had to present Danish Crown's products to the Danish and Japanese ministers of trade and foreign affairs and 14 days later I was in Japan to negotiate the legal compensation agreement with Daiei in place.

Once again, everyone thought we would lose and that it was a lost cause but, two weeks later, we had won the case with the words, from a very heavy divisional and group director of Daiei, "Congratulations, Kimu, you win, I loose - do well in your life”. Two weeks later he was retired aged just 57. Congratulations poured in and my boss said I could do what I wanted and buy what I wanted. I ended up buying for approx. DKK 10,000 books, eat a burger and sleep for 24 hours. But I had made a name for myself very quickly, and therefore I was given 100 % freedom of action, became the youngest export manager, received Denmark's export price and Prince Henrik's medal of honour, had created hundreds of jobs and rounded up a turnover of almost half a billion kroner in 1997.

When I have given my word on an agreement, I have always had an ambition to do my best, fulfill my full potential at all times and am deeply grateful that I have worked hard and purposefully to have been given that opportunity to be taught by the absolute best internationally recognized grandmasters in Japan and China. During these 6 years I trained at least 6 times a year for 3 weeks in Japan, which was my primary occupation - the job came second. But that was enough, as I devoted myself to 100 % both, – in the allocated time slots.