Professor of economics at Daito Bunka University, Masaomi Kondo is also president of the Japan Association for Interpretation Studies, and senior member of the International Association of Conference Interpreters in Geneva. The scope of his interests and qualifications go way beyond economics and high-level interpreting, but perhaps these two constitute his constant and continuing top priorities.
He was an Aichi Prefecture war baby who grew into "a rather good boy, getting pretty good marks at school. My primary school teachers were rather inspiring," he said. Now he and his wife, Mineko, live in a Saitama house "built by a member of the dying tribe, Japan's shrine carpenters. I look out over vegetable gardens to see wild pheasants strolling there." In 60 years he has come a long way. He has achieved, and won wide recognition for reliability and stability.
"My father was a noodle maker in Aichi Prefecture," Kondo said. "He bought wheat flour, used a primitive machine, and sold the noodles he made to different retail stores. My mother worked with him all the time. The children had to go along too." Kondo was the first of the four children in his family, and felt it was up to him to set standards that the others should follow.