KOBE -- The 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake took the lives of more than 6,400 people and left tens of thousands homeless, but it helped turn one middle-aged man who lost most of his worldly possessions into a professional golfer.
Tadao Furuichi, 61, who earned his professional golfer credentials in September 2000 a week shy of his 60th birthday, is now asked to give inspirational lectures across the country. A book about him was published last year and a comic strip series is currently running. Plans to make a film based on his experiences are also under way.
"I am not trying to make this all happen, but people seem to be interested in my story -- probably because I am as ordinary as anyone else," Furuichi said, after giving a lecture to university students in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture.