In 2021, Kotaro Seki was unsatisfied with his work at a major travel agency. He was good at his job, but he felt like something was missing.

Anyone could do the job he was doing at the agency, he thought. And few were bothered — as he was — by the fact that the money spent by tourists wasn't making its way to local businesses.

This frustration turned into a burning desire to do something that actually had an impact on the lives of the people he wanted to support — local businesses and fisheries in rural areas — which led him to ultimately quit his stable job despite having recently become a father.