In the following post, Nutrilite Brand Ambassador, Takeshi Saito, writes about an inspiring encounter with a distributor from Japan. 

Last month on a cloudy day at the Lakeview farm, I was waiting for Toru Itagaki, a distributor visiting from Japan. I met him at the front gate after I was notified of his arrival. I asked how the drive had been. 

Toru said, “Oh, I walked.” 

I laughed, thinking he was joking. 

After a pause Toru continued, “I actually ran for some of it because I didn’t want to be late.” 

Suddenly I recalled an image I saw when I was driving to Lakeview early that morning. It was the image of a young Asian man dressed in a black sports jacket, with a backpack on his shoulder, running along an uphill on Ramona Expressway, with bright morning sunshine hitting his face. It was strange to see because that part of Ramona Expressway is in the middle of nowhere. At the time I didn’t think much of it.

“I might have seen you running,” I said with a straight face,

Toru smiled and said, “I was running because I didn’t think I would make it to my 9:00 o’clock appointment, and I had no reception on my phone to call and tell you I would arrive late.”  

I was a bit taken aback. I squinted and said, “Okay, so where did you run from?” 

Toru replied, “From March Air Base near the store where they let me stay inside overnight.  I thought it would be warm enough to sleep outside but I was wrong.” 

Actually, Toru had arrived at LAX airport the day before and he kept traveling on trains and buses till sunset.  Then he woke at 4:00 a.m. and walked and ran for 17 miles to the Lakeview farm. It took him five hours – but he made it on time.  

Toru is an engineering student, a college senior in Tokyo, and he was on a two-week spring break trip. Upon returning to Japan, he will be working for Mitsubishi. But his real dream is to pursue study in agricultural science to improve world health. The visit was an important part of his study and personal growth.  The earthquake that shook Japan a few days earlier did not stop him from traveling to the United States and visiting Nutrilite. 

I showed Toru around the Lakeview farm and Buena Park introducing our history and optimal health philosophy to him. At the end of the day, as the Center for Optimal Health was closing, Toru said, “Thank you for the inspiration.”

But I felt it really should have been the other way around. I will remember that day for a long time, and I am very much looking forward to the day Toru will tell me about the achievement of his dreams.