After attending ION NTM 2002, the author visited NavCom Technologies in Redondo Beach near from Los Angels. The offices of this company are elegant buildings located at waterfront. Looking from windows, many yachts are moored. The environment is really enviable. This company is a R & D company in cutting edge technology including GPS. It was a venture established about 15 years ago, but it is now a 100% subsidiary of John Deere, a huge agriculture company founded in 1838. I have got acquainted with Mr. Chris Litton, sales manager, on the occasion of symposiums and exhibitions. He is a son of the president too.
Chris is a good-natured person and welcomed me. He invited me not only lunch but also dinner. So, he and the author could spend a lot of time on talking various topics. Mr. Hatch, President of ION, is a Vice President of this company, and the author discussed with him for about two hours. Mr. Hatch is an open-hearted person. He is the inventor of Hatch Filter famous in the field of GPS. According to what I heard from Chris, he seems to be a very unique person.
Mr. Hatch is an earnest believer of Baptist and a father of 13 children. Furthermore, he educated his children by himself. This is impossible in Japan. Elementary education of nine years is compulsory in Japan, but in US, the situation seems to be different. In short, the scale is different between in Japan and in US.
However, if the scale is different, a strong belief may be necessary to practice it. His strong belief is a big surprise to me. In a society where the author belongs, this kind of strong belief, especially in intellectual people, is very rare. From this meaning, the author feels the difference of scale. Generally speaking, political leaders in US seem to have stronger leadership than Japanese ones. This may root in this kind of difference.
Mr. Hatch is skeptical about the theory of relativity by Einstein, and wrote a book on the subject. According to Chris, the book is not popular. Every time the author visit US, he encounters things he can't imagine in Japan. US is always very attractive to the author.
Link: http://www.teruya.co.jp