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Back then, all Japanese banks charged a few hundred yen for every cash withdrawal transacted outside business hours. Banks also charged for interbank ATM withdrawals. If you had an account in Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ and tried to withdraw cash on Friday night from Yucho Bank, extra 5 to 6 hundred yen would have been deduced from your account. I was so used to the system but expats and returned former expats (in industrialized countries) said that it was outrageous to be charged to withdraw your money from your account. When someone talks about something better about another country other than the country, in which the particular person currently resides, he or she is actually saying “I deserve better”. It was the driving force for the bank to start free ATM withdrawals, free interbank ATM withdrawals and bank-to-bank fund transfers.

I had witnessed number of strategies discussed and decided among the president and IT management as I was allowed to sit inside the monthly update. This particular decision was to compensate a fewer number of branches and increase accessibility for customers. The infrastructure group was headed by a very practical and pragmatic leader who had a spirit of teacher. He was willing to be anyone’s mentor, although his passion often burned rather than nourished. I dare say his brain and spirituality were too advanced and developed for most of the herd. Majority of employees, especially in the bank, were people from good household. Their compass was more often set to the longevity and pension than the personal development.

As for myself, I was too busy to be safe and secure financially. My mother was already showing signs of Alzheimer’s disease in her 50’s and I told myself that I must be the guardian for the incoherent mother. At the same time I was busy collecting my shares which I was entitled as the PA to the brilliant deputy general manager.