Wolf Eyes — Never Concede the Fight

"More than 50 years later, perched on a wooden armchair, Mitsunori Son, 87, reflected upon the moment he realized his second son Masayoshi was cut from different cloth, a young boy possessed of stubbornness, self-belief and unlimited ambition. Masa was six years old and he was sumo-wrestling with his elder brother in the family home. Masa lost the fight, but he refused to give up. Nothing would stop him, not even when his father tried to pull him away. Mitsunori still remembered the look in Masa’s eyes. ‘They were like an animal’s, a wolf’s eyes,’ he chuckled. ‘I thought to myself: “Wow, this bastard is not human.”’[15](private://read/01jg9b8njt7zc5haz30afb9n29/#ch02_15)"

"Masa agrees he was encouraged by his father to believe that he was exceptional. ‘He always said: “Masa you’re the best, you’re number one, you’re brilliant.” So I had a natural belief: I’m number one. Why should I compromise to be number two?’[17](private://read/01jg9b8njt7zc5haz30afb9n29/#ch02_17)"

"‘He [Masa] would keep staring at me, with those eyes, as if they were telling me to keep calling him a genius,’ Mitsunori remembered, ‘and so I ended up having to call him a genius.’ Just in case the foreign visitor failed to absorb the message, the doting father added: ‘Because Masa is convinced that he’s a genius, the good ideas follow. If you truly believe you’re strong, you’re a genius, then failure just bounces off you, you drive failure away through sheer will-power.’"