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Design and Interview by: Maiko Uchida Translated by: Kasumi Iida Widner

Please tell us how your childhood was like.

Tsurumoto: When I was four, I fell from a cliff and almost died. The doctor even brought in my family and relatives and told them that I wouldn't survive. Since then, I've become interested in things like reincarnation and read a lot of books on those topics. That led to my interest in "image psychology". I was always thinking about why I was born on this earth ever since I was little.

I've had near-death experience three times since then, once each during high school, college, and after I started working. During all those occasions, I was taken to a place between life and death and I remember feeling very comfortable. The place was filled with lights and scents like nothing you've ever smelled or seen in your present life. You experience no pain or agony, no suffering or anger. I was so comfortable there that I didn't want to come back. But I was sent back every time. I asked why I had to go, and was told (by the spirits) that I still hadn't fulfilled my mission in the world I consciously lived in.

What this meant to me is you cannot die unless you complete your life's mission or purpose. As you call it "metempsychosis", in my case, this is my last life and I will have to complete my mission before I go. To realize that mission, humans are given their names (shimei). How many thousands of times have you written your own name? Your name (shimei) is actually related to your mission (shimei). When a baby is born, the first thing you do is to give the baby a name. In other words, unless you give a person a name, they can not accomplish their mission. This is why your fortune changes when you get married and change your name.

Mr. Masahiro Tsurumoto President of Image Psychology Institute, Founder of "Charanavi" (Character Navigation, a.k.a. Animal Psychology) Masahiro Tsurumoto: Born on 4/29/1957. Joins Meiji Life Insurance company after graduating from the law department of Gakushuin University, Tokyo, Japan (majoring in social psychology). Founded "Fukuri Kouseika" Corporation in 1992. Founded Image Psychology Institute in 1997 to spread his methods on how to express human characteristics using animal caricatures.

What did you study in college?

Tsurumoto: I wanted to have a job that has something to do with humans, so I studied law in college. But law was not interesting to me. So I ended up studying social psychology and got a job at a life insurance company, Meiji Seimei. I thought the job was going to be about human lives, but it was completely different from what I have imagined. I realized that I was not a "salaryman" type, so I quit and started Fukuri Kouseika Corporation. What we did was an agency for managing health & welfare division of smaller companies. Since small to mid-size companies could not afford to provide the benefits package that matches that of larger companies, we bunched all the smaller companies together to develop a better package. All we asked was to pay 300 yen per employee.

To raise the funding, I went to presentations to major companies such as Itochu, Nihon Fire, Sumitomo Marine, Taisei Fire, Japan Air System, etc. The capital funding reached 100 million yen, and the membership consisted of 60,000 people. We would buy concert or event tickets in bulk and provide the information to the members through FAX so they can order them in advance.

It was a fun job for a while. But since we were funded by many different companies, they started taking control over our business. Then the company itself wasn't fun anymore. This is when I learned that a company ultimately belongs to the shareholders.

Is that why you started up a company called Image Psychology Institute by yourself in 1997?

Tsurumoto: Yes, the focus of our business is human. We categorize human characters in 12 animal groups using image psychology methodology (Animalogy). This is the first of the kind in the world.

Why 12 animal groups?

Tsurumoto: Because 12 appears to be a popular unit, as you can see a year consisting of 12 months or a dozen consisting of 12 things. Human hands only have 10 fingers, but why do people use 12 as a unit? Isn't that curious? This is because Jupiter goes around the sun in 12 years. The unit of 12 has been used frequently in ancient Japan. We also have 12 zodiac signs. In our image psychology, we further divide 12 animal groups into 60 groups.

If you take Pegasus group as an example, it is categorized into 4 groups: "eventful Pegasus", "graceful Pegasus", "Pegasus with strong wings", and "calm Pegasus."

In Charanavi (Character Navigation), one human character is further divided into 800 patterns. Out of all the animals, human are the only animal who put up an act. In other words, we all have different faces depending on who you communicate with, like bosses, subordinates, families, lovers, etc. It will be strange if you show the same face to everyone (laugh).

There are two elements to humans: the surface that you show to others, and your real self. The stress is caused by the gap between the surface and the real self. In addition to the surface and your real self, we also have an element called "hope". Everyone has their "ideal" self, and people are motivated to improve themselves to be closer to the ideal. That is the yearning that we all have. So there are many kinds of Pegasus because it is the combination of all three elements of oneself.

Further, there are 10 more "fates" that Pegasus will follow, but this is too complicated for our purpose. The goal of Animalogy is to simplify the process of understanding human characters. During 1999 and 2000, Animalogy became hugely popular in Japan. It has taken over 1000 years for horoscopes to spread, but Animalogy that I created only took 3 years to spread throughout Japan.

Caption: My reading. What you see is what you get from me, so my surface and real self are the same.

That is true. Most Japanese people know what animal group they are.

Tsurumoto: Yes. About 70% of Japanese people know their animal group. That is because I used animals so people will understand easily. The keyword of the 21st century is "truth is simple". Further, people will not be interested unless it is fun, so the key is "simple and fun". Until I decided on 12 animal types, I visited so many zoos throughout Japan. I've never visited zoos so diligently before (laugh).

According to Animalogy, I am "Pegasus with strong wings", but there is no Pegasus in zoos. How come you chose one animal that really doesn't exist?

Tsurumoto: That's because there are people who are like aliens sometimes. Don't you have those around you?

Oh.... I see..... (laugh)

Tsurumoto: Pegasus is taken from the constellation. I was torn between Pegasus, Unicorn, or Kentaurus... Unicorn is a monster, but Pegasus is a thoroughbred with wings, so isn't it cool? An interesting fact is, when you go to famous Pegasus people's houses, they always have horses or horse objects, or sometimes their favorite car is Ferrarri (horse logo). It is sooo interesting! If you start looking at things that way, I began to observe many things, many more than I ever imagined I'd observe.

After started Image Psychology Institute, I founded Charanavi.com in 2001. The reason is because future communications will be dominated by internet and cell phones. I started an online company to provide information globally. Then Image Psychology Institute became a vehicle to spread the message off-line through conducting research and providing seminars. Now Charanavi.com and Image Psychology Institute are in charge of the digital and analogue territories, respectively.

Currently Charanavi is spread through 9 countries in Asia, including China, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and the Philippines. In Hong Kong, Charanavi is the top company out of all the companies that provide web contents in Japanese. Actually, Charanavi is more famous in China than in Japan. The largest department store chain in the world, Daiichi Hyakka of China (the oldest Chinese department store chain started in 1934) uses Charanavi as their CRMiCustomer Relationship Managementj. For example, when a Pegasus customer, identified by an electronic tag, enters the store, the system will notify the arrival of a Pegasus. Then the salespeople will respond to the customer accordingly. I am planning on selling this system to call centers in the U.S. For example, if a Pegasus calls customer support, the call center will connect the customer to the operator who is used when dealing with Pegasus customers. That way call centers can personalize the way they deal with each customer. They then deal with the customers more smoothly and more efficiently. There are so many unique personalities, so it is a very stressful process to try to understand one another. Besides it is hard to train people to deal with all personality types.

I see. That is an impressive business. Since business is done one-on-one, Charanavi could be applied in many different ways in business.

Tsurumoto: This is going to be a spectacular business. It is more like an "industrial revolution"! My goal is "to create a stress-free society". 99% of people's stress comes from human relationships. That's why you turn to animals when you get stressed out. Having pets is very popular in Japan nowadays. In Disneyland, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Pooh, Donald Duck are all animals. People will never go to an amusement park filled with plant characters, do they??

So that's why Charanavi uses animals to characterize people....

Tsurumoto: It is because the origin of humans is animals, not plants! When we run into problems, we sometimes try to solve them by going back to basics. So when you ask what the origin of people is, the answer is that we are all animals. I want people to realize that fact. Animals don't act, nor do they try to force themselves to be someone else. They are always themselves, aren't they? But in the human society, we always try to judge each other. In the animal society, animals fight each other, but they never kill unless they have to. The goal of Charanavi is to educate people to go back to basics.

How would you describe "image psychology"? What's so attractive about image psychology?

Tsurumoto: Doesn't the word "psychology" sound really difficult? Until today, psychology was based on experiments, developed in research institutes, away from everyday lives.

What about those psychologies using dreams?

Tsurumoto: Sure, those are popular too. You can tell about your personality better when you are between being awake and sleep. I've extensively researched Freud and Jung, but Jung ended up realizing that birthdates are an important aspect of humans. Einstein ended up believing that there is something to birthdates as well. For a human, everything except your birthday can change after your birth. For example, your face can be changed with plastic surgery, your palm (for palm reading) will change day by day, your jobs, address, and phone numbers will change. But the only thing that won't change is your birthday. Another absolute truth is that everyone dies. So the only universal truths are that you are born and you die. That is why your birthdates are such useful data.

What about Shichusuimei (A Chinese fortune telling method using birthdates)?

Tsurumoto: Shichusuimei is the number one basis of Charanavi. We looked into shichuseimei because Chinese culture is the only culture that did not get disrupted out of all the ancient cultures. That means we have 4000 years worth of data. Mesopotamian, Egyptioan, Hindu cultures were all partially destroyed by outside powers. When new power took over the area, the first thing they did was to create a new calendar. That's how important the concept of dates are.

Shichuseimei is equivalent to Chinese statistics. Shichuseimei is the analysis of the data of 100 million people collected over 1000 years. That is hard to repeat if you want to compile the data again. That is why it is very difficult and people say it takes 15 years to master it. But you don't want to spend 15 years mastering it. Don't you want to use it now? That's why Charanavi made it easy by only using 12 animal characters so everyone can understand it.

When we started doing seminars, there were many masters of shichuseimei in the audience. At first they look skeptical, but 2 hours later they start showing interests, and 3 hours later they start taking notes! (laugh) When I ask how it was, they tell me that they've wasted 15 years studying shichuseimei. So I feel like I created something remarkable. I was doing seminars 300 times a year during the hey day of bubble economy. I was even lecturing in my dream!

Why did you choose fortune telling as a business?

Tsurumoto: As I continue my research, I realized that fortune telling and psychology are actually almost the same thing. But "fortune telling" sounds illegitimate while "psychology" sounds like a discipline. Charanavi is the first to combine the two together. In Japan, fortune telling is a 1.5 trillion yen market a year. In South Korea, a 1.7 trillion yen market, in the U.S., a 2.7 trillion yen market, and it is impossible to measure its worth in China! It is approximately a 50 trillion yen market all over the world. But no company is trying to seize that market. Even 3% of the market share is a huge deal. You can see that on Japanese morning TV shows. If you flip through channels, you see fortune forecasts on many of the stations. Japanese fortune telling is somewhat casual, but Americans use numerical calculations. Successful people in the world tend to believe in fortune telling. My favorite quote is: "Normal people are controlled by fortune readings while successful people utilize them!!"

Oh I see....

Tsurumoto: I started using animal characters because the use of animal characters is so popular, like doraemon, pikachu, etc. Affinity toward animal characters is universal. So that's why I use animal characters to express fortune telling and psychology. You can call it a fortune telling or psychology. It doesn't matter either way.

What are the three most important things in business?

Tsurumoto: It is the human relationships. That is all. It is important to understand people's unique characters to have good communications with others. As I do this job, I started to realize that most stresses come from human relationships. Nowadays, the biggest reason people quit their work is human relationships.

What do you think is the reason why Charanavi became so popular? How do you think people should apply Charanavi in our lives?

Tsurumoto: Everyone, from the president of a country to children all over the world, has to deal with human relationships. I often give lectures in elementary schools. When I ask the 2nd graders what the biggest problems in their lives are, they always say human relationships! That's why it is important to teach them Charanavi while they are young.

What do you think is the best technique to get along with others without compromising yourself?

Tsurumoto: Even if you hang out with people you don't get along with, it will not cause a stress if you know why you don't get along with them. For example, if your head hurts but you didn't know why, you become concerned. But if you know that your head hurts because you hit your head this morning, you wouldn't worry about it. So even if Pegasus and Fawn do not get along, you don't have to get stressed out if you know why you don't get along. When you start learning image psychology, you become accepting to others.

What do you think is the best way to succeed in America?

Tsurumoto: I think Charanavi will be popular in America because there are so many ethnicities and religions. Charanavi is a short name for "Character Navigation", but people will soon start using the word "Charanavi" like it is English.

What kind of business do you want to run in America?

I believe charanavi will be utilized in CRM and call centers. There are so many people who live and die without knowing who they really are. They say it takes all of your life to understand who you really are. So the successful people are those who know about their true selves early on in their lives. Our image psychology divides a person into the "real self", "future self", and the "past self". A person is the combination of those three elements. If there are wide gaps between those elements, you will be stressed out. We also chart people's fortune as a function of time throughout their lives. This way, you know when to partner up with people who have good fortune while your fortune is bad. We think it is useful if we can broadcast this like a weather forecast! Example: Author's chart

What is your favorite saying that you live by?

Tsurumoto: Smiles do not create enemies!

Where do you see yourself one year from now on?

Tsurumoto: Charanavi may spread to 1/3 of America.

In 10 years?

Tsurumoto: Charanavi may spread all over the world! My most immediate dream is Beijing Olympics. Wouldn't that be fun if broadcasters say "Coming up in the first lane is Ms. so-and-so of Cheetah group!"

(laugh)

Tsurumoto: Don't you feel like rooting for the same Pegasus group even though she is from a different country?

That will be so much fun. You can root for somebody regardless of their nationalities!

Tsurumoto: During the last Olympics in Athens, athletes from 202 countries participated, yet English speakers are less than a half of them. But if they wear, for example, a pin showing which animal group they belong to, they can communicate with each other.

Do you have any messages to young people in Japan who want to come to America?

Tsurumoto: I am sure they will have difficulty at first. They are not familiar with the language and cultures... but if you have a Charanavi handbook, you may be able to make friends quicker. You can start a conversation by asking their birthdays and telling their characters. I think Charanavi itself is an effective language as much as English. In Japan, there are about 500 registered counselor for Charanavi. The counselors include school teachers, doctors, nurses, politicians, etc. We also see young mothers who are having a hard time raising babies. Now we are working on a database for babies at age 0 for the first time. We enter their data as soon as they are born.

What are your hobbies?

Tsurumoto: My hobbies are about human relationships too. Our stresses are caused by human relationships, but human relationships are also the cure of our stresses. So you will need to deal with them wisely. That's why I want to use Charanavi to help people. I'd say image psychology is a study to help people deal with stresses caused by human relations.

These days reality TV shows are very popular, like Survivor, Apprentice, and they are all about human relationships. Maybe people want to get some kind of answers for how to deal with different characters.

Tsurumoto: I think it will be interesting to develop a game that has charanavi elements in it... like a simulation game in an office situation, etc.

That is an interesting idea! It's like The Sims but a Charanavi version.

Tsurumoto: You can develop a relationship simulation game.... like you can enter the birthdays of yourself and your significant other's. You can play a scenario like giving flowers to your girlfriend to study their reactions in advance. Some would say "I'd rather have something I can eat!", but you can be warned of these behaviors in advance. You will know the appropriate presents to give to each animal group. It will be interesting to develop a child-raising simulation game, love simulation game, business simulation game, racing simulation game. You can enter people's birthdays to see how they behave.

Wow, you have a lot of ideas!

Tsurumoto: Yeah, I have about 2 billion ideas in my head!

(laugh) Is that true that your "real self" won't change? People often say things like they want to "change themselves."

Tsurumoto: I think that is a different way of saying "learn who you really are". You can't tell an apple to be an orange. If you know you are an apple, you will just have to try to be the best applet there is, rather than trying to be an apple that looks like an orange.

But don't people have the image of a person that they want to become?

Tsurumoto: Our chart also shows your "ideal self" which represents that person's motivation. An interesting thing is that your "real self" really puts an emphasis on "how you are seen" from outside. So it doesn't matter who you think you are, but the important thing is to learn how you are seen from others. Our message is not to live like who you really are, but rather the importance of knowing who other people think you are.

What about those people whose suppress their real selves and live like how they are expected to live?

Tsurumoto: There are many cases like that. They are denied their personalities by their parents, or at work. For example, you will rather cross the desert by a jeep than by a Ferrari. But it is a waste of a talent. You rather drive Ferrari on a freeway. So you will have to know where your talent really counts.

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