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c People

Japan could actually experience the life
and cultures in Japan: he studied
The story starts with Japan. in Kyoto University and Kyushu
Weber grew up in a neighborhood University, each for one year.
with a large Taiwanese and Japa- Before graduating from Stan-
nese population in a suburb of Los ford University, Weber got a job offer
Angeles. His childhood best friend, from Apple and he declined it. In-
Daisuke, is Japanese. Young Weber stead he took a scholarship from the
hung out with the friend after Japanese government to study one
school every day and learnt basic year at a university of his choice.
Japanese from the friend’s family. Weber chose Kyushu University as it
Weber kept the language learning is famous for ceramics, which he
up until he went to Stanford Uni- wanted to learn more about at that
versity to study Mechanical Engi- time. It is the focus on craftsmanship
neering. During the school time, and attention to details in Japanese
Weber was offered opportunities culture that attracted Weber and with
to study abroad. That was when he that he found out more. “Growing up

with very close Japanese friends, the
culture and the people have always
been very influential in my upbring-
ing. The cleanliness and attention to
details are aspects that have resonated
with me strongly ever since child-
hood,” said Weber.
Back from Kyushu University,
Weber finished his study at Stanford
University and received another
offer from Apple. This time, he took
it and started doing mechanical
design of iPods and iPhones in the
United States. “I wanted to com-
bine my skill sets and take advan-
tage of the interesting material and
manufacturing R&D that goes on in
Japan and apply it to Apple’s prod-
ucts. I knew that the interesting
players in Japan for those fields
would be inaccessible without actu-
ally being there and working with
those small companies in Japanese,”
Weber said. His dream came true
when Apple nicely granted him with
the offer to set up a development
team based in Japan.

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