Exclusive Interview with
Infrastructure BU GM Mr Satoshi Matsui
“Never give up with conviction”
Mr Satoshi Matsui
General Manager of Asia & Oceania Infrastructure Business Unit
PT Sumitomo Indonesia
This is your second overseas assignment to Indonesia. How do you feel about returning here?
I have never felt that I have returned to Indonesia. My journey in Indonesia continues since April 2007 when I first arrived in Indonesia. My first and latest overseas assignment is to station in Indonesia. During my first assignment, I lived in Jepara, Central Jawa Province where TJB power plant is located from 2007 to 2009, before moving to Jakarta.
On November 2011, even though I returned to Tokyo, my assignment remained the same -expansion of TJB project. So I frequently visited Jepara and Jakarta, and around 150-170 days per year, I stayed in Indonesia even I have received my new assignment in SC Tokyo.
So every time when I return home from my business trip to Indonesia, my wife would seriously ask me, “How many days of leave can you take to stay in Japan this time? And when will you go back to Indonesia?” As you can see, Indonesia is like my home country and my heart is always with Indonesia.
First time to meet in more than 20 years. My mentor when I joined Sumitomo – Mr Hasegawa, GM of SCAO Group DX Center
With our TJB 5&6 project partner, at the partner company’s annual gathering
Against the backdrop of Covid-19 pandemic and calls for climate change actions, what are the opportunities and challenges for the Infrastructure BU in the region?
The first challenge for us is how we can continue the construction at on-going EPC project site. Infrastructure BU has many project sites in this region to construct railway facilities and power plants. Our employees’ including our contractors’ and labourers’ lives and safety at the site is the first priority for us. However, we have to continue the construction to minimise delay in completion. Each project site has established their own BCP against COVID-19 so far we have been able to successfully implement the BCP to minimise COVID-19 positive cases and construction delay.
In addition, this pandemic accelerates the introduction of Carbon Neutral and Zero Emission policy globally more than ever before, I believe. For Infrastructure BU, we have been developing coal-fired power plant and gas-fired power plant, but the fossil power plant emits a lot of CO2. We have to shift our business portfolio to renewable energy and change fuel in less or zero CO2 emission, such as ammonia and hydrogen. It is a big energy transition… It is a tough moment for us, but we can transform this challenge into our opportunity in creating new business to bring in advance technology and idea to reduce CO2 emission and make it our next profit pillar in Sumitomo.
You love travelling and driving. Have you been to some long road trips?
Please share with us some interesting events you have encountered during those trips.
When I was in my early 30’s, I visited Los Angeles in United States. One Sunday, I had no plan to do anything other than sleeping in the hotel, so I decided to go on a one-day trip to San Francisco by renting a car and taking the freeway. The round trip to San Francisco from LA is around 1,200 – 1,300 km and no doubt, it was easy to go and return from San Francisco within a day.
I felt that taking the freeway could be boring since it is just one straight road with unexceptional view. Therefore, I decided to drive along the coast instead. It was an amazing route where I could see the extremely beautiful sceneries in wild nature. The road was up and down, winding and curving like a snake. It was quite interesting and fun to drive. I could even see seals lying around the parking area facing the Pacific Ocean. I was impressed that there was such a natural place untouched by human.
I was very much impressed and forgotten about how much time had passed… Still on ¾ of the way to San Francisco, it was almost 9pm at that point. I had no choice other than to return to LA without reaching San Francisco. I took the freeway to return and just after 30 minutes, suddenly grey smoke appeared in front of me and wrapped up my car, followed by big vibrations on my steering wheel. I stepped onto the break hard and could stop without any trouble. I could not understand what happened at first, but I later I realised that it was a flat tire. Since I would like to return to LA as soon as possible, the car’s speed reached around 180 km/h while travelling on the rough road surface, causing the flat tire!
Fortunately, there was no damage on the car and I had no injury. I just had to replace the flat tire with the spare. In the course of replacing the tire, one policeman approached me and questioned me but I could not understood what he was saying, as I was a bit excited and nervous to face the trouble… but finally I understood him.
Although I parked my car on the left side of the road, it is considered as the centre of the road in USA, which is different from Japan. The policeman was so kind and reminded me to be cautious and not to be hit by passing cars. In addition, he helped me to replace the tire. After that, I drove the car at a maximum speed 80km/h which is the permitted speed limit on the freeway… I was cautious not to cause flat tire again and I deliberately drove to avoid pit holes. So, my car was moving in a zig zag motion on the road and this caused the police to stop me, and was alerted twice by different policemen. They thought I was drunk driving… Finally, I managed to return to LA safely just before noon… I have been driving for almost 24 hours without sleep…
It was my bitter and sweet memory in driving. After retirement, I really want to drive the same route again with my wife to enjoy, but not a 1-day trip but 2-3 days trip with safe driving.
Watching an exciting Rugby World Cup Game (Wales vs Australia) in Tokyo on 29 Sep 2019 with a person whom I respect - Mr Robert Selby (Walsh), the Technical Advisor for TJB coal fired power plant. Good memory!
My lovely 2nd son
Same person??? Now and past
My farewell, moving from PT Bhumi Jati Power to PT Summit Niaga
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SNAPSHOT
I strongly believe in… science
I spend most of my time.. think of fun things
The food I crave most often is… Japanese style “curry and hamburg”
One personal rule that I never break is… be positive with smile
The thing that cheers me up whenever I think about is… visiting the places I have never been
One thing I really want but can’t afford yet is… buy anything without seeing price tag
If I could go back in time, I would… spend a lot of time with my family
If I have enough money to live comfortably without having to work, I would… live in countryside surrounded by wild nature and being self-sufficient by cultivating crops, vegetables, feeding chicken etc.
