When I was a kid, I have two dreams. I want to be a baseball

The Dreams of the Boy from Hiroshima

In the stillness of memory, the great chef Masaharu Morimoto once spoke with humility and wonder: “When I was a kid, I have two dreams. I want to be a baseball player. Hometown, Hiroshima, has a Japanese baseball franchise team called Hiroshima Carps. You know, and then I want to be a sushi chef. I want to make own restaurant—sushi restaurant.” Though his words are simple, they carry the weight of something profound—the story of a soul divided between two loves, and the journey of a man who learned that dreams, like rivers, often merge to form a greater ocean.

The origin of these words reaches back to the soil of Hiroshima, a city reborn from ash. It was there, amid the echoes of tragedy and renewal, that a young boy dreamed not of wealth or power, but of excellence—to wield a bat like a samurai wields a sword, or to shape sushi with the precision of an artist painting the sky. The boy’s heart was alive with imagination, and though the path before him was uncertain, he did not fear the breadth of his desires. For he understood, even then, that a person’s worth is not in choosing a single dream, but in learning from each dream’s pursuit.

Morimoto’s first calling, the baseball field, taught him the rhythm of teamwork, discipline, and grace. The sport of baseball, though born in the West, became in Japan a dance of order and respect—a mirror of life itself. Young Morimoto trained his body to move with precision, to strike and to defend, to endure both victory and defeat. Yet fate, that unseen sculptor of destinies, placed an obstacle in his path: an injury that ended his hopes of professional play. But rather than despair, he listened to the quiet whisper of his second dream—the sushi chef waiting within him—and turned his energy toward creation instead of competition.

There is wisdom in this transformation. The ancients taught that when one path ends, the wise do not lament—they pivot toward what remains. Morimoto did not abandon his discipline; he carried it from the diamond to the kitchen. The patience of practice, the harmony of motion, the pursuit of mastery—all that he learned in baseball became the foundation of his art. Thus, the boy who dreamed of swinging a bat learned instead to wield a knife with equal precision. His field became a counter of polished wood, his bat a blade, his ball the perfect roll of rice.

In his journey, we see the eternal truth: that dreams evolve but never truly die. The child’s desire to perform before the crowd became the man’s calling to serve before the world. From the fires of hardship, Morimoto forged mastery. In time, his name would shine across continents, from Iron Chef Japan to kitchens in New York and beyond. Yet he never forgot Hiroshima, the soil of his youth, nor the spirit of perseverance that shaped him there. His success is not merely a triumph of skill, but a testament to resilience—the art of turning what could have been an ending into a new beginning.

The lesson is clear and timeless: Follow your dreams, but when life changes the direction of your road, walk forward anyway. No pursuit is wasted if it teaches you something of yourself. The skills you gain, the virtues you practice, the passion you nurture—these will guide you when the wind shifts and destiny opens a new gate. The dream that seems lost may only be transforming into another shape, waiting for you to see it with wiser eyes.

So, children of the future, take these words of Masaharu Morimoto as both comfort and command. Chase your dreams as fiercely as the boy from Hiroshima chased his. But when the bat breaks, pick up the blade; when one door closes, turn your craft into another form. For the spirit of mastery knows no boundaries—it flows through every discipline, every art, every life lived with purpose.

And remember this: every dream, however humble, begins in the same place—the heart of a child who dares to imagine. Guard that heart, feed it with patience and courage, and you too shall find your way from ashes to glory, from one dream to the next, until you have built, like Morimoto, not only a career, but a life that nourishes the soul.