A Toast to Our Alumni :HAVE DREAMS!
Ms. Reiko Morinaka Sets the World Record for Gliding in the Andes!

Ms. Reiko Morinaka Born 1962 in Tokyo. Graduated 1985 from Waseda School of Law. After working as a professional airplane and helicopter pilot, she now does gliding while working at Cerealia Corporation. Holds 15 other Japan gliding records in addition to her recent world record. Currently presides the coach of Waseda’s Aviation Club. [URL]http://blog.livedoor.jp/gliding21/

This January, an alumna of Waseda University flew more than 1,000km over the Andes in South America without the use of power, relying only on the natural winds, setting the world record for the Long Distance Glider Flight. The woman who as a child dreamt of flying and continued to hold on to that dream is our senior, Reiko Morinaka. We can learn much from the life of this woman, who made her dreams happen and says to us, “If you keep on believing, you can achieve your dream”.

The days when all she wanted to do was fly the skies as freely as a bird

In her girlhood, she loved fantasizing, and through the anime “Super Jetter” and Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s “Terre Des Hommes”, she dreamt of being able to fly the skies like a bird. It was a time when female pilots were rare. “During career counseling in high school, when I said I wanted to become a pilot, the teacher said, ‘Be serious!’”, laughs Morinaka. After entering Waseda, she joined the Aviation Club. She met gliders, but back then she would work mostly in the background, and did not do remarkably well. Yet, her feelings of wanting to fly remained strong. She worked as an inter-firm communications pilot for a cosmetics company. Later, she became a helicopter pilot.

While she was flying professionally, she resumed gliding, which she felt enabled her to “while flying, feel the harmony of a nature that far eclipsed the wisdom of humans”. In 1996, upon her marriage to her husband Yuji, a graduate of Keio University’s Aviation Club, she quit her job as a pilot and focused solely on gliding. 9 years after talking with her husband, “let’s glide 1,000 km together one day”, she set the world record for Out-and-return Distance at 1,187 km and Free Distance at 1,270km. Both surpass the distance between Tokyo and Asahikawa. Meanwhile, her husband set a new record in Japan for Free Distance at 1,803km. Their dreams were not so much as granted, as they granted them themselves. Currently, she is happily making plans to fly over 2,000km, and also fly the Japanese skies and set a world record.

The Moment for a Breakthrough Comes Suddenly. That’s Why it’s Important Not to Give Up!

Of course, she faced countless hardships. Facing difficulties obtaining extended periods off work for 3 to 4-week overseas travels, she has changed jobs over 10 times, including voluntary resignations. Her current company is understanding and supports her warmly, but as she says, “balancing work and gliding is one tough job!” At times she is plowed over with administrative business and upcoming expedition plans for her club, all of which she does after she gets off from work at midnight. In addition, she must live frugally to scrape together the hundred thousand yen needed for her next trip. However, she does not feel sorrow about her everyday life. “The ups and downs are what make life interesting. I seem to not have a good grasp of time, so I feel that even if I can’t immediately accomplish something, it’s all right as long as I can carry them out in the end.”

“If you want to make something succeed, you have to keep on believe to the point where you’re chanting it in your mind a hundred times a day. If you do, you learn to always be on the lookout for opportunities in your everyday life. Even if you bump into a wall so high you can’t climb, you find that the door in the wall isn’t even locked. So many people believe it’s futile and don’t even touch the doorknob, and many others object when you try to do something, but no one else is going to take responsibility for my life. Speaking from my experience, the moment when a dream comes true doesn’t come gradually, it comes suddenly. This is why I want people to challenge themselves without giving up. If you give up, it’s the end then and there.”