Mr. Azuma once performed the role of team captain for a handball team representing Japan. Considering his height of 191 cm, his lofty throw certainly pierced its way into the opponent's goal. However, he didn't move out to the front, but rather acted as the "harmony"that held the team together. He says that while he played he placed value on caring about his team members. "On teams that represent a country, members tend to be very individualistic. If it were left up to them, they wouldn't normally talk amongst each other. I feel as though I was a captain who played a sort of coordinating role in that when I walked in the door, they would start talking," he said, laughing.

Having retired from that position, Mr. Azuma currently works as an assistant to the General Manager at Osaki Electric. At the same time, he is studying sports business under Professor Takeo Hirata of Waseda's Graduate School of Sport Sciences. He is also thinking about "the rejuvenation of company sports." "It's also the theme of my research, but no matter what the sport, there is a dependant relationship upon companies. A variety of factors are influenced depending upon the business conditions of the parent company, and it is difficult for a company to earn money off of sports. That's why I want company sports to first become something that can be supported on a regional level," he said, describing his vision.

Mr. Azuma also works as an administration officer for a sports promotion NPO and is also working to nurture children through handball. "Handball is a comprehensive sport where you run, jump, throw, and crash into one another. The best thing about it, though, is that there are no restrictions regarding the substitution of players. Even when teaching children, there aren't a lot of alternates. Handball is a sport that everyone can participate in," he said passionately.

Mr. Azuma holds the idea of being kind to others close to his heart. "It's about not doing things to others that you don't want done to yourself as well as doing things for others that you'd be happy to have done to yourself. For instance, passes that are easy for you to catch should also be easy for someone else to catch. It's important for players to think about what makes one another happy and what makes one another frustrated. If those thoughts are at the heart of things, then I believe everything will naturally be divided up into good and bad," he said, sounding very trustworthy.

Mr. Azuma enjoys reading as well as trying out new restaurants. "I'm a big fan of Jiro Asada's
'Soukyuu no subaru' and Kenzo Kitakata's 'Water Margin.'" As for his gourmet tastes, he displayed just how much of a Waseda student he was, saying, "Waseda is great. There are a ton of delicious restaurants that are also cheap!" His favorite "Waseda food" is the ramen at Merci. On his blog, there is a large amount of information about delicious restaurants in addition to stories about handball. There, you can also find a story about two adorable children.