An inspiring tale about a former rocket scientist, Tsukuda Kouhei, who had inherited his father's engine making small company after the rocket engine he designed led to a rocket launch failure. Despite having failed in the past, Tsukuda did not give up his dream. Using his knowledge in R&D, Tsukuda's company successfully developed a top class valve system, and obtained its intellectual property right, just ahead of the top rocket engineering, Teikoku Heavy Industry. Tsukuda's company was plagued by income decrease as one of its biggest client decided to make its own engine instead of buying from Tsukuda.
Furthermore, a rival company has sued Tsukuda for IP right violation, demanding for compensation that could lead to bankruptcy of Tsukuda. On the other hand, Teikoku Heavy Industry had offered to purchase the IP right of the valve system developed by Tsukuda.
Knowing full well that his company needed the money from the sale of IP right, Tsukuda decided to hold on to his dream and offered to manufacture and provide the valve systems for the rocket engine made by Teikoku Heavy Industry instead.
That is a summary of the story, so full of struggle yet full of hope and dream. Despite being at an age where one has to settle down and take less risk, Tsukuda tried his best to make his dream comes true, even though he was dismissed from the rocket science R&D centre after the launch failure.
Another interesting detail presented in all Ikeido Jun's book is the corporate interaction. People avoid risk because they have to be held responsible for a risky decision. i do not know how far 責任論 (responsibility in a bad way) has been practised in real life, but that might be the reason why we do not achieve greater improvement compared to ages before.