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Mika Apichatsakol
21 Mar 2022
[This story originally appeared on Koktail Magazine issue 2.]
Corporate life is not for everybody, yet not everyone who wishes to follow the beat of their own drum is able to find their rhythm. And it is perhaps this fear of failing that stops the rest from even trying.
Bangkok-based actor, model and ramen shop owner Norio Suzuki’s story is one of such successes, but it didn’t happen until after nearly four decades of pushing paper. Born in 1948 in Fukuoka City, Fukuoka on Japan’s Kyushu island but relocated to Yokohama, Norio followed the expected pathway for any respectable young Japanese: becoming a salaryman. Securing a job in Japan’s corporate world, he consistently rose up in the ranks within a well-known Japanese shipping company over years and earned himself his first stationing abroad in Thailand in 1994. He returned to Japan three years later and then circled back to Thailand in 2002, shifting to the plastics industry. Suzuki San recounts, “Working for a Japanese shipping company for 33 years and then a plastic moulding company in Thailand for four and a half years, I was a salaryman for a total of 37 and a half years.”
Then in 2007, Suzuki San finally said goodbye to his desk job. “I realised that I wanted to fulfil my dream since I was a student of opening a restaurant and to work freely by doing what I like rather than being used by people.” He saw no more point in working at a passionless task for three years, just to be assigned another passionless task for another three years until the next one. Hitting the ground running, Suzuki opened Sendai Ramen Mokkori on Surawongse Road in October 2007. Despite the struggles of starting a restaurant business from zero and making it successful, Suzuki says he never once looked back. “I knew that I had started a marathon that had no finish line, but I’m content because I’m doing what I wanted to do.”
When you enter Mokkori on Surawongse/Silom, what captivates even before the authentic Japanese soul food on the menu are all the photos on the walls: Suzuki San with Thai actor Nadech Kugimiya, both of them dressed from another era; him with another Thai heartthrob, Sunny Suwanmethanont; with Boy Pakorn; with the late Michael Clarke Duncan and with Game of Thrones actor Michiel Huisman, whom Suzuki San endearingly calls “the world’s greatest actor”. The list of celebrities goes on so far that the massive wall collage extends to the ceiling above. These aren’t just photos of famous Mokkori visitors though. Some of them are pictures of Suzuki's famous "co-workers”.
While working in plastics moulding back in 2004, Suzuki was recommended by an acquaintance to audition for a commercial acting gig. “I had just shaved my head at the time, and they were looking for a bald man for a hairdryer commercial,” he recalls. Suzuki auditioned for the role but didn’t end up scoring the part. On his way out of the auditions, he did, however, meet and exchange contacts with an executive of a casting agency. This chance encounter would eventually lead to his big acting break: an Ajinomoto “Osen” commercial where he plays a Japanese chef.
"I knew that I had started a marathon that had no finish line."
To date, Suzuki has now appeared in some 40 commercials, a handful of Thai films and two Hollywood movies, including his biggest gig, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li. This, all while making sure that every dish that goes out at Mokkori is up to standard.
When asked the question of whether or not he believes he is doing what he was born to do, he offers a confident, “Of course, I believe so.” And what does a man who believes so look ahead to? “Continuing to provide my customers with original, delicious ramen and to enrich the lives of my employees.” At the age of 73, Suzuki San says he is proud to have escaped his life as a salaryman and opened his ramen shop, which has been operating for 15 years. He adds, “I’m also proud to have made my acting debut at age 55 and have worked with the biggest Thai and world stars.”
Retirement is simply not a word in his vocabulary as Suzuki is still jumping between Mokkori and castings. It would be of great remiss to not ask someone who’s clearly followed their calling and made it through to the other side for some life advice. Suzuki San’s is this: “You only have one life, so don’t be afraid of walking towards your dream. If you don’t take that step, you won’t fail, but you will never succeed. Dreams aren’t made for looking at; they’re for realising.”
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