How Serendipity Shaped the Life of Author Boyé Lafayette De Mente This is the personal memoir of author Boyé Lafayette De Mente, the 4th of ten children born to poor parents in an isolated valley in the Ozark Hills of southeast Missouri, and raised during the Great Depression of the 1930s. He went on to have a remarkable life which he attributes to the incredible power of serendipity. As editor of The IMPORTER magazine in Tokyo in the late 1950s and early 1960s and as the author of numerous pioneer books on the mindset and business practices of the Chinese, Japanese and South Koreans he made major contributions to the initial rise of Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and China as economic superpowers. He played a leading role in helping to launch the career of Thunderbird School of Global Management alumnae brother Merle Hinrichs who became the largest trade magazine publisher in Asia, a major financial donor to Thunderbird and member of the board of directors. And he launched the publishing career of Kentucky hillbilly Larry Flynt who achieved great wealth and notoriety as the publisher of HUSTLER magazine and champion of freedom of speech. [On the day De Mente met Flynt he told his wife that he had just met a 26-year old man who had the intelligence and drive to become president of the United States by the time he was old enough to qualify for the office.] De Mente's encounters and relationships with such extraordinary individuals as Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, America's ranking naval officer during World War II; Akio Morita, co-founder and leading light of what was to become the Sony empire; Toshio Karita, former protocol officer for the Imperial Family of Japan; and Daisetzu Suzuki, Japan's leading Zen master, plus many more, were experiences he could not have even dreamed about before they happened. His story is an example of the potential of ordinary individuals to achieve significant things when life presents opportunities and they follow up on them.
About the Author: Boyé Lafayette De Mente has been involved with Japan, China, Korea and Mexico since the late 1940s as a member of a U.S. intelligence agency, student, journalist, editor and author working out of Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. He is a graduate of Jochi University in Tokyo, and The American Institute for Foreign Trade (in 1953), now Thunderbird School of Global Management, in Glendale, Arizona, USA. De Mente wrote the first ever books on the Japanese way of doing business (Japanese Etiquette and Ethics in Business in 1959 and How to Do Business in Japan in 1962), and was the first to introduce the now commonly used Japanese terms wa, nemawashi, kaizen, tatemae-honne, shibui, sabi and wabi to the outside business world! His 70-plus other books run the gamut from language learning to the night-time "pink" trades in Japan, the sensual nature of Oriental cultures, male-female relations, and understanding and coping with the Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Mexican mindset in business and social situations.He has also written extensively about his home state of Arizona and Mexico. De Mente's printed and ebook titles [all available from Amazon.com] include: - CHINA: Understanding & Dealing with the Chinese Way of Doing Business - JAPAN: Understanding & Dealing with the New Japanese Way of Doing Business - AMERICA'S FAMOUS HOPI INDIANS: Their Spiritual Way of Life and Incredible Prophecies! -SPEAK JAPANESE TODAY: A Little Language Goes a Long Way! (a home-course in Japanese) - ARIZONA'S LORDS OF THE LAND: The History, Traditional Customs and Wisdom of the Navajos -VISITOR'S GUIDE TO ARIZONA'S INDIAN RESERVATIONS -THE GRAND CANYON ANSWER BOOK: Everything You Might Want to Know and Then Some! -AMAZING ARIZONA: Fascinating Facts, Legends and Tall Tales -WHY MEXICANS THINK & BEHAVE THEY WAY THEY DO! -THE MEXICAN MIND: Understanding & Appreciating Mexican Culture -ASIAN FACE READING -SAMURAI PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES That Will Help Preteens & Teens in School, Sports, Social Activities & Choosing Careers -WHICH SIDE OF YOUR BRAIN AM I TALKING TO?: The Advantages of Using Both Sides of Your Brain -THE PLAGUE OF MALE DOMINANCE: The Cause & Cure [The Failure of God-Based Religions] -WHY ORIENTAL GIRLS ATTRACT WESTERN MEN!: The Erotic Side of the Orient -HOW TO MEASURE THE SEXUALITY OF MEN AND WOMEN BY THEIR FACIAL FEATURES - MISTRESS-KEEPING IN JAPAN: The Pitfalls and the Pleasures -WHY THE JAPANESE ARE A SUPERIOR PEOPLE!