Goodbye, New York.

Hello, everyone. Thank you for always reading this column. Well, well, this is sudden, but... Sasaki will be concluding his work in New York as of April 25th and returning to Japan!

There's still so much left undone, but I've been thinking it's time to tackle my mission back in Japan. After much deliberation, I've decided to return.

But what's left of Sasaki without New York...? It'll just turn into a lame column by some ordinary Japanese salaryman... "Today, there was a cool musical instrument battle performance on the New York subway" sounds like great news, but "Today, there was a cool drunken naked dance battle in the plaza in front of Shimbashi Station"... Oh no, that sounds like a completely worthless article. It's just a slightly different location! It's the same human activity on the same planet!

But no, I'll keep going. I'll keep going, I tell you. Even after returning to Japan, I'll continue my activities as a member of the Dentsu Network, so I hope to keep providing you all with digital and occasionally global topics. Please continue to watch over me with your lukewarm eyes.

My final photos from New York life are two from Central Park. At Strawberry Fields, everyone is imagining every day.

Looking back, I arrived in New York as an expatriate employee on September 12, 2011. A year and eight months passed. It was a very short period, yet it brought me many inspirations and insights. How work is done, client relationships, managing time and costs, the direction of ideas that appeal to everyone across cultures, and how digital media is used. Both the wealthy and ordinary people mastered smartphones, social media became as common as air, and new digital services popped up and vanished one after another. There were many things I couldn't have understood without seeing them with my own eyes.

I'd like to keep sharing stories about these experiences, but honestly, rather than me telling you, I want each of you to go abroad at least once. You'll manage with English. Once you build a little weapon and confidence in Japan, I want you to force open small opportunities and challenge yourself globally. Our company, as Dentsu Aegis Network, must also step further and further into the world from now on. Creating opportunities for young people to go out into the world is also my job. Let's definitely work hard together. I'll find another chance to go somewhere again too. Where should I go next... (Someone call me!).

P.S. Once I actually lived there, Times Square and Shinbashi Station turned out to be pretty similar after all.

The best season for lounging around in Sheep Meadow is almost here. I'll be back to lounge around again. Goodbye, New York.