Changing the game

For 22-year-old Kai, life is all about seizing opportunities - and challenging a few conventions along the way. He’s the founder of a group of fast car fanatics, but he’s no boy racer; he’s studying to be a diplomat while working as an Instagram influencer; and he trains in an ancient sport which provides him with the right mindset for modern life.

But he also likes to do things differently, and challenge traditional stereotypes. “Often people who form groups around modified cars are considered boy racers,” says Kai.  “They’re out there doing skids and burnouts and getting into trouble. The ethos behind our group, called Ookamigumi, is we all have nice cars, we want to be able to drive them around and enjoy them, but we don’t want to cause unwanted tension,” he explains. Instead, as the representative of the group, Kai has built a good relationship with the Christchurch police, and ensures that the group’s approach is always above board.

Then there’s the diversity of his interests. As well as loving motorsport, Kai also has a foot in the fashion world where he works as a part-time model. “During high school, I went on an exchange to Japan and while I was there I got scouted to do some hair modelling,” he explains. “When I got back to New Zealand, I wanted to keep going and it happens there is good demand for people who are mixed race,” says Kai who has a Pakeha father and a Japanese mother. After registering with an agency and building up his profile on Instagram, Kai has had a number of gigs including being selected for New Zealand Fashion Week last year.

But while he continues to enjoy the fun of modelling he doesn’t see it as a future career path. For that, he has something completely different in mind. “I want to become a diplomat,” says Kai, firmly. “I’m doing my Masters in Business this year, studying international relations and political science, and ultimately I would love to help build stronger ties between Japan and New Zealand.”

With so much going on Kai admits he does get stressed sometimes, but his Kendo training has given him good grounding for this. “We follow a saying which is ‘fall down seven times, get up eight’.” A great motto for anyone growing up with big plans and a determination to do things their own way. “Yeah,” says Kai. “It’s basically, don’t give up, keep trying, strive for greatness.”

Kai is a fan not only of Honda cars, which he describes as “reliable, sleek and appealing” but of the ethos behind the brand itself. He says “I love one of founder Soichiro Honda's quotes which is, ‘Many people dream of success. To me, success can be achieved only through repeated failure and introspection. In fact, success represents 1 percent of your work which results only from the 99 percent that is called failure.’ This is such a true statement and I can relate to what Honda was implying. The history of Honda is one to read up on if you have not done so yet.”

See more about Kai on his Instagram.