2009 December | Law and Disorder

Japan Success Strategies for Life and Business
- Japanese Family Businesses Lack Successors
  From sushi shops to lacquer ware to pottery, the consultant field to preserve the sublime and widely-admired traditions that make Japan special may well fall on foreigners willing to learn the culture, the language, and assimilate. […]
- Wood With a Finish Second to None
  Consider a buying trip to Japan to the key regions which originated this art form: Aizu Ware, Fukishima Prefecture; Johana Ware from Toyama Prefecture; Negoro Ware of Izumi Province (which now comprises most of Osaka Prefecture minus the city itself); Ryukyuan Ware from the Ryukyu Islands (now Okinawa Prefecture); Tsugaru Ware from Aomori Prefecture; and Wak […]
- Green Storming for Cash
  The idea for credits will most likely come from an entrepreneur who can develop a model which is a win-win for the companies and countries involved. […]
- All Aboard
  Let’s turn to the fairer sex. Railway enthusiasm has been seen as a small niche market predominantly followed by men called tetchan, or rail enthusiasts. In the past year, however, the female equivalent called tetsuko has started to emerge. Growing legions of women are enjoying traveling incognito fueled by the resurgence of a cartoon series [...] […]
- Japan’s Pampered Dog Community
  With the birth rate in Japan declining precipitously, the Japanese love to purchase designer goods and new things to replace the missing human tots. From Gucchi to Coach Bags to exotic (and endangered!) animals, most people want to be fashionable at almost any price. Keeping up with the Tanakas is an unspoken truth of cosmopolitan [...] […]
- Hands-On Eco Tourism
  Once one leaves overcrowded big-city Japan and heads out to the more rural regions of the archipelago, the breathtaking natural charm and sereneness of old Japan quickly become evident. But also what comes into focus is that the relic buildings and houses from bygone years are becoming increasingly rundown due to erosion, corrosion, neglect and relative pove […]
- Matsutake Mushrooms and Japan Xenophobia
  Food from China – once a mainstay for the Japanese consumers- has fallen out of favor due to recent scandals. One such item is the precious matsutake mushroom, so prevalent at holiday meals. The ones imported from China have been 50~80 percent cheaper than the domestic variety. Consumers, however, have become unwilling to buy the [...] […]
- Used Cartridges Turned Magically Into Vaccines
  To generate a profit while at the same time contributing to the welfare of Mankind is a model worthy of duplication. A group in Fukui Prefecture, Japan, is doing just that. They have launched a campaign to send vaccines to developing countries with the proceeds obtained through recycling of used ink-jet cartridges. The group set [...] […]
- Classic American Cars Gaining Popularity in Japan
  Most definitely these car owners - some private owners and many running small import car dealerships and garages - are a hungry market. […]
- Selling Ice To The Japanese Eskimos
  The real blockbuster could be in making these manga characters into T-Shirts, stationary, or even mobile phone jackets. […]

Law and Disorder
- One-Upmanship Leaves Us Morally Bankrupt
  Enough is always enough - that is the measure of success, not the dollar value of our possessions. […]
- Letting Down Your Hair
  Good form usually - no, ALWAYS! - detaches you from your true emotions. And over time, this detachment desensitizes you from who you are in essence and what you have to do to find a modicum of true happiness in your life. […]
- “Nothing to Lose” is a Loser’s Refrain
  Throughout our lives we hear and blindly believe many non sequiturs. These nonsensical emphasizers' of speech can actually be destructive to our psyche at times, and often move us from a panic to a shipwrecked state in a flash. […]
- Laws Are Unnecessary…
  Laws are, for the most part, a Gestapo tactic used by those in power. The first step in trashing these excesses to develop an awareness of them. Hopefully, I have done my part. […]
- Reflections From Our Daily Doings
  Most impressions we have of people are right simply because other people feel and begin to react to our vibrations well before we utter a syllable. A genuine smile - it takes practice for some of us - or a gesture of appreciation to another can instantaneously turn a snob from your viewpoint into an adoring, genial fan. […]
- When You Fall Down Seven Times…
  Times are tough, we hear over and over again. But the truth is that character is not built when everything is going hunky-dory. […]
- Even the Best Get a Hit Once in Three Times Up
  In the game of life we must shoot and then aim. A famous Internet marketer, Mike Litman, says it eloquently: "Don't get it right, just get it going." […]
- Asking the Right Questions
  Isn't it about time that you take inventory of who you are and what you can best do to serve? This idea isn't a luxury reserved for the idle rich, but a necessity for all folks wishing to maximize their worth and earning potential. […]
- Before You Stand in the Breadline
  Isn't what you really wanted and what you finally settled for vastly different? You settled for a salary, and promised your employer in return that you would be a good boy or girl, follow orders, and sell your soul to the boss-devil as long as they could pay your bills plus a little alpha. […]
- The Recurring Nightmare
  Nobody ever teaches fundamental finances. Most of us grow up believing that getting rich or becoming financially secure is the result of working your way up the corporate ladder or flipping real estate or winning a lottery. While others of us get brainwashed into believing that being financially secure is unholy or sinful or a surefire path to Hell. […]

Archive for December, 2009

Desperation Robs Us Of Clear Thinking

28 Dec 2009 @ 5:05 AM

“Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go the grave with the song still in them.”
~ Henry David Thoreau~

Intending to get things done does nothing of the sort. Quite to the contrary, it leaves you stuck in the starting gate of life and, as the years flicker by, more bitter than a chaw of ginseng root.

What action could you take or should you have taken to better your life? Could it have been to leave a broken marriage that has no hope of healing? Could it be stepping away from a high-paying job or business that leaves you outlandishly tired and totally dissatisfied? Could it be going back to school to get the training which would could give you the business or professional edge for success? Could it be taking the time or the time off to get to know your children again or for the first time?

Whatever the regrets you continue to harbor and the dreams you hold on the backburner for that perfect moment, you alone can decide your divine moment to finally step out of the false safety of inaction and experience the cleansing air of possibility.

Aging is supposed to be the culmination of a full life — a life of challenge, defeat, victory, ecstasy, and ultimately acceptance of all that was, is. and will be in your life.

So get off your butt and, as Jim Rohn says, “Work more on yourself than you do on your job.” The latter will pay the bills, if you are lucky. The former will bring you unbridled wealth in all aspects of that word.

Desperation and regret are killers. Living your life by your own design is the the only antidote to bitter mediocrity and half-baked achievement. You do have a treasure wrapped up inside of you.