When People Stop Caring - Stop! Quit and Save Your Life!

I wrote yesterday that artists and writers need to know that love and hate are the two sides of the same coin. It is great if many people love and adore your work. It is good also if people hate your work. If people love or hate your work, that is much MUCH better than if they don't care either way about your work.


If people don't care, that is death. If people don't care then you should stop. I've always believed that everything happens for a reason. It's like the advice a wealthy friend gave me once about a dysfunctionate company we were both at when he realized that that company was a waste of time and he quit. He said to me as he was leaving, "Save your life and stop. Start doing something else." 


Then he walked out the door. 

These last 3 days, I have had a feeling of depression somewhere deep in my heart and been under great stress. It's because of that letter I received from the president of the major Japanese broadcasting corporation that I wrote about the other day. This morning, I have decided that I have to take my own advice to stop working with poor management and dysfunctional people and leave that place of business forever.


I had to make a decision. I've made it. 


I should have done it long ago. That ridiculous letter from the president was just another in a long history of absurd things that have happened to me at that company over the years. When you read the story and understand the roots of the problem, you'll know why, as I said, that company loses so much money every year.


And don't think I am merely being bitter about this one station. That is not true at all. I have worked, and still do, with many other stations. I have never seen an organization run as ineptly as today's topic... (Gee, when I put it that way, I must be stupid to have stayed there so long, right? Agreed.)


I have worked in TV and radio since 1985. I have "worked" (in a sense) in the music business since 1978. If you wonder what that means, let me say that I have played music and, while not getting paid enough to support myself, I used to get checks and I was paid to perform. The most I ever received at once was about $1,100 in 1979 or so. Not bad.


When my son was born, I threw away my TV set. It was soon after the Iraq war had started and I was so fed up with the lies on TV. I had to work with TV people because of my job. But I decided that I didn't want to bring these people into my house (and in Japan you have to pay a monthly licensing fee if you own a TV) so I threw them out. I don't want to pay to bring liars into my home.


Soon after that, I quit having anything to do with TV. Even though I own a company that makes TV and radio programs and TV commercials, I do not do that myself anymore but, my staff have families and mouths to feed, I won't stop them from pursuing their chosen career.


Over the years, I have made many radio programs. By far the vast majority have been at a FM radio station in Tokyo. I have a love/hate relationship with this radio station and its people.


Fact is that there is only a couple guys there at that station who are kind and honest. Just a few. Sad.


I don't want to talk about that station too much (anymore) but allow me to spill my guts this time. Please let me give you an example of how people at that station operate. This one example is like many that have happened to me while working for that company. This event happened at least 12 years ago... But, today, it is the same. The names have changed but the way the station operates doesn't.


At the end of the nineties, I produced and co-hosted one of the most famous late-night radio shows in Tokyo. So popular was that show that sponsors approached us and asked if they could become our sponsors! That is extremely rare! The Program Director at that time told me that if I could bring in sponsors, then he would pay me a sales commission. So I did. I brought in the largest record chain in the world as a big sponsor.


The station was doing poorly and losing money. But I wanted to be a part of the "team" and to help out wherever I could so I decided that, after the record store chain became a sponsor, I didn't need a commission. I didn't need extra pay. I wanted to show that I was part of the family - hell, I wanted to be a part of the family - so I wanted to forfeit my commission and give it to the station to show them my heart's feelings.


When I went to see the Program Director to happily tell him my decision, before I could get a word out of my mouth, he rudely snarled at me, "We're not paying you any commission!" And with that he turned around and stormed away without letting me say anything.


I was shocked. I didn't want commission. I just wanted the satisfaction and happiness of telling someone that I was giving them something they wanted. I felt like the small dirty faced boy who looked up and handed the single yellow flower that he had picked to a lady and that person took that flower from him and crushed it under the heel of their shoe in the dirt. As doing so, the evil in their eye showed through, cursing from the snarl of their lips...

I was speechless... "Why was it so necessary to hurt my feelings?" I thought. 


It's a really sad situation when people are so dirty and despicable that they cannot allow people a small moment to share happiness. Have these people no compassion or self-respect? 


Like I said, that was many years ago. I feel like this sort of thing has happened many times. I have brought in many sponsors and yet, I am treated rudely. Forgive me for feeling sorry for myself....


Two days ago, I wrote about a president of a company who wrote me a letter that was just shocking. This isn't sour grapes. His letter wasn't really worthy of an adult and certainly not worthy of one written by a person in an executive position at a large company. I had been writing professional business correspondence to this president, but he wrote back to me a letter that looked like it was written by a 14-year-old complaining about his companies past inter-staff squabbles and fighting. I'm writing about business and he's airing his families dirty laundry out in public - and I hardly even know the guy! 


I couldn't believe it (you wouldn't believe it either. Refer to: Be Professional! Working at a Japanese Company - Any Company - Filled With Low-Quality Dysfunctional People and Management - Don't Do That to Yourself). 


I didn't add to that article one very important point; that this company president would write such an amateurish letter to me is even doubly more astounding when you realize that my company is a sponsor to that station and, while not a massive sum, we spend ¥900,000 (nearly $12,000 a month) on commercials at that station. 


Astounding!


Well, perhaps not so incredible when you look at the past record. I have to be one of the few who have brought sponsors, some huge ones, to that station and yet, whenever I hand them flowers, I feel like they crush them in the dirt in front of my face


Now? What can I do? If I go to war with this child-president, I have every right to cancel all the commercials immediately and without penalty. The story will come out what happened and this president will most likely get into big trouble at his company for writing such an idiotic letter. He could even lose his position if the news got out to famous advertising companies, which it would if we go to war.


But does that do me any good? No. Why?


Because, I can't act like a child like he does or they do. I have to act my age and control my emotions and not seek revenge. I have people working at that station who work for me. Those people are good people and they have wonderful families and mouths to feed. I can't do anything to hurt those people.


There are people on my side, at my company (and inside of our investor - one of the most famous companies in Japan) who are furious about this mail and they want me to take that company president to task. They have every right to think that. After all, if you were paying nearly $12,000 a month and then found out that the person you were paying that money to stated that he didn't want your business and said he didn't want to work with you, wouldn't you want to quit? Of course you would. It is natural and common sense that anyone would. Most people would cancel their cellphone or cable TV service for more minor infractions than that.

But, I can't act like a child like the broadcasting company president. I cannot be like that. So, like I said, I must take my own advice. And, at the same time, this is Japan, I must take personal responsibility for this problem. 

When a business dies or when a team or marriage ends, it is, in a way, a sad day. But, it is also a day for celebration. It is a day of freedom. The chains are removed and you are released. For me, that day has arrived. It is hard for my heart to let go, but let go is the only choice I have.

The other choice is war and war will hurt too many people I care about. I cannot go to war and damage this president; a pyrrhic victory isn't a very good victory at all, is it? The best choice is to be a mature individual and to quietly bow out.

Therefore, I hereby resign for ever doing any work with that company ever again. 

If you ever find yourself in this sort of situation, then take my friend's advice. Walk out the door. There is a better opportunity waiting for you. 

"Save your life and stop. Start doing something else." 

There is a reason for everything.

This was written for T.U. Thanks for everything you've done for me. I won't forget!

Star Wars and Earth Wars: Robots, Droids, Drones and People

"I'm C3PO human cyborg relationship and this is my counterpart R2-D2" - C3PO to Luke

Robots? I love them.


Droids? Excellent!


Drones? Not so much. I don't really like them. 


Don't confuse robots, droids and drones. They are all very different. I like the kind of droids you'd see in a Star Wars movie like R2D2 or C3PO. It's drones that I don't like... Besides metallic casings, I might be talking about the kind of drones many people might refer to as "suits."


Actually, in this case, it could even be worse than "suits." At least the "suits" are usually people with what is at least referred to as a "higher education." Chuckle. I mean, they paid big money and got themselves into major debt by avoiding reality after high school by going to college. You know what I mean? College and university are great places to screw around and waste time while you figure out what you want to do with your life and postpone the inevitable as long as possible.

In all fairness, and for the sake of complete disclosure, let me state openly that I did go to university and waste, not four, but six years. But let me also say that I was lucky and, upon graduation, I wasn't even one cent in debt. I worked my way through college.... Hell, it was better than studying! I wrote about how John Belushi convinced me to go to university once. Please refer to: John Belushi, Japan and me - or How the Movie Animal House Changed my Life


But I digress....


I'm talking about Robots, Droids and Drones.


Japan is way, way, way ahead of the United States when it comes to this sort of thing. You can go into Tokyo, say Shinjuku, Shibuya or Akihabara - especially Akihabara - and see robots, droids and drones everywhere you look. In Japan, these things are not unusual so people don't bat an eye.


Don't believe me? It's absolutely true, so help me god. Let me explain. First, I suppose we have to clarify our definitions.

Robot: "A device that automatically performs tasks, sometime repetitively." "A mechanism guided by automatic controls." "A fictional machine whose lack for the capacity of human emotions is often emphasized."


Droid (exactly: Android): "A mobile robot with usually a human form." "A Linux based operating system for cell phones and computers."


Drone: "A stingless male bee that has the role of mating with the queen. It does not work by gathering nectar or pollen." "One that lives on the labor of others." "A vessel guided by remote control."

Drones do stupid things like get hacked or shot down. 

Just lifeless shells is all they really are.

Aha! Got that about drones? They are "vessels guided by remote control." Keep that in mind. That's really what this article is about. I will get onto that in a minute, but first let me continue my train of thought...


Now we're ready? Okay! 


Like I said, Japan is way ahead of the United States (and I include Europe in that too) when it comes to this sort of "mechanical thingy" thing. Need evidence? Let's examine!

Early American toaster (left) - Modern Japanese toaster (right)

Robots. Of course, in every one's house there are many robots that perform simple tasks. My favorite home robot is the kitchen toaster. The toaster was invented in the 1870's in England, but much refined by the Japanese in the 1960's. The friendly kitchen toaster is my favorite robot because it is cheap and can provide much more entertainment on a cold winter night than any TV program on the lobotomy box ever could! Toast? Ummmm! Which would you rather have to warm you up with that hot sexy someone under the blankets on the sofa? A hot piece of buttered toast and fresh strawberry jam that can be munched together or 30 minutes of Dog the Bounty Hunter reruns? Not a difficult call to make, is it?

Interestingly, both "Toast" and "Dog" have roughly the same IQ 

In Tokyo, robots are everywhere and they are fashionable and stylish... In the stylish area, we also have much gratitude to give to the French and the Italians who are excellent at making things that look fabulous, but don't work so well and break down quickly.


Some examples of French and Italian things that look nice but don't work are the Maginot Line, Alitalia, and Fiat automobiles.

Fiat getting well over 100 kilometers per liter of gasoline!

If you really think about it, robots are not such a big deal anymore. Like I mentioned about toasters. What home doesn't have a toaster today?


Now, let's look at androids (we'll call them droids). Android phones are everywhere in Tokyo. In fact, recently, I think I've been seeing more of those than iPhones recently. If the definition of a Droid (above) is correct then, we even have one in my home. It's called a "iRobot Roomba." Okay, well I take that back. Actually, I think it is not called a "Roomba." Roomba is the famous one. Those are very expensive. We bought a Korean made model (forget the name) that does the same thing for half the cost. This automatic vacuuming droid is just like R2D2. Really! He does a good job for certain tasks but can be awful stubborn and does dumb things sometimes like falling down the stairs, so you have to be careful with his programming on where you specify are his work areas. I like the fact that he can vacuum the carpeted floor, then go to the tatami floor, then over to the wooden floor and all under the dining tables and chairs without my wife lifting a finger. Pretty cool.

This android was unveiled in 2005... 

I often wondered what year she'll be "deflowered" in?

It is also awesomely cool in that the fact, get this, the guy himself (sorry about calling it a "he" - my wife insists that the "butler do the vacuuming"), when done, automatically searches and finds his home station and parks himself there after the job is done so his batteries can be recharged... He also beeps and pings like R2D2. Really!


In Tokyo, we also have robots and droids that make ice cream, sushi, and manufacturers cars and work on assembly lines too. Of course.

Yeah, yeah. He vacuums and does everything. But if I ever catch him in bed with my wife, out he goes! Unless, of course, he can introduce me to one of his android friends. 

Wow! Isn't life in the modern world wonderful? Well, yes and no. If you are a robot or droid and have a useful function to fulfill, then you are probably happy until the days that your circuits burn out. If you are a human and you have a good job with a good future, and a nice family, a place to live, then you are probably happy.... But if you are a drone? Oh no! If you are a drone, then you are nothing; you are just a shell, you have no life; you are the lowest of the low; even robots and droids don't respect you. 


And, if you are a human drone?


Human drones? Now, that's the worst thing in the world.


Folks, we have human drones. In fact, if you think about it, they are all around us: These are the people who can't think for themselves. They have be told what to do and what to think. They cannot function without someone showing them the way and telling them exactly what to do. The worst ones are the ones who need to be repeatedly told (programmed) to perform a function before they will do it - even if it is the very same function everyday! They have human drones in America and they have them in Japan. Are they the same? In many ways, yes, but in many ways, no.

To go too deeply into the subject of human drones and the difference between one in Japan and the west, would take volumes of books written by someone with a PhD. who is much more intelligent than me. I can only write about surface issues that I witness with my own eyes. I do not know the deeper issues; the "why's" and "what for." And I don't want to talk about human drones in the USA. Let me off the hook easy by allowing me to only tell you about human drones in Japan.


Human drones are everywhere in this country. Poor folks.... No! I take that back. Maybe they aren't folks to be pitied; maybe they are to be envied. Heck, if they are happy, then I envy them... Thing is that I have never seen a happy drone. 


In Japan, these human drones work at menial labor jobs everywhere you go. You see them at restaurants and working at cash registers. They are the ones doing the lowest of the menial labor tasks. Since Japan doesn't have a problem with an influx of foreign laborers, then, you will see Japanese young people performing these tasks.


I suppose that, if I am to pity these human drones, then I must criticize the Japanese educational system and Japanese society as a whole for teaching too much conformity and not enough creativity... But I am hesitant to do that and criticize Japan for too much conformity. Why? Well, what example am I to hold over Japan to say, "See? This is how it's done!" I think I certainly cannot use the example of the social decline and the resultant level of crime in the west as and yard of measure. I do believe, though, that the Japanese educational system is guilty of not teaching enough critical thought and too much conformity... I can say that because I had children who spent a few years in both Japanese public schooling and in International schools in Japan and high school in America.    


Oh pity the human drones... Well, at least they have a job.


Now, parents of high school kids or young people just out on their first jobs, don't confuse what I am saying here. I am not saying that everyone who cleans tables or stands behind a cash register or works at a convenience store is a drone. Far from it. I'm saying the ones who do not smile, are not energetic, do not think for themselves and must do everything by the manual; the ones who show no life in their faces; no enthusiasm for their work those are drones. They are the ones to be pitied.


There are far too many of them in Japan.


Now, do you understand what I mean by a human drone? They could be the guy working at a bank or a bureaucrat like in the Kurosawa movie, "Ikiru." Or it could be like the people you see when you go shopping or to a cheap restaurant. There they are: lifeless, the walking dead. Those are the people who should be pitied.


Well, now, there I've done it. I think I took what was a fun and full of life article at the start and turned it into a real bummer by the ending. Sorry about that. So with that, let me tell you about a story that I heard from a friend last night about his recent experience with a human drone at a cheap eatery.


In Japan, whenever two or three (more?) adults go into any sort of cheap eatery or restaurant, when the patrons are finished and about to pay the bill, it is customary that the clerk will ask them, "Will you pay the bill together or separately?" In Japan, asking this to customers is a "rule." This rule is a part of what is called, "Manual Dori" or "By the Book" (マニュアル通り).  The reason why Japanese companies (and companies like McDonald's, etc.) have to create these "Manuals" is that they aren't really hiring rocket scientists. No, folks, they are hiring, in many cases, human drones - of course they wouldn't if they could find spry, alert, and gregarious, positive outgoing people - alas...

Anyway, back to my story about my friend's experience with the human drone. My friend is the father of two handsome young boys who are of junior high school age, about 13 and 14 years of age. Together, the three of them went to eat at Yoshinoya Gyudon. Gyudon is known in the west as "Beef bowl." It is a bowl of rice that has beef and vegetables cooked in a sauce that is poured over the rice. Many Japanese men (and some women) on the go love to eat this. I used to also until I just about stopped eating beef.


Upon finishing their food, the father and the two boys walked up to the cash register where they met their human drone for that day.


Now, if you were at the cash register and saw a guy in his late forties, maybe early fifties, with two boys half his size that looked to be junior high school students, deeply immersed in their held held DS computer games, what would you think? Do you think:


A) "Gee! This looks like a dad with his two kids. That'l be $9.00, please. Do you need a receipt?"
B) "I wonder if these three gentlemen are all gainfully employed or are they Yakuza gangsters about to rob the restaurant at gunpoint?"
C) "I wonder when the new DS game software comes out?"
D) Nothing. Absolutely nothing. You don't have a single synapse. You repeat the manual like a drone.


If you said, "D" then you are a winner.


My friend is standing there, with his wallet open. The two kids next to him are playing Super Mario and the clerk says, "Will you pay the bill together or separately?" Doh!


Parents! Don't let your children grow up to be drones. Why? Well, if they are drones, one of these days someone is going to come out with a useful robot, like a toaster and your kid will be out of a job. Don't they deserve better than that? I hope so.

Sometimes, the Jobs You Reject Are Just as Important as the Jobs You Choose to Keep.

...If You're Not Going to Try to Do Great Work, Why Bother?


There are way too many people in jobs just doing the minimum they can do to get by. What a waste of a life. It's not just a waste of their life, it's a waste of the other people who get pulled down by them. I hate that. I hate working with those kinds of people and I'm doing everything I can to stop it.


Life is too short to be filled with frustration or to waste time doing and creating half-assed crap and second grade work.

No matter what the job, it seems to me that it behooves that person to try to get into a higher position at that job and be their best. Heck, even if you work at a McJob, at least make the effort to become the McManager and not just the McPeon. 


If you are going to be there you might as well try to do the best and at least get more money for the same amount of time spent. Why people don't do that has always seemed a mystery to me.


At every job I've ever had, whenever I got the job, when I saw the bosses office or chair, I always thought, "I'm going to be sitting there in 6 months." I usually did, too.


People who just slide by doing the minimum just irritate me to no end.


At a broadcasting station that I currently produce a program at, the guy who is ostensibly in charge of Program Planning Department - he's what we would call a "Program Director" in the west - asked me if my company staff would do a "New Year's Show" Of course, I agreed.


It seems, though, that this guy's idea of what a "New Year's Show" is and my idea of what a "New Year's Show" is are two totally different things.

Eiji Wentz

I think that it is obvious that a "New Year's Show" is a "special" program. You know, being New Year's and all. I had this idea that times of the year like New Year's was a special time and that if you were going to program a one-time show for that time, it would have to be something really great and special. I mean, if it is New Year's vacation and I turn on the TV and my regular show is not on and the schedule has been changed for "something else," then I expect that the "something else" must be a special show. Isn't that obvious? Isn't that what everyone would expect?


Funny that. How in the world that I got an idea like that is a mystery, eh? (Cynicism).


So, in that order, I approached some famous people to be guests on the show like the main star of the new Tiger Mask movie, Eiji Wentz and several others.

I had a solid concept for a "Retro-themed" show and I also went to a big advertising agency and talked about my idea and asked for their help in sales and getting sponsors. They were eager to join in and loved my show concept (of which I won't divulge at this time because I hope I can use it and make money with it someday)...


Me? It's New Year's! I wanted to make a really special program that was fun and exciting and memorable - and made lots of money at the same time.


The Program Director of the broadcasting station? Nope. All he wants to do, according to one of the sales people that works at that station is, "A regular show, nothing special. All he really wants is time so that the staff can have a vacation. He is not interested in making anything special." The salesman seems like he was frustrated and disappointed (disillusioned) by all this too. 

Retro themes are big and back in fashion and will be even

bigger in 2012 ~ 2013! And it's a perfect theme for a New Year's

program... Cool and easy to understand for sponsors!

Who wouldn't lose their motivation for work when the boss doesn't have any? Why should the staff do great work when their boss isn't inspiring them to do great things? Why work hard when all the boss wants to do is to do the minimum? 


Can you believe that? What kind of a broadcasting station has a guy in charge of programming and all he wants to do is to do the minimum so that his staff can take more time off?


What the hell are this guy's priorities? Jesus! Life is short. Everyday should be special.


Not only that but here it was December 8th and the show he asked us to do was January 3rd, yet he said that they "Hadn't decided if they were going to make the show or not." 


Unbelievable! Three weeks before the date, and the boss doesn't know what they are going to do for an special campaign.

"Everyday is special" a sign on the wall at

another big Tokyo broadcasting station. This is the way it should be.

Jeez! You wouldn't run a sale at a hamburger stand like that, I don't know how in the hell they expect to run a major broadcasting station in Tokyo like that.


I told him that if they hadn't decided to do the show by then, then it was too late for me to get sponsors and to make a good show so I wasn't interested in it and so I declined.


Hell, if we are not going to make something great, then why bother?


Sometimes, the jobs you reject are just as important as the jobs you choose to keep. Remember, quality is what sets you apart from the competition.


If thing are not a competition for quality, then we are in a competition for quantity. When it comes to quantity, we cannot beat places like McDonalds, so we shouldn't even try.


Taste beats numbers. Always strive to make the best.


My life's motto is "Everyday is an Adventure." Everyday should be special.
That's the way it should be.