It's easy to say things like don't overthink, don't overwork, don't fret the small things, but it's hard to put that into action when you're a human. I've seen firsthand that these actions can have catastrophic consequences, so I purposely stop myself when I think I may be doing them, and you know what I […]

For a positive impact, does that mean I need to charge money? Maybe if all other means of income and expenditure are taken care of, or maybe if you can afford it part-time. Not charging money means you can put more love into it, I guess. Or you truly are doing it for love, and […]

Means you piss off your regulars. I'm not sure why they do it, maybe cos they're funded by the government? But are they? If they aren't, I don't see it as a wise business decision, but what would I know? Sometimes the business decisions here seem amateur, so it's hard to know.

I never thought about it before, it's so obvious now, but the convenience store is a symptom of the Japanese work lifestyle (should probably call it workstyle, it's not much of a life). Such demanding hours that leave little room for anything but work is a system that basically cannot survive without convenience. In other […]

When we had the earthquake and tsunami a few years back we all just in front of the TV for days on end. Before long, it got really tiring hearing all the bad news, and knowing nothing was really going to change, we made the brave decision to turn the tv off. It was the […]

It's always good to have options, but is it always best to have more options? Sometimes having less options requires you to do more innovative work. You have limited scope to work within, meaning you have to think much more innovatively to solve a problem. On the other hand, if you have a blank slate, […]

Sometimes for your own sake you have to work with people who have a different point of view to you. At that time, it helps to find somewhere where you all have a shared point of view, a shared vision. This shared vision becomes your common denominator. In fact, looking for a common denominator is […]