Mt. Fuji Jan. 1, 2015 - Happy New Year!

Shot of Mt. Fuji Jan. 1, 2015 from Isehara in Kanagawa. 

I think Mt. Fuji is the definitive photo of Japan for New Year's day.

Happy New Year!

(Photo of Mt. Fuji slightly retouched on Photoshop)

Happy New Year 2015! あけましておめでとうございます！

(Revised Jan 1, 2015)

Well the year 2014, with all its ups and downs, has ended. Thank god! It was a difficult year for me. I hope that it was a good year for you. 

View of Mt. Fuji from Isehara taken on the morning of Dec. 31, 2014

2015 is the the Year of the Sheep in the Chinese Calendar. It is said about the sheep:

"I am a passive onlooker 

I let bygones be bygones 

Goodness brings me fortune 

I believe in the human race 

I understand the meaning of giving 

My cup is never empty 

I am loyal and just and in others I trust 

I am the sheep"

I wish that you and your family have a safe and healthy New Year's holiday. 

May all your dreams come true in 2015. 

God bless you and yours with health and prosperity.

Omikuji - Your New Year's Fortune from Japan

(A little late, maybe. But for many people in Japan, tomorrow is the 1st day back to work for the New Year so let me slide on this one!)

Every New Year's in Japan, Japanese people go to their favorite temple on (usually) on Jan 1st, 2nd or 3rd, pray and get their good luck fortune for the year. The good luck fortune is called Omikuji and it is a little piece of paper that you place ¥100 in a box and pull out the one you want.

I go and get mine every year. I think most Japanese people do too.

Here, let Wikipedia explain it to you:

Omikuji (御御籤, 御神籤, or おみくじ) are random fortunes written on strips of paper at Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples in Japan. Literally "sacred lot", these are usually received by making a small offering (generally a five-yen coin as it is considered good luck) and randomly choosing one from a box, hoping for the resulting fortune to be good. (As of 2011 coin-slot machines sometimes dispense omikuji.)

The omikuji is scrolled up or folded, and unrolling the piece of paper reveals the fortune written on it. It includes a general blessing which can be any one of the following:

• Great blessing (dai-kichi, 大吉)
• Middle blessing (chū-kichi, 中吉)
• Small blessing (shō-kichi, 小吉)
• Blessing (kichi, 吉)
• Half-blessing (han-kichi, 半吉)
• Future blessing (sue-kichi, 末吉)
• Future small blessing (sue-shō-kichi, 末小吉)
• Curse (kyō, 凶)
• Small curse (shō-kyō, 小凶)
• Half-curse (han-kyō, 半凶)
• Future curse (sue-kyō, 末凶)
• Great curse (dai-kyō, 大凶)

The reason that I am writing about this at this late date is that I want to brag. You see, for me, tomorrow, Jan. 10, 2012, is really the first day of work for me for the new year. 

Tomorrow is the first day of the rest of my life, so to speak.

2012 is going to be a very lucky year for me again. Why? Well, see the above (to the right) where I've highlighted in light blue, "Great blessing (dai-kichi, 大吉)"? That's my lucky fortune for the year. In fact, why I brag is that I've received the "Great blessing" (the luckiest fortune) now for three years in a row. This is a copy of it below. Getting the "Great blessing" is extremely lucky and sometimes very rare. So, see? I want to share my good fortune with you! Now that you get to witness it, it becomes your lucky fortune for the New Year too!:

 Copy this, print it, and fold it up and keep in your wallet or in your car for good luck!

It says all sorts of things but it specifically says that we must pray and be faithful. Even though it might seem that things are bad, if we stay focused and pray, things will work out well. It also says stuff like "You shouldn't buy any big things." I reckon they mean a house or a car. No problem there. As for me, I don't buy things anyway. There's no way I'd buy a car or expensive clothes. No thanks. I am not that type of guy. I hate shopping.

The other thing that it says that really impressed me was it says that "If you have stocks, you should sell them. You will make money." Wow! That one really blew my mind. I was thinking about selling these crappy stocks I owned - no, they aren't worth millions, but should have been (chuckle).... These stocks have lost so much money over the last few years that I was worried whether I should hold them and hope for the best or just get rid of them and try make a few bucks. Just before New Year's I told the guy to sell them for what he could get for them. Then I worried if I made the right decision.

But now, this piece of paper says I made the right choice. Wow! I feel better! I feel great! I feel lucky!

And that's the point of this whole thing.... I believe the entire point of these things (omikuji and fortunes) are not specifically what they say, but how you take what they say to mean to you; or how they make you feel. I got really lucky and fortunate to get this rare piece of paper - this rare piece of luck. Now, I want to share that with you.

When I saw that I was predicted to have "Great blessing" I felt lucky.

Here's your fortune, that I picked especially for you and me, for 2012:

*Even if things look bad, have faith and things will turn out okay

*Eat well, cut down on bad foods and alcohol

*Try to exercise and get more sleep

*Save money / Cut down on credit card debt

*Work hard and work diligently. In 2012 those people will be the survivors. 

*Stay focused

*Be kind to people

*Be honest and sincere

*Write down your goals everyday and get the Law of Attraction working for you!

*Strive to be more patient and relaxed. Don't sweat the small stuff.

Do these things and 2012 will be much better than 2011. In fact, it will be a good year. Let's face it, you make your own luck. If you feel lucky, you are lucky. I feel lucky. How about you?

Let's make our own luck in 2012! 

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.


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. 

Pop! Fizz! Glug! Drinking in the morning? What an Alcoholic is and What it is Not

Imagine the sound of a can of beer being popped open. Pop! Fizz! Glug! 

WHAT'S THE USE IN GETTING SOBER? 

(YOU'RE JUST GOING TO START DRINKING AGAIN)

Imagine that the first thing out of the mouth of that person holding that beer and popping it open is "Good morning to you!" Pop! Fizz! Glug!   

Imagine that this scene is happening at dawn... Perhaps 5 in the morning. Pop! Fizz! Glug!

Imagine that the person popping open that beer at 5 am is saying "Good morning" Pop! Fizz! Glug! And he's chugging it down and smiling. 

That person is me. Is that person an alcoholic?


No, there are more details you need. I have actually had this experience many times. You see, this is my dream in life. When I retire, I want to do this everyday of the year. Pop! Fizz! Glug!


Where am I in this scene? I am on a deep-sea fishing boat out in the Pacific Ocean a hundred miles from the coast. I am with my friends. We are on vacation. We left the harbor late last night and the fishing boat is just arriving, after a 10-hour journey, to the fishing spot.


It is a beautiful day. We are out in the middle of the Pacific ocean. There is no other humanity around excepting us on that boat. The boat's engines stop. The boat floats. We gear up our fishing poles and drop line waiting for fish (and drinking more beer). It is heaven. Pop! Fizz! Glug!


So, I ask again, is this person an alcoholic? Nope. Just on vacation and just fishing. It is wonderful.  

Drinking and fishing is good enough for Babe Ruth

so it's good enough for me! (Oh, but the Babe

had a serious drinking problem it seems!)

A few posts ago, I put to blog my thoughts on "What is an Addiction?" From that post, I have received many mails from people asking me what I thought about various addictions such as nicotine addiction and my take on the casual drinker.


Those were all tough questions to answer and, I suppose, like I stated in my article that since each chemical affects different people differently, then I guess it goes to reason that each person's method of abusing their body will affect those around them differently and how they (and their "amusement") are perceived.


Even if one's self-ordained medication doesn't seem to bother the partaker to the point of failing in their work and home duties, if it affects the thinking of those around, then I suppose, using my logic, it must affect their human relationships.


Once again, to recap what an addiction is for those who missed the first article, in a sentence or two from What is an addiction, consider:


Addictions are not the problem of alcohol, drugs, gambling, sex or whatever. Addiction is not a problem of the substance abuse in and of itself... Addiction is a problem of human communication.

For example, drug addiction is not a problem of drugs. Drug addiction, like all addictions is a problem of human relations. This is the part about addictions that people fail to recognize for what it is. Drug addiction, like all addictions become a problem when they start to interfere with your human relations and communications with the people around you.   


So that article discusses what an addict is. This discusses (with a hopefully humorous story) what an alcoholic (or addict) is not.


So, what isn't an addict? Now there's a tough question to answer!


It's only the middle of October and Christmas and New Year's are just around the corner. With this story, I cannot answer the question as to "what is an addict"? But I sure can answer what it is not. 


I'd like to share this humorous true story with you about exactly what isn't an alcoholic but is perceived as one. 


Perhaps I can get away with this unseasonably untimely article because I saw, at Tokyo's famous and extremely fashionable Takashimaya department store, people already lined up for New Year's "Oseichi Ryori."

Lining up at the start of October for Oseichi Ryori for January 1!

Crikey! The Christmas stuff wasn't even out yet! 

But, as I often do, I digress...


Trust that if you never drank alcohol or ever took any sorts of drugs at all, and you witnessed someone doing so in the early morning or sneaking off to do so where they wouldn't be seen, you'd think they had a serious addiction problem. That's happened to me... At my wife's parent's house.


That's the story today.


But first, let me recall my very first New Year's Day in Japan. It was in 1980. I was in Japan for vacation and visiting my then, and soon to be, first wife's house. I didn't know it at the time, but my soon-to-be wife's father was the president of a construction company and they had a dormitory. Several (many, all?) of the workers lived on the first floor of their house which was that dormitory. I stayed on the second floor of their house during my entire three week stay in Japan.


I didn't know what was going on with all these people living and staying at this house (my fiancee wasn't good at explaining things) so I thought this arrangement was a bit bizarre and figured that these people were all workers and/or family members. They were all very nice people and were always friendly to me, though I didn't know exactly who they were.


One day, it became New Year's morning, at about ten am, I went downstairs to the living room (I'm sure with a hangover).


When I got downstairs there were eight or so men, who worked at my girlfriend's dad's company who were passed out on the floor - drunk. I stepped over them and wanted to go to the bathroom... There was my wonderful future mother-in-law Komako and she smiled at me. She said,


"Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu!!" (Happy New Year!) and she offered me a drink of sake.


"Wow! I love Japan! What a wonderful country!" I thought. "People drink from the morning and enjoy life. I love this place!"


That was my very first New Year's in Japan. It was a wonderful memory and I'll never forget it.


Later I would soon learn that the Japanese had strict societal "rules" about alcohol drinking. It was considered fine to drink on holidays and special occasions from the morning, but to drink during the week, during work hours, or to drink so much that one missed work, was totally forbidden (though, of course, some people are alcoholics and do that). 


Japanese people who are gainfully employed still, to this day, and to my knowledge, never drink during work hours. This, as opposed to Americans who are known to have two-martini lunches (I sure did before I came to Japan - and those at my bosses' behest!) 


That New Year's day had a profound effect on me as to so-called "responsible drinking."


Fast forward at least twenty three years later...


I was a producer of many TV and radio shows and had gone the rounds with the people who are gainfully employed in the mass media. Let me tell you, those people can drink.


I have learned a few things about working in the mass media and sales in Japan (if you are in the mass media, then you are salesman, if for nothing else, selling yourself) then you have to drink. And that means drinking a lot. Drinking  a lot nearly every night of the week. The weak drinkers and faint at heart need not apply. If you want to succeed in those businesses, in Japan, then expect to drink heavily.


Let me give you one example. Mr. Sugiyama, Taro, Mikey and me. Four of us. Start drinking at 5 pm. Finish drinking at 8 am when the bar owner kicks us out. By then we have consumed 5 pints of beer each and between us downed 6 liters of Korean liquor that is 25% alcohol. I was so drunk that I couldn't walk. 


It wasn't the first time I'd been that drunk. It wasn't the last...


I do hope, though, in my old age, that I don't do that again...   


Now, I am a responsible drinker... 


But there are still two people who think I might be an alcoholic. Those two are my wife's mom and dad. 


They don't drink alcohol.


They don't smoke cigarettes. 


They don't gamble.


They live in the country and there's nothing to do there except go for walks and, for exciting entertainment, go to the one and only department store for miles around. Woop-dee-doo!


So, it used to be, I dreaded going there because there was nothing to do. They live out in the middle of the sticks. Even going to the department store is a good 8 minute drive by car... Walking? Oh, there's a 7-11 convenience store about 8 or 9 minutes walk from their house... I'd guess it's at least 1 kilometer away (about 3/4 mile or so). 


This 7-11 convenience store would be the exact cause that my in-laws think I am an alcoholic. Here's what happened:


It was New Year's Day. My son wasn't yet born and wife and I had gone to stay at her parent's home for the holidays. I was dreading that because, like I said, they don't partake in any particular, shall I say, "escapisms." In fact, they are very serious people and quite conservative about many things. 


I love my in-laws and they are good and kind to me, but they are definitely quite the prim and proper middle aged Japanese couple: Little sense of humor; he was the former president of a large Japanese corporation and she was the head dietician for all elementary schools in all of Kanagawa prefecture. (Imagine a person who was head dietician for all elementary schools in, say, Texas and you get the idea). They both had received numerous awards from Japanese prime ministers and came from strong and upstanding families and all that.


Me? I am a lowlife American who liked to drink to excess with friends at work nearly every night and smoked cigarettes and loved to gamble.


It was New Year's morning. I prepared for it by buying two large cans of beer from the 7-11 convenience store the night before. I knew that I would be the only one drinking at that household and that I would have to control myself; that's why I only bought two cans. I figured that I could probably drink the two cans really quick, get a buzz (maybe) then go back to sleep until it was time to go to the shrine and then food!


I sat at the dining table. It was about 10 am. I opened a beer. "Good morning to you!" I said to my mother-in-law. Pop! Fizz! Glug! She sat down by me looking very worried,


"Is it OK that you drink so early in the morning?" she asked.


I replied, "Oh, sure! You kidding? My friends and I drink much more than this!" I think I shouldn't have said that. My mother-in-law looked on with a worried face as I drank the next can of beer immediately. Pop! Fizz! Glug!  


Later on, my wife got mad at me and told me not to drink in front of her parents. She told me that they think I have a drinking problem.


"What!?" I said, "I only had two cans of beer!" 


"I don't care!" My wife said. "My parents don't drink at all, so if you are going to drink, go do it somewhere else!"


"Nonsense!" I thought. 


Later that day, I decided that I wanted to drink and smoke. Couldn't do it there at the in-laws house so I told them that I was going to "take a walk." I did. I grabbed some money from my wife and headed down to the 7-11. 


The 7-11 is a good walk down a fairly steep mountainside... The coming back up hill would suck, but I still wanted the booze... And there's not much to stop a man who is bored out of his mind, in the country with nothing to do, at a house where people do not drink or gamble or smoke, so I took the walk.


It was a brisk afternoon. I entered the 7-11 like a kid in a candy store. "Oh boy! Booze!" I grabbed a few large cans of beer and some cigarettes, paid for them, and walked out of the store...


When I walked out, I looked for somewhere to sit. Somewhere that I could leisurely relax and enjoy the sun and my cigarettes and beer. There wasn't any place good, so I popped open the beer and lit a cigarette in the parking lot.


"Wow! Drinking in a parking lot!" I thought. "Just like when I was a university student." It felt good!


I took another large swig of the beer and then walked over to the street corner to look around at Stickville. Nothing! Nothing to the left of me, nothing to the right of me excepting rice fields as far as you could see and closed shops and houses.


"Shit!" I thought. I took some more puffs and downed the beer. I put the empty can back into the vinyl bag and opened another. Pop! Fizz! Glug! 


Then it happened.


Just as I was standing on the street corner downing the second beer, they came. Right in front of me. My mother and father-in-law drove by in the car and they were looking right at me! They were shocked and had their mouths gaping wide open. I could read their minds. They were thinking,


"Oh, my god! Definitely Mike does have a drinking problem! He is sick! Our daughter married an alcoholic! What shall we do? He's standing on a street corner drinking like some homeless person! Oh, the shame!" 


They drove by gaping at me. I saw them too and probably looked like a deer caught in the car's headlights. I quickly tried to put the beer behind my back as they drove past. I tried to look nonchalant and smiled as I waved with my other hand that was holding the vinyl bag with the empty beer can. It was probably obvious that there was an empty in the vinyl bag from the way it looked.


Eyes wide open and staring at me. Their mouths gaped open like baby chicks waiting for their mother to feed them. They turned the corner and drove down the street in the opposite direction.


"Shit!" I thought. Pop! Fizz! Glug!  


Later on, when I returned home, my wife told me that her parents didn't want me out drinking in public because they didn't want the neighbors to see me and know that their daughter had married an alcoholic foreigner. They said that if I insisted upon drinking, that I should do it at their house where no one would see me. My mother told my wife that she thought I might need to seek professional help.


No thank you. I know how to drink. I don't need a professional teaching me how to do that.


That's been at least 7 years ago. In spite of what you think, I am not an alcoholic. I deny that completely.


Why can I deny that? Because we go to my wife's parent's house several times a year. I have come to enjoy going there now. I control myself and don't drink when we go there


Why? Well, when I go there,

I don't drink alcohol.

I don't smoke cigarettes. 

I don't gamble.

In fact, whenever I go to my in-laws house, I usually go three or four days in a row without any of the above (I take lots of naps). It's kind of like doing a body cleansing. I do feel much better whenever I return from visiting the in-laws house.

It's when I get home that the process repeats. 


Pop! Fizz! Glug!

Groupon CEO Insults Japan With Simple Minded Apology

Groupon, you've stepped over the line again.


Over the New Year's holidays, Groupon Japan sold traditional New Year's dishes to the Japanese. It didn't go well. In fact it went so badly that dozens upon dozens of people complained about fraud and then the Japanese government actually stepped in and is currently investigating the situation. So, I guess I should say it was a disaster. 


This has been very damaging to Groupon's reputation in this country. I think the Japanese are not forgiving when it come to this sort of fraud - especially when it deals with food. Now Groupon is making it worse by adding insult to injury.


Probably the Groupon people are unaware of the scandals with poisoned gyoza and other food imported from China. That episode set back Chinese food businesses exports to Japan at least 10 years.


Now the Chinese food companies have to start over.

CLICK ON IMAGES TO SEE LARGER SIZE

This is a photo of the New Year's dish that Groupon advertised

CLICK ON IMAGES TO SEE LARGER SIZE

This is a photo of what was delivered taken by 

a furious ex-Groupon customer.

Then the CEO of Groupon has the audacity to make excuses and say,

"We we're too busy to fill the orders" 

No. This looks like blatant fraud.

CLICK ON IMAGES TO SEE LARGER SIZE

What happened with Groupon for the traditional New Year's dishes is that Groupon advertised gorgeous dishes for a really low price. But, as is often the problem with catalogue or online ordering, the product doesn't look anything like the the advertisement. So people were furious. 


In fact, it looked like obvious fraud. 


This sort of bait and switch is bad enough, but when you deal with people's food, then you are dealing in an area that could conceivably destroy your business. Now Groupon is doing a lame attempt at damage control. Way too little, too late and completely lacking in respect and understanding of Japan and Japanese people.


As Wall Street Journal reports:


Doing business in Japan can be a, well, tricky business. Just ask Andrew Mason, CEO of exponentially expanding online discount specialist Groupon, who ended up posting a personal apology video to customers here on YouTube after a flub in orders for Japan's prized traditional new year's meal. Certainly, Groupon Japan appears to be learning to offer local deals that have specific local appeal. One of the more exotic deals on offer is a chance to take in a "new-half," or drag, show in Tokyo's central Roppongi district, currently going for 56% below the 20,000 yen going rate. About 240 Grouponees have purchased the ticket for 8,800 yen.


I spoke to an online promoter and marketeer here in Tokyo yesterday named Will Thompson and he told me that Groupon is not doing that well in Japan and that the Groupon hype is just that; hype. Judging from what I have seen and the chatter on the Japanese language Blogosphere, I am beginning to agree.


Here is the CEO of Groupon making the horrid mistake that all foreign management makes in Japan: Not immediately apologizing repeatedly and following that up by making excuses. He doesn't seem to understand the gravity of this situation. 

Sorry, pal. No one wants to hear your lame and dumb excuses. This is a royal FAIL!

Mr. Mason, you are not making an excuse to your share-holders. You are not trying to sell us on how great your company is; you are supposedly apologizing to Japanese families whose New Year's celebration 2011 you ruined... You know what? New Year's 2011 only comes once in a life time. Even someone obviously as out-of-touch as you are should be able to understand that. 


This guy is clueless about Japan. A good apology would have gone like this; "I am very sorry that this happened. It is all my fault. This will never happen again." Then bow your head and shut up. Then send some real apology's to customer's and coupons for, say, ¥50,000 ~ ¥100,000 to each customer - and not blab that to the media because, if you did make your efforts public, you'd look even more insincere than you already do. 


The problem was not only late deliveries and damaged product, the biggest complaint was people getting a product that doesn't look anything like advertised. But he goes on to make lame excuses and not telling the whole truth. The best one is when he says, "We are very sorry. We apologized many times. We sent ¥5,000 ( about $60 USD) gift certificates and will make sure this doesn't happen again."


¥5,000 yen certificates!? Wow! Classy, Groupon! Classy! If you ruin my New Year's holiday next year, can I get ¥10,000? ($120 USD).... Are you kidding me? A stinkin' ¥5,000 yen for wrecking my New Year's feast? Can you also kick or slap me when I accept your crummy  coupons? 


¥5,000? That's an insult!

Kevin Bacon from Animal House after buying stuff from Groupon: 
"Thank you sir. May I have another?"

He says, "We will make sure that this never happens again" and a few seconds later, he says,  "Things like this have happened before." Is this guy for real?


From reading the article on Wall Street Journal and the bizarre example of selling a mere 240 tickets to a show that caters to transsexual and transvestite fans, I have to wonder about the viability and common sense of the management of Groupon. I mean, get serious. 240 tickets to a drag show? After a scandal with people accusing you of defrauding the public in a food related incident?  


Sorry, Groupon, traditional New Year's dishes are like Turkey on Thanksgiving to Americans... You don't screw these things up. Service is what Japan is famous for. Your service is a joke.... You make excuses that "We couldn't fill the orders"? Oh really? So you couldn't fill the orders so you thought it was OK to "send something" anyway? What a crap excuse for lousy business.


If I ordered a roasted thanksgiving turkey for Christmas, but the restaurant couldn't handle my order, you think it's OK for them to send me Kentucky Fried Chicken instead? Preposterous.


Then you actually have the gaul and foolishness to brag to Wall Street Journal about selling a lousy 240 tickets for a show full of drag queens? Pardon my French, but how foolish can you get? 


In spite of the nonsense you've read about Japan, transvestites and drag queens are not main street interests and concerns. You know, most Japanese have families and regular jobs to think about... You know, Main Street concerns... Funny that. 


My personal opinion is that Groupon has already crossed the line into the forbidden zone here in Japan by allowing this fraud to happen with people's food. Now they top it off with this idiocy about an alternative lifestyle show in Tokyo? And this piss poor excuse video? 


Either the CEO of Groupon needs to fire his advisor on Japan or he needs to have his head examined. He certainly needs to learn some humility. If you do not understand Japanese culture and common business practices and norms in Japan, you shouldn't be doing business here.  


Compare the difference in quality between a company like Groupon and Apple. How would Apple have handled complaints like this? With lame excuses that obviously fail to understand or address Japanese cultural concerns or with a solution that would make people say "Wow"?


If you keep up this nonsense, Groupon, you soon won't be doing business in this country. The Japanese language Blogosphere is ablaze with comments against this company and it's shoddy business already. Once this video gets around, they'll be jumping on you for that.


You blow the New Year's dishes. Make an apology video that has a blatant lie in it; "delivered late and damaged!?" How about "....delivering a product that was nothing like what was advertised?" 


On top of this, the video seems terribly insincere... What's the word for it? Pompous? Yeah. That's getting close.


Groupon has lost tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands (more?) Japanese customers with this. This story was and still is all over the country. Everyone knows this. Everyone is either disgusted with groupon or laughing at your incompetence. I, for one, will never order from Groupon. 


Groupon needs to get their act together really quick. There are thousands of bloggers just like me (many in Japanese language) who are just waiting for you to blow it again. 


Judging by how you've handled this mess, I'm sure you won't make us wait too long.


Read Part Two of How This Affair Should Have Been Handled by Groupon. A Lesson for all Western Businessmen Thinking of Doing Business in Japan.


UPDATE: I also noticed that what the CEO says in English is not the same as what is written in Japanese subtitles. Here's a detailed explanation.


Note: Thanks to News on Japan for some links. No thanks to News on Japan for not taking this fool CEO and his company to task for fraud and unscrupulous business practices... I know why News On Japan doesn't take a stand, though.... They have few advertisers so they need Groupon.... Duty to readers takes a back seat to getting money from sponsors, regardless of how shady those sponsors dealings are. 


Think about this NOJ; Maybe you have no advertisers because you lose credibility with readers for a poor job. This is twice in 5 days that I have taken you to task for not doing your job.

$390,000 for One Tuna Fish!? You Could Buy a Car With That!

Update from James B. Allen below

Yep. You read the headlines correctly. Well, it is actually $396,340 (USD) at today's rate. The first tuna auctioned off at Tokyo's famous fish market at Tsukiji sold for nearly $400,000; a new record!

This one is selling for 1/3 the price of the new record....

Jeez! How big is that fish?!

The AP reports:

A bluefin tuna from Hokkaido fetched a record-high 32.49 million yen on Wednesday in the first auction of the year on the Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market, commonly known as Tsukiji market, market officials said. The price for the 342-kilogram tuna, caught off Toi in Japan's northernmost prefecture, is the highest since 1999 when comparable data became available. It was well above the previous record of 20.2 million yen marked in 2001.





Maybe 2011 is going to be a big spender year after all.... Or, is that just because the government keeps printing so much money that our cash is getting nearly worthless!


So Like I wrote: $390,000 for one tuna fish? You could buy a car with that... OR, "How many cans of tuna would that make?"


Update from James B. Allen:


"Mike - check the exchange rate - you're off one decimal point :). 32.49 million yen is around $400,000 USD. Just shy of half a million dollars." 


Thanks to News on Japan