I Was a Teenage Converse All-Star!

It's not everyday one can be at the center of a massive national advertising campaign for one of the coolest shoe makers in the world, but I was. Hence the title of this post: I was a Teenage Converse All-Star! (Okay, that part about being a teenager? That's a lie. I'm 57. But the rest is true. So please allow me to brag. I usually don't get that chance in my mealy existence!) 

So, thank you God! Thank you Punk Rock! Thank you InterFM! Thank you Converse! Read more below!

創立100周年を超えるコンバース！毎週日曜日「What The Funday!」10:15からの「CONVERSE - THE SOUND OF CALIFORNIA」

毎週カリフォルニアのアーティストを1組ピックアップしてご紹介！

さらに、 タロヲの「カリフォルニア小話」も放送中。

実はこの小話、コンバースオフィシャルサイト内の特設ページで、いつでも聞けるんだよね！URLは　http://www.converse.co.jp/the-endless-summer/fm/index.html

僕らがCONVERSEのモデルとして登場しているとっておきの画像もみれるよ！

InterFMからもアクセス出来ます。「CONVERSE - THE SOUND OF CALIFORINIA」

チェックしてね。

Currently, the other two guys on my radio show, (WTF? What the Funday, InterFM, every Sunday morning 8 am ~ 11 am) George Williams and Taro Furukawa and I, am at the center of a massive Converse Shoes campaign for all of Japan. It's called "Converse - The Endless Summer" campaign and they are sponsoring our radio show as well as putting our faces on advertisements that show up somewhere that I am not quite sure about. But, you can see our photos here (https://www.interfm.co.jp/the-endless-summer/) or at the link at the very bottom of the page, so there! That's another reason for this blog; I wanna make sure I keep these photos forever! My mom is so proud of me!

Every Sunday morning at 10:15 ~ 10:25, Converse sponsors our show and we have a special that features a few songs from artists from California, insider information about said artist and also we GIVE AWAY CONVERSE SHOES FOR FREE TO LISTENERS!!!!! 

What!? Free Converse shoes??? Yes, just listen in every Sunday morning from 10:15 ~ 10:25 or so and you can win! (Actually, listen from 9:00 because we often give away hints on how to win earlier in the show!

The show is entitled, "Converse - Sound of California" and it's great.

Also, there's a massively popular joke corner where we tell jokes that are quite risque (and that's unheard of in Japan!) you can practice your Japanese, see the script, and hear a recording of the actual broadcasted joke here. Check it out, it is massively popular amongst the Japanese (and people studying REAL Japanese language): Taro's California Ko-Banashi (Joke) (If that link doesn't work, copy and paste this: http://www.converse.co.jp/the-endless-summer/fm/index.html) 

Click here to listen to the joke. 

http://www.converse.co.jp/the-endless-summer/fm/index.html

Actually, it's a secret, but this Sunday, there will be some folks from Converse at the show and they are bringing a bunch of presents so definitely check it out.

If you do not have an FM radio, you can listen on Radiko. Just download Radiko and click the button at the top that says "InterFM" and you can win some cool free Converse shoes. Radiko! Listen online: http://radiko.jp/

Converse - The Sound of California! And I was a teenage Converse All-Star, really! Just I wasn't in their advertising campaigns until I became over 55! So, I guess that's cool. I reckon there aren't very many olde pharttes like me who get to model sports shoes for youth culture at my age! Yikes!

---------------------------

* Check out the funny jokes online: http://www.converse.co.jp/the-endless-summer/fm/index.html

* WTF? What the Funday URL: https://www.interfm.co.jp/wtf/index.php?mode=sun&id=32

* Converse - Sound of California Homepage URL: 
http://www.converse.co.jp/the-endless-summer/

* Listen online: http://radiko.jp/

Where Have I Been on My Blog?

Axel, a regular reader wrote in and complained to me. He wrote: "Why has this column/blog recently morphed into a self-help book? What happened to astute and witty observations on life in Japan?"

Axel is completely right. (Not so sure about the "... astute and witty observations on life in Japan?" part... But he's right about the rest!)

My excuse: Starting in April, I became the producer, director, engineer, writer, song selector, news person and promoter of a new radio program. I am doing the job of 4 people (at the pay of one). The show is called, "WTF?" ("What the Friday" and it is on 761. InterFM): 
http://www.interfm.co.jp/wtf/index.php?mode=fri&id=32

I'm not complaining (too much).

The radio station seems not too interested in promoting our show so I have taken that responsibility by myself completely. So now I do the job of 5 people for that show.

The job that takes the most of my time is promotion. The show is an unheard of 5 hours long live show on Fridays. This is a problem for promotion. The reason being is that if you want people to look forward to a show that is only on once a week, you'd better stick in their minds for the other six days a week.

This is the reason I have not found the time to blog too much. Axel, my friend, the self-help posts are recycled old material.

I spend at least at least two to three hours a day, everyday, writing information and interesting things for our "WTF?" Facebook page. This is the way, I think, that people can "stay with us" everyday of the week and I can ready them and get them to remember and look forward to our Friday show.... 

Frankly speaking, it is exhausting. I never consistently spent two hours a day on my blog! Let me tell you that this is hard work! Not only do I have to think up, research and write good content, I must write it in English and Japanese (I speak and write Japanese but am not a native-speaker so I make many mistakes!)

By starting this Facebook promotion, though, I began to get very interested in seeing what kind of posts draw huge numbers of reactions and views and what posts do not. This is incredibly valuable information that cannot be found in books, they can only be found by experience.

I have to say that I've learned a lot in just 10 weeks. I also have to say that blogging and my past experience with SEO work helped me greatly in figuring out the fast track way to do this.

The results? They are awesome! In less than ten weeks, our WTF? Facebook fan page has garnered over 2000 "Likes." (We average well over "15,000 People Reached" daily!) This is incredible when you consider that the station's Facebook page is nearly 4 years old and they have about 9,700 Likes. 

So a show that is on for 5 hours, once a week, garners over 2000 Likes in 10 weeks while a station that is on 24/7 and has a Facebook page for over 4 years "only" has 9,700? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that this is an awe-inspiring feat. I thank our listeners and fans...

Yet, people need to be motivated to click. I want my WTF? Facebook page to give everyone something to look at and think, "That's interesting" or "That's funny" if even for just one minute a day. It keeps us fresh in the minds of the people. I want us to be what the daily newspaper was for me when I was a kid: I didn't read the newspaper my dad got; I only looked forward to reading the comics everyday - if even for only one minute. It was just one more small thing, if for only one minute, to look forward to everyday!

Everyone needs something to look forward to! 

That's what I want the WTF? FB page to be for you, our fans and everyone else; just one small fun thing to look forward to everyday of the week!

So it's the WTF? Facebook page, my other job at the research company (we just had a shareholders revolt and they fired the CEO!) and my bad habit of drinking too much that just, pardon my French, mind-f*ck me so much that I haven't the time nor energy to get back to serious commentary and blogging.

But I will very soon, Axel. I promise. 

If anyone would like to help me out by "Liking" our WTF? FB page, I'd sure appreciate it. We also, by the way, ran a charity for Children With Incurable Diseases and the FB page was a great help in promotion. Please help us out and "Like" our page! Please! https://www.facebook.com/WhattheFriday

We ran a promotion to help the "Children With Incurable Diseases" Charity and was rewarded with a huge write up in the Asahi Newspaper earlier this month. The Asahi morning news has over 8 million newspapers delivered everyday... Not bad promotion, I'd say!