Establishment Lapdog Media vs. Edward Snowden

No comment... 

I've written about this sort of thing for more than a decade....

Just for Laughs in Japan? Funny Videos That You'd Watch?

I told my dear friend, George Williams over at the www.georgewilliams.jp website to introduce the Just for Laugh website to the Japanese public. I hope he does but am not sure that he will... I would do it but this blog is about Japan, Media and Marketing so I'd like to keep it that way, even though I often variate off course.

Nevertheless, I thought about making my own "Just for Laughs" Japan style as I do own a TV and radio production company and do make videos..... Hmmmm? Maybe it's a nice idea for a hobby! It would have to be a hobby as I can't see how to make money doing it.


Here's three funny videos that fit the the "Just for Laughs" format that I thought you'd enjoy!


I like them. What do you think? 

What do you think? Should I try to do this in Japan? Can I make an interesting show that you'd watch?

TV is 80% Bullsh*t the Other 20% Are Commercials - The Mass Media Dumbing Down of the Populace

I had always dreamed of working in TV. I studied television and cinema in my university days. I worked in the mass media for nearly 30 years. After 20 of those years, I finally woke up and realized what kind of brain damage TV was and we threw out our TV set. We haven't missed it once.


I remember when my mother-in-law protested our disposing of the TV and said, "If my grandson doesn't watch TV then he won't be able to understand what the other kids in school are talking about!" To which I replied, "You mean he won't be able to discuss the stupid crap on TV like the other kids in school do? Okay. That's a good deal."

I've said it many times before: TV is 80% Bullsh*t. The other 20% are commercials.


It's this way for just about everything: FM radio, am radio, TV, magazines, all print media are merely pages and screens full of advertising with blocks of fluff in between the ads. The public has become so dense that they fail to realize it... You think that, maybe, the public watches too much TV?


This is why pablum like the Grammy Awards, Academy Awards or sports like the Superbowl and World Series are touted as "important." They are not important. They have become a total and complete waste of time yet few see the problem.

It's okay to enjoy a game or some short entertainment but what people have lost sight of is that these things are not important at all. They are distractions from what's really important.  

I just received a mail from a long time reader concerning my recent post: The McDonald's Effect: Why Music, Literature, Cinema and the Arts Have Become Mediocre - Just Like Processed Cheese. He says:

I think about this type of stuff now and again,... mostly every time I turn on the radio in the morning.

Rather than playing some music, all the FM rock stations are yuking it up with some kind of comedy between songs. I can't stand listening to them - especially in the morning - the only alternative is to turn the radio off.

Again in the afternoon after the comedy hours are over they might play an up-beat song I like only to be followed by a very slow song. This happens Every Single Time! It's almost as if there's a law against playing two or more up-beat songs in a row so the population doesn't get fired up too much.

I might have mentioned this before, sorry. It just bugs me why things aren't better, and as you say, inspiring for the youth.

Well, for a short explanation watch this:

There is a reason and a plan as to why this dumbing down relentlessly continues. This is not Conspiracy Theory. The dropping of academic scores in America for the last 50 years is well documented. 


If you are interested in learning more, may I suggest that you start your search with the words "dumbing down Lew Rockwell," you'll find many articles there. It's a start.


Also, please read two articles I wrote about TV:


The Plug in Drug


The Plug in Drug Part Two 

Completely 100% Free Advice on How to Make Money Blogging

Bored with your job? Want to get out someday?

If you've ever wanted to quit your 9-5 job and make money by blogging, or you blog now, and want to, someday, use blogging to make money; or if you want to blog and use it as a vehicle to promote your work (and make money by your work), whether that work be book writing; business consulting; selling your art or paintings; getting people to know your music or films; or just to spread the word about you and promote yourself and what you do, then today's blog is for you.


Today I am going to tell you exactly how to make money blogging and how to start to get out of your regular job. There are no costs, books to buy, courses to study or gimmicks or catches at all. This is the simplest, and most direct, way to make money blogging. If you follow these short tips, then, within 2 ~ 3 years, you can start cutting down your regular job hours and start shifting over to the job you dream of doing and all because of dedication to blogging. All because of a desire to do with your life as you want.


And it's all 100% completely free.

Today's blog is especially for people who have a "regular" job yet they have a dream someday to escape that job and the rat race and to make enough money to do what they want with their life. Today's blog could also be for people who want to make a good amount of money by using blogging so that they can live well.

With blogging, as a vehicle to promote or market yourself or your work, that is possible. I, myself, do not do this as 100% of my income, yet; not even 50% of my income. But my teachers do. For myself, after study and effort (mostly effort), I can now see where this is possible very soon for me and am slowly climbing that mountain to where I can see from the top on exactly how to do that. 


I have very good teachers showing me how to do this - two of them are very famous people and, with their help, I am giving you this information.

If you do any sort of Social Media or Internet surfing (and, if you didn't, you wouldn't be here) then you've seen tons of messages and notes about how you can make money blogging. It's true. You can make money blogging. You can't make a lot of money blogging and using banner click-through advertising (unless you are FARK). 

Of course, the most widely used and understood way of making money blogging is by having click through banners on your blog. But I don't really want to talk about that at all. I don't think that is a good way to make money blogging. I mean, if Google asks you if they can use your blog to advertise then you know they are the ones making the money. 

But I will say that, in the last year, I been asked twice directly from companies in the USA and the UK to place banner ads on my site but have politely declined. Why? It was only for $150 a year (about ¥11,000 yen) and it looked like it might be a hassle. Also, why in the world would anyone pay $150 to Japan when the bank transfer fees are $70 dollars a transaction? I wouldn't. That made me figure that those folks, while meaning well, didn't really have any idea what they were talking about. 

One of my friends is a blogger well known all over the world and, while not telling me a dollar amount, he told me that the click through ads were nice but they only pay for dinner a few nights a month. You might think, "Wow! Free dinners a few night's a month?" But when you realize that my friend's blog gets 1.2 million hits per day, you realize that banner click-through advertising is not all its cracked up to be.  

He, by the way, makes well over a quarter million dollars a year as a financial advisor. Do you know how he gets his clients? You guessed it, people read his blog and then ask him for advice. That's how he makes money blogging. It is an advertising tool for his services. 

This is the way to use a blog that I want to talk about.

I have been asked to give advice five times in the last year too. That's where the money is. Even though I haven't made large amounts like $10,000 (USD) a month directly by blogging I can say that I have made over $1000 a month indirectly by blogging. I did this because, through blogging, I have been hired as an advisor (like my friend above) to companies who have jumped into the Social Media realm in order to market their products. In fact, as I mentioned above, I have been asked five times in the last year. I took four of those jobs and two of those were in the last month. 

Even though I averaged over $1000 a month in the last two years by use of blogging, one month - a year ago or so - I made $5000.


Like I said, you can do this too. 

There are three things that you must do in order to set yourself up for a situation whereby you can start to consider using blogging to make money. They are:


1) Consistent daily blogging
2) A focused topic
3) Interesting writing


That's it. Just those three. Now let me briefly talk about each one.


1) Consistent daily blogging: Yes. This is hard. But you must do it. You must make daily updating a habit just like brushing your teeth; you can't sleep until you do it. And not just any trash. Good, consistent, interesting writing (I'll talk about the interesting part below). Why constant writing and updating your blog is important is because you must understand how the Google search engine works. The (new 2010) Google search engine is called Caffeine. The old search engine gave priority to blogs and web sites that have many links. Caffeine does not. Caffeine gives priority to consistent and regular updating. Please read the link about Caffeine. But here's an example to show you that I do know what I am talking about. This blog is called "Modern Marketing Japan." That's not a generic title at all. But "Modern Marketing" is an extremely generic title. Do a Google search for "Modern Marketing" and you should see this blog listed in the Top 3 ~ 10 or so of 22,400,000 results for the entire world (the results change constantly with Google Caffeine). That's proof of the power of consistent blogging.


2) A focused topic: As far as the Internet is concerned, we are talking about Long Tail Marketing. Focus on your topic. In the Internet world it is better to be a big fish in a small pond. Read about the Long Tail here in A Primer on the Long Tail and Is the Long Tail all Junk? also read why the Long Tail is beneficial for you even against the Internet giants as it is, for example, damaging Google's own business by reading: Why Google Worries About its Own Future. 


Now, my blog is supposed to be about Japan; media; and marketing and sometimes it gets all over the place, but trust that I do always try to think of a Japan, media or marketing angle for everything I write.


3) Interesting writing: This is the hard one. All I can say are a few things. First, write with your own voice. Stop trying to write like you're Hemingway or writing a business prospective. You're not. If someone wants to read Hemingway, they'll buy the book. If they want to read a business prospective, they won't be 
looking at your blog. People read these things because they want real. They want to hear what real people think. Readers of blogs don't want bloviated nonsense. If they want that, they'll go to CNN's site.

Now, here's a hint on how to write with your own voice and to help yourself have good topics all the time. It's not 100% but it will definitely help you. It helps me immensely. How many times a day do you think about something and then think, "Wow! That's a great idea for a good blog post!" Only to, a few hours later or the next day, not remember what that good idea was? I used to do that all the time. But I've stopped recently. Now, I almost never forget good ideas (good ideas, remember, are money in your pocket!). How do I not forget? I use a notebook. I've written about the benefits of always using and keeping a dollar notebook in the back of my pocket in Pocket Notebooks: The Secret of Millionaires and People Won't Listen! I always have my notebook. So when I have a good idea - about anything - I write it down. It helps me greatly especially when I am stuck for an idea on what to write about. 

As with everything in life, practice makes perfect. If you think that you are going to just start writing one day and become a good writer than you are dreaming. Keep doing it consistently and you'll get better and better as you go.

Like I said, focus on what you are doing; do it consistently; do it well. If you keep doing these three things, for a period of 2 ~ 3 years, then you can start to use blogging to make money.

I know. I've done it. Anyone can. You can too.

NOTE: Please look over my May and June 2010 blog postings. There you will find many articles that will help you to do your blogging smarter and better and tips on how to make money. You might as well read those so that you can learn in a few minutes what it took me a few years to find out on my own. Good Luck.

Also read: Ways to make money from your blog for a pretty generic answer to the question.

This blog is dedicated to my friends Andrew, Peter, Ryu and Jimbo. It might seem tough guys. I know. Been there, done that. But never lose sight of why you do this in the first place. There is a reward down the road.

People Leaving the USA? The Trickle Becoming a Flood? It's Like 1939 Again.

"The chickens have come home to roost" - Malcolm X

I had many reasons for leaving the USA and moving overseas. One of the big reasons was, because of traveling outside of the USA a lot, especially in university days, I began to realize that the story (brainwashing) about the USA being the "Greatest country on earth" (that we were all exposed to throughout our youth in school) wasn't exactly true. 


The propaganda involving American exceptionalism and how "we are different (better)" certainly wasn't true either.

Many people's of the world are proud of their countries (rightly so) and think they are living in the best country in the world... I've met lots of those outside the USA. Before I had met these people, I was under the impression that everyone was desperately trying to find a way to escape their country and get to the USA... 

Maybe trying to escape to the USA was the dream of most people during World War II. It's not that way today. In fact, it's definitely become the opposite of that today; American people are trying to leave the USA. 

I notice that, over this last year or two, this trickle of folks escaping from the USA has gotten bigger and bigger. Of course, the MSM doesn't report it. MSM only reports about important things like what kind of spray tans the stars use, but the fact that entire web sites and blogs, (like my favorites, International Man, or Dollar Vigilante) as well as many other online and offline publications that have popped up supporting expatriation or diversifying out of the dollar, shows you what I told people in the early 2000's: People who can read the writing on the wall are getting out of the USA. 

"Perhaps it is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home 

is to be charged against provisions against danger, 

real or pretended from abroad." 

- James Madison in a letter to Thomas Jefferson

I warned people about that just after the Invasion of Iraq. My friends scoffed. I doubt that they scoff anymore (or maybe they are still clueless or in denial).


Anyone who studied any sufficient amount of history should have seen the parallels of what happens to a country that wages wars of aggression to what that means for the domestic populace. I certainly wasn't the only one who saw it coming. My example was the historical record of the smart Jewish people and some wealthy and educated people leaving Germany and Europe before 1939. By Sept. 1, 1939, even those who wanted to leave, couldn't.


I knew what was going to happen. Many others did too. That the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq were a precursor to today problems in the USA should have come to no surprise to anyone. Of course these types of foreign adventures and wars of aggression lead to a collapse of society; they always have throughout the course of human history. To think that these incidents and wars would not lead to the current US debt, economic problems and a loss of freedom is foolish. To think that foreign wars would not lead to a suppression of the people and a rise of the police state is to ignore history... These economic problems and despair, and other recent examples such as the police beating of OWS protesters were completely predictable (they'll get much worse too!) Or, even this wonderful tidbit about how well life in America is today from Reuters this surprises no one:

A shopper pepper-sprayed other bargain hunters and robbers shot at customers to steal their Black Friday purchases, marring the start of the U.S. holiday shopping season, according to authorities.

Up to 20 people were injured after a woman used pepper spray at a Walmart in Los Angeles to get an edge on her competitors. In a second incident, off-duty officers in North Carolina used pepper spray to subdue rowdy shoppers waiting for electronics.

A man was in critical but stable condition after being shot by robbers in a parking lot outside a Walmart In San Leandro, California, at 1:50 a.m. (0950 GMT), Sergeant Mike Sobek said.

The man was in a group of men headed for their car after shopping when robbers confronted them and a fight ensued, Sobek said. The man's shopping companions held down one of the robbers until police arrived and took him into custody.

What's the problem here, officer? Boys will be boys. If you guys can pepper-spray peaceful protesters then why can't this lady pepper-spray a pack of insane and possibly dangerous shoppers out buying crap? I mean, think about it, anyone who would get up early and line up at a Walmart to buy cheap made in China junk must be insane and dangerous... At least dangerous to themselves!


I can write this sort of critique of the USA today, but even 7 years ago, when I wrote about how bad the USA was becoming, in America is Bankrupt, I received lots of hate mail and even a few death threats. Today, from seeing so many different writings and publications on the Internet along the same lines as what I wrote about, talking about USA expatriation is no longer laughed at, but seriously considered by those who matter.


In fact, the window has almost closed, folks. If you can get out now, you should. You won't be able to so easily in the near future. 


Jeff Berwick recently wrote an article entitled, "Escape From America":

Recently I was surfing the internet and reading some of my favorite writers and thinkers when something dawned on me. I read articles or interviews with the following people – all of whom I respect and enjoy their viewpoints – in approximately the following order:

• Marc Faber, The Gloom, Boom and Doom Report
• Doug Casey – Founder, Casey Research
• Jim Rogers – American investor and author
• Jim Willie – Hat Trick Letter
• Dudley Baker – PreciousMetalsWarrants.com
• Fred Reed – Author

Can you name something which they all have in common?
If you said that they are all top writers or speakers about free markets and/or precious metals you'd be correct. But that isn't their only similarities.
They also all have expatriated from their country of origin. After having read seven articles in a row I realized that every person I was reading has already defected from the USSA or other similar western countries.

Like I said, the smart people have gotten out. 


It is not unusual to write about these things today. It was risky to do so seven years ago... But when I first decided to move here to Japan in the early 1980's, there was no one that I could tell my fears to... In those days, if you had told anyone that you believe that the USA was way overstepping its authority and turning into the new Nazi state, American people would have thought you were nuts. 


Probably most foreigners, the world over, would have just nodded their head and said, "What took you so long to figure that out?"


To recall an experience when I was working at a company office before I came to the USA allows me to exemplify one case of just how twisted the modern American mindset has become. This is the case of the US invasion of Grenada. For me, this was a quick preview of what was coming for the USA. I didn't like it at all.

Ronald Reagan was the president of the USA. He had won by a landslide against Jimmy Carter in 1980. The US invaded Grenada in 1983. 

In 1981, I had started working at a Prudential district office as a salesman / broker. The other salesmen were nice guys and most of them were typically at least 20 ~ 30 years older than me and many of them were ex-military men. 

One day when I came to the office they were drinking and having a celebration. I walked in and it was a happy scene.  A few dozens guys drinking and eating and having several "toasts" to whatever it was they were toasting. When they saw me they shouted, "Mike! Come on in! Have a drink! We're celebrating!"

I grabbed a drink and was very happy to join the party! "Wow! Drinking at work? Cool!" I then asked, "What are we celebrating?"

To which several guys smiled and said to me, "We won a war!"

"What war?" I replied. 

A very nice older guy named Jim Cline said, "We invaded Grenada and won a war! The Vietnam war is over! We've won!"


At first, I was happy. But then it dawned on me... "What the hell are we doing invading some Caribbean nation and half these people don't even know where that is?"


The MSM was reporting that we invaded that island nation to save US university students... Then the story was something about 5,000 Cuban regular army on the island building an airport... There were so many excuses. (sounds like Iraq?)


Later, I went to the public library and found out some truths. First off, if you are Cuban, everyone is in the army so 5,000 "Cuban regulars" means about 600 Cuban soldiers, their wives and their 8 kids. The University students were never in any danger and that the UK and several other nations severely protested the US action as US imperialism (Nah! Couldn't be! We're the good guys, remember?) and that a US puppet government was put into power. So much for being the good guys. 


Wikipedia says:


While the invasion enjoyed broad public support in the United States, and received support from some sectors in Grenada from local groups who viewed the post-coup regime as illegitimate, it was criticized by the United Kingdom, Canada and the United Nations General Assembly, which condemned it as "a flagrant violation of international law".


I remember thinking that everything the US media was telling us about this naked aggression was a complete lie. I remember thinking, 


"Hey! We're supposed to be the Land of the Free! We're supposed to be helping people and spreading democracy (and I don't mean from the barrel of a gun). We're not supposed to be invading other countries!!!"

The writing was on the wall for me. I hated my job and, because I studied television and media in university I understood how this brainwashing business worked (thanks Mr. Al Miller). I could see what kind of right wing America we were heading for. I was surprised that no one else saw it coming, it seemed to me.

I was still young, cocky and believed I could do anything I wanted. 

And I wanted to be free. I left the US police state. Now there are many following. 

I do feel vindicated. I feel sorry for those in the USA who fail to see what's coming. I am still, to this day, astounded that even university educated people (like my family) in the USA support the vast US empire and military industrial complex. Their day of reckoning is almost here.

Just today, another article appeared on Lew Rockwell about how bad things have gotten in the USA. Please refer to: Be Thankful if You Were Not Born in the US:

.....Inside their borders, as Americans get tazed, pepper sprayed, beaten and caged on a regular basis, they are beginning to realize that the land of the free and home of the brave was a catchy jingle from centuries ago. It is now the land of the fee, home of the slave. TRAPPED Today, as the American government works to erect a wall and conducts unmanned drone flights on the border with Canada, many in the US are awakening to the fact that they are becoming trapped. The US Government has even made it so all student debt is now completely inextinguishable in bankruptcy... meaning that for students who wasted 4-8 years of their life getting what is often a worthless piece of paper and six figures of debt, they will be enslaved for life and, as we are predicting at TDV, will be forced into the military to pay off their obligations. GIVE THANKS IF YOU WERE NOT BORN IN THE US In an erstwhile change of fortune, what was once the best place to be born, between 1623-1970 has now become one of the worst. Only those born in North Korea and Cuba, and a handful of other despotic regimes, can be said to be much worse off.....

It's 1939 again... Excepting the fascists have taken control of the USA. 


Get out while you still can.

US Government Hypocrisy. Watch this: 

NOTE: Thanks to T. Foley for part of this article's inspiration. T graduated from a top class California University at Santa Barbara. I used to think he was an intelligent guy... That is until he was totally "Gung-ho!" for the Iraq invasion and actually told me before that fiasco started, "We'll be in and out in 4 weeks!" ... I totally lost respect for him and the rest of the "Gung-ho!" people he associated with then. Here were people who were university educated and vehemently anti-Vietnam war just  a few years before, but then, at that time, they suddenly became cheerleaders for the US military machine? Extraordinary!


Proof that the US education system has totally gone down the shit can when university educated people cannot see through the lies and propaganda techniques developed in the late 1930's by the Nazi's (use of "Bandwagon") and identified by the Institute of Propaganda Analysis in the USA... I'll even bet these guys don't know that the Germans invaded Poland in 1939 because the Poles attacked Germany in the Gleiwitz incident first! Nazi Germany was merely defending itself from "terrorism"... Ahem...


Not only are these people tools of the state, they are now reaping what they sowed.


Hope you guys enjoy the garden you've planted. 

The Smartest (and Most Profitable) Business in Japan?

Today, you won't read about the company I am going to tell you about in magazines about business or the economy... You won't see news reports about them on TV shows about profitable businesses...Why? Well, as I've written many times before, the mass media is not interested in the truth. The mass media are only interested in filling the spaces between advertisements. That's all. 


Besides that, as a more than 30 year veteran of the mass media, I will tell you that the business of most in the mass media is: kissing businessmen's a*ses in the hopes of getting paid advertising for their media...


While the Internet and Social Media are all the rage today (Hint: when things are "popular", they are already out of fashion) there's still a few "traditional" business models that blow the rest away.


You won't read too much about this company in the mass media... Yet... But you will someday soon (the mass media are always a day late and a dollar short.) But this company blows the socks off of Groupon, Twitter and these other flash in the pan "Social Media" darlings of today. 


I'm talking about a publishing company. That's right, a publishing company. You know, printing press and all. Ink and paper....


Gutenberg would be blown away that a company, so many centuries later after his invention, could use his idea and still make a massively successful and profitable business in the age of the "Internet", in the age of "digital media."


Remember that it wasn't that long ago when people were saying that the Internet was going to destroy books and magazines? Ha! Laughable. Remember that it wasn't that long ago when they said that children today needed to know about the digital age in order to survive? Ha! Laughable. 


As it was 2,000 years ago and as it will be 2,000 years from now, the wealthy, the intelligentsia, the church and the movers, shakers and leaders of society will be people who read books. It has always been that way, it always will be. 


To think otherwise is just plain stupid.   


You know, I'm talking about one of the most profitable companies in Japan today...a publishing company that puts out old fashioned things like books and magazines... And, no, you can't get their products on Kindle.


I'm talking about Deagostini. Specifically Deagostini Japan...(If that link doesn't work, see here: http://deagostini.jp/)


Look out Internet businesses! Your business models are far too often a scam (or full of scams or SPAMS!) I think so because if your online business doesn't translate into something tangible or real-world, then you are headed for a fall.

Move over Groupon. I've railed on you over and over. But your business model is a joke. Who could possibly think that there would be a potential for a business that survives on SPAM? And you want a 60% sales commission!? Any good business model has to be good for all parties concerned... I don't see where you are getting any repeat customers in Japan... Maybe that's why your advertising here has disappeared. Gee! Does Groupon save me time from having to clip coupons? I never really had a problem with that before. Did you?


Twitter? You kidding me? I get more messages from Twitter that are SPAM than anything that I would ever want to read... And who needs to read idiotic nonsense on Twitter like, "How to get more followers on Twitter for only $5?"


Jeez! Who wants a bunch of "followers" who are people who know absolutely nothing about you nor do they care about you excepting that you are another digit in their masturbatory dreams of having a large "Twitter following"?

What a joke!


But old fashioned publisher Deagostini is no joke.


Deagostini sells a product that you can hold in your hand. Deagostini sells a product that kids can look forward to like Christmas or a birthday. Deagostini sells an "event" and a "limited edition" item... Once they are sold out, they are gone forever...


People in a consumer society have a history of going crazy over stuff like that.

X-RAY SPECS - ART-I-FICIAL

I know I'm artificial

But don't put the blame on me

I was reared with appliances 

In a consumer society 

When I put on my make-up 

The pretty little mask not me

That's the way a girl should be 

In a consumer society 

Deagostini Japan was founded in 1997. Because of the Internet, 1997, was called the beginning of the end for the traditional publishers and old school mass media. 


Deagostini's late entry into Japan was considered by many a joke. All the traditional big Japanese publishers laughed at this upstart foreign company and their ridiculous ideas for penetrating the already overly-saturated Japanese market... A market that was the most profitable with the highest literacy rate in the entire world...


They all said that Deagostini's products were cheap and poor quality. Then, Deagostini were the laughing stock of the Japanese publishing world. It was thought that there was no way a foreign company could come here and survive... 


That was then.


They aren't laughing anymore...Last year, of the top 15 publishing products sold in Japan, 13 of them were Deagostini products. I got the sales figures for Deagostini Japan yesterday. These figures are not public yet, but I have quite dependable inside information. 


Deagostini sales in Japan for 2010 (still not public information) were....are you sitting down? ¥28,400,000,000! That's ¥284 BILLION YEN! (about $370 Million USD!) Not only is that just incredible, but of those sales about 30% is pure profit of ¥842,000,000 (about $110 million dollars!)

Deagostini Japan's newest model... Think kids go crazy

for this stuff? Yes. They do! I know even adults who buy

these items... Heck! I've even bought them before!

How does Deagostini do it? It's so simple that when I first heard this idea, I slapped my head and thought, "Of course! Everyone knows this idea!"


How do they do it? Deagostini releases their products in a limited edition series. Like the Gundam advertisement above, they will release a quality model of a toy product (anime, war plane, car, ship, etc.) in a series of editions to be released once a month or so. There could be anywhere from 12 to 50 or 60 items in a series.


The first editions are really cheap. They get more expensive as the series progresses.


I bought a Zero Fighter for my son last Christmas at the book store because I couldn't believe how cheap it was and the quality was awesome for the price.

This model was high quality metal cast. It had moving parts.

It came with a huge book, and other great things that boys love... 

I think it was about $4.00.... 

Then, regularly, Deagostini releases the rest of the series in succession. As the issue go along, after a certain point, the items grow slightly in price.


If you are a real collector, you will buy each item until the series is over. Trust that there are tons of collectors with the disposable income to buy this stuff in Japan... Not just Japan! All over the western world. 


In, say, a twenty series set, by the sixth issue, Deagostini has broken even on the cost of production and logistics of the entire series and each item sale after the sixth issue is pure profit.


Get that? In the series, after the sixth issue or so, every item they sell is 100% pure profit.


It's an incredible success story and an incredible business model.


So much so that Deagostini is a model for future businesses in Japan and the world over... How many other businesses can claim that 30+ some percent of their sales is pure profit?


Certainly not Facebook or Twitter, which have no sales; nor Groupon who keeps doing the switcheroo on accounting methods.


Kids want something to hold in their hand and play with. The child's imagination is a powerful thing. Social Media offers no real tangible items....


Deagostini not only offers a product to hold and play with, they sell a dream and something to look forward to every month.


With Deagostini products, kids get Christmas not once a year, but 12 times a year... Adults too.


What's having something to look forward to everyday worth to the average person? Well, judging from Deagostini's Japan sales, it's worth well over $370 million US dollars and growing. 


Nah. No big deal, right? Let's talk about Social Media.... Yawn!


UPDATE: My friend Brenda chimes in:


Mike,

Not only that, they re-issue same series years down the line - all profit! I did some marketing for them in UK years ago.

Twitter Censorship? Not Good News.

(See BIG updates on this story at bottom)

Is Twitter guilty of censorship and Algorithmic Propaganda? Have they stepped over the line and gotten themselves involved with taking sides in political turmoil? Are they just another tool in the government's arsenal of propaganda? Is the new doll of Social Media and marketing, Twitter, guilty of censoring topics that make them and their stock-holders feel uncomfortable? Could Twitter be the newest member of the American Military-Industrial Complex? (Wow! Pretty sensational stuff, eh?) 

Let's hope not... But, I hate to say, this doesn't look too good for Twitter. Read on and you decide.

There's trouble brewing in Twitter-land, my friends...The word on the Blogosphere is that Twitter was censoring the #flotilla hashtag during the Israeli raids on May 31 on the ships that were heading to Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid.

At any given time, on the Twitter sidebar, one can see what is trending. At one point during the raids,   the #flotilla hashtag or information pertaining to  "Deaths on Convoys" (etc.) were ranking in the top. Then suddenly, as soon as they shot to the top, they were gone; these topics were completely "disappeared."

After their disappearance, if you searched for the #flotilla hashtag you got a result saying, "Twitter error." This was highly suspicious and, I suspect, the catalyst for many thinking that Twitter was censoring the #flotilla hashtag because most of the Tweets were critical of Israel.

Trendsmap shows Twitter hashtags being used following the attack by Israel on the convoy to Gaza

Now, when I say that Twitter might be guilty of manipulation and censorship, don't think that I am talking out of my hat. Already, twice in the past, Twitter has freely admitted to manipulating the trending sidebar. Once, during the Iran elections, after a call from the US State Department (when a revolution was supposedly going on when there wasn't one at all), Twitter voluntarily "disappeared" information from Iran and "#iranelections" in particular.

The second time that Twitter intentionally disappeared something was Justin Bieber. Laughable, but true. Yes, it's ridiculous, but Twitter did this. As many of you might know, Justin is an international teenage star. So when Justin was trending at the top, day-in and day-out, the management of Twitter decided that they were tired of seeing Justin Bieber's name at the top of the trending topics so they deleted his topics...

Justin Bieber's photo cunningly placed here just to irritate Twitter management

Yes, I too, would like to see Justin Bieber "disappeared" also (just kidding, of course), but on Twitter? Is that incredibly anal-retentive or what? I'm sure the management of Twitter would have never done this if the top trending artist was someone they personally liked like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones or Barry Manilow.

So, did Twitter manipulate trends during the Israeli attack on the humanitarian mission? They are keeping their mouths shut for now, but this smells bad and the Blogosphere is demanding actions!

But, one thing remains, as can be gleamed from the #iranelections and Justin Bieber stories, is that  Twitter is culpable - as they have freely admitted - to news manipulation. Now the word on the Blogosphere is that Twitter has stepped over the line and is guilty of censorship and playing politics. If so, shame on you Twitter!

I think this does not bode well for the future of Twitter. You saw some of the repercussions to the MSM (Mainstream Media) after news manipulation before, during, and after the Iraq War. I don't think that, in this age of lightening quick communication that a company, like Twitter, can benefit by this sort of Skullduggery.

George Orwell's 1984

When Twitter manipulates the Trend-bar on the side, it's exactly the same as how Wall Street manipulates prices and that is criminal... A far better, and much older example, would be the "Memory Hole" down which Winston Smith "disappeared" people and news items in the classic, 1984.

What's next for Twitter? Manipulating and selling their top ranked slots like Billboard Magazine does for its music charts?

Like I said, I am not happy about this information concerning Twitter and think it is an infringement on our rights as a free people. The Internet was supposed to be the media that freed us from the bonds of the old media. If Twitter doesn't change its ways, then this could be the beginning of a long slide and they will lose me as a user....

Losing me as a user doesn't hurt Twitter much at all, but losing me and 100 million other teeny-bopper Justin Bieber fans probably does hurt. And with Twitter pushing very hard in Japan - a country full of apolitical people - I could see how they could need this market more desperately than ever...  Especially if they keep up this censorship in the west and there comes a time when people boycott Twitter or it gets a bad name.

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UPDATE! In what could be good news! According to Guardian UK, Twitter did not intentionally censor #flotilla. The Guardian article update states:

So: shock as Twitter not being used to censor news. But it does show the enormous sensitivity there now is about Twitter's impartiality that any suggestion that a world event might be pushed out of its "trending topics" (displayed on the right-hand column of every Twitter user's home page) can create such frustration.


(Admittedly, the Guardian UK is old school MSM and, as such, information from them is to be taken with a grain of salt.)


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UPDATE TWO! Yep! Twitter did it! They manipulated the "trending"!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/09/iran-twitter-revolution-protests

From that article: Twitter’s ‘Trending Topics’ index was manipulated has been confirmed. By manipulating ‘green revolution’ and other # tags to float up the index, Twitter was able to manufacture a #revolution that for the most part, was grossly exaggerated.  Whether or not Twitter simply did this purely for marketing purposes or was hacked by the Pentagon to help sell more weapons has yet to be disclosed.

• Iran’s ‘Twitter revolution’ was exaggerated, says editor

Thanks to Max Keiser 

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* If you would like to check daily, weekly or monthly trends on Twitter, go to here: Trendistic 

* From my point of view, as they say, "A picture speaks a thousand words" since Pick is better for photos than Twitter, then Pick looks much better day by day. Pick: http://naver.jp/mikeintokyorogers

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Keywords:  marketing, Social Media, Twitter, Pick, Justin Bieber, George Orwell, 1984, Internet, Japan, censorship, manipulation, market, media, #flotilla, hashtag, Mike Rogers, Marketing Japan, Mike in Tokyo Rogers