Year in review 2018

When I look back in time as a transition to a new year is about to start, I focus on what is most important, most relevant and most gravitational.
This year is no exception although I must say that the more I relentlessly do this, the better I become at picking “the most important,” especially so at the time when some of “the most” means that I am becoming better and wiser at saving myself from headaches and preventing myself from falling into rather unfavorable situations.

This year 2018 has been quite stable on all fronts of life although I must say it has been especially good and mature on the business side of things. In very concrete terms this is the year when I finally learned how to better control and manage situations which often and in other times would have been toxic. To begin with, I completely ended a business relationship very early in the year that could have severely damaged my companies if it had continued another year. Later, I continued on to end a business relationship with people who presented themselves as a growing risk. In return and having cleared my life from toxicity I gained better, more genuine, honest, nicer, and bigger clients. I also went as far as taking clients from competitors without remorse in much the same way other competitors had no remorse in doing the same to me in the past. It was a great year to grow and also to get even, not with competitors, but with certain emotions at the time of facing them as a CEO.
Along the way of earning and terminating relationships and winning over competitors, I learned how to manage people in more just terms I can now accept. I realized that keeping people in the wrong job is wrong so, this was the year when I fired people without guilt and with the conviction that my actions were only for their benefit. In all I have strengthened my standing as a business leader and this has not only increased the good performance of my companies, but it has also made me a better and, needless to say, less stressed person.

As another vibrant year goes by I find myself once again writing this writing after my usual more than 100 flights per year, surrounded by my loving family and above all happy to be alive for having taken further and more genuine control of all the relationships I can actually control. On this latter particular note the big takeaway for my readers this year is, be genuine, be good to the degree that you believe that you are, and act accordingly. It will save you from all headaches that blurry your ability to be happy and live a fulfilling life.

Kohaku Utagassen 2017

The 68th edition of Kohaku Utagassen went by on a rather conservative and predictable note. This year, the men (white team) won but as is my impression in recent years with every winning team, they won for the lack of better competition from the other side.

This year the highlights go to the opening of the program with an interesting use of the whole of Shibuya to feature the artists disguised in common, every day places. I have never seen anything of that magnitude done previously and for this I thought we were set for a good ride. Later on, reality settled in.

As the night progressed the peering of the teams was somehow predictable and not-exciting. The generally old men sang old songs that were mostly at least 15 years old. The women had better and newer songs, but in general weak hits. The unbalanced match between old guys and young girls made the girls look uninteresting, perhaps unattractive.

All things considered, the stars that shone are: Mai Kuraki, Superfly, Perfume, and an impeccable Namie Amuro on her way out from the music industry. On the side of the men, I was only impressed with X-Japan and Ken Hirai with a song I thought was out of the ordinary and quite motivational.

The sad reality of the Japanese music industry continues on a rather somber note without new shinning starts coming in to actually shine. It is not that I don’t think there are good artists out there who can revive the industry and change its reality, what I see that this is merely happening because the industry itself is literally growing old and old executives seem to have lost their interest or appetite to discover the new stars.