Kohaku Utagassen 2019

The 70th edition of Kohaku Utagassen was unlike previous editions quite appealing in its own unique way. With a Tokyo Olympics 2020 oriented theme there was a good degree of innovation followed by both musical talent and interesting performances.

Once again the White team represented by the gentlemen won, but not without facing great contenders and performances from the Red side that look like they were challenging them very closely.

The Red side shone in strength with Hinatazaka 46 and the 46 variations of singing girls who appeared to become much more visible in the void left by AKB 48 and the almost complete disappearance of its original members. On the particular case of AKB 48 and despite this fact, it is remarkable to see how well this AKB 48 brand holds. Especially so as they performed a more internationalized version of their hit “Koi suru Fortune Cookie” which was quite pleasant to see. Sang by several regional expressions of the group from China to India integrated with their Japanese expression, the group showed what it takes to go beyond Japan and crate hits.

Beyond the usually attractive feminine side, some remarkable top performances from the White side included the boy bands with all their variations, Jonny’s Junior, Kiss-My-Ft2 and Arashi. They as the usual suspects to carry results forward did exactly what was expected to win the scores. On the less quantifiable but more on the quality of performance side of things the gentlemen that strengthen the position of the White team were Miura Daichi, Hoshino Gen, and an upgraded Hikawa Kiyoshi and his new looks. King Gnu, a remarkable new band and the Yoshiki (X Japan) singing with Kiss performance pretty much sealed the prize for the guys.

Back to the Red side, the women continued their contest with a more emotional approach which kept them catching attention. However, individualities were not seen to the point at which they could have turned the score. A few names to keep in mind are Paprika, and Little Glee Monster especially the later which has an interesting appeal. Nakamoto Mizuki stole the night in her own right with her great performance of “Into the Unknown” Quite remarkable for a girl that a week earlier was working as a cashier in a supermarket. All the other performances on the red side were carried on by the usual suspects Perfume, Superfly, Matsuda Seiko, Sakamoto Fuyumi, Takeuchi Maria as well as Ikimono Gakari who appeared to be there to raise numbers for the Red team, but quite possibly not to stick out beyond their names with their performances.

On the wildcard side of things, Beat Takeshi did a spectacular job as a comedian and singer. This is a guy worth appreciating a lot more in every possible respect in the way that he continues to drive the pop scene in Japan. AI Misora Hibari on the other hand was controversial as she was brought to life by a humanoid robot which although it was good, it generated some mixed feelings. Perhaps we should let the dead rest in peace and not try to profit out of them next time.
Amidst all these the interval in between first and second halves of the show brought an unintended third wild card with the news of Carlos Ghosn fleeing Japan. It was almost as if he could have scored points against the guys with his performance reported by the news.

Overall a good show that carried a remarkable level of performance we should certainly not only continuously hope for but also to strive to maintain. As a changing society in a country that needs to express itself better and differently J-pop or better called pop Japan has to continue to look forward to the more there is to come in further editions of this traditional, New year’s eve White-Red contend in much the same way it was done this time.

Year in Review 2019

The year 2019 has been driven by an interesting mix of advice, opinions and great memorable events followed by calls from the life side of things that prompted me to realize my very own human factor.

Around February I was wondering if nomadism was temporary or a way of life. “You are never coming out of this lifestyle. Once you make your life being a nomad, it is your life.” Said a life mentor of my school days in Seattle I met this year when I visited the city after many years of not being there. She’s right and this cleared a very important aspect of my life. I have been a nomad for more than five years and now I can’t stand being in the same place longer than ten days. It is my life and nomadism is what keeps it going.

Another interesting piece of advice came from my wife when I asked why we don’t have many friends. She said, “We don’t need many friends. People who have a clearly defined professional mission in life feel that they are better off by themselves. Let’s face it, we can’t stand certain people.” Very true and to clear something that had been troubling me for many years, I realize that we really don’t have many friends and that we only create relationships with the people who contribute something meaningful to our lives. Later I read that Steve Jobs thought the same way, he only had relationships with people who shared his vision and worked with him to accomplish it. On this note I realized that the prospect of spending my older years alone will be minimized so long I have my wife and my companies.

The third driving piece of discovery came somewhere in the 2nd half of the year when I had to deal with the issue of envy and some people basically having a rather hateful attitude towards me for being who I am. Undisclosed quotes, facebook and E-mail episodes left aside, I realized once again that toxic people are not good so, I went on to cutting toxic people out of my life and the results have been great. By letting them go I felt I took a huge weight off my shoulders and this made me happier to say the very least.

Along the way and past beyond the point of advising, I was confronted with illness outside of Japan where my options of health coverage are limited. Beyond the threat of financial disaster, there have been positives. In July I got sick in New Zealand and spent a couple of days dealing with hospitals. Later in November, a similar situation of more gravity took me to a hospital in Singapore. Beyond the pain and the discomfort of having to deal with not being in good health temporarily, I rescued some positives. I had to deal with those situations alone and this was very important since it made me realize how essential the people in my life are. Also I realized how important the people outside of Japan are for me and while these are clients and work peers, I was very impressed to see how they immediately dropped everything they were doing when they learned about my condition to come over to my assistance. For this I am immensely grateful and as I rescue a big lesson learned I say to myself: YOU are 50 Adrian, and despite looking younger, you have to introduce changes in your life to keep living it well.

Later in the year and after having learned a lot about my evolving health, I went on to strengthening my body in ways not previously done before. While I am a regular gym goer, I have doubled my efforts and in two months I am lifting double my usual weights, enduring more cardio, sleeping more, drinking less, and enjoying an overall better quality of physical life. Yes, I have followed the advice of family and friends on this and made time for myself. You guys are great!

On the professional side of things, this year I focused on building more excellence, in doing what we have been doing as a company but a lot better with a lot more of insight and returning on the promise of Engaging More and Selling More with a much more aggressive mind set. As a result we achieved great outcome and more importantly big tangibles in the shape of financial benefit for clients that they appreciate. Meanwhile and as this happened, I found time and opportunities to keep learning and have therefore put myself ahead of the crowd with every deeper insight delivered.

On the life side of things, the most important moment of the year belongs to September when I spent a great few days traveling with family from Argentina in Spain. By all means great quality time which I hope I can repeat in a near future with family from Japan. This explains the photo of this posting, my little daughter at some point before my trip imagined how it would be for me to travel to meet my father.

For all this I am once again on the last days of December 2019 writing about the tales of satisfaction in a year where the human factor contributed by others has not only been important, but greatly gravitational towards making me a better person.

To all of you who have been part of this journey in whichever way you find yourselves on this writing, and to all of you who find something positive to take away, thank you for being there.

Kohaku Utagassen 2018

This year’s 69th edition of Kohaku Utagassen went on with a higher degree of coherent entertainment and with a theme that was consistently kept the whole show. Japan is entering a new era in 2019 and as such Kohaku has reflected on the past 30 years. As somebody who has grown most of his adult life in Heisei I found this quite amusing.

On the musical side of things, there were no particular individualities and as is always the case in recent years, we are lacking big stars and highly talented people in the Japan music industry and this went to show. There were a few highlights however that were delivered by a few artists.

The first half of the show had Ai Miyon, an interesting new voice that has potential; Yoshiki featuring Hyde and then Sarah Brightman; and a remarkable performance by Sakamoto Fuyumi. The main song of the first half was Jidai by Shimazu Ami which pretty much drove a good closure, but not enough for the red team to lead the score.

The second half had more excitement with the heavy hitters in place. Da Pump and their USA hits was good, Ikimonogakari was OK, but why while being a relatively young band sing a very old song? The same applies to AKB48 although in their case they did it with more style by inviting their Thai expression to join them. The rest of the artists kept a good standard with all the remaining big names doing their best possible performance for the theme in place. The song of the 2nd half was Amagigoe by Ishikawa Sayuri with the impeccable performance of Hotei playing guitar to match Koto tones.

In all, the white team won, there were no surprises and frankly not a whole lot of excitement around the show in a way that indicates that something is about to change in the Japan music scene. Once again, there’s good content and good intention in place, but as this type of uneventful Kohaku continues to happen year after year, there isn’t much to look forward in the year ahead. Or better, said, there isn’t much to look forward in the sense of artist discovery which is where real change must be delivered to reinvigorate and literally rejuvenate our musical expression.

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.

Year in review 2017

January, sometime in the morning of the early days of 2017, I am sitting by the pool in my home at Ho Chi Minh and I was stricken with the idea of reading The Art of the Deal by Donald Trump. Despite the initial realistic confrontation with the fact that this book is not for everybody, I decided that I wanted to make it work for me. Later in the year this proved to be a right move.

Off I went mid January and so on onwards with the idea that I can put together, close and execute the best win-win deals in advertising while growing my companies. In that favor I started working with my people providing the best possible experience on the ground on all the many countries where we do business. All this while, I wasn’t really spending much time on the ground and focusing on the core of what runs my business, flying.

With more than 100 individual flights this year I have been and done business in 10 countries. While now officially living in Japan, Singapore and Vietnam, I have also strengthen the likes of the UK and France, re-endevoured myself in the beauty of Malaysia, continued to grow my presence in Hong Kong and China and then returned to the place that has a special place in my heart, The United States. In addition I also made a stop-by to Canada for also other projects that occupy a place in my heart. All in all, I have met many diverse kinds of people, created unique networks of highly influential individuals and consolidated my position as an internationally acclaimed professional in advertising beyond my local surroundings. I have made of myself somebody who can make anything happen anywhere for any commercial reason that requires that a product or service is advertised. And more importantly, I can do this cross-boundaries.

On the personal side of things, life continued on the high motivational pace, sometimes pulled back by the sadness of not being in Japan as much as I wanted for my daughters. All things considered in perspective however, this sadness didn’t last long since it is all driven by them, and let’s face it, otherwise I could not be doing what I do each month, day, and second of my life.

As 2017 comes to a close, I can proudly said that I have cracked the hidden code in The Art of the Deal. The powerful message reserved to the few who can understand it, has given me a better approach to feelings applied to the work place, how to communicate with people, how to literally deal with them and fundamentally, it has made me a better business leader and dealer.

Kohaku Utagassen 2016

The year 2016's 67th edition was once again won by the ladies (Akagumi) in what I have to call, a very disappointing win.

I am traditionally more leaned to the performances of the ladies and while this year the gentlemen did not do great, a win was clearly defined on their side. But, the judges thought otherwise.

This time I was finally under the solid impression that NHK took things seriously in digital with well used projection and reality enhancement technologies as well as with offering people the ability to vote after each individual competition. This latter new feature I thought was really good since it kept people engaged and watching the show.

Performance wise, I have to say that 2016 was a year when the Japan music scene didn't grow. There were almost no new artist and really no impressive big names. Apart from AKB 48 with a very digital touch that involved people defining their performance, all else was on the expectable side.

AKB 48 had the most mature performance ever, E-girls was also good with more grown-up girls on stage. The usual suspects on the side of the ladies did well with Utada Hikaru, Nishino Kana and others. The gentlemen had a few shiny moments with AAA, J Soul Brothers, Arashi, and Radwimps. In all, nobody really stood up on either side.

All the way to the end and despite the fact that the gentlemen (Shirogumi) won by a margin of more than 2M votes from the audience at home and more than 400 votes at the NHK Hall, the judges gave the win to the ladies. All said, I have nothing else to say but, what was the point in giving power to the people if this power was going to be absolutely ignored?

In a way I am pleased to see a changing show, at the same time I am left with a bitter feeling that I am sure most people share with me today.