Author: admin

(upbeat music)

With the declining, man, right off,

that’s, I did a good first start and then
messed up to say, okay, let’s try again.

With the decolon, fuck!

Declining, declining, declining.

I need to do some mouth warmups.

Declining.

With the declining population in Japan,

recruiting for pretty
much anything is difficult.

So companies are
having difficulty recruiting.

Things like the military,
let’s say, there are less

people to recruit from,
so numbers are going down.

And the military, honestly,
for a lot of people, not the

most attractive option, it’s
self-defense force in Japan,

has decided to try to increase recruitment
by relaxing some of the standards.

And this is one of the slippery slopes,

because when you get so
desperate to need people

and you start accepting
people with hippie haircuts,

which is like, mm, there
are other other way.

So they’ve decided to
relax hairstyle regulations.

So I guess so you can
look good on the battlefield.

So as I run across the battlefield,
like I do in COD, guns aiming at nothing,

because I’m just shooting
randomly in the air,

you can see my golden
locks fly out behind me.

They’re trying to attract younger people.

And what they’ve decided is that
women don’t have to have short hairs.

So they had to have
very, very short haircuts,

like still just like above
the ear kind of haircuts.

Men don’t need to have buzz cuts anymore.

So women, the hair must be tied back, and
it cannot obstruct the wearing of a helmet,

and it cannot touch your shoulders.

So it’s not long hair, but it is longer.

And then men, they said, “There
is an athletic standard for men.

” And the thing is, I don’t know what the
athletic standard is when it comes to hair.

I assume by that they actually
just mean short-ish all around.

The thing is, an athletic
haircut where I come

from in Canada, would
be the hockey mullet.

So short in the front and long in the back,

that would be very much what I would
associate with a certain kind of athlete.

And I don’t think that is
what the Japanese military

is really going for.

They have tried anime in the past,
but we’re not going to see any anime

wife who’s on the battlefield, because
you are not allowed to die your hair.

So that’s actually,
again, the sensible rule,

because remember, all those
stories from the last couple of years

about high schools and whatnot,
saying you had to have black hair.

The rule wasn’t that you
shouldn’t die your hair.

The rule was that you
had to have black hair

with the base assumption
that every Japanese kid

is born with black hair, and
then these mixed kids come in.

And they have dark brown, light brown hair,

and they were being
forced to die their hair black,

because the rule
wasn’t, don’t die your hair.

The rule was, you have to have black hair.

They’re being more sensible.

They’re saying don’t die your hair.

So if you have naturally brown hair,

the military is more than
happy to welcome you,

which is a step forward,
I think that’s pretty nice.

You can only die gray hair,

which I thought was interesting.

So they’re saying as men, women get older,

they get gray hair, you’re allowed
to cover that up, if you want.

Otherwise you have
to have natural hair.

So we’re not going to
see any bright pink hair,

main character,
syndrome stuff on the

battlefield, at least with
the SDF any time soon.

They have also tried anime in the past,
which takes us deftly into our next story.

There is a, the reformed church,
which is also trying to recruit people,

and they’re doing
something very interesting,

which we’re going to take
a moment and listen to.

They’re trying to teach Calvinism.

They decided to go on the internet
and say the best way to teach Calvinism.

I honestly did not take the time

to look up Calvinism.

Calvinism, I do have a coworker

who I’m sure would be more
than happy to tell me about it,

but I’m sure they also would not have
connected Calvinism to anime ASMR.

So they are reciting psalms,
or if you read it like I do psalms

with sort of a weird
Japanese character voice,

sort of whispering in
your ear at the same time.

So luckily for you, I
have a little bit of that.

What are we looking at?

We are looking at…
(speaking in foreign language)

Okay, the Japanese is too
hard for me to understand,

but I think she’s reading
Psalm 103, colon two.

And I mean, we could just
do it together for a while.

If I could read the Japanese fast
enough, I can sort of read the Japanese,

but no, I’m gonna be able to
keep up with a native speaker.

So I don’t know, when
you would listen to this,

I guess this is you turn this on,

you go to bed and you get
that tingly failing in your ear.

And then, join the church.

All right, there are three and
a half minutes more of that.

We don’t need to listen to anymore.

Just another weird thing, combination,

Japan, anime, recruitment, to try to get
those nerds, I guess, to come to church.

The military, actually, it
was two years ago, I believe,

actually, it was using
anime posters to try to

attract a certain segment
to join the SDF as well.

I don’t think it’s a bad idea.

I mean, most of the military now,
at this point, is probably computers.

It’s drones, it’s computers,
it’s logistics and stuff.

You need people who are
more than happy to sit in a chair,

10 to 12 hours a day and get
paid to mess around on a computer.

This is the right demographic for it.

And then they get to call themselves
soldiers and pretend they’re in an anime

where they’re like fighting cyber stuff,
which they might actually be, I don’t know.

I mean, that actually may
work out for you in the future.

The host club of crackdowns
continue, which is good,

’cause I was, everything I’ve heard about
host clubs is make me like, just wonder.

I just wonder, every time the
story comes up, I just wonder.

Is it that good?

Like, is it the men sort of
fawning over you, that good?

I’ll fawn over you for a much lower price.

Let’s put it that way.

You throw 20 bucks my way.

I will fawn for a little bit.

Anyways, there’s a little bit of fallout.

So again, these are because
this is a recent development.

This means these are
going to be the first time

charges are put towards
host clubs in this way.

So one club was suspended
for charging huge fees.

That’s kind of like a
constant that everyone

knows is going on, but
was never punished before.

I guess it was one of
those things where like,

the police are like, you
know where you’re going.

You know they use manipulation tactics.

You know they’re going
to try to jack up the price.

You’re in for it.

That’s up to you.

But now they’re like, no,
it’s gotten too far because

once you’re in so much
debt, they try to force you

into the sex trade of some
sort to pay off your debt.

And that’s maybe going too
far for the police in Japan.

I guess massive debt wasn’t
enough, all that it should have been.

So one was suspended
for charging huge fees.

And a second was suspended
for admitting a minor.

These were all, all the charges are
going to be related to inflated debt.

One club apparently stopped a
woman from leaving until she drank more.

So the way they actually
create the inflated price

that you owe is to get you super drunk.

And then by like, hey, let’s buy a bottle.

That bottle, you know, a 2000
bottle yen bottle of champagne.

Let’s charge them a million yen for it.

They get you drunk and they
don’t ever put out the prices.

This is again a common scam in Japan.

If you come to Japan and
you go into a restaurant,

you go into a bar and there are no
prices listed, you should just leave.

And if they try to get you to stay, what
they’re trying to do is get you to buy stuff

without telling you the price
and then they’ll hand you

an inflated thing and then say like, if
you don’t pay it, we’ll call the police.

The thing is, the police are actually,

they know what’s going
on but there is nothing

they can actually like,
they can’t defend you.

You actually still have to
pay the bill because in a way

because you drank there,
not knowing the price.

That’s your fault and the
police actually have to enforce it.

You have to pay that bill.

So that’s only you, you
should be aware of it.

If you’re a tourist and
you’re coming to Japan,

it’s but Japan’s reopened, it’s borders.

Tourists, I think it’s up
six fold from what it was

this time last year, which makes
sense because COVID’s not gone.

Apparently, I was reading a
story, I didn’t write it down.

I wasn’t going to do it for
Ninja Ninja Japan this week.

They’re saying we’re in our
10th wave of coronavirus.

But now, immunity is very high.
The vaccine is rolled out.

So it’s more like people
are just getting long colds.

So not particularly violent,
like people were dying before.

Now people catch a cold
and it just sort of lasts,

like cold lasts like two,
three days, let’s say.

This lasts like a week plus.

So they’re actually saying
that we’re in our 10th wave.

This is people aren’t noticing
as much because they just

think like, whoo, it’s cold
season and I got a cold.

So this woman, they
stopped her from leaving.

I said, you have to drink more,
which that is, I would say kidnapping.

Once you stop someone from
leaving a place they want to leave from,

that is actually kidnapping, uh, then
they made her take out 850,000 yen

from an ATM to pay off the debt
that she just racked up from them,

keeping her in the place in the host
club so that she could drink more.

So they basically made her stay drink
more to rack up a bill and they made her

go pay the bill.
If these punishments go through,

this is going to be the first of
their kind in Japan and I really do.

I think the host club system,
scam, whatever you want to call it.

It’s one of the grossest things they
have and I would really like to see.

I don’t have a problem
with what’s happening.

Like you want to go and
pay someone to talk to you.

I personally wouldn’t do that.

But if that’s, if you’re
comfortable with it, that’s okay.

Just make it a fair business.

That’s, that’s the only thing I would say.

Just make it a fair business off we go.

But that’s apparently not good enough.

You have to rip people off.

And that’s where they always,
it’s where everything goes wrong.

It’s why we need regulations.

Don’t get me going on regulations.

I know, I know everyone out there
is listening to this is like, oh, Peter,

do some SMR about regulations,

but the regulations you would
put into place on corporations.

I know, I know that that
might be my new podcast.

Corporal SMR regulatory systems.

Uh, they’ve decided to stop
running snack carts on shinkansen.

So if you go on the shinkansen now,
the bullet train, what happens is lady

still very sexist is you shouldn’t I
don’t think I’ve ever seen a man do it.

So I think it’s pretty fair to say a lady.

A lady comes down to card and she’s like,
do you want to buy an overpriced chocolate?

Do you want to buy an overpriced tea?

Do you want to buy something that you should
have bought before you go on the train?

Everyone just buy stuff
and brings it on the train.

So those things are not
profitable, but it isn’t in train service.

I think way back, probably when
they weren’t ripping people off,

people probably bought from
it and it was maybe a good deal.

I don’t know.

I’ve never bought anything from it.

I always buy snacks and bring it on the
train if I ever have to go on the train.

So these carts, there’s a
lot of train fans in Japan.

So these carts, what are
they going to do with them?

Well, they’re going to
put them up for sale.

And if you want one, you have to
enter a lottery to be able to bid on the

carts, they’re going to
be 50 carts and they’re

going to sell them
for 100,000 yen each.

Now, I don’t know if there’s
bidding involved in that.

I think they’re just going to sell 50.

So I think the lottery,
there are going to be 50

winners and you each get,
have to pay 100,000 yen.

You have to be able to pick it
up yourself by the end of February.

So this is all happening very quickly.

We hope quote from the
representative of the shinkansen.

We hope they will be
put to good use and not

used for some weird
sex thing in a movie.

Some of that was added on by me.

There’s someone out
there, completely innocent,

who’s building his own
inside of a shinkansen

in his house and he’s weird
and he’s got too much money.

I can’t judge that.

I have my nerd stuff in my room.

I’m not as bad primarily because I’m poor.

I think if I had a lot of money, I
would buy a lot of stupid stuff.

And I’m a fan of something different.

So it’s hard for me to judge.

But there is another segment that’s going
to be like, let’s recreate a shinkansen

and then make an adult
video and then have

the girl push it down and then have
some sort of encounter with a passenger.

I could totally see that being a
video and then they could say,

this is an authentic shinkansen cart
and somehow that’s a selling point.

Why did my brain go there first?

Because I do an engineer’s Japan and
I’ve now deep into Japan’s psychology

when they have like, let’s add a
little authenticity to something.

They will absolutely go for it.

Once you win the lottery
and you pay 100,000 yen,

they will be no cleaning or
repairs done before the sale.

So the condition they
are in on that last day

of service is the
condition you will get it in.

I think not cleaning it is
a problem again because

of the fanciful, weird
people out in the world.

I think you should just clean it up.

Repairs, yeah, let them repair themselves.

I’m sure these are the kind of people
who would really enjoy repairing it.

And as part of the contract of
winning the lottery, you cannot resell it.

So I can’t win the lottery 10 times by 10
cards and then resell them on the internet.

Then if I do that, I’m
going to get in trouble.

That blue city, they got
some youth baseball going on.

As most cities do baseballs, I
think the most popular sport in Japan.

So hey, what’s funny, probably
the most famous baseball player.

So famous, I’ve heard of him.

I don’t watch baseball.

I do not follow sports.

So he has to be super, super famous.

I think he, I don’t think I know.

He just did the like $700 billion
contract over X amount of years.

So he’s like the number one baseball
player in the world for the moment.

So that means he’s super popular.

He’s Japanese and therefore
very popular in Japan.

He has donated 60,000
baseball gloves to 20,000 schools.

What they did is the
city collects the gloves

and then they’re supposed to
distribute them to the different schools.

The mayor of Bepu city
said, you know what, more

valuable to the world
is I took these gloves

and I didn’t give them to kids.

If I put them on display
for everyone to see.

And he said this was to make
children and citizens happy.

Because as we all know, kids love
not touching or playing with things.

They love to go up to a glass
case and just look at stuff.

So that was clearly
a weird little selfish

thing that the mayor of Bepu did
immediately got pushed back on.

It’s like, Otani is
donated these gloves so

that kids will get excited
about baseball and

play baseball and maybe
grow up and be professional

baseball players or at least foster
their love of the sport that he loves.

And you probably a baseball fan
are like, I don’t want to give it to kids.

I want to keep it from itself.

So I’m going to put in a glass case.

No, I can touch it.

It’s my glove.

Some people don’t grow
up and the mayor of Bepu

seems to have been one
of those people who didn’t

realize that not giving
stuff to kids that was

intended to be given
to kids is a bad idea.

So he some other districts,
cities, did display the gloves as well.

They didn’t get in trouble
because the idea was

we’re going to hold them until
they’re ready to be shipped.

So basically, we’re not, we’re
going to put these in a box.

They’re going to get shipped.

Let’s say next month
or the beginning of the

new academic year
or something like that.

Until then, we’ll put them on display.

And yes, everyone can
look at the gloves that

have probably been
touched by Shohei Otani

himself, the magical
fingers of the man himself.

And then everyone looks
at and goes, ooh, glass case.

Look at those gloves.

And then when it was time to give them to
the kids, actually give them to the kids.

Kids.

Mayor of Bepu?

Now, in my gloves, they
want to keep my gloves.

They’re not going to give my
gloves to anybody under my gloves.

Fucking child.

This is interesting.

It’s not really something I can make any.

I can’t make fun of this.

In the 1970s, there
was a series of bombings.

And this was, this was the
East Asia anti-Japan armed front.

And what they would do is targeting
companies that operated overseas.

And so they were
protesting Japan’s exploitation

of other countries
pre-World War II,

where they were like
literally enslaving other

people and stuff and
occupying other countries.

And they were seeing
that the current expansion

after World War II in the
70s and 80s, particularly,

was another form of this expansion.

So they were like, we should stop this.

We shouldn’t exploit others.

So let’s blow them up.

Always the solution.

And a man has been wanted since 1975.

What he did was he put a bomb
outside of a building and it went off,

and a little bunch of shit up.

A man entered the hospital
suffering from terminal cancer.

He has been hidden
for the last 50 years and

paying for cancer
treatments out of pocket

because if he used his
actual idea or anything,

he would link him
back to that bombing.

So he’s basically been in
hiding for 50 years and surviving.

He’s been working at a building firm.

So that’s a bit vague.

He may have been doing construction.

He may have been doing architecture
or some variety of work therein.

So he’s had a job.

He’s been working for the last 50 years.

He’s been in hiding.

He hasn’t used his health care card.

He hasn’t used any of his
official idea for anything.

So the police wouldn’t find him.

And he’s lived for the last 50 years.

He enters into hospital because his
cancer has just gotten to this stage

where he has to be in hospital.

And this is sort of hospice almost.

He’s it’s terminal.

He’s not going to survive.

That means sooner or
later they have to get his ID.

So they get his ID and they find
out and they contact the police.

The police come and talk to him.

And then the story comes out
yesterday that he dies in hospital.

So I’m a bit torn.

Is this like in a way
he hid successfully for

the entirety of his life
and escape the police.

But the police sort of caught
up with him at the very end.

I don’t know. It’s a weird story
because how do you feel about that?

Like he committed a crime.

I kind of have respect for
someone who can hide for 50 years.

So much of an engineer’s depend is someone
doing something and getting caught that day

because they videoed it
and put it on the internet.

And then he got this guy and
I would say a proper criminal.

He was a freedom fighter in his mind.

And this is always sort of one
of the dichotomies of people doing

acts for political reasons as they see
themselves differently than just criminals.

They see themselves as the rebels.

They see themselves
as the uprising, the

revolution that’s going
to change the world.

So he saw himself as a revolutionary.

So he didn’t feel like what
he was doing was a crime.

He thought he needed
to do this to change the

course of Japan and
the world in the future.

I have respect for the ideology.

I do not think you should blow shit up.

I don’t think you should blow people up.

I’m not even a big fan of blowing
stuff up unless it’s in a video game.

Love blowing stuff up in video games.

The difference there.

Yeah, you’re knowing the
difference between real

life and video games
makes a big difference.

But he found a job, worked for 50 years.

I mean, they didn’t
actually say he retired,

which makes me think
he was doing construction

because he can do construction
just up into the last days.

And then was caught.

Police came and spoke to them.

Apparently he was quite open
with them, but then he died.

And then, case closed.

Going from that guy
to this guy for Fox eight.

A boy filmed himself licking the lid
of a water pitcher at a rabbit shop.

This is not interesting anymore.

The people who are
getting caught licking stuff

or eating stuff and making
communal stuff grows.

The reason I, a rabbit
shop, a ramen, ramen shop,

a ramen, a shop where
that sells bowls of ramen,

my mouth is a little dry.

So I might not be enunciating as
well as I could or I’m talking too fast.

People tell me I talked
to slow in the office.

So that might be the
I try to speak a little

faster when I do the
news need to use to pay.

He filmed himself
licking the lid of a water

pitcher at a ramen shop
and then putting it back.

And the internet, of course,
immediately saw this and went, “Abshit.

” Now, the reason this was
interesting to me is because

the police didn’t have a
chance to get involved.

The internet took care of this.

So they found the boy’s
Twitter and Instagram.

They combed through
his Instagram and found out

he was enrolled in a
makeup school in Hokkaido.

They then contacted the
school and started talking

about like all the
gross thing this kid did.

And that he should be punished.

The school tried to hide it.

They took down as many of the
pictures as they could with this kid in it.

They said we’re doing
it to protect the other

students, basically the people
who are in the pictures with him.

But of course, what
they’re really trying to do

is just like cover up this
and hope it goes away.

It’s not going away.

The internet has decided.

The Japanese internet
has decided if you do

something publicly gross,
we’re coming for you.

So then the criticism of
the school started coming

out on the internet and the
boy was probably expelled.

So the police were never even contacted.

This kid licked something in a restaurant,

video it put it on the
internet days later, not

even like multiple,
maybe two days later he’s

been expelled from the
school he’s enrolled in.

And that shows you where
we’ve come to the Japanese

society because now
we’re at the point where

if you do something like this, it’s just
been decided it’s so morally reprehensible.

They’re just going to come after you.

The last story, trying
to mix up the last stories.

I used to do 50 year old creepy men.

Those stories have actually fallen off
recently, which speaks good for my people.

And then also maybe a little palette cleanser
at the end instead of the same stuff.

The national long bath competition
for copy bottles was held this year.

This is the 12th year in a row.

This is the first year I’ve heard about it.

I’m very interested in this.

There are five zoos
currently with copy bars.

And what they do is they choose a day, the
creepy men are more active in the spring.

Oh, they need the warm weather because
in the colder joints are sore like me.

And then they can’t do it.

They have to like, oh, I got to wait till
the spring and then I’ll get my shit to go.

Five zoos.

What they do is they monitor the copy
bottles and they choose a day and the copy

bottom that takes the
longest bath that day wins.

What do they win?

Probably nothing.

The glory.

I mean, when I did all my judo
tournaments, what did I win?

Tiny plastic trophies that I
could buy myself for like 20 bucks.

Probably not even.

They were really cheap.

I actually was talking to a guy once.

I was like, you know what you can do.

You can just go into trophy stores and
get trophies made with your neighborhood.

You don’t need to actually bother
with the competition or anything.

And then I could just
have like a rack behind

me with just hundreds
of trophies on it.

If it’s far enough away, you’re
not going to read the plaques.

That’s fine.

And then there’s other
guys like, oh, man, how

long does it take to
get a black belt in judo?

I was like, well, you
go into the store and if

you have 700 again, it
takes about eight minutes

because they have to go find the right.

They don’t check, they
don’t check if you have

a, you don’t leave me like a certificate
to buy a black belt in a martial art store.

You could go in by any color, throw it on.

There you go.

They don’t, they don’t check trophy stores
don’t check martial art stores don’t check.

You can just construct that yourself.

I don’t know why I
went on that little rant.

I was for the glory.

Truffle was a copy bar.

Local favorite to win.

Did a one hour, 50 minute
and 49 seconds soak in the bath.

But you know what?

Donut came in and said,
fuck Truffle, I am going

to make this not just a
win, but a fucking murder.

The Nagasaki Biopark
hero, donut, did a soak

of two hours, 53
minutes and 57 seconds,

blowing Truffle out of the fucking
water figuratively and literally.

This is your post credit scene if
you hang around for after the song.

You may have heard a tone of
disappointment in my voice all day today.

And the reason is last night, my
wife, my wife, she came to me and said,

“Do you have
anything in English that I

could listen to, maybe
something about news?”

I don’t know if she even
knows I do this podcast.

This was two weeks running,
two or three times ranked

the number two Japanese
news podcast in the world.

And the number one is the
actual newspaper the Manichi.

The Manichi releases a podcast every day.

So if they get
downloads, their download

numbers are going to
be way bigger than mine

because they do want every day
and people just automatically download.

I can’t compete with that.

So Ignatius just put in the chat,
did you recommend her your podcast?

No, I didn’t because
I was so hurt by the

fact that I am not 100%
sure she even knows.

I do this podcast, the number two
Japanese news podcast in English.

Hey, do you have
anything in English that I

could listen to so I
could practice my English?

Maybe it has news or current events in it.

Maybe something even
more casual than the formal

English to help me get
more natural English in there.

Do you know anything like that?

Do you know what? No, I don’t.

No, I don’t know anything like that.

I don’t even think that’s a concept of
knowing anyone’s ever done it in the world.

(upbeat music)

So every year, Japan
chooses the kanji of the year.

Kanji is the Chinese
characters that they use

when they write in Japanese.

And they choose a word to symbolize
the mood in the state of the nation,

which sounds very nice.

So you would want, you know, happy words.

Words that positivity and
growth and going forward.

This year, to represent the
state of Japan, they chose tax.

So the actual word is they, but
it’s the kanji for tax, or I guess tax is.

There’s a ceremony.

So no one knows what the word’s gonna be.

There’s a ceremony where
there’s a giant sheet of paper

and there’s monk walks
onto it with a giant brush

and he writes the word really dramatically.

And it’s a big reveal.

We’d actually let me do the thing that
the guy, the monk, this isn’t gonna do it.

I guess that’s why they choose monks
and stuff ’cause they tend to be honest.

I guess also they would
know if you changed it.

But my thought was like
the monk could walk out

and at the last minute
just go, you know what?

And I’m not really big fan of tax.

I’m not gonna write tax
and you just write some

other kanji, make some
other word for the year.

And because it’s on TV, probably live,

there’s nothing they could do about it.

They would just have to
accept it, which would be kind

of awesome to take control
of the spirit of a nation

that way would be
actually pretty cool to me.

But he didn’t do it, of course.

There’s a survey.

There were 147,878 responses,

which is actually a lot of responses
to vote for the kanji of the year.

I don’t know if it’s just a general thing.

I actually was gonna look into it
because last week tonight with John Oliver,

they are known for hijacking
online things this year.

They did the one where they had New
Zealand had the bird of the centurion.

They just basically jacked the whole contest
so that the bird they chose would win,

which is pretty cool actually.

If they could do that
for the kanji of the year,

they could choose another more
interesting more amusing kanji.

I’d assume, I’m wondering,
again, I wonder how their rules are.

Like do they give you a list of
kanji and you have to choose from it?

Or do you just choose a kanji

and enough people write in
with the same kanji and they win?

But 147,878 responses,
only 5,976 said tax.

If you said “chung with beef chest,”
choose a word that would sum up the year.

I don’t think I would choose tax.

It’s not like I would choose a super
positive one, but I wouldn’t choose tax.

So anyways, they got 5,976 votes.

Hot, so at sea, got 5,571 votes.

War got 5,011 votes, which
was actually the winner in 2022.

Tiger got 4,674 votes.

They think this is
because the Hunshin Tigers,

the baseball team
won the championship.

And victory got 4,653 votes.

So victory fell behind
tax, hot, and war and tiger.

So apparently there’s 4,600
baseball fans who seem to vote.

I guess if you would have baseball fans,

they would vote for the same
team, their team, every single year.

So you’d actually get
the same amount of votes.

You could actually see that.

If that became a pattern,
you could actually see that.

So the monk said,

“I sense that Japan is
a very tough situation.

“I moved to brush while feeling

“that the Japanese
people are watching taxes.

” I mean, it is true.

This is just, it’s kind
of a dismal message.

And this is the last
sort of one of these

messages you send off
at the end of the year.

Sending things off at the end of the year,

you kind of want to be more
optimistic, more hopeful maybe.

I might actually manipulate
this message a little bit

so that people can
get a little more out of it

and get a little more
happiness and follow it.

I just, I think we’re all a little done.

We had Coronavirus pandemic,
we got a war in Ukraine.

There’s a lot of international tensions.

I think everyone just
needs to take a minute,

calm down, chill out,
inflation in taxes and stuff.

That shouldn’t be something we’re thinking.

We should be thinking about
progress and improvement

in life getting better.

And unfortunately,
that’s just not the case.

And it’s a really sad
way to start a podcast.

Never mind the next fucking new year.

I don’t want to start my podcast like this.

So I need happier stories.

I need people to send me happy stories

that I can start my podcast with
so I can start with a good mood.

With inflation, I mean,
this is it as much as I

want to get away from
the negativity and stuff.

One of the problems
with the news is the news.

It tends to be very attracted to you.

All the problems of the world.

So you end up talking about them a lot.

With inflation, any drop in
prices becomes attractive.

That’s actually something
that’s pretty sensible.

Retailers have globbed onto this.

There’s a big sort of
supermarket company called Eon.

Eon has dropped
the prices on 24 items

between three and 26% and
they’re just kind of selling them

in bulk and that’s where
they make their profit.

Sales have increased since the last
price drop, which was also 31 items.

So basically they’re like, hey,
inflation’s killing everybody.

Let’s drop the prices on some things
and people will come and buy those things.

Maybe then they’ll come and
buy our other inflated items as well.

Yeah, now I just have to comment
that it’s sad that we have to be like, hey,

you dropped a price by
3%, that’s like the best

thing that’s ever happened
in my life right now.

This, I found this incredibly, oh my God,
this is gonna be the worst podcast ever.

This is gonna be the
most depressing podcast

I’ve ever produced because every
one of these stories I’m not happy about.

Since we’re talking about
money and pricing and

stuff, Coca Cola has
decided to do run a test

and have vending machines
with dynamic pricing.

So the prices are going to
change according to demand.

So this is like Uber does this.

So they have like peak periods.

So you have to pay more to
get an Uber during peak periods.

They’re thinking, hey, peak periods.

Let’s charge people more for a
Coke or any other drink in the machine.

And then if it’s off periods, then
we’ll put it down to I guess normal price.

It’s not gonna get cheaper.

They’re gonna have a baseline
and they go up from there.

I bet they don’t go down
when demand is very low.

They’re gonna use several
thousand machines as a test at first.

They currently run 700,000
vending machines in Japan.

Their plan is primarily to have it
high during the day and low at night.

So if you want to get
a Coke from a machine,

you should actually wait until
the evening and go get your

Coke then, even if you’re
gonna drink it the next day.

Or you could do, I guess you go to Ion

and hopefully they put a
three to 26% price drop on Coke.

I don’t know, it just seems,

this manipulative pricing is
part of the greed structure.

It’s not like I should expect
anything more from Coca Cola.

Coca Cola is not a nice company.

that’s doing nice things for the world.

Any nice thing they’ve ever done has been
either for media attention or a tax break.

There’s one very good story about Coca Cola

and it’s how they got malaria.

They have this like
infrastructure to get Coke

everywhere in the world.

So in Africa, it’s very hard to like
get things to certain places in Africa.

So what they did is they
put malaria medicine up inside

the cap of Coke and then they
shipped it all around the country.

So then you could just
get malaria medicine out of

your Coke, which sounded
amazing and I was like,

ah, there has to be some kind
of like dark kickback for that.

Or they were just like
sensible enough to go like,

if people have malaria,

they’re not drinking sugar drinks.

So we need to keep people
healthy enough to buy our products.

This was always my problem
with the umbrella corporation,

creating a zombie virus
in the resident evil games.

If you turn the majority of
the population into zombies,

they’re not going to spend a great
deal of time buying your beauty products.

Like their whole idea
is like, oh, we’re going

to have like a certain,
it’s a class system.

So we’re going to have some people
and they get superpowers and live forever.

And then everyone else will
just be a peon underneath them.

That’s the plan and it sort and went wrong.

But then they kept going.

Like every game is
they’ve gone a little further

with the experimentation
in the virus and stuff.

Anyways, I don’t think umbrella
corporation has a good plan

and Coke with this kind of
stuff actually could be the thing

that would push me to stop drinking Coke.

Since the end of the year, lots of stats.

You’re actually going to notice
the very stat heavy episode today.

60% of work being adults don’t
want to go to a New Year’s party.

So your company often will have a
bonan guy, which is the end of your party.

And then there’s another
one in the New Year where

you forget the previous
year and all this other stuff.

It’s just excuses to go drinking, drinking
cultures a very big thing in Japan.

Coronavirus stopped
people from drinking parties.

And a lot of people in Japan
were like, Hey, I kind of like

not going to drinking parties
like my coworkers are fine.

That doesn’t mean I want to spend
every evening with them getting drunk.

Maybe I don’t even like drinking that much.

I don’t like getting ripped and then
having to go back to work the next day.

Yeah, most people are like went to
like four different Christmas parties.

It was a bit matter.

I went to four different
company Christmas parties.

It was a bit much.

So I work for one company, which is fine.

I go to that Christmas party.

They actually have a Christmas lunch.

The Christmas lunch is a really good idea
because it means you go in the afternoon.

You have a relatively nice lunch.

It was like at a hotel and then
we had drinks with our friends.

And then you could decide I’m going
to go off and party with my friends.

I actually decided to go back home and
I went to bed at like five o’clock in the

afternoon because I had drunk too much,
but I felt fine the next day, which was

a really big thing because I actually
had to go to work the next day.

There is also the judo bonen guy.

So it’s a club.

So you have bonen guys for work, bonen
guys for social activities, bonen guys for

basically any group you might be
involved in could have a bonen guy.

The judo bonen guy is a frickin nightmare
because of course, this is all manly

men getting together and they want to
outman each other and they want to err.

I can drink more than you.

You can grow.

And then unfortunately, I am just
as competitive with everyone else.

Like I like to think of myself as, you
know, I’m more slightly like I’m above

that because I’m old and
I’ve passed all this stuff.

Like I don’t need to prove myself, but
then you put me in that room with those

guys and I’m like, well, I
can’t let you out drink me.

I can’t let you out.

Do me.

I guess we’re going to get the Atsuka, the
hot sache and we’re going to see who falls

first and they always do because
I just grew up drinking too hard.

I’m not proud of it.

I actually don’t think it’s a good thing.

But at the same time, I do like winning.

So anyways, bonen guy.

57.4% of the 559 people surveyed
and you don’t need to survey

a bunch of people to actually
know whether this is true or not.

I know just from the general sentiment
of the people I know in my life that most

people actually don’t
enjoy going to work events.

They don’t like to want to, they don’t
want to go to work bonen guys, especially

if it’s just like we’re going to
go and get drunk and go home.

A lot of people don’t want to do that.

42.6% definitely would like to
participate or somewhat participate.

So it’s a 60/40 split
is what they’re saying.

So there’s 40% of the
people really want to do this.

They really enjoy the bonen
guy whereas most people don’t.

I don’t have a problem with those other
people going is just the expectation that

everyone has to go or you’re being a
bummer and you’re not having a good time.

I don’t think that’s fair.

I’m not a outgoing social light.

This what I do here on the podcast
is probably the most social thing I do.

Like I am in my environment
with my dog on my

lap, reading the news,
saying some dumb shit.

That’s my elements.

I don’t want to leave my room like the
door over there stays closed for a reason.

And I’ll play video games in the afternoon.

And that personality type, I was reading
a thing about work and extraverts and

introverts like work culture is not
designed to have an introvert succeed.

And this is problematic
because there are a lot of

introverts who are actually
very good at working.

Like you sit them down
at a computer and you

give them privacy and
they’ll do amazing work.

Whereas they’re talking about like work
should be social and you should teamwork.

And teamwork isn’t always
the best solution to a problem.

Maybe stick that computer
nerd in a room and let them do

his thing and you’ll actually
get a really good solution.

But work culture isn’t designed to
accept or promote that as an idea.

That only works when the nerds
introverts make their own companies.

And even then, once the
company gets big enough, it grows

into where you need to be an
extravert to survive or succeed.

And it was the reasons people
don’t want to go to the bone and.

Kai a bunch of people said there’s no need.

Again, Coronavirus made it very
clear that a lot of these social things,

a lot of these social
expectations are unnecessary.

We did just fine staying
at home at our computers.

I thrived sitting at home
in front of my computer.

I was in my space.

I was where I needed to be.

They’re tired of the social interactions.

So again, in less extroverted people, more
like injured, again, it’s a sliding scale.

I am certainly extroverted at
times and introverted at times.

It’ll go back and forth.

A friend of mine, I’m pretty
sure that a lot of people use it.

Your social battery.

So my social battery is very powerful
for a very short amount of time.

And then I’m done,
I would get tired of a

lengthy party or a
lengthy gathering where I

have to be social with other
people for a lengthy amount of time.

Give me a couple hours.

I’m probably really, really good.

And I’m like, hey, guys,
it’s been two hours.

I’m going to go home now, get back in front
of my computer, play some video games.

A lot of people wanted to prioritize their
private life, which I thought was great.

So like, you know what, work, life balance.

I think Ninja News Japan has had an ongoing
theme that work, life balance in Japan is

just broken and they need
to reevaluate and do it.

And these people were like, I didn’t go out
drinking every night with my co-workers.

I didn’t go to the
Bonankai and it was great.

And I actually spent time with my family or
my girlfriend or my boyfriend or whoever.

People I actually like in my social
life, who I want to spend my time with.

And that was good.

The final reason listed for not
wanting to do Bonankai is the cost.

Often you have to pay.

Not every company is
just paying for everything.

So the my company paid for the launch.

We had to pay a couple thousand
yen, but it goes into a charity fund.

So I didn’t feel too bad about it.

I actually think our company is
using that money for an actual charity.

So I’m not going to complain
about giving 2000 yen to

a charity and drinking
for free for a couple hours.

I guess I could.

Traveling for work kills my battery
spending a week where every waking

moment and every meal happens
with a co-worker is so draining.

That sentence exhausted
me a bit just because I agree.

Like traveling is tough.

I actually am not a great traveler.

It takes me a long time to like readjust
whenever I go visit family back in Canada.

It takes me like an entire week
to really get myself a climatized.

And then it’s basically
prepping to go back again.

But doing that with co-workers
would be extra exhausting.

I honestly could not imagine.

I would not be successful
at a job like that.

I don’t think or I’d be forcing
myself to do it all the time.

I probably burn out really
fast if I’m being honest.

So credit to you.

You’re able to do something
that I am not able to do.

But this is one of the few benefits
of the coronavirus pandemic is it has

proven or shown or demonstrated to
people that maybe the way the world was

before isn’t the way it
needs to be going forward.

We can make changes.

We can re-prioritize
things and it has allowed

a lot of people to
re-prioritize their lives.

There was a romance and marriage survey.

The end of the year has a lot of surveys.

I am a little big statistics for you.

End of year, they do a lot of surveys.

So this is a stat heavy
episode and I love it.

I know not everyone loves it.

But every that’s once a year,
let’s indulge me for a minute.

Like that’s never happened before.

Every two years, they do a
romance and marriage survey.

And this time it was 1,200 people and
they found that 29.7% have a boyfriend or

girlfriend and 34.1% have never
had a boyfriend or girlfriend.

The highest since the survey started in
2011, 2011, they started doing the survey.

Basically, are you in a relationship?

They found that number
is really up and down.

It’s actually down.

More people are not
getting into relationships.

It’s kind of for the same stuff we were
talking about before with the bonan guy.

Work, balance, work, life balance
does not happen in Japan enough.

They’re you to have enough
free time to have relationships.

But this is the highest number of
people who’ve never had a relationship.

We’re not talking about like kids.

We’re talking people in
their 20s, 30s and 40s.

The highest number of people who’ve never
had in an often cases have given up on

starting a relationship in their life
because it’s just too much work now.

I just don’t care.

I’ve gotten I’ve settled into a lifestyle
of being by myself, which I’m not

necessarily judging, but in Japan, it’s
a concern because the low birth rate.

So if people aren’t having relationships,
if we could find out why they’re not

having relationships,
maybe we can encourage

them to have
relationships, I’ve said it.

I don’t know how many times I kind
of feel like I shouldn’t say it anymore.

Like I’ve said it enough, but
people who work till 10, 11

o’clock at night aren’t going
on dates and on their time off.

They’re just going to sleep like all day.

They’re not fucking and if they’re
not fucking, they’re not making babies.

So you need people to get out there and get
fucking, you need people to get out there

and get fucking a lot so that they actually
feel like weirdly obligated to stay

with each other, make babies
back, sit in or on purpose.

I don’t know, but they got to be
fucking and people who are exhausted.

Do not fuck t-shirt.

I should get to make a t-shirt.

People who are exhausted do not fuck.

I actually kind of want to make
that t-shirt now work life balances.

Important.

And now I see now
immediately now I’m running

a paragraph instead
of just a catchphrase.

Yeah, people who are
exhausted do not fuck 46% of

men in their 20s have
never had a relationship.

29.8% of women in their 20s
have never had a relationship.

Jokes on you.

Some people are into that.

Some people are into being exhausted.

I don’t know what the
delay is on me chatting.

I tried to turn it down
to as little as possible.

So I actually am not a
represent shirt, which

part you’re actually
saying the jokes on me.

People are into exhausted
people, people are into being alone.

I’m going to give a second for
Jade to clarify because I actually

do really, really want to know
what you were what you mean.

Before I move on to the next
part, oh, fucking while exhausted, I.

Oh, man, we’re going
to get in some weird

personal stuff before
we start talking about this.

I have.

Does anyone want to
know I this is the problem

we’re doing a podcast as
soon as a threat is pulled.

I just want to like yank it.

I.

Exhausted, no, but I have had post judo
tournaments where I physically exhausted.

My testosterone was so high.

I really, really wanted to get down.

I do remember that.

That’s quite funny.

One of the things I found funny
is there’s this is really old movie.

It’s Joe and Chen and Rick Grouwer.

And it’s their post
apocalyptic future gladiators.

And I forget the name of the movie,
but I remember it was those two.

And in that movie, they try to have
sex, but it’s after a gladiatorial battle.

And they’re both too
injured to actually do it.

So every time they touch each
other, they’re like, oh, don’t touch that.

Don’t do that.

And it was really, really funny.

And but it was because I could relate
because I had done judo tournaments.

And then my girlfriends like, ooh, you’re
all like testosteroney and hot right now.

Let’s do some stuff.

And I’d be like, yeah, let’s do it, baby.

And then I would try my
best and sometimes it worked.

Sometimes it didn’t when it worked.

Again, testosterone being off the charts.

It worked really well.

But there was the odd occasion where I’d be
like, yes, I’m not going to happen today.

As a voice of like 25 year
old me who’s just been

beaten to death over
the course of a few hours.

But yeah, you don’t face it,
I’m not fighting testosterone.

If it says we’re going to
do it, we’re going to do it.

I had sex with a fever once.

I don’t think this is the kind of stuff
I should be putting out in the world.

It was around late end
of high school, maybe.

And I must have had a cold and
yet I still really wanted to do it.

And my girlfriend and I, we did it.

And she goes, she was touching
me my back or something.

And she goes, you’re hot and I’m
like, I interpreted the wrong way.

It wasn’t until way later.

I was like, oh, she didn’t
mean like you’re sexy hot.

She meant you’re like, taught to the touch.

I’ve had that problem a few times.

I went and got a massage
and they put electricity on my

shoulders and they run the
electricity and they do that.

It’s supposed to, I guess, loosen
up the shoulders or something.

And the doctor or the, the
masseuse comes in and he goes,

wow, because you do judo,
your number is really high.

Like you can take a lot of
electricity and immediately

I was like, yeah, because
I’m tough and manly.

Like a couple hours
later, I was like, he didn’t

say taking a lot of
electricity was a good thing.

He just said I took a lot of electricity.

I interpret it as a good thing.

So the problem was
like, maybe it’s really bad.

Maybe all my muscles
and nerves and stuff are

dead, which is why I can
take a lot of electricity.

I’ve had stuff like that happen a few
times where I thought it was good at first,

but then when I
thought about it later, I

was like, he didn’t
say it was a good thing.

He just said it was a thing survey of
1,000 people aged 18 to 25 who joined

companies between 2020 and 2023,
which essentially the pandemic period.

So all these young people who got jobs
during the pandemic, how do you feel?

And the main question was
really, do you want to quit? And 20.

4% said literally I have always
wanted to quit from day one.

I wanted to quit my job.

30.6% said sometimes I want to quit.

So you are now already at 50% of 18
to 25 year olds who got a job during the

pandemic do not want
to continue with their job.

59.8% of those people said
it was primarily from stress.

34.8% said the stress comes
from their boss and co-workers.

All makes perfect sense.

They were talking about
how we need to open the

lines of communication
that were not open before.

So the pandemic has changed
sort of how everything works.

Corona has made
interpersonal relationships worse.

And the company that did survey recommended
a consultation system and open communication.

Now I work in a Japanese
company and I can tell you that

open communication isn’t
how they generally do work.

So this would be a big paradigm
shift in how companies were going to

depend if they’re suddenly talking to
brand new employees as if they were.

people, which is a weird way to
say it, but that’s actually the case.

Without a certain level,
you don’t get any respect.

You just do as you’re
told, you just do as you’re

told is a very common
sentiment in a Japanese company.

You do the best of your
abilities and you shut up and

you go do your thing,
especially when you’re brand new.

But young people now
are coming into companies

and we’re like, well,
why would I live like that?

I don’t really see it that way.

I think maybe working from home also would
benefit this because it’s like you don’t

have those stressful
coworkers or bosses around.

And then when they
have to go into the offices

like this sucks, I
don’t want to do this.

I don’t like this.

I would like my life to be better
than this on December 16th.

So a few days ago when this is being released,
the police, I wouldn’t call it a raid.

They went and checked on a bunch
of host clubs on mass from 7 P.M.

They actually checked
in one day, 350 clubs.

This is how the Japanese
police do a lot of stuff.

They’ll do like a mass thing.

So you can’t like, we’ll
check a couple and then they’ll

let all their host clubs
know that they’re checking.

We’re going to look for illegal
gambling dens and then they’ll like, hey,

shut down all the illegal gambling
dens that didn’t get caught yet.

The Japanese police organized it.

They did 350 clubs in
one afternoon, about 7 P.M.

So one evening, they’re trying to make sure
that they follow the rules and laws in place.

No minors are in the club.

They’re starting a real crackdown on
host clubs and their predatory practices.

Because we talked about host clubs, I
mean, the last like six, seven episodes,

which is the last six,
seven, seven weeks in a row.

We had sugar, baby, would eat each
other and she set this off in a weird way

because she was giving
all her money to a host club.

And then it turned out there was a
whole bunch of stories came out of other

people who were going to host clubs and
they were giving a ton of money to the host.

clubs and getting ripped off and
being put into massive amounts of debt.

And then what the host do is there’s
like, oh, well, if you do this like porn or

if you work at this brothel, you can
then work off the debt you owe me.

And the girls, they’ve been
tricked into essentially thinking

they love these hosts who
are doing this to multiple women.

I mean, no joke.

They then end up in this weird
situation where they’re still trying to get

the affection of this man who doesn’t
love them just wants to exploit them for.

money.
And so this system has to be broken down.

And so that’s what the police are doing.

host clubs have promised to stop the
credit system from, I think it was April.

So basically very soon, but it’s like,
why do they have a credit system at all?

Because what they want to do is actually
have the people come by everything on credit.

So it’s way too much money.

So they can’t pay it back.

So they can push them into these like
sex work things where they get a kickback

from the business and the
woman is trying to pay off her debt.

I actually kind of hope this works.

host clubs, host is clubs. It’s a
very alien thing to me as a Westerner.

Like the idea of paying someone to talk
to you and then them manipulating you.

Like if you sit there and think about it
for a minute, you know they’re manipulating

you. Like you have to know
it, but then you still like it.

I guess again, this is comes
from being an introvert.

I would never pay for someone
to talk to me in the first place.

I would pay you to go away.

I had the last story and I
again starting out with so

much negativity and all these
stats are kind of negative.

I thought it was and off instead
of a creepy, creepy old man story,

I thought it’d be more appropriate to
start with a to finish with a sort of happy

story, pain someone to
go away is super harsh.

I have on many of occasion had
people talking to me and I would think,

if I give you a thousand yen
right now, would you just leave?

Like if I paid you to leave, would you
leave because I would rather not do this.

I get my social battery.

It’s very tuned to very specific things.

Conversations I don’t want to have.

I find exhausting like exhausting.

Like I actually will go take
a nap if people talk to me to

for too long about stuff
that I don’t want to talk about.

And I don’t blame them.

Like I don’t think it’s there fall.

I understand this is a me thing.

So often I’ll just sit there.

I can often my brain just shuts
off and goes somewhere else.

You can pay me to stop chatting.

Don’t bother me.

No, I actually again in this
context, I love the chatting.

I love the interaction because.

Oh, no, I just had a realization.

I’m in full control.

I’m dictating what we talk about.

I’ve chosen the stories.

I’m guiding the conversation.

You’re responding to me.

Therefore, I’m fine with it.

But what I just said, if you put
it in that context, if someone’s.

I hit my mouse, if you put
it in that context, what they

have done is introduce the
topic I don’t want to talk about.

And I immediately shut off, I’m
some kind of weird fucking narcissist.

You can only talk about
what I want to talk about.

Oh, shit, I’m a bad person.

I’m a host.

Oh, fuck.

The host of this show, but at no point in
this show, am I going to try to drive you

into drip debt?

I’m going to end off in a positive
story because this actually made me

really happy and I don’t know why, but
I figured we can drop the tree creepy,

creepy old man story because they all
the ones this week were exactly the same

as all the previous ones
we’ve done weeks past.

And we’ve had a lot of
negativity in this episode.

So I wanted to end that anonymous
donations to a city in Saitama of about

100,000 yen each have been dropped
into an opinion box four times so far.

So there’s a box where you like, I want
to give my opinion to the government,

the local sort of municipal
government, the mayor, whatever.

Like clean up the roads, a brighter
lights at night, something like that.

And someone’s just taking 100,000 yen,
putting an envelope and putting it in that

with little note on the
outside of the envelope.

There’s a from section.

And this person is putting from
various demon slayer characters.

So the characters in demon slayer are
giving this city in Saitama 100,000 yen,

each time from a different character
of the anime, which I find quite funny.

There is a note inside
that says, please use the

money to build a community
where children can smile.

And then the city said it
plans to collect the money

into a fund to help build a
better community for kids.

And I was like that.

They’re taking the money.

The guy said, please
use it to make kids happy.

And they’re like, you know
what we’re going to do?

We’re going to take this
money, put it in a little fun.

And we’re going to try to
find a way to make kids happy.

And that is what life should be.

[MUSIC]