Stand up eight times. I came across this old Japanese proverb in a karate blog. It caught my attention because I can relate to it...and probably you can too.

Nothing under the sun is perfect, but we do have a choice to either accept things for what they are and move forward or grumble about every petty and not-so-petty challenge or unfairness in our lives.

The former will allow us to run to daylight; the latter will stir us into a stew of perpetual failure and unhappiness.

The next time you reminisce about youthful heartbreak and despair, remember one point -- You survived! And nobody in this present moment (you should be living in) cares an amoeba second about what your misfortune may have been.

In fact, if you incessantly tell people about the good old days or the bad old days, they will label you a sad relic incapable of being resurrected. They will naturally move away from you and move toward people and ideas cherishing life.

Living in the present moment is exhilarating because it is within our grasp. It is a time zone that challenges us to take action to make this world - through our unique presence - a bigger and better place because we passed through.

Times are tough, we hear over and over again. But the truth is that character is not built when everything is going hunky-dory.

Sometimes Japanese stoicism makes me feel that their citizens are indifferent to and enamored from experiencing pain. It makes me feel that maybe they never ponder anything philosophical and do live more in the present moment than many of their westerner counterparts. In other words, maybe they are racially superior.

But then there is the dark side of giggling indifference and vapid pursuit of material things here...the more than thirty thousand suicides in Japan each year. They scream of a society that is constipated with worry and stress unspoken and uncorrected.

Stepping back from the rush of events threatening to swallow us up is essential for sanity. That's why professors with tenure get a sabbatical. In that time off they can explore new avenues which can help them better define who they are in the scheme of things and how they can best contribute to humankind.

We all deserve and must demand time to reflect. Once we have done that, we can stand for the eighth time and never look back again.

Japan Niche Opportunity of the Week

This past week I went into JETRO office and looked around. The offices had moved to an ultra-modern area in the posh Roppongi Hills area of Tokyo.

I was impressed with the staff and the wealth of information in their library available for free (including many powerful databases beyond my wallet's reach). If you come to Tokyo to set up shop or meet potential business partners, their free and low-cost services for room rentals, translation services and the like would be crazy to pass up for high-rolling entrepreneurs on a store clerk's salary.

Going to such a place put me in a brainstorming mood, and I thought of many ideas which - except for one in this issue - will remain in the vault of my mind for the time being.

Office space struck me strongly. In these rollback and layoff times we live, many companies are struggling to make ends meet. Many have extra office space which remains dormant in this expensive country partly because Japanese are challenged to do the unconventional and partly due to the lack of services to make these spaces available on an interim basis.

Tokyo -statistically speaking - has one of the lowest office vacancy rates in the world, but also one of the highest rental/lease rates as well. One room or storage area rental could mean a lot to companies struggling to make ends meet. Other parts of Japan have more vacant office space and the same challenge -- to fully utilize every square inch of office space for the profitability of the occupant company.

So when I came across an article about a UK company called Desk Space Genie I immediately thought that their concept (with accurate localization tweaks) could easily find traction around Japan. The concept lets space-seeking ‘deskers’ search for a space by postal code or town, contacting the advertisers directly. The site lists vacancies in most major cities around the UK, covering 'all inclusive' desk packages with wifi and other utilities, or more basic 'pay for what you use' services.

I have no doubt that the present thinning out of the Japanese workforce will - despite the conservative business nature of most workers and entrepreneurs - lead to a mobile office mentality in the near future. Unbelievably, Starbucks and similar coffee houses, the haunt of many mobile entrepreneurs worldwide, plug up the outlets and have no wifi services.

I predict this will change shortly and abruptly and Desk Space Genie clones will flourish.

Do You Want to Introduce Your Product or Service in Japan? Looking for partners? CLICK HERE.　

Empowering Japan Resources

Plastic Recycling

Japan.recycle.net is a clearing house portal for the buying and selling of every conceivable type of scrap in Japan.

In FY2007, 573,000 tons of PET bottles were sold, according to a survey by the Council for PET Bottle Recycling. The ratio of PET bottle collection to sales volume was 49.4 percent at the municipality level. Yet the rate of the collection reached a record high of 69.2 percent, an increase of 2.9 percentage points, when including the 113,000 tons of PET bottles collected by companies.

Plastic Recycling Introduction

Plastic Waste Management Institute

The Japan Containers and Packaging Recycling Association

The Council for Pet Bottle Recycling

Plastic Packaging Recycling Council

Japan Expanded Polystyrene Recycling Association

Power Plant Fueled by Waste Plastics

Ministry of Environment (MOE) Waste and Recycling Updates

McDonald's Promotes Simpler Packaging

The Japan Plastics Industry Federation

Japan Society of Material Cycles and Waste Management Newsletter

Law for Promotion of Sorted Collection

PAY IT FORWARD

I'm sure that there is at least one person you know who might benefit from these little tid-bits. So, spread the love. Forward this newsletter to all your friends and encourage them to de-stress, too, and sign up for our newsletter!

Coming Up

Techno-Frontier 2009

on 4/15/09~4/17/09

Showcasing advanced composite technologies For details, CLICK HERE

Display 2009

on 4/15/09~4/17/09

Featuring all kinds of Flat Panel Displays. For details, CLICK HERE

The Balancing Act

You hear it over and over: Japanese work too many hours and have a totally unbalanced life. Despite this reputation, some people and consultants are fighting back.

Work Life Balance Company is a new consulting niche teaching companies and individuals how to have balance in their lives.

Karoshi, that is death due to work overload has traditionally been swept under the rug by government and industry leaders.

Finally people like Work Life Balance CEO, Yoshie Kumoro, are finding a more receptive ear from those officials and organizations that previously shrugged their collective shoulders when some 65-hour-per-week employee kicked the bucket.

This kind of consultancy is a bellwether that the day of the entrepreneur is on the horizon in Japan. Lifestyle - once upon a time an unthought-of concept - is finally gaining traction.

Lights, Camera, Action

There are dozens of film festivals in Japan each year. For those of you into cinematography or having a niche business or idea appealing to the industry, I have discovered a page which gives the URLs to more than two dozen festivals in Japan. CLICK HERE for the listings.

Bankruptcy in a Japanese Style

Bankruptcy is a costly experience that most struggling companies avoid through behind-the-scenes intervention by banks.

An informative report on the dynamics of going bankrupt in Japan can be found by CLICKING HERE.

Incidentally, it is near to impossible to find information about impending bankruptcies in Japan. The banks and the companies involved are tight-lipped, even to other Japanese. If one could offer a substantial finder's fee to individuals throughout Japan offering such insights, large lot buyers would pay a premium price to have that insider information.

Crystal is Chic (Again)

Japanese women in their 20s and 30s are buying crystal accessories. Many of the women saying they are attracted to the mysteriousness and beauty of crystals as ornaments, events are being staged with high attendances and books on the subject are selling well.

One of the most popular stores with these young women Cafe Saya in Kita Ward, Tokyo.

One might say it's a resurgence of popularity because my wife and several of her friends when we married 28 years ago also were crazy about the power of crystals. Crystals don't age.

This Week's Challenge

Who Packed Your Parachute

Charles Plumb was a US Navy jet pilot in Vietnam. After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile. Plumb ejected and parachuted into enemy hands. He was captured and spent 6 years in a communist Vietnamese prison. He survived the ordeal and now lectures on lessons learned from that experience!

One day, when Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at another table came up and said, "You're Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!"

"How in the world did you know that?" asked Plumb.

"I packed your parachute," the man replied. Plumb gasped in surprise and gratitude. The man pumped his hand and said, "I guess it worked!" Plumb assured him, "It sure did. If your chute hadn't worked, I wouldn't be here today."

Plumb couldn't sleep that night, thinking about that man. Plumb says, "I kept wondering what he had looked like in a Navy uniform: a white hat; a bib in the back; and bell-bottom trousers. I wonder how many times I might have seen him and not even said 'Good morning, how are you?' or anything because, you see, I was a fighter pilot and he was just a sailor." Plumb thought of the many hours the sailor had spent at a long wooden table in the bowels of the ship, carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands each time the fate of someone he didn't know.

Now, Plumb asks his audience, "Who's packing your parachute?" Everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it through the day. He also points out that he needed many kinds of parachutes when his plane was shot down over enemy territory - he needed his physical parachute, his mental parachute, his emotional parachute, and his spiritual parachute. He called on all these supports before reaching safety.

Sometimes in the daily challenges that life gives us, we miss what is really important. We may fail to say hello, please, or thank you, congratulate someone on something wonderful that has happened to them, give a compliment, or just do something nice for no reason. As you go through this week, this month, this year, recognize people who pack your parachutes.

Thoughts From Above And Below

When You Fall Down Seven Times...