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What Trainers Can Learn from Stand-Up Comedians
The Power of Humor I grew up a big fan of stand-up comedy. George Carlin was my first comic hero. Carlin’s classic comedy LP, “Class Clown”, revolved around his experiences as a kid attending a...
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Do You Resist Change, Or Is It Something Else?
A LinkedIn connection recently posted this article on how to effectively provide “tough feedback.” The article offered sound advice that resonated. As someone who, in a past life, ran a factory and...
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Cherry Blossoms and the Cult of the Aesthetic
Photo by author While attending college at International Christian University in Tokyo (#国際基督教大学) back in the early 1980s, I studied under a philosophy professor named Stuart D.B. Picken who, on just...
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Culture and the Post Event Clean-Up Ritual in Japan
Source & Author: DvidShub Culture is revealed less through our conscious, deliberate behaviors, and more through the unconscious behaviors we default to without thinking. In 2018, Japan made news...
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The Day I (Unwittingly) Inspired a Bank Heist
Long ago, in a faraway land, I ran a factory. One of the associates working in the plant – let’s call him “Mike” – filed an injury report that, if verified and approved, would have entitled him to...
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A Love Song for a Japanese Lady Who Hates Love Songs
The handful of original tunes I’ve written to date have been dark, bluesy, wistful, or sarcastic. Not a glimmer of joy to be found! Well that’s about to change. I’m excited to announce that my very...
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Walnut Dream (a love song for a Japanese lady who hates love songs)
Happy to announce that my new song, Walnut Dream, has just “dropped”, as the youngsters like to say. What the hell is a “Walnut Dream” you ask? Hint: my wife’s name literally means “Walnut” in...
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Glimpses of Business Culture through How We Dine: and the Power of Kikubari
Japanese mom eating pizza *her* way. For my more recent followers who haven’t seen this article here’s a new (revamped) version just published in Japonica. “Years ago an American friend, thoroughly...
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My Unplanned Career as a Fish Out of Water
Young Tim at 30, looking confident and in control but actually on the verge of drowning. Reflecting on my professional career last night, it dawned on me that I was a fish out of water the whole...
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A Quirky Japanese Dialogue That Almost Made Me a Stalker
My favorite Japanese movie director is the late-and-great Itami Juzo. I’ve often wondered how he came up with such fun, quirky dialogues in his movies, especially Tampopo and Ososhiki. Well, thanks to...
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The Purpose & Limitations of My Triangle Charts (And why it irks me when...
This article was inspired by some recent and not-so-recent comments I received when my “Triangle” communication model was (with the best of intentions) pulled out of context and shared on LinkedIn. It...
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Thirty-nine Years with My Walnut Wife
Today is a special day. Exactly 39 years ago, accompanied by our friends Aki and Takashi, my wife and I went to the U.S. embassy in Tokyo to officially tie the knot. No ceremony, no pomp, just two...
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Inside-the-Box Innovation: When the Highlight Pen is Mightier than Rube...
Image credit: Rob Corder on flickr I’ve been thinking about the expression “to innovate” since a recent JAPAN EXPERT INSIGHTS’ Clubhouse room that featured guest speaker Frank Marton. The verb “to...
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The Beauty of Inter-Generational Bonds
I caught a story on the Japanese news last evening that touched this old man’s heart. But first, the set up.Lots of online chatter these last few years about inter-generational gaps and even outright...
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The Insufferable Jargon of Cultural Anthropology
Image from PxHere “That’s how you know you’re within a walled city, the jargon. They’ve cut themselves off from the rest of the world and arespeaking a jargon only they can really understand.” ~Robert...
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A Lost Social Skill: Learning How to Take a Joke
“You have to learn how to take a joke.”I remember hearing this from my father at a very young age. My mom used to say it, too. In fact, it was a common refrain where I grew up.It was difficult advice...
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Gentle On Our Wives: My Contribution to Mitigating Japanese Retired Husband...
The linked live performance below is special to me. Not because we performed particularly well. In fact, we are all very ordinary amateurs who practiced together just a few times and, trust me, it...
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Oh no, AI turned me into a cartoon! (And other adventures with Bing’s Image...
I finally bit the bullet and started playing with Chat GPT the other day. I also discovered Bing’s AI Image Generator. I now know enough to be dangerous!As I was pondering different image ideas to...
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Advice to My Younger Self: Do the damn dishes!
Good morning, hope everyone had a fulfilling and *thankful* week wherever you are and whatever traditions you practice.In this week’s UNPLANNED JAPAN, it’s the old man’s turn to answer Sarai Pahla’s...
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The American told a joke, he thinks it’s funny…
Someone on LinkedIn recently shared a post on how humor is risky when shared with an audience from a different culture. Specifically, in the case of a Japanese audience, “jokes, puns and references...
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