SFO

I had a great thanks giving weekend in San Francisco this year by visiting friends of mine. That was awesome to catch up missed years. We talked, drunk, had lots of fun just like we met last week. 

Also, I visited a couple of businesses and neighborhood that are green and local oriented. Since San Francisco has advanced living style, that was very interesting for me to expose. I would say I would like to start up my business in this town because of its character.

SF is the place I change and impact the world. Picture is the corporate building of Twitter and local bicycle stations.

Go for it!! Chuji,

Green House

Having been told about an update a couple of weeks ago, I visited Green Hosue in the OC great park. 

Different green house technologies such as water usage and building materials are features in all around the house. I think noone of those are a "game changer" that means all of the technologies already exist, and there was no surprising learning for me. Yet, I acquired some information. 

This house says that you need to understand 5 categories so that you can make your house more green and sustainable. 1. Energy efficiency (Less energy consumption) 2.Water conservation (low-flow drip irrigation) 3.Indoor air quality (better ventilation system) 4. Resource conservation (more durable materials) 5. Livable communities (improved quality of lie).

Energy Upgrade California: California state energy management initiative to help residents and businesses to take action on energy to save money and be more comfortable at home and work as well as for the state to achieve it's energy efficiency goal.

Energy consultant: There are a lot of business to directly sell you stuff such as solar panel or new water irrigation system at your house, but you can also have energy consultant before so that you can maximize the energy efficiency and cost saving.

Green Building consultation business.. I think I will try to write this new business model.

Let's get started, Chuji,

Updates from Japanese market.

It's so fun to see green business in the US. Having seeing different markets, I think this country has one of the most advanced green market and tech as well as people's attention.


I have been also trying to see what's happening in my country, Japan. Because of different reasons from the US market such as limited island, emergent needs in the damaged area by Tsunami, and cultural background, there are a little bit different business/tech coming up now.


1. Beverage company, SUNTORY, is invented non-soil planting material. Using a material, Pafcal which is just like sponge, it's possible to grow plants with no soil. With this technology, you can grow anything on the wall and roof with much less effort than traditional ways. I think this technology will be leveraged in roofgreening business.
http://www.suntory.com/?ke=hd&__utma=198440237.1572043416.1382239447.1382239447.1382318105.2&__utmb=198440237.4.10.1382318105&__utmc=198440237&__utmx=-&__utmz=198440237.1382318105.2.2.utmcsr=google|utmccn=(organic)|utmcmd=organic|utmctr=(not%20provided)&__utmv=-&__utmk=94292701


2. Biomass-green creates a completed biomass food recycling flow. Buying trash at grocery stores, making those forge. I think this business model exists in other areas, but every single players in this business flow exists in the same small neighborhood. I hope this size of "local" will be managed in the US. (web in Japanese) http://www.biomass-green.co.jp/


3. Rapidly increasing needs of hydroponic business is obvious because our land get so much damage from the nuclear power. Osaka city Univ is one of the top players in this industry. Last time when I visited there in 2 years ago, they were already tied up with Subway to accelerate the consumers to taste hydroponic vegetable. http://www.plant-factory.21c.osakafu-u.ac.jp/english/index.html


I will update more information when I go back to Japan in the end of this year.
Let's get started, Chuji,

GMO

In a couple weeks ago, I visited a NPO,called MOA, in West LA. They are committed to local  society by providing local food distribution with their own gardens. http://www.moawellness.org/wellness-program.html


The president at MOA shared a couple of thoughts with me, and one of them is a movie about how GMO, Generically Modified Organization, scares the US and the coming generation in the World. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXEEiznjkMM&feature I wanted to share this movie with you because I believe at least we need to know the scary possibility that GMO has so that each of us can make our own decision on what we eat and feed our kids.


I will go ahead to take a couple of actions from this movie. I will keep it posted on this blog.


Let's get started. Chuji,

Let's get started

I have been writing this blog for my journey and daily update purposes since I started writing it. From today, I am going to update local, green, and sustainable business information. This motivation came from a conversation with my friend. Since I am interested in establishing a sustainable business in three years I have been talking my ideas to people, and he advised me that I need to express those ideas to more people through my blog.


I have a dream and plan to make new business flows and values for society with the concept of green, local, and sustainable, and I even believe that I can win the Novel Prize by maximizing contribution to our society and profit through my businesses.



Let's get started, Chuji,

Irreplaceable,

This weekend was really nice as always. Lots of sleep, drink, and excesses. Since I was in Hawaii in the last weekend, this weekend was the first one in this month for me to spend in my town, so I set my monthly goal that I do every first weekend to re-see my life plan. Yes, that was I think the third time to visit Hawaii in this year. There is my host brother living in the main land of Hawaii, and I always visit his and his girl friend's apartment when I go to Hawaii. This time, I was there for their wedding party. He and I met when I was home-staying at his parents' house in Irvine, 2008. Although he visited his family in Irvine from San Diego only in weekend at that time, he is the one who taught me different "how to"s in American way. Since then, we have been just like brothers.

So this time, I was really happy to see my brother got married, and I was also happy that I now have a family in this country to cerebrate the new chapter. Because I came to this country to acquire American dream, just hanging out with people is not what I want to do. Unless there is a positive relationship in between, I am not going to spend my time with anyone, but he and his family are a kind of exception. Just chatting, eating, drinking, watching sports, talking about family and stupid things make me really relax, and I feel those people are where I go back.  

I am ready to commit anythings for my dream, but on my plane going back to LA from Hawaii, I was thinking that sustaining this kind of sweet relationship might be my goal too. Success and achievement are very important, but family and friends are irreplaceable. Thank you for my luck to have such nice people.

Go for it!! Chuji,

Meditation

I went to beach yoga in this weekend. Although I have been doing meditation every night by my self, this time was the first time to attend a yoga session. Because so many things go during day, it's very important for me to put my brain and mind in good condition before asleep. Did you know our brain keeps thinking while asleep. Therefore you need to be careful what you think before going bed. Since I noticed the importance of time usage in the night, I try to make my mind as quiet and positive as possible.


Oh before sleep, there are a couple of more things I do as well as meditation. First, I read books. One is new, and second one is one I repeatedly read because it says universal advices. Each 10 mins. Then, I read papers on the wall. One is my life time goal, second is my mission statement, and the last one is pictures of huge houses in Orange County. At the last, I start me meditation for 10 mins with classic music.


Quietness, new knowledge, universal facts, future plans... my mind and brain are all set to prepare for tomorrow.


So now, I am so ready for coming week.
No excuse, no negative thoughts, I will do my best to change the world.


Go for it!! Chuji,

Actuarize

On this Saturday, I visited an investor who I met a business mixer in Malibu. Although I haven't figured out an exact business model I want to build up yet, that was very interesting to hear from the successful business guy. Meeting a new/interesting people always encourages my future perspective as he did because there are millions of people behind those who I meet and thousands of experiences with their lives. So since I visited him in this weekend, I feel like that I'm already as successful as he is.


I believe actualize what you want is crucial to realize what you want. For example like this weekend, I asked him to speak with me because I wanted to be like him. I put a million dollar of check to me in my wallet because I would like to have at least this amount of money every year starting from 2027. On the wall in my room, I put pictures of houses in Colona Del Mar in Orange County because I would like to live those nice houses from 2022. I also put the pictures of winners of the Novel Peace Prize because I am going to win it through my own business in 2037.


Visualize, actualize it, and you can realize it.
This is the lecture for me in this week.

Go for it!! Chuji,

The chapter 26,

I am writing this page on my flight to Hawaii. I am seeing my mom visiting from Japan over there, as well as reunion with my American family living in Hawaii.


I have been so busy in my weekends in this month because of small travels and moving to a new place although I have been trying to take a personal quiet time for myself. Every single day a year around my birthday, I have a quiet half day only by myself in the nature to review and over view my life. Because my birthday was in this month, I need to make it in this month to restart my great journey. Renewing and reviewing my life mean I rewrite my personal mission statement.


Yes, I am 26 years old now. When I was a kid, 26 years old guy was a one who has a solid personality and very organized mind. Looking at myself, I feel I’m still a teenager, and none of my personality is solid or organized that I can proud of… We, in Asia, say “Boy easily gets old, but it’s difficult to learn a thing for him.” Both of my professional and personal life, I am still way beyond the image that I always have in my mind. That means I have much more capacity to improve myself, and time always goes faster than my expectation.


I came to the States to establish my own company to impact the World as well as getting my American dreams so working is one of the priorities in my life here now. In order to make it come true, I planned that I would become the top sales rep at my company. It looks like I’m getting this position in the end of this quarter, and now I have to sustain the position in addition to getting new chapter such as teaching my skills and managing teams.


In weekend, I usually run, bike, softball, and surf. I play just like a 10 years boy. In this a couple of weekend, I have been running in Beverly Hills because I would like to acquire the atmosphere how the most expensive neighborhood in LA is like in order for me to be so although I am not so into BH. I always believe that even people who live such a nice area are same human likeh me, and in the case they are the first generation entrepreneur, they must have had non-Beverly Hills time in their life just like where I am now. I believe everyone can be whoever he wishes, thinks, plans, implements, fails, and tries again. So I have been running there by believing that I can be like them.


The 26th chapter of my life is going to be as fun, enthusiastic, and exciting as it has been for 25 years.


Go for it!! Chuji,

Vertical Farm

I read the news about the growth of vertical farm (hydroponic) in this weekend. As pictures of my MBA colleagues, who are just graduated in the last weekend, reminded me of my life in business school, this article just stimulated me willing to have a green business in the future. When I was in my business school, I created a new business model. It's a local vertical farming business in Manhattan, NY.


"Making the environmentally sustainable future generation by making profit" was the mission statement of the business model, and this is to produce and distribute leafy vegetables to 24,000 restaurants only in Manhattan. As of 2011, the US imports 5.7-million tones of fresh veggies, and 2/3 of them are coming from Mexico. Of course farmers there use tones of chemical to merchandise those veggies by saving some healthy
land for themselves to grow their foods. Killing the land of Mexico, consuming a lot of fuel to transport these chunks of chemical and some nutrition, and people pay for those cheap and unhealthy stuff by losing tons of employment opportunities in local as well. This is a huge problem in our society but I also think this is one of great opportunities for me to be the World hero. People say vertical farm (hydroponic) is not as healthy as naturally frown veggies, but I'd rather want my non-chemical veggies grown by local people to be eaten by local people.



I'm not dreaming this story in the small island of Manhattan. There should be a business opportunity in all over the World as long as our population increases in the limited space in the Earth. In Sweden, for example, they are planning a 177-foot skyscraper to farm leafy greens at the edge of each floor. Company in Texas, alsohas built a 150,000-square-foot "plant factory" NPO working on expanding hydroponic business who I contacted to when I was making this business model is now reaching Indian market as its population is too rapidly increasing compared to its food production.















Oh I can't wait this future to come true in my life. I already see my life is vertically growing with the vertical farm business. Go for it!! Chuji,

100 times

I ran a full marathon in Orange County, last weekend. It's always fun to run around and see the different districts in a region. My favorite location in OC I saw while I was running OC marathon was Corona Del Mar, Newport Beach. Time wise, although my second marathon was much faster than the first one, I still need to improve my stamina and skills to handle 26 miles. Because I set the goal, sub-3.5h, in the beginning of this year, I don't want quit running until I achieve this time. Think big, set a goal, break it down, and accomplish the big is what I always do!! There are still a couple of marathon events in my neighborhood in this year, so I need to keep practicing to achieve the goal...


Also, I finally/already started my green card application in the last week. I think I am very fortunate because my company decided to support my application even though I have worked for them less than a year. I am now even more enthusiastic to contribute to my company!! I assume most of people reading this blog are Americans, and it's always headache for new immigrants to face to the visa problem. It would take more than a year for me to get the freedom, but I think I'm still lucky because others many times take more than 5 years or so.


"Whenever Chuji gets more freedom, US and the World get better" This is what I have been telling my immigration lawyer. I really hope that someday soon I get the freedom to maximize my ability and enthusiasm as an entrepreneur in this country.


On the wall in my room, there is a piece of paper say "Chuji you are very talented and I want to see how you crime up the rudder for your success. Focus on one thing and make effort. Your effort has to be 10 times more than others." Yes, I am ready to make 100 times more.


Go for it!! Chuji,

The Future

I meet more than 10 business owners  a week in my sales job. "calling" is a new English vocabulary I learned since I started this job. We, in Japanese language, call it as the job given by the god. Because I am in America to establish my own companies as well as family and a happy life for myself, meeting and talking with business owners always leverages my future perspectives.


In the last week, I was talking with an owner who runs a Korean food company in LA. We mainly talked about the possibility for them to expand to Mexico and China with their own recipe and business philosophy. "oh my god, I wanna start my business right now.." In our conversation, I said this in my mind millions of times because he looked so enthusiastic, full of energy, and just like how I would like to be in my future. " Well Chuji, just follow your heart. I'm into expanding Korean food culture to the World, and I'm just following my enthusiasm. Marketing and management is important, but you have to have the heart under your belt."


People sometime remind me that I am working too hard and I need to be a little bit slower, but there is no reason for me to do so because I know what I want to do and how. It's just like forcing yourself to sleep in the bed although you have tickets, money, and time to go to Europe. Dream it, plan it, do it, and review it.


Today, I read a news that there are now more solar jobs in CA than actors. In TX, there are more solar workers than ranchers. Last week, a president of a sustainable business company in Manhattan sent me a book "The Future by Al Gore" Yes, my enthusiasm is in sustainable business. I am eager to impact our environment through my own business. I think I will write a letter for him so I can get initiated his philosophy. Yea things are so enthusiastic. Folks, let's get enthusiastic to impact our society such as family, community, and the World.


Go for it!! Chuji,

Time is opportunity

Some CDs arrived in the last week. I purchased audio books so I can listen to them while I'm driving. One day I was calculating how much time I spend in my car because I have to efficiently use this time especially while I'm working such as making calls. Average time I spend in my car to drive is around an hour a day which mean I am going to spend 365 hours a year. I also broke down this time into different situations. 3 hour MBA class can be 122 classes, an hour business meeting can be 365 meeting, 30 mins of phone call to family and friends can be 730 phone calls, and listening pop music by getting frustrated by traffic jam can be zero.


Seven Habits, Think and Grow Rich, and How to Win Friends and Influence People are the audio CDs I purchased this time. I am going to continuously listen to those books in this year because I think those authors are saying universal facts for success and happy life. Also, I installed a book in my kindle tablet so I can utilize my time for reading like when I'm waiting for my food at restaurant and so on.


Time is money and opportunity to grow another money in the future.


So the first quarter of this year is over. This coming quarter is the time when I became the top sales at my company. There is even no second to waist my time by just driving, complaining things I can't control. I hope these audio books maximize my performance.


And I hope those who read this blog have a nice start in the second quarter!!

Go for it!! Chuji,

My Goal

Experience LA marathon a week ago, I would say that now I'm hooked on running... Although I didn't run in this weekend for my legs to get recover from the 26 miles running in the passed weekend, I'm already started planning OC and Longbeach marathon. Many folks know the west coast is a good surfing spot, but I found here has so many running events. I hope my knees won't break before beating all of them.


Biggest reason that I don't quit running now is I couldn't achieve my goal for LA marathon. The time was not only enough to meet my goal, but it also so disappointed me. I can't just quit running now because I always do what I said I would do. Goal is for me to achieve instead of just to set. I set a difficult but achievable goal, break down processes, and implement it day by day. So now because I am disappointed by how I ran, I made new break downs and plans to achieve it at least in Long beach marathon in October.


Set a goal in order to achieve is always not easy although just setting goal takes just one second. Last week, one of my mentors in Manhattan emailed me an interesting presentation slides to me. This slides was spoke by the founder of Linkedin, Reid Hoffman. http://www.businessinsider.com/career-advice-from-linkedins-founder-2013-3#-8 in this presentation, he mainly says that you are an entrepreneur in your own career no matter what field you are in.

• Figure out and improve your competitive advantage and maximize this ability in a niche field
•  Your aspiration, your assets (knowledge, skills, and capital if needed), and market movement work at the same time for success
• You never complete your goal. You have to continuously learn and set plans to fill out those gaps
• Network matters. The people you spend time with shape the person you are today and the person you aspire to be tomorrow.
• Risk is many times smaller than you think

I think his presentation is very useful for many folks including me. Attending networking, asking introduction, aspire each other...Lots of things jumped into my to-do-list from his presentation.


So many things are waiting for me on my to-do-list.


I can't wait for Monday to come!!


Go for it!! Chuji,

In your mind

I have been having busy days to work. Different job things are in an out my brain 24/7, but it's always fun to beat difficult stuff. In my job, it's also fun to see new people. I think in average I meet 2 or 3 new people to get to know each other, and most of them are business owners.


I listed, as one of my goals at the beginning of this year, that I meet one millionaire per month so that I can be like them in my future. Again, this is how I get close to my dream. So this month, I met an Indian food restaurant owner. Addi's Tandoor  is the most delicious Indian restaurant in South Bay, and I could hear the owner's story because he is one of my clients.


He was a business owner in India until he was 25 years old. Because of a lot of business troubles, he went to bankrupt although his business was quit profitable. His friend in the US prepared a visa for him so he can move out of his country. He rent $100 from his sister in India. He transferred his plane at Narita, Tokyo, but he had to stay one night there because of bad weather in Tokyo. Because he had to spend some money in Tokyo, he had only $12 when he arrived Los Angeles.


Since then, he worked 24/7 at different restaurants for three years by saving pennies day by day. After that he finally started his own restaurant again. Because he already knew how to run and manage restaurant business, it's understandable that now many people open doors at his restaurant to enjoy authentic Indian foods. Now he drives 2013 Mercedes, and often travels the World.


"Chuji, you have to focus on one thing. Because you can not control most of things, so many things come into your road as obstacles. But you always shouldn't forget what you want to do. What you want to do is always in your mind instead of other people or economy"


Focus on one thing, and keep making efforts.
It's easy, but tough to continue. I want to do that. I want to achieve it. Yes I can do it!!


Go for it!! Chuji,

It would be wonderful.

I had busy weeks these days. My mom, my old friend, and his family were visiting me from Japan for a week. I took them as many fantastic places in LA as I could while they were here, and I also showed them the places like where I work and where I used to study. Because they have never been in LA, it was interesting to see things which got their interest such as people, car, and weather. Also, it's impossible for me to satisfy the shopping monsters from Japan...

Anyway, it's always hard for people, who live far from their families like me, to spend time together with family. I usually don't get home-sick at all even though I am the only one in the US from my family members, but I saw that my mom was like on the top of the World to be with her son. She was always with me especially when I was playing baseball. That was a huge part of her life. Whenever I go ground, she follows me. Whenever I go run, she follows me. After playing baseball, she laundries my stuff and massages me. I didn't feel anything special for her who gives me such attentions, but now I started realizing that I am still the huge part of her life and I left her. 

I am sure that she was expecting me to live close to her at least in Japan, but I have even left my country, and we only meet once a year compared to 365 days a year. When I saw her tears when we said Good bye, I was feeling a little sorry for her to be selfish...Now she has to wait for me a half more year...

In Japanese tradition, kids, especially son, tend to live with its parents. Although we have been modernizing our living style, many of my friends are trying to live close to their parents. But I believe the place to live is not only way to repay for parents. I have been taking so much risks to live over sea only by myself compared to others in Japan, and I have been living out every single day. I will get American dreams and contribute to societies through business. By maximizing this contribution, I will be also financially successful so I can have places for my parents and families to live. Also I will have my own family in this country and show them to my family once in a while. Also I will get public honors in the near future, and my family get to know how I'm shaking the world through TV and news paper. That's how I would like to repay for them. 

Again, I left my family, but there are still millions of opportunities for me to devote to my parents. 

I will do it. I also hope my kids in the future will find this writing, and they know how I started living in this country. What wonderful it would be!!

Go for it, Chuji

People

My mom and our family friends are going to visit me in a couple of weeks. My family and the family who are coming with my mom have been close more than 20 years. We have been talking over LINE about what to do and where to go. As Japanese people always are, their main interest is shopping and shopping. It must be so stressful to deal with their interest, but yes, please spend more money in the US economy!! Also, whenever I drive around my neighborhood in my sales job, I tend to be like "what about this place for them to visit?", "they might like this restaurant!!". It's always fun to imagine how I can surprise her. Because I have been over sea these years such as America, the Silk Road, and Africa, I don't know how people who have not so much traveled around would feel about where I live and what to see. For example, one my favorite food, Mexican food should be super saggy, and American people are so noisy when they speak...


But anyhow, I am eager to please them while they are in LA. I am going to introduce them not only typical sightseeing spots, but also my close friends, company, and where I used to study. I am already proud of that I am surviving in a different country by myself. I am sure that my mom would be impressed not only by LA's weather, but also how I live out every single day in this community. In the super near future, I have a plan to buy them houses, cars, and golf courses, but for now, what I can do is to show them people around me.


"I am now glad that I let him leave us. He is doing great by himself. I want to visit him again as soon as I can maybe to see my grandchild" That's how she would be feeling on her way back to Japan.


Go for it!! Chuji,

How will history see me?

"How will history see me?"... The title of the Economist published a week ago caught my eyes when I was reading several articles in this weekend. This article is writing about how/what President Obama should work on in his second presidential term, but the contents in this article is not my object. Yes, politic is very important, but there are millions of other ways for us to change our society such as business, sharing information in SNSs, and individual volunteer activity for your local community. We are not passive any more to create and run our life. We have power, right, and obligation to engage with our life.


So, I think the title, "How will history see me?", is very good to have as my perspective in my days. I have no  complain of my life so far, but I think I have tended to have a short-term perspective in these days because my job makes me keep running everyday. This saying helps me to hold my eyes up so I can have bigger perspective in every moment.


When I have things I have to finish in a minuet, when I faced a problem that I need to work on right way, when I was running late to arrive at my appointment, when I have an opportunity to gain a short-term benefit, this is the moment to ask myself "How will history see me?". I came to this country not only for financial/individual success, but I also will change and impact the world. This contribution will be as worthy as winning a novel prose or becoming on an US bill's face.


Don't fawn for pennies... How you make you day is less important than how I can bring happiness for people in coming generations. I would like to write "How will history see me?" on a piece of paper and attach on my laptop.


Go for it!! Chuji,

Be Chuji,

What part of your job do you like?



I was a bad boy and always a trouble maker in class when I was a kid because it was super tough for me to keep listening to my teacher or keep focusing on one thing during class. Instead, I was always confident that I was speaking in class more than my teacher did. Whenever my teacher started trying teach me, I closed my ears, and there were a lot of BSs in my brain instead of new learning. So, yes I like my sales job because I have to always be around to visit clients in the entire Southern California. Also, I like to meet new people not only for my business, but also I love to know their thoughts, vision, and personality. In my job, I am so lucky because people I meet are pretty diverse. They are sometime new entrepreneur, doctor, manager at a huge company, and experienced chef.



In the last week, I was visiting a sales manager at a mega company. He, wearing a nice suit and Ferragamo, is very smart and creative. We were talking about how my company and I are able to leverage their business in this local area instead of international wide that they have been successful in this 30 years. The meeting went well, and I believe he was satisfied with what I was trying to offer. At the very end of meeting, a little passed 6pm, Friday, I asked him "I would like to be a successful sales guy like you. I just started my career after my master program half year ago. I would appreciate any advice you give to me. What do you think I need to do such as habits to install in my days, people to meet, and book to read maybe?"



And he said, "Chuji, there is no advice I can give to you. You already have it, so keep going. I receive millions of calls from sales people everyday, but I decided to set a time with you because you always try to listen to me instead of introducing how much your product will bring profit to me. Your skill might not be enough yet, but don't listen to other people so much because the most important thing is keep being Chuji. You have to open ears always, but it doesn't mean you have to follow their direction. Don't forget things only you can do. This is reason people buy from you. Also, my Ferragamo shoes are just ornament, so you don't have to follow my outfit either.



"Be Chuji..." This is what I was thinking when I was driving back to home in the night. Yes, I think I agree with him. There are always values that only I can create. I hope there will be more and more values on Chuji in the future. By continuous efforts in my job, I want to create Chuji values in my business to impact the world. So, what is the things only you can make?



Go for it!! Chuji,