Giving Away Things For Free is the Best Promotion and a Key to Making Money

Yesterday, I went to the barber for my once-every-six-months haircut. As I was talking to the girl who cut my hair, I was amazed that here was this 25-year-old woman, cutting hair, who understood more about the Internet and the new media than 90% of the company executives - especially at big media - that I meet. Perhaps it is because she was young that she can easily grasp simple concepts.

The first simple concept is that giving things away for free is the future of marketing and advertising. We see successful companies and people around us doing that all the time, but far too many organizations cannot make the logical connection in their heads and make the jump to that end in order to help their own company.


Giving away useful items or content for free is the best (and cheapest) form of promotion you could possibly get. When she had finished cutting my hair she gave me a freebie. It was a plastic business card carrying case that had her hair salons name imprinted on the top. Every time during the day that I give out a business card I see that name. Now, many people would think, "I wouldn't be caught dead with a plastic business card holder that had some other company name on it!" But not me. I find it wonderfully useful and smart.

Simple, cheap, effective. I look at it several times a day.

I went to a meeting at a huge television content, DVD sales, marketing and distribution company yesterday. I showed it to them. They were marveled at the simplicity and low-cost (and effectiveness) of this promotional concept (I mean, once I explained the logic).


Most company executives cannot get their heads around the concept of giving things away for free in order to make more money. But think about what I have always said, "Google is one of the most profitable companies in the entire world today and they give away everything for free! Now, how do they do that?"


Google is one of the most profitable companies in the world, right? So why don't you and your company emulate them?


I often go to TV stations (alas, they are all sinking ships!) and ask them why they don't monetize their web pages. Every single major broadcasting station in Japan still has a web page that looks like it was designed in 1999; it is just a digitized company brochure.


I have to explain to them the concept of Web 1.0: Digital brochure; Web 2.0 using blogging and two-way communication with bloggers and users; Web 3.0 user generated content like Facebook or Twitter.


Web 1.0 was popular between 1999~2003. From 2003, smart companies started instituting Web 2.0. From 2005~2006 very smart companies started instituting Web 3.0.


Today's major broadcasters in Japan? ALL of them are still using Web 1.0 concepts. They are losing money on their web pages. Seriously, it's all I can do to stop crying (or laughing).


Think about that Google quote again, folks; "Google is one of the most profitable companies in the entire world today and they give away everything for free!" Can you imagine for a second the massive advantage a TV station in Japan has over Google? Google didn't have a broadcasting arm that they can use that is already in the homes of over 130,000,000 people! The TV stations did! They do! But they don't use that to their advantage!


It is even more ridiculous when you consider that the initial phase of designing something like the basic Twitter platform probably cost in the neighborhood of $150,000 ~ $200,000 (USD) but to make and produce a 30 minute TV show for 6 months costs about $400,000! 


It is even more ridiculous when you realize that almost every old TV station  person you talk to thinks that if they give away free content on their webpage, no one will watch their TV shows anymore. Talk about not seeing the forest because of the trees! What in the hell are these TV people thinking about?


The real question could be, "Do these mass media people really understand the market as much as they like to claim they do?" I don't think so.


Here's a good example of a TV station (in the USA of course) that understands what I'm talking about and now 1/3 of their profits are derived from the Internet: http://espn.go.com/


The major broadcasters and media in Japan refuse to entertain the idea that their web pages can become a profit vehicle. They know their businesses are dying but they insist that, "We are a TV station" or "We are a magazine"... Why don't they realize that they are "media" and "consultation" to provide sponsors what the sponsors want to buy?


When, oh when, will these people open their eyes?


But I digress....


The other interesting thing this hair-stylist told me about was that she and her friends have come to stop looking at the very top results of a Google search. Why? Because everyone and their sister have figured out it's a paid advertisement at the top that's been highlighted and no one believes in paid advertising anymore!


I thought that was very telling about the way young people think and perceive. It was the same for us long ago with the Yellow Pages, right (remember them)? We knew that the paid ads were not from the best services or products but from the ones that had big budgets. Everyone knows that big budgets do not necessarily equal good products... Just look at General Motors cars for evidence of that!


As an aside, here's a funny example. Below is a screen capture of a Google search for "London Flight":

CLICK ON IMAGE FOR LARGER VIEW

At the top of the page you'll see a paid ad for British Airways, Air France and Lufthansa. These paid ads cost about $15,000 (USD) a month (maybe more) average. British Airways pays more as they are at the top. Everyone who sees this page knows that those top three are not the cheapest, nor necessarily the best flights or deals... In fact, since they are paid ads, they are viewed with, for lack of a better term, suspicion by most people. People have become smart enough and sophisticated enough in 2012 to recognize that those top three are paid advertising. People today, no longer look at those. They will look lower down the page, to the top 5 or so after the paid ads.

In this case, who do we see? www.cheapflights.co.uk. Guess what? Cheap flights shows me that they are most probably the cheapest and best deal: they didn't spend a penny to get the true #1 rankings on a Google search! I won't tell you how they do this (I know - and you can find that information in this blog in many places as I have written about it extensively before)... But you can bet that a company, like British Airways that is spending, in Japan alone, a few hundred thousand dollars on this sort of advertising cannot be cheap (nor smart?)....

Oh, but you say, "What about people who want better service or flights?" Folks, don't misunderstand. I'd wager a donut that cheap flights also offers those and I'd like to point out that British Airways does not need to advertise to their existing customer base. Advertising to a new customer base and getting new customer is the Holy Grail and entire point of advertising.

Bad marketing campaign's don't only happen in real world

Oh, but I've gotten off the point here again. The point is giving things away for free in order to get new customers. Think about that. How many, especially Internet, companies offer free services then, once someone likes the product or service, the upgrade costs a bit of money and membership?

Aha! Those are everywhere! That's right. Google does that; Linkedin does that; there are too many to name.

Find a way, THINK of a way to give away free content and product or service in order to gain new customers. Actually make an effort with your team in doing that today! Get out of the old fashioned mold and the old fashioned way of doing things.

Find that FREE! and you might be finding a goldmine! 

Thanks to Ed Jones for the FREE blazing sun red with glitter Gibson air guitar! I will always cherish it, Ed!

A Pig Farm in Beverly Hills and Downtown Tokyo Where Pigs Crap Diamonds - Government Laws Preventing it too!

"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws." -- Tacitus


There are far too many people living in a fantasy world. There are far too many people who have been brought up under our socialist and nanny state environment for too long, or their entire lives, that they know no different. It reminds me of stories I heard about communist Poland or the Soviet Union in the 1960s: I was told that many people were happy and satisfied with a quarter cube of butter for an entire family once a month because they didn't know any better.


People in our society today think it is normal for people to expect handouts "from the government" or a "free education" or "free medical and health care" or "retirement income."


It's shouldn't come as any surprise to anyone, but, unfortunately it might; folks, few things in life are free anymore. And I don't mean that rhetorically. Not even the air we breathe is free. We get taxed even for that. But they don't call it that. They call it the Clean Air Act. 


Whatever the government can tax, it will. It's no joke to think that governments have considered how to tax even the act of sex. 


Of course, they wouldn't call it that. They'd call it something like "Protect the Babies Act" or something like that. When it comes to taxes and government boondoogles everything the government does is named the opposite of what it is actually designed to do. Rick Santelli had a funny rant the other day. He was talking about this very same subject. How about SOPA, the Anti-Piracy Bill? Who could possibly be against fighting piracy? Is there anybody out there who is for piracy? But the law was actually a law designed to curtail our rights of free speech. Or how about the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)? Who couldn't be for protecting the environment? Or the Consumer Protection Agency? Can anybody be against protecting American consumers?


Or how about when Reagan was president and the USA launched a new series of super high speed nuclear tipped missiles that could hit the Soviet Union within 5 minutes and called them, "Peace Keeper Missiles?" 


It's always a diversionary tactic and things are named for the opposite of what they are actually designed for because people are too stupid to put down the TV remote control and read a book to find out what's really going on.


Hey! Am I talking about books again? Yep. Do people read books anymore? No. So that brings me to my next question: What's the difference between a college graduate in the west who doesn't read books and, say, some native villager up in the mountains who is totally illiterate has never even seen a book their entire life? Nothing. Neither of them read books.


Back to that part a while back talking about the government care and "free" medical and education, etc. etc. Listen, like I said, nothing is free. Another big surprise that people in this day and age might find out is that, psst, don't tell anyone but the government doesn't have any of their own money! Yep. That's right. Every single penny the government has is from taxes taken from people like you and me. The government does not own any industry and has no way to create income so they get monies from taxing the working class (that's you and me). So whenever you say that people should, say, get free healthcare, what you are actually saying is that you think you should be taxed to pay for someone else's medical care.

Well, far be it from me to tell you how to spend your money. But, I, for one, have my hands full paying for myself and my family as it is without to paying for someone else's AND have a government office middleman taking a cut off the top for running and "organizing" (I use that term quite loosely) such services. 


It's very simple: the government functions by taking taxes from the working class. In most cases (like, for example, our trash collection services) the government doesn't even run that. It is an job assigned out to a private company, usually on a no-bid contract. Each municipality does it different, but you can bet your bottom dollar that, as no-bid contracts are wont to do, there are favors being handed out.


To think that the government hires and organizes our trash collection services and those guys picking up our trash cans are government employees is another fantasy world which many people seem to believe in... It is much "cheaper" for the government to hire a outside company with outside workers to do it (insurance, employee compensation problems, etc.) and then take a margin off the top for arranging the services. 


I mean, really, sitting at a desk and organizing is what government employees do best. Of course, everyone has seen that and knows it, right? Or has anyone seen that Clark Kent super government employee office worker jetting around town recently?

Yes. In the 1930s, even American students saluted the flag this way

In our modern society people have been so brainwashed by big government and so-called big society that, as I said, they gotten used to this nonsense and think it is normal.


Well, it wasn't normal not that long ago. In the USA, it started in the 1930's with FDR and got greatly expanded and completely out of hand with Lyndon Johnson in the 1960's in America's so-called "Great Society." Nowadays, through years of government run public education, people have come to believe that the state is our benevolent leader and is here to protect us from cradle to grave. 


I won't go into too many examples of how the government protects it's own populace excepting to mention that, in the 20th century alone government's of the world instituted wars that killed over 160 million people. 


As an aside please don't counter the above paragraph with "diseases killed more people than government!" Yes. That's true. Diseases did kill more. But consider the fact that the doctor who discovered the prevention for a disease like Smallpox, Dr. Edward Jenner, did so in the very late 1700's and he did not work for a government agency. Or French chemist Louis Pasteur who found the Germ Theory of disease and prevention for infectious diseases did not work for the government. In fact, I think you'll find that government employed scientists are usually involved in exploring science for military purposes; not disease and sickness prevention or cure.


But I digress.


Today. Over 1/2 of all American households receive some kind of government assistance. Over 45.8 million Americans are on food stamps. Over 25% of all American children are under the poverty level (Japan has a total poverty level of 15.7%). Both the USA and Japanese government to GDP debt levels are unsustainable and the governments of both countries just keep spending and spending...

Your tax dollars at work

Oh, and did I forget to mention that the government has no money of their own and that the money that they are spending is your money? That money  comes from your pocket? I did mention that? Okay. Thanks. Just wanted to make sure you understood that.


A while back, I had a discussion with a guy who was the typical brainwashed American. He thought that we needed more laws, more taxes and he thought that the government was benevolent and good.  


I told him to consider the notion that "Laws are the anti-thesis to freedom." He scrunched up his face and looked confused.


We were at his house in Den en Chofu overlooking the garden area. Den en Chofu is the ritzy part of Tokyo. Imagine Beverly Hills in Japan and you get the idea. As we looked out from the balcony, he insisted that we needed the government and more laws on the books. This really surprised me as I didn't expect that people who were living upper middle class would want more government control over their lives but I would find out that, to my surprise, he wasn't an independent businessman, he was a government employee and in a sort of public union!


He insisted that we needed the government to make laws like no smoking in restaurants and seat belt laws. I said we didn't. 


In the case of smoking laws, people need to understand the difference between a public building and a private building. A government owned building is a public building, the government can make laws about smoking and rights concerning what goes on inside that building. A privately owned building, like your house, is none of their business. If you want to smoke in your house, or allow others to do so - or not do so - that's your business. If people don't like it that you do or do not allow smoking in your building they can go somewhere else.


Nowhere in the US constitution does it say that the federal government has the power to enact laws pertaining to smoking in privately owned buildings or even that you have to buckle your seat belt (It doesn't say that in the Japanese Constitution either). In America, the individual states might. But the federal government does not. And those go for drug laws and smoking laws and laws concerning prohibition too!


Say your mom and dad work hard all their life and save enough money to quit their jobs and they use their saving to buy a building and open a restaurant. It is their building. They own it. The government has no right to tell them who they can and cannot serve to. If your dad wants to allow his customers to smoke in his restaurant, that is your father's right. The government should make no laws pertaining to that.   


But my friend would have no part of it. He insisted that we needed laws like smoking laws or helmet laws. Like I said, people are indoctrinated by public schooling and taught to not be able to think.


Folks we don't need laws like ones that prohibit smoking in privately owned buildings, or must wear a helmet or ones that say you can't build a pig farm in the middle of Beverly Hills. You know why? Well, I explained about public versus private buildings. Helmets? I think only stupid (or really cool and a tad bit crazy) people would ride a motorcycle without one. (I think I also mentioned something about trying to outlaw stupid.") And pig farms? Well, making a business like a pig farm is a huge investment. I don't think people do it to lose money. Pig farmers are not so stupid. People don't usually start businesses - any businesses - to lose money. 


The government cannot outlaw stupid (though sometimes I wish they'd try!)


Pig farms aren't such high income generating businesses, I suspect. The cost of land in Beverly Hills (or in Den en Chofu, Tokyo) run astronomical amounts. Last I heard Den en Chofu was $120 a square foot! Now, most pig farms are out in the country where land runs about a dollar a foot or so for a reason. It doesn't take much of a mathematician or rocket scientist to figure out that a pig farmer could never afford to make a pig farm in Beverly Hills profitable at those land prices unless those pigs were crapping diamonds.


In which case, the government would find a way to make even that unprofitable with a new tax by calling it something like the "Protect Romance and Precious Diamonds Act of 2012."


So, does anyone think we need laws to stop someone from attempting to make a pig farm in rich neighborhoods? I don't think so.


Things are quickly spinning out of control The biggest problem is most people are walking around like nothing is happening and are hoping for the best. Folks, "Hope" is not a very good business plan nor is it a good plan on how you are going to take care of your family. 


We need to cut down on government and government spending in order to get out of the mess we're in. In Japan's and the US government's case, increasing our debt is not the answer to our debt problems. If the average Joe Blow doesn't start to figure this out really soon, we are in for a world of hurt.


If that happens, then I might like to be a pig farmer and get away from the rat race. I read about pig farming in Charlotte's Web. Now, that fantasy world sounded wonderful.

First 100 Readers of This Blog Win Free Airfare for Two to Japan - No Hidden Catches! No Gimmicks! No Basis in Reality Whatsoever Either...*

"And, if you believe that..." the story goes...


"Dear winner! Congratulations! You've won $10,000!" At first you are surprised. Your heart skips a beat, then you read the fine print. It says,

"This could be you if you purchase over $250 of "Sports, Bikinis, Barbecue and Hiking Boots" magazine subscriptions over the next 6 months. As one lucky winner will...." Blah, blah, blah....

How many times has this happened to you? 

Your dreams dashed. Of course, it was too good to be true.


You know, in Japan, there is an old saying, "There's nothing scarier than something for free!"


Well you might remember a few months back the campaign announced in the Japanese media and all over the world about 10,000 people winning free airfare to Japan in a Japanese Government Tourism Bureau effort to support flagging numbers of tourists to Japan after the March Fukushima nuclear accident? Well the Japanese government was just kidding about the free vacation... (I reckon that you can deduce that I not the most dependable travel agent in the world either... Chuckle!)

Well, thank god I didn't write about that campaign when it was going on. Why? At the time, I thought something was fishy. Just like you thought something was fishy when you clicked to read this blogpost. Let me pat myself on the back and say that, in October of last year, at the time they announced this foolishness, my first thoughts were that the idea was waste of money; shouldn't we be spending that money on helping the people of Tohoku? What about the Fukushima disaster? And, with our finances in such disorder, where are we going to get this money from in the first place? I also thought, "Who's stupid idea was this?" 


Of course it is/was a stupid idea. A very stupid idea (too good to be true for anyone who "won" - and it was)... (No problem for the government idiots who thought of this... They aren't spending their own money. Why not?)  


But besides the practical concerns, think about the ineptitude: Talk about a BS contest! Imagine winning only to be told, "Oh yes, Mr. Something-or-other, congratulations but we were only kidding about the million dollars!"

The Wall Street Journal reports in Dream For Free Flights To Japan Over (article quotes highlighted in yellow, my snide remarks follow):


Back in October, Japan's national tourism agency floated a plan that seemed an ideal remedy to boost flagging visitor numbers in the wake of the March 11 disasters. 


What!? "..a plan that seemed an ideal remedy?!" What are the these people at Wall Street Journal smoking? Oh, yeah, I forgot. The Wall Street Journal are a bunch of big government wankers too. 


Free flights to Japan in 2012. A full 10,000 of them. 


Over flowing with cynicism: Cheap skates! I knew it! "Why stop at 10,000?" I said at the meeting, "Let's make it 100,000! No! A million, ten million! Free babies, bento and Banzai too!"


Now, as the country crunches through the detail of tight budget numbers for next year, the hope many had for visiting Japan in 2012 has evaporated into a pipe dream: There won't be any free flights next year, period. 


Well, duh. There ain't no Sanity Claus either.


The budget for them has not been approved. Whatever tourism authorities thought a good idea, Japan simply can't afford it, the government's budget planners have concluded. 


Evidence that more government planing will make our lives better!


The Tokyo-based Japan Tourism Agency didn't sugar-coat the decision in a statement on its website late Dec. 26: "The project titled 'Fly to Japan!' (to offer flight tickets to 10,000 foreigners with high potential to communicate Japan's attractions), which had been covered in a number of media in autumn this year, was not approved as a governmental draft budget of FY 2012."  


How about not sugar-coating a message to the Einsteins in the Japan Tourism Agency on their website by writing something like, "You're fired!"


Regular readers of this blog will know that I am extremely skeptical of any pronouncements by the Japanese government (or any government for that matter) and, at the time of this campaign's announcement, I remember thinking, "These clowns have a debt that is over 225% of GDP and now the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and Fukushima nuclear disaster to contend with. Where in the hell are they going to get the money to pay for this?"


Funny that.


Now, what do we who live in Japan and pay taxes for have to show for this idiocy? Well, I haven't any figures, but I know we spent lots of money on promotional items like posters, TV ads, and advertising in publications all over the world (besides the silly posters advertising this campaign that were hung in my local bar in Tokyo - go figure!) so we dumped at least a few hundred thousand dollars on that. Small change, right? No problem. Then, on top of that, we got this bad promotion (or good depending on how you look at it). 


These types of dumb government planned promotions are always a boondoggle. Let me recall a few for you that I remember:


In 1979, at the height of the trade wars with the USA, the Japanese government made stickers and posters and placed them all over Japan's train stations and in taxis. The stickers and posters said, "Import Now!" (as if the average Japanese housewife reads English and/or has any say as to whether or not pots and pans and textiles and steel are imported into Japan from the United States or not.  


Which is much like this campaign that I've seen at my local pub recently. The posters say, "Visit Japan!" I think, "Wow! What a brilliant idea! Promote visiting Japan to people who are already here! Saves them the airfare! Brilliant!"

This poster hangs in my favorite restaurant ... in Tokyo!

The next campaign that I remember Japan spending an exorbitant amount of money on was the Yokoso Japan campaign. Japan must have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on this campaign making videos that were shown (and viewed) a few hundred times on the Internet and seen on American and European TV at times like 5:00 am on a Sunday morning. In fact, I hosted the one about Hiroshima (even though I don't live there!). Uh, don't expect me to show you that one, it was embarrassing (many of the English subtitles were spelled incorrectly and lots of other problems):

Oh well, I suppose we can console ourselves by saying, "At least they tried..." I wish they'd try with their money and not mine next time. People might think I am complaining about the incompetent government, and I am. But, at least in canceling this dumb campaign, they made the right decision. Why in the hell should I have to pay for Joe Six-pack to visit Japan? Does he pay for me to go on vacation to his country?




*That's tue: This contest is a farce and not real... Just like the vacation to Japan contest was also. Sorry.

Tokyo's Top Morning FM Radio Show Returns For One Day: Jan. 3, 2012

Win a state-of-the art Dyson dc36 vacuum cleaner! Or an Antelope Zodiac DAC converter that converts MP3 to mighty digital audio! How about romantic helicopter tours for two around Tokyo! 2 people will win iPod iTouch! Over 40 pairs of ski lift tickets to Japan's top ski resorts and much more! All for free! All you have to do is listen! InterFM Special: 

Tuesday January 3, 2012 from 7:00 am ~ 11:00 am on 76.1 InterFM. 

"InterFM New Year's Holiday Special 2012 - Bam!" 


新春初笑い 2012年1月3日奴等が朝に帰って来る！76.1mhzインターＦＭ朝7時～　GMTの3人が沢山のお年玉をプレゼント！！日本においでの方、関東においでの方は是非お聞きくださいませ。

From April of 2006 to October of 2009, the highest rated and most popular radio show at the time was "Good Morning Garage." "GMG" as it was called was the flagship morning show of 76.1 InterFM and was the first time in that station's history to be #1 in ratings in the extremely competitive Tokyo Morning FM radio drive time competitive slot.

L to R: George, Taro, Mike

GMG was the first time that 76.1 InterFM beat the dominant Tokyo FM radio station, J-Wave, in ratings. It was the last time also.


On Tuesday January 3, 2012 the GMG gang with Wakana san will be back for a four hour special that will also feature Feng Shui trainer Shiuma san. It's going to be a blast.


Not only that, there's tons of presents too!


One lucky winner will get a chance to win an Antelope Zodiac DAC converter. This fantastic device converts your crappy sounding MP3 sound files into awesome sounding digital music the way it's supposed to sound.

Another lucky winner will also win the world's best vacuum cleaner, a Dyson DC36!

A lucky pair will win a romantic helicopter tour around Tokyo (just like Tom Cruise had) courtesy of Excel Airport!

Two lucky people will win an iPod Touch!

Three people will win ¥5000 coupons for flower arrangements from "Hana Boukujyo"

And five people will win "Boardsmart face masks" and forty lucky couples will win free ski-lift tickets for Japan's top ski and snow board resorts courtesy of Boardsmart.

And there's much more!


The show is entitled "InterFM New Year's Holiday Special 2012 - Bam!" (featuring George Williams, Taro Furukawa, Wakana san, Feng shui trainer  Shiuma san and finally, me, Mike Rogers)

Left: Wakana san Right: Shiuma san

That's Tuesday January 3, 2012 from 7:00 am ~ 11:00 am on 76.1 InterFM.


Click here to see all the great prizes lined up.


*some images above are not exact 

Japan is Freer Than the USA #3

The recent blogs about how bad the USA have become have really hit a nerve with some Americans. I keep getting more comments from one guy who seems like he just can't stand it when someone makes a remark like "Japan is better place to live than the USA." 


This entire conversation started with an letter I received from a friend. I reprinted it in "Japan is a Much Freer and Better Place to Live Than the United States." The letter, from an ex-pat American living in Northern Japan was just a slice of life that, for me, represents how much better and safer and freer Japan is than today's USA. 

PIANISTAR HIROSHI

I used the anecdotal story in the letter to say Japan was a better because Japan has much less crime and much more personal freedom than today's USA does.


This reader got upset and made some strange remark about how I always talk about facts, but had no facts to back up my claim. Gee? The statement "Japan is a Freer and Much Better place to Live than the USA" is a pretty subjective statement. Do I even need to back up subjective statements with facts? 


If I say that the Beatles are better than the Rolling Stones, is it normal to be asked to show some sort of proof? 


I think, like in the letter I reprinted, the fact that kids can play on the beach without adult supervision shows a very safe society without fear of crime and the ability to smoke or drink in public - while small things - and something that one cannot do in the USA anymore - are a sign of a society that shows common sense. These things are in very short supply in the USA police state. Small freedoms add up to a lot of freedom.


He wanted facts about why I thought the USA has lost it. I gave him an entire list of them.   


The first on the list, "The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world and the largest total prison population on the entire globe" should have ended the discussion, but it didn't. 


This is an embarrassment to every American. They should be ashamed. But, once again just shows another problem with the USA; A lack of freedom of the mind.  

"None are more hopelessly enslaved than 

those who falsely believe they are free."

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Some of the other items on this list should have ended the argument too... They were: There are more reported rapes in the United States each year than anywhere else in the world. There are more reported murders in the United States each year than anywhere else in the world. There are more total crimes in the United States each year than anywhere else in the world. The list went on.

Anyway, for the sake of fairness (and fun) let me print this reader's letter in entirety. His comments are highlighted in yellow.

Anonymous said...

As the writer who so rankles the blogger enough to warrant a follow-up blog post,

Don't flatter yourself. This is a blog. Good bloggers interact with the readers I think that is common knowledge

I would like to respond that I agree that the military industrial complex, the drug war, and our privatized prison system represent detestable facts. 

OK. That's a huge chunk of what life is the USA is all about nowadays. The military industrial complex is responsible for the drug wars, foreign wars, loss of freedoms (even the loss of freedom of speech)... But he wants to move on and ignore the 900-pound goriila in the room. He writes: 

But so is Japan's 99% conviction rate. 

It strikes me as odd that a person from a country that has so many lawyers and such massive litigation going on all the time, that they point out to anything involving the legal system. And, he is not looking at the entire picture. Japan has a high conviction rate because lawyers and the police will not go to court unless they are pretty damned sure of winning. Here's your proof of that: 

J. Mark Ramseyer of Harvard Law School and Eric B. Rasmusen of Indiana University examine if the accusation is in fact warranted. In their paper ("Why Is the Japanese Conviction Rate So High?") they examined two possibilities. One is that judges who come under the control of central bureaucracy are pressured to pass a guilty verdict, ensuring high conviction. Another possibility is that, given that non jury system under inquisition system has predictable ruling on guilt, prosecutors rarely ever bring a case which have even minute chance of failure.  

Entire Japanese court ruling is accessible in digital format and the two academics examined every case after WWII in which the court found the defendant not guilty. The result is mixed. 

...by examining the individual cases, the two academic founds that all of those cases which negatively affected judges career had political implication (such as labour law or electoral law) and that the facts of the case (i.e. the defendants committing the accused deed) itself was never in dispute. However, Judged delivered not guilty verdict on technical basis such as statute of limitation or constitutional argument, which was subsequently reversed in higher court. In cases in which the judge delivered not guilty verdict because they ruled that there are insufficient evidence to ascertain that the defendants did the accused deed, the judged suffered no negative consequence. For this reason, the paper argued that Japanese judges are politically conservative in legal interpretation but are not biased in matter of fact.

In the matter relating to Japanese prosecutor being extremely cautious, the paper found ample evidence for it. In Japan, 99.7% of case brought to court result in conviction while in U.S. it is 88%. 

According to a cited research, In U.S. the 22% of federal case and 11% of state case, the accused contest the guilt while in Japan, the ratio is modestly less. The paper attribute this difference to greater predictability of the outcome in Japanese case. This is due to two reason. One is that it is judge rather than jury who determine the verdict. As judged "have seen it all before" and the lawyers on both side "have seen them seeing it" as they can read judge's previous ruling, which include written reasoning for previous verdict, the way judge think and argue is very predictable.

So is the deep control the LDP government exerts over the press. 

This guy has got to be kidding me, right? Talk about people in glass houses throwing stones! Are we talking abut a guy from a country complaining that the government controls the media? A guy from the very same country that has a lap dog media that cheered the USA invasion of Afghanistan, Iraq? This point is so absurd that it is laughable. Perhaps the LDP "controls" the media? It can't be any worse than the USA whose media cheers on wars that bomb and kill hundreds of thousands of brown-skinned men, women and children 24/7. Let's not forget that the USA also has a public that gave its president a 92% approval rating while doing so. 

So is the power of the bureaucracy and the corruptive, malignant influence of amakudari. 

Seriously. This is another joke again, right? Never heard of Washington's revolving door? This guy complains about revolving door politics and business yet  he comes from a country where a president's son becomes president 8 years after dad? Name one other country like that! Quick! 

Like father, like son

So what I have a problem with is absolutist statements like "Japan is freer than the U.S." 

No. He has a problem with a subjective statement like "Japan is Freer Than the United States." Even so, I stand by my subjective statement, "Japan is a freer nation and a better place to live than the USA". I've given a list of facts and data. I've even given anecdotal evidence and the guy gets difficult - and rude on top of that! 

But, I know the truth is that he probably fears what I have made an opinion on is too close to home and is an ugly truth. People just don't like to admit it and they get mad at someone like me stating so. I suspect that he's had this argument with others before and is taking it out on me. The Internet is full of articles on America's loss of freedom. And, as if it really matters what I think. A good example for this guy's chip on the shoulder attitude is like a guy who buys a crap car. He knows he bought a lemon and the car is no good, but doesn't like it if you tell him that.  

Why does the guy get pissy with me? I don't know. I never insulted him! Why do Americans take everything so personal and are so abusive? Do a Google search on "America is Losing Freedom" and you'll get 61 million results. Do a Google search on "America Police State" and you get 108 million results. This guy needs to wake from his slumber.

And I have serious doubts about whether your way of defining freedom are sound. 

Gee. I gave an anecdotal example. The reader asked for data. I gave him that too. Japan has much lower crime, a much safer society, people live longer, universal health care, the best public transit system in the world, people have more respect for each other (say, if you drop your camera in the park, it will probably still be there a few hours later when you go looking for it), and many small personal freedoms that are not available in the USA, etc. etc. 

Make no mistake about it. These above are freedoms. At the very least they are the freedom from fear and worry.

You write so much about critical thinking but I find obesity, divorce rates, and drug abuse have little to do with a society's freedom. It seems you conflate lifestyle choices with freedom, misrepresenting your argument. 

This guy is confused and needs to read more and study. For one, obesity is not a "lifestyle choice." Obesity is a disease. Obesity is a prison. Does anyone in their right mind think people want to be fat? Two, drugs? Drugs are a sickness and a sort of prison too. Healthy people do not abuse drugs. America's well documented problems with over-the-counter and illegal severe drug abuse is the sign of a very sick society. Divorce is just another sign of unhappy people. Nobody wants to get a divorce either. They do it when they find that they need "out." This is caused by many factors; extra marital affairs, drug and alcohol abuse, money, etc. etc. Getting a divorce is a very expensive process it is not a "lifestyle choice." Either way, a high divorce rate is also a sign of a very ill society. 

A lifestyle choice is things like how people dress, wear their hair, where they want to live... These things he mentions are not lifestyle choices by any stretch of the imagination.

It would have been much more sufficiently argumentative had you described the difference as one of quality of life rather than freedom. Linking your Lew Rockwell articles doesn't mean diddley-squat to me. I don't give a hoot who Rockwell is. The guy carries nothing in the way of legitimate scholarship as far as I'm concerned. Just another American fringe movement. 

This guy complains about subjective statements but thinks "Quality of Life" is less subjective than "Freedom"? I don't follow that reasoning at all. He also wrote, "I don't give a hoot who Rockwell is. The guy carries nothing in the way of legitimate scholarship as far as I'm concerned. Just another American fringe movement." Well, pardon me, your royal highness! Lew Rockwell only gets between about 600,000 to 1.8 million unique users per day and is the #5,677 most popular blog on the entire Internet. Not bad when there are over 1 trillion sites according to Google. That blows away sites like New Republic. He also only has some of the best political and social writers in America today (and Canada and Europe) on his roster. And, just because this guy is not clued in and doesn't know, Lew Rockwell is the #27 most popular political website on the Internet in the entire world today. 

And what the hell is a "free market anarchist?" Would love to read your blog on that one.

This guy sure likes to act intelligent but he isn't well-read, is he? Not only does he need to read more, but he also needs to learn how to use Google search engine. Open Google.com. In the box type in "Free market anarchist." You will see nearly 4 million results. Gee! It's so unknown that there's even a Wikipedia page for it. 


I'm sure as usual it will be extremely offensive.

Well, have a nice day to you, too my friend. The only thing offensive here is this guy's self-centered attitude. I write a statement that Japan is a freer place than the USA and mention safety and smoking and drinking in public and he calls that offensive? Someone certainly has a problem here. 

This guy is the perfect example of one more thing about Japan that blows the USA away. In the USA, way too many people are very rude and argumentative. If you go to, say, a bar and state an opinion about something like politics (or some other trivial matter) if someone disagrees with you, you could get into an argument. Or worse, you could get into a fist fight. Or even shot! Americans are famous the world over for being loud, interrupting each other all the time, being argumentative and boisterous.

But, in Japan, if you state some opinion that someone disagrees with, you won't get into a fight. If I say something like, "Tokyo is a better place to live than Osaka." The typical Japanese reaction would be, "Oh?" And that would be the end of it. But not that American. He gets angry and rude. Typical.

This reader is in serious denial. Its because of people like him that the United States keeps going downhill: You can't get better until you get out of denial and face the problems truthfully.

I remember living in Southern California a long time ago and thinking, "This would be the best place to live in the world... If only there were no people."


Another good reason Japan is a better place to live: People have manners and still have respect for each other. Something that seems to have died off in far too many Americans long ago. This reader doesn't seem to have much.


For more on how badly life has gotten in the USA, read; "18 Signs That the Collapse of Society is Accelerating." I highly recommend reading the commentaries by Americans who despair the decline of that country.


UPDATE: Escape From America
Life is mellower almost anywhere else, says Jeff Berwick.