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In contrast to my most recent post, I'd like to share something more upbeat today. That is, having the complexion of skin I have and being in Japan means that I automatically stand-out...or, am somewhat "easy to spot" in a crowd. (lol) Being blessed with the ability I have to understand, read, write, and speak the language helps me get what I want generally speaking, in terms of day-to-day life here in Japan. Combining these two things means that members of the media are often quite eager to hear my opinion on various matters such as labor issues (a hot topic in Japan, by the way) or just life in general as a foreigner living in Japan. So I was quite glad when 2 weekends ago, I was walking in downtown Tokyo and got interviewed by two kind gentlemen who work for a major broadcasting corporation called TV Asahi. While I cannot say for sure, they sounded confident that the short interview I took would "make the editor's cut" and so on 7 pm May 29 (JST), there is a farily high probability that I will make a brief appearance on this TV show: ‭http://www.tv-asahi.co.jp/pr/contents/20180529_15647.html‬ Oh and the answer is "YES!"--I am more than happy to do children's parties. ;)) # It's not "Nihongo", it's ニッポンゴ：‭https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E8%AA%9E#Japanese‬ # やる気なし男：‭https://yarukinashio.com/‬ # テレビ朝日：‭http://www.tv-asahi.co.jp/‬ # Q: いつするの？ # A: ナウでしょっ！（笑）：‭http://www.tv-asahi.co.jp/imadesho/‬

Being born not too far from the Corporate Headquarters of such High-tech Heavyweights such as Hewlett Packard, Apple, and Google is quite a blessing. Spending the majority of my formative years not too far from what is now known as Silicon Valley is an additional blessing. So, when I decided to say goodbye to "working for the man" and try to go out on my own late last year, the whole concept of being an entreprenuer was not a foreign one to me. Even though it was my first time to attempt to go into business for myself, I felt confident in my ability to make it happen and I had faith that those around me would support me in my endeavors. Sadly though, my personal experience has been quite the reverse. Ever since trying to go out on my own, I've had one company cancel some work I agreed to do, I've had quite a few people judge me in a negative way, try to stop me, and even some public servants in this beautiful island country seemed quite reluctant to "serve me" the information I had requested, despite the fact that their salaries are paid for by taxes which the citizens pay...hence the term "koumuin（公務員）" in Japanese. Anyhow, I say this simply because I have discovered that Japan feels very close to Heaven as long as someone agrees to abide by the Japanese Labor Law（労働基準法）and follow the Company Guidelines（就業規則）as defined by that person's employer. This is called full-time employment or "正社員" in Japanese. Being a Freelance Contractor（個人事業主）or a small business owner（零細企業の社長）however, is quite another thing. And I personally feel sad that despite the fact that I have been very clear on social media that I am no longer "working for anyone" in the sense that I am my own boss, still quite a few people feel comfortable in their attempts to boss me around and treat me like an employee. Well, just to be clear--I am my own boss now and if there is any lack of clarity to this statement, I will be more than happy to connect you with my legal representation in Japan. That's all I'm going to say for now. Thanks for reading and I wish you all a good day, evening, or night, depending on the time zone in which you are currently in.

Modern technology is great. Thanks to generations of people from all over the world who have made their mark on the contribution to the evolution of technology, many of us can easily enjoy the power of a computer in a phone. Utilizing the numerous apps available to us, we can now easily search for, identify, and then sign-up for events, etc. that perk our interest. One of my cousins serves honorably in the United States Air Force and one of his hobbies is photography. So, I thought I’d follow suit and try my hand at a few photos of two of the most historic locations in Tokyo, Japan: Nihonbashi and Ginza On this beautiful day here in Japan’s capitol, I got to meet new people, make new friends, and take some pictures that I’ll be sharing at some point in the future. What a lucky guy I am! :) # It’s not カノン、it’s キャノン：http://canon.jp/ # Q: What does the word 『接吻』mean to you? # A: http://cweb.canon.jp/eos/lineup/kissx90/index.html # Q: How do you say “smartphone” in Japanese? # A: https://www.apple.com/jp/iphone-x/ # Q: How do you say “shopping in Japanese? # A: https://ja.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%8A%80%E5%BA%A7 # The financial meltdown of 2008 shortened my working life here, but still love the area: https://ja.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E6%A9%8B_(%E6%9D%B1%E4%BA%AC%E9%83%BD%E4%B8%AD%E5%A4%AE%E5%8C%BA) # Appreciate the platform as well as the opportunities to easily meet new people & make new friends: https://www.meetup.com/ # Thank you for your service: http://www.af.mil/

Losing two sources of income in the period of approximately 5 weeks is no fun...trust me, I know from personal experience! At the same time however, The Universe blessed me with the opportunity to dust off what I learned in college about Economics and how money works. As I quoted my textbook in an earlier post, "Money is what money does". It took quite a bit of fortitude, faith, strength of will, and a lot of maneuvering to get through to the other side but as of writing this post, it looks like I'm all set for "clear skies ahead" as I attempt to go out on my own as an entreprenaur here in beautiful Japan. Having the blessing of a good education is enough for me to be grateful for as-is. Having devoted a fair amount of my life to learning the Japanese language is another blessing in that it has opened up my mind to different ways of looking at things..."a new lens on life", one might say. In that sense, finding a 5-yen coin on the ground this morning was doubly auspicous as I try to ensure that my financial life remains in tact. In that sense, I say to everyone reading this post: 良いご縁がありますように！(⋈◍＞◡＜◍)。✧♡ Q: What is Daniel talking about? A: https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BA%94%E5%86%86%E7%A1%AC%E8%B2%A8     & https://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q136487928

Helping other human beings is part of what makes us human, I believe. In that sense, being a native of California who has been blessed by the Ministry of Justice here in beautiful Japan with permanent residency--contributing to the sales of a company with its base from my hometown is simply second nature. It's been a lot more time consuming than I thought to get incorporated and then actually start doing "business" in Japan, but I do believe that persistence pays off. This concept is actually displayed in one of the words that is most commonly found in the Japanese lexicon. The word "Ganbaru"（頑張る）can take on a wide variety of transformations when applying it to the English language. If one looks carefully at the Chinese characters contained in this word though, it is quite easy to see that "being stubborn" and "putting one's foot down" so-to-speak is generally a key to getting what you want in life. Part of the reason I remember this point so well is that, among the many blessings I've had in my life--one of them includes being selected by the Japanese Ministry of Education for a scholarship program back in my junior year of college. I still remember one of the questions on the Japanese proficiency test I took back in the Spring of 1994. It was a multiple-choice question (all written in Japanese, by the way), asking the reader if the word "頑張る" should be considered in a positive or negative light. I can't remember the answer I chose, nor do I know if I got the right answer...that's beside the point. What I want to say in this post is simply, I'm a lucky guy who has full faith that brighter days are ahead. Why? Well, that answer is simple: I've remained a very stubborn guy who is now putting his foot down. I feel like The Universe is on my side and I've got nothing but Faith and Ambition that in the end, things will work out just fine. 'Nuff said. Thanks for reading and PEACE! :) Big love, Dan # You continue to Zazzle me: ‭https://www.zazzle.com/‬ # It's not 仮ふぉりニア臭、it's Califo~~~~nia: ‭https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California‬ # Q: So what does "頑張る" mean after all? # A: ‭https://www.weblio.jp/content/%E9%A0%91%E5%

What an honor it was to be invited by The Deputy Chief of Mission of the Embassy of the United States of America along with my fellow Hoyas in Japan, just the other day. Feeling blessed to have attended (and actually graduate from! [lol]) the same university as the current Foreign Minister of Japan. :) # Big on Respect: http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/annai/honsho/gaisho/ # Q: What does “Hoya Saxa” mean? # A: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoya_Saxa # Yes, I *do* Wanna Rock: https://g.co/kgs/ZRJEmh # Gettin’ Better Everyday: https://g.co/kgs/wV5jR6

Ladies & Gentlemen, Once again, thank you for remembering “Daniel the Recruiter”—I appreciate it and it’s an honor, truly. And yes indeed, for 17 years I had the pleasure of working for various companies as what’s known as a “contingency recruiter”. It was my dream to become what’s called an “executive recruiter”, and I was blessed with the experience to get my feet wet in that arena as well. Now however, I am trying to build my own team and as previously mentioned, I do no currently possess the license to recruit. So again, I am sorry but I cannot find you a job and no, I cannot make introductions of job seekers to help your u build your team. Please contact someone else, if that is your agenda. On a separate but related topic, I the very near future, I will be changing the settings on the various social media sites that I am on so that I can only be contacted via email. Why? Because I need to concentrate. So, if you would like to reach out to me for a business idea / proposal, please feel free to contact me at: [email protected] If you would like to contact me about something as a friend or for a more personal manner, please feel free to send me an email at: [email protected] Thank you for your understanding and have a great day. #Q: How do you say “concentration” in Japanese? #A: https://www.weblio.jp/content/%E9%9B%86%E4%B8%AD

Americans love plastic money and me being born and raised in the USA...well, let’s just say that I’m your “average / typical kind-of-guy” when it comes to this sort of thing. (lol) Seriously though, I applied for what was—at the time—an MBNA Georgetown University credit card as a freshman waaaaaaay back in 1992 (yes, I’m *that old*...hehe). ;) During a very brief and recent business trip back to California, I picked up what is now my Bank of America Georgetown Alumni Association credit card. This brought back memories of some of the classes I took in Economics back in the day...I still remember one line the textbook of Econ 101 where the question posed was: “What is Money?” The answer immediately under that was: “Money is what money does” I like that answer a lot because as we move into a very exciting age where things like crypto currencies and terms like “Initial Coin Offering” are being thrown around, I enjoy recalling how minoring in Economics really opened my eyes and changed how I saw the world in terms of how supply and demand work, as well as how countries deal with challenging issues, such as fiscal policy, etc. Thanks for reading and wish you all a great day, evening, or whatever the appropriate term is depending on the time zone you’re in! :) PEACE! ;) # Q: How do you say “Economics” in Japanese? # A: https://ja.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%B5%8C%E6%B8%88%E5%AD%A6

As I am preparing to get incorporated in more than just one country, I have been spending quite a bit of time lately at City Halls and other government buildings here in Japan. I’ve discovered, as with many things in life, that things aren’t necessarily what they appear to be initially. I believe it is also noteworthy to point out that the “convergence point” if-you-will, on what Buddhism and Quantum Physics say about the world and things not appearing as they are, is quite fascinating to say the least.

Late last year, I had the opportunity to send three letters to a certain company via registered mail. Well, the Japanese postal office did not disappoint. Not only did this organization deliver on time and accurately, but within just a few days of each visit to the Post Office I received an official notice stating that each letter had been successfully delivered to the intended recipient. Domo Arigato, Mr. Yubinkyoku! :) # Q: How do you say “registered mail” in Japanese? # A: http://www.post.japanpost.jp/service/fuka_service/syomei/ #They Deliver Results: https://www.japanpost.jp/ # 『心を動かす音楽の感動』はアーティストが本物であれば作られるし、伝わって来る：https://youtu.be/YIQsuNMncBo

Being a Hilton Honors Member is well, quite an honor simply put. In fact, I took my new-found freedom (= no boss) and decided to take a drive out to Odaiba, Tokyo. There is a Hilton Hotel in that area, by the way and in fact, one of my good friends got married there this past February. So as a part of my visit to Odaiba on this beautiful Spring day, I also decided to stop by and see what all the hubbub was about. And, I can see why my friend and his fiancé chose the chapel here because at least from the outside, it truly looks beautiful! Wow, I wish I could have been there for the wedding... Oh well, as my mother once said, “if that is the biggest worry in my life, I’m a lucky person.” And yes, I agree because as I stated yesterday, I feel not just lucky, but blessed as well! Damn, life is good! :) # Hilton Honors (in Japanese): http://hiltonhotels.jp/hhonors/ # Hilton Tokyo Odaiba (in English): http://www3.hilton.com/en/hotels/japan/hilton-tokyo-odaiba-TYOTOHI/index.html? #Q: A wedding is an event, correct? #A: Yes, indeed: http://www3.hilton.com/en/hotels/japan/hilton-tokyo-odaiba-TYOTOHI/event/index.html # A great place to visit: https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3008.html

For highly personal reasons, it was extremely important to serve as a volunteer at a children’s hospital not too far from where I live here in Tokyo, Japan. While the original seminar I attended was last November, it took me until today to actually get started. My name is Daniel Woolpert, I am one heck of a lucky guy. :) #Q: How do you say “medical care” in Japanese? #A: https://ja.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8C%BB%E7%99%82 # 国立生育医療センター：https://www.ncchd.go.jp/

Ladies & Gentlemen, First off, please allow me to thank each and every one of you who remembers “Daniel The Recruiter”. As previously stated on two separate occasions on social media, as of autumn of last year, this persona no longer exists. While I like and respect the profession of recruiting and headhunting, I currently do not possess the license to conduct such activities within the beautiful island of Japan... Furthermore, to be more specific—at the current moment—I do not wish to own such a license, either. So, please, please, PLEASE stop asking me to find you or your friend a job...also, even though I’d *love* to work for free until someone actually receives an offer, accepts said offer, and then *actually joins* the company I have introduced, I am actually rather busy doing other things. There are plenty of reputable recruiting companies here in Japan as well as here in Tokyo. Please contact them. Thank you in advance and 宜しくお願いしマ〜ッスル❣️💪 #先ずは法律から勉強しましょう：https://jsite.mhlw.go.jp/tokyo-roudoukyoku/ #Q: How can I study about the Japanese Labor Law? #A: http://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsuite/bunya/koyou_roudou/roudoukijun/index.html #働いて笑おう❣️：https://www.persol-group.co.jp/brand/index.html

While I have previously expressed my affection for The Westin brand, as well as a few other sterling names in the world of Hotel Management & Hospitality, I must confess that as a World Of Hyatt member, I am also quite partial to the various venues that are a part of the Hyatt Brand. Of course there is the Park Hyatt in western Shinjuku, which was featured in the 2003 movie “Lost in Translation”. Not far from there is the more mid-range Hyatt Regency, which is also a favorite among some of the overseas executives who visit Tokyo. The luxurious Andaz Tokyo in the beautiful Toranomon Hills is also a place not to miss. However I am human after all, and that means that by definition I am biased. For me, the Grand Hyatt Tokyo Hotel which adjoins Roppongi Hills has the balance of convenience of location, warm atmosphere, and the high quality of service one would expect from an establishment carrying the Hyatt name. And by the way, if someone is looking to have a wedding ceremony, in my person opinion the people at Grand Hyatt Tokyo will take great care of you and that you will be satisfied with the high quality of service provided. # Lost in Translation: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0335266/ # Park Hyatt: https://m.hyatt.com/mt/tokyo.park.hyatt.com/en/hotel/home.html # Hyatt Regency: https://m.hyatt.com/mt/tokyo.regency.hyatt.com/en/hotel/home.html # The Andaz: https://m.hyatt.com/mt/tokyo.andaz.hyatt.com/en/hotel/home.html # My Favorite: https://m.hyatt.com/mt/tokyo.grand.hyatt.com/en/hotel/home.html # A Great Place to Exchange Vows: https://www.tokyo.grand.hyatt.co.jp/wedding/gallery/#grand-chapel

Seven year’s ago on this day, Northern Japan was struck by a series of disasters, the first of which was an incredibly powerful earthquake that hit at 2:46pm on March 11. The trembling of the planet’s tectonic plates shifting was felt quite strongly even here in Tokyo, where I have been living for the past 18 years. I’m both lucky and fortunate enough to be in a position where I can give / donate money. However, there *are* things that money simply cannot buy. One of those is healthy blood, another thing that The Universe (←feel free to insert “God”, “Allah”, or any other word you like here) has blessed me with. So, on this lovely day here in beautiful Tokyo, Japan I was extremely glad that I could donate 400ml of blood. It turns out that my blood type is “A positive”, or as a teacher might say, “A Plus”...hey, that’s a grade I’d love to have on my report card! ;)) I was also pleased to know that today was the 40th time I have donated blood ever since registering with Japan’s Red Cross many years ago. Being able to do this is not something I feel deserves bragging rights, however. Rather, these are blessings and I feel both privileged and honored that my donations have gone to people whose bodies need blood. Another blessing that I am grateful for is, today is what the Japanese call an 一粒万倍日。To put it in very simple terms, an “Ichiryu Manbai-Bi” is an extremely lucky day. To me, that means that if anyone starts anything new such as a new diet, a new goal, or a new habit, that newly formed goal will most likely succeed. As of now, my goal is to help people in general, but more specifically the people who continue to be adversely affected by the events that occurred 7 years ago in this beautiful country. In conclusion, Pray for Japan and Remember Hope....’Nuff said. #ご冥福をお祈り致します：https://ja.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%9D%B1%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E5%A4%A7%E9%9C%87%E7%81%BD # Remember Hope: https://www.amwaylive.com/content/asia-pac/japan/amwaylive/feature/rememberhope/index.html # Together for Humanity: http://www.jrc.or.jp/ # Appreciate the staff’s hard work: http://www.tokyo.bc.jrc.or.jp/rooms/roomhp/room18.html

Last night I had the distinct honor to spend time with a fellow Hoya who recently competed in the Winter Olympics on the US Bobsled Team. Aside from being an extremely nice, down-to-Earth, photogenic, *and* highly intelligent guy, Christopher Kenny is the kind of athlete that sporting goods companies make customized products for...in a word, “RESPECT”. I also appreciate the organizers of the event, as well as those who braved the rain and cold weather to join us. I’m a lucky guy to be able to rub elbows with such fine people. Thanks! :) #Respect The Man: https://www.teamusa.org/usa-bobsled-skeleton-federation/athletes/Chris-Kinney #Respect The Team: https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Bobsled-Skeleton-Federation #Proud to be a Hoya: https://www.georgetown.edu/ #Q: Who is “Jack the Bulldog”? #A: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_the_Bulldog #Appreciate the service: https://www.bagus-99.com/public6/

While it’s not in my nature to take a hand-out, some unexpected events that took place last Autumn more-or-less forced me to apply for unemployment insurance. The government body that managed that section of social welfare is affectionately called Hello Work. If someone follows the procedures and is deemed unemployed (= working less than 20 hours per week), then the Japanese government pays out a certain some of money to that person. It’s not a lot but certainly does help. As I’m setting up shop in the Shibuya Ward of Tokyo, I registered with that arm of Hello Work and from late last November up until early February, things were going smoothly. Unfortunately though, that all came to a grinding halt when on 2/8 (my 認定日), I got “the new guy”. To make a long story short, I was denied my stipend despite 3 straight days of visiting him and “following the rules”, which is a very important thing in Japan. Luckily though, fast forward a month and on my last day of eligibility, a very kind-hearted gentleman helped me and soon I’ll be getting two month’s worth of stipends. Thank you, 曽我さん❣️ P.S. As some of you might have already guessed, my LLC is still in the pipelines and technically doesn’t exist yet. That means I’m not a 社長…rather, I’m a プー太郎。（爆） #Good-bye pride, Hello Work (Shibuya): http://tokyo-hellowork.jsite.mhlw.go.jp/list/shibuya.html