さよなら
Goodbye from Tokyo!
Thank you for reading my Japan adventures! Shall good fortunes continue— I hope to finish my Year of Travel in Eurasia- between Turkey (E), Spain (W), Sweden (N), and Saudi Arabia (S).
On the Agenda
(Travel) Osaka
(Travel) Tokyo
(Travel) FAQ
(Essay) Hardware vs Software
(Essay) Future of Tech
⭐️ Humans of the World 💂
(Guide) Build a Personal Brand
(Guide) Build a Social Media Agency
(Bonus) Birth of a Foodie
One Year of Travel, New Year New Me Series ✈️🌍
Leo left his corporate job to embark on a “One Year of Travel, New Year New Me”® challenge, where he spends 12 months in 12 countries. So far he’s lived in Bali, Portugal, Vietnam, South Africa, Argentina, Colombia, Australia, and Japan (in that order). Follow along!
Part 1: Osaka
Last week, I rated Osaka an A-tier city. Following my own guidance, I took a bullet train back there at the beginning of the week.
We discover what we like by trying a bunch of things. So today I’d like to rate a few of my experiences.
Attempting Acroyoga:
Three positions: Base, Flyer, & Spotter. Two styles: Solar (energetic) & Lunar (stretching, massage).
Making Takoyaki, Octopus Dumplings:
Takoyaki is a specialty of Osaka.
Visiting the Cup Noodles 🍜 Museum:
I made my own cup noodles! You can choose between 4 toppings and 4 sauce packets,
Kushikatsu (fried skewers)
An Osakan specialty. Deep-fried vegetables / meat / seafood.
Going to a Bar:
My friend Ako says “Listen to Your Whole Body.” My body says: Loud music calms me. The buzzing of the crowd calms me & lets me focus. My Apple Watch says my heart rate stays at resting during music concerts.
At the bar, I didn’t feel like talking to anyone, so I ended up playing Jenga by myself for the whole night.
Osaka Verdict?
Osakans are more laid-back, friendly & outgoing compared to their Tokyo counterparts. As I’m an introvert I appreciate & embrace the reserved nature of Tokyoites.
Part 2: Tokyo
After a few days in Osaka, I felt bored & suffocated. So I quickly moved back to Tokyo.
I had dinner with some writing friends:
And I took a Calligraphy Class:
Japanese has 3 alphabets: Hiragana, Katakana, Kanji.
Hiragana & Katakana are phonetic alphabets - like the English alphabet. Meaning you can tell how a word sounds just by looking at the characters.
Kanji - like Chinese Script - is not. Each character has its own meaning & sound and you have to learn them separately.
The difference between Hiragana and Katakana is that Katakana is used with foreign words. Japanese text likely has a combination of all 3— with Hiragana being the most popular, followed by Kanji and Katakana.
Eating at Ichiran:
⭐️ Rating: 8.5/10. World-famous Tonkatsu ramen. Special red sauce (sweet + spicy).
Visiting a Jazz Kissa:
Jazz cafe, Japanese style. CDs, Music, Speakers. No talking is permitted before 6pm. Many choose to read here as it’s a great place to work!
My 3 Favorite Spots in Tokyo
(1) Shibuya Crossing
My first and final stop. Spectacular. Enter nearby buildings such as Shibuya 109 or Miyashita Park for glamorous shopping experiences.
(2) Daikanyama
Daikanyama is a small walking quarter situated between Shibuya and Ebisu— two other great neighborhoods.
(3) Verve Coffee Roasters
My favorite place to work! Came here 10 days out of 30. They have a sister location in Shinjuku, but the Roppongi spot is better.
Tokyo Verdict?
Part 3: FAQ
Are you rich?
Believe it or not— this is the most common FAQ I get. I guess it’s what happens when I tell people “I’m a traveler”.
The answer is no. At least not yet 😂
I’m budget-conscious. I stay mostly in hostels or capsule hotels (the Japanese equivalent). They run as cheap as $27/night.
No, I don’t get paid to travel. I fund my entire “Year of Travel” from savings.
How much does it cost to travel?
Depends on your preferred lifestyle.
Want to be cheap? You can be really cheap. Want to be expensive? You can be really expensive.
I spent $20 a day living in Mexico & Southeast Asia.
I spent $24 a day buying avocado toast in Australia.
How much does “One Year of Travel, New Year New Me” cost?
When I left Amazon, I thought I had $20-30k or 6 months of expenses saved up. Turns out I had a bit more than that.
To date, I’ve spent $38,195.53. I started on Sept 1, 2022 and today is Apr 29, 2023. That’s 240 days aka 8 months.
Last month, I also received news of 2 pleasant surprises:
My Mother called me & told me she’d been holding onto money that my Grandmother had left for me. That money is now in my hands.
A $4,000 tax refund from the IRS.
Leo’s Portfolio (March vs April) 💰
Total Spent (8 months): $38,195.53
Total Spent (Expected 12 months): ~$50,000
One Year of Tuition at Cornell: $61,015
Given that (a) I’ve made more friends (b) learned more things (c) had more fun - it’s getting hard for me to justify the high price point of college.
Do you ever get tired of traveling?
During my 30 days in Japan, I booked 18 places, staying an average of 1.67 days in a place.
“Not Knowing Where I’m Staying That Same Night” — used to give me anxiety. Now I find it far less worrisome as it’s a matter of logistics.
Is it easy to live in a foreign country without speaking the language?
Yep, it’s quite easy.
The basics are the same, regardless of where you are.
Navigating the metro
Calling a cab
Ordering food
Booking a hotel
Finding friends
And they all become easier over time.
What’s the difference between a hostel and a Japanese capsule hotel?
A few key differences:
No shoes inside. Store them in a locker.
No private showers; only public baths. That means you have to get in a room with other naked men.
Check out every day from 10am to 2pm. In a regular hostel, you can keep your stuff by your bed if you’re staying for multiple nights. But in Japan you have to leave the hotel every day, so make sure to store your stuff in the main lobby and re-check in later.
Most have TVs inside (No other hostels in the world will have a TV)
Robes are provided
Different demographics. While some capsule hotels target tourists— I’ve stayed in many with a lot of older Japanese men in their 50s.
Expect 10/10 service. Japan really cares about hospitality — more than any other place in the world.
Why is Japan so clean?
A culture of organization, tidiness, discipline, diligence, structure, precision, punctuality, perfection, respect, responsibility, sanitation, and conformity.
“a place for everything and everything in its place”
Definition of a Mess: When something is where it doesn’t belong. That can be trash or anything else.
While Tokyo is one of the most crowded places on Earth yet it’s also the most efficient.
The trains are always on time.
Day in the Life of a Tokyo Metro Driver:
The people are austere, formal, polite.
Cleaning the streets is a bonding activity. I’ve seen groups of friends get together and clean up the streets on a weekend afternoon.
Eating or drinking in public is not allowed as it’s considered rude. As they say: “Food is supposed to be eaten at the place it was prepared.” When Starbucks expanded to Japan, it was considered a controversial move because people don’t like to drink & walk.
Japan is the only country that wore masks pre-covid. And a majority of people still wear masks post-covid.
MINIMALISM — (1) Remove everything that doesn’t belong. (2) That’s what you keep.
"I was obsessed with what I could throw away. One day, I had a kind of nervous breakdown and fainted. I was unconscious for two hours. When I came to, I heard a mysterious voice, like some god of tidying telling me to look at my things more closely. And I realized my mistake: I was only looking for things to throw out. What I should be doing is finding the things I want to keep. Identifying the things that make you happy: that is the work of tidying."
— Marie Kondo
If you were to start over, what‘s one thing you would do differently?
🎒 Pack less
🪶 Pack as lightly as possible
🚀 Pack like you’re going to the moon
Every additional ounce is a cumulative tax each time you pack/unpack & move around.
Expect wear & tear
Expect to replace things
So far I’ve had to change my phone, wallet, clothes, backpack & suitcase.
So you’re going back home to America after?
Uhh maybe?
I’d love to visit my Grandma & the dentist.
I’d also love to visit the South (New Orleans, Georgia)— it’s the only region in the US I haven’t been.
But beyond that, I don’t know!
I’m considering a Season 2 of “One Year of Travel, New Year New Me” in Jan 2024.
Got more questions?
4. Hardware vs Software
I’m in awe of Japanese manufacturing. Everything just works. Toilets, sinks, bidets, vending machines, food-ordering machines, hotel check-in machines, elevator buttons, etc.
The quality of life in Japan is high. Not everyone is rich, but the floor is very high.
Japanese physical goods & hardware are world-class.
The best cameras (Canon, Nikon, Panasonic), consumer electronics (Sony, Toshiba), and video game consoles (Nintendo, Playstation).
Construction (Komatsu) and Automobile (Toyota, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Daihatsu).
Clothing, Stationary, Furniture, Handheld Tools.
Vending machines.
While Japan excels in physical goods, it’s lacking in digital goods such as software.
Why doesn’t Japan have “Big Tech”?
The only software Japan is known to export is video games.
The 3 most popular social media apps in Japan are Line, Twitter, and Instagram - made in Korea, USA, and USA respectively.
Most Japanese people can’t speak English. Most programming languages are written in English.
But really?
Software developers get paid less than restaurant workers.
Devs earn ~$2k/mo (with some larger companies paying over $3k/mo). For reference, my entry-level salary at Amazon was $170k/yr or $14.2k/mo. 5-7x more than in Japan.
Silicon Valley vs Japan
Recently I watched a video where a YouTuber asked random people on the street in San Francisco questions on computer algorithms. People were cordial and it was generally well-received.
I cannot see it working nearly as well in Tokyo.
Takeaway: Since wages are a function of supply and demand— you can tell how much society values “a thing” based on its willingness to pay for it. Unless Japan changes its attitude towards software, I cannot see the country becoming a technology leader.
5. Future of Tech
🎓 1.5 years ago, I was an academic researcher at Cornell.
⚙️ 1 year ago, I was a software engineer at Amazon.
I spent 2 months in 2023 re-designing the computer science curriculum from scratch. My goal was to condense 4 years of university lectures into a 1hr workshop. Starting from first principles and adding tons of household analogies & metaphors.
Unfortunately, it became too large of a project and I couldn’t see an end in sight.
If you want to continue where I left off or use the content for any other purposes, please let me know!
I’m fairly certain I won’t re-enter software engineering / academia. My love for computer science doesn’t seem to translate to the workplace.
If you’re following technology news, you’ll know that there’s a lot of hype around Crypto and AI. Unfortunately, many people make delusional claims (probably out of ignorance). For example, there are people who actually believe an NFT is a JPG image… Let me take a moment to educate?
What’s the difference between technology and marketing?
Exhibit A: Technology vs Marketing
Exhibit B: Technology vs Marketing
Should I try to understand technology?
Honestly, probably not. It’s rather complicated and probably not worth your time. Just make sure not to listen to absurd claims and lose your money.
What’s your opinion on technology?
Well I personally believe AI / Crypto / NFTs are extremely overhyped and extremely extremely underrated. I still need more data on other technologies such as AR / VR / Quantum Computing.
Novel technologies open the design space for imagination.
With Autonomous Vehicles, you no longer need:
A Steering Wheel
Front-Facing Seats
So you have room for:
Surround Sound
A Display / TV
Then you can take:
Naps
Meetings
Better technology is better for everyone.
If Technologies vs When Technologies
People prefer cheaper, faster, better things. It’s why flying cars never came to fruition whereas electric autonomous vehicles will.
Cars replaced horses:
Smartphones replaced payphones:
Autonomous Vehicles will replace cars:
NFTs will replace Tickets, Receipts, PDF Contracts & QR Codes:
Blockchain will replace SQL & NoSQL databases:
Humans of the World Series 💂
Ordinary People Living Ordinary Lives
Our Mission: To shine a light on the human experience for what it is. To spotlight individual uniqueness. To make the world a kinder place through storytelling, relatability, and truth.
HotW #1: Introduction 👋
Leo, 23, Global
I am the creator of this project.
Q: What’s your favorite spot in the house and why?
“My favorite spot in the house is not inside but outside. I like a public place, usually indoors, that’s relatively quiet OR busy with chatter & music playing in the background.
A nice coffee shop, modern decor, soft pop music, Wi-Fi, a charging outlet, healthy food, safe, friendly waiters, good vibes, in a nice neighborhood or center of the city.
My office is my coffee shop. At first I had no choice (as I was living in hostels), but now I love it.”
Q: What’s one thing you’re struggling with or have struggled with in the past?
“I hear voices in my head that are not my own. It’s hard to separate my own desires from the perspectives of my friends, family, and society at large.
Society says: “What’s your job?”, “Where’s home for you?”, “How are you celebrating your birthday?”
What if you don’t have a job? What if you don’t have a home? What if you don’t celebrate your birthday?
To me it’s a constant battle between the voices of other people and the voice of my inner self.”
Hey! I’d love to feature you on Humans of the World. Please fill out this form 🙏❤️:
6. Build a Personal Brand
Note: I discovered Natsuko in the documentary “The Pursuit of Perfection” starring 4 Japanese chefs. I was very moved by her story. It was the first time I cried in a long time.
Meet Natsuko / Eteke
She makes cakes
Her restaurant is named Été
Natsuko infuses her love of fashion into her cakes.
“My peach cake, which uses two kinds of Japanese peaches and a custard filling, is inspired by my mother’s love for Chanel. I took inspiration from Chanel’s Matelassé bags and their diamond-shaped stitching, cutting the peaches and arranging them in a similar design.”
“My Bouton [French for button] cake alternates Shine Muskat and purple Nagano grape varieties with spoonfuls of lime-flavoured mascarpone cream, arranged to look like the Comme des Garçons’ dot pattern.”
“The Damier cake [French for checkerboard] replicates the Louis Vuitton Damier print using Akahoppe red and Awayuki white strawberries atop a layer of sponge.”
Natsuko leveraged her personal brand to achieve her dream of opening a restaurant.
“I wanted to start my own restaurant but I was only 23 so it was hard to get a loan.”
“Hiring staff, especially older male staff, was difficult.”
“So I set aside my dream to open a restaurant and focused on making cakes topped with seasonal fruit.”
“I developed my brand Été and created a following with my cakes.”
One year later I was then able to open my restaurant under the same roof, Été.
“I think there’s no one else doing anything like this.”
Natsuko uses her personal brand to accomplish things in other passions.
Sustainability
“For the past four years I have been working with Komaba Gakuen to recycle food waste, both from the culinary program and the cafeteria. The bio-based system produces organic fertilizer which is used for a garden near the school. Students take care of the garden and harvest tomatoes, eggplants, bell peppers and other vegetables that are used at the school. We are now recycling four and a half tons of waste a year from both the school and Été.”
Female Empowerment in Asia
Q: Where do you see yourself in 10 years? “I hope to continue mentoring young women to become chefs. Now that I have my brand I want to use it to help support female chefs.”
Sharing Her Personal Struggles
“My mother was very worried when I opened Été because I had to take out a loan from the bank. I had to work hard to support my family and my younger sister, who suffers from health problems. My father passed away when I was 21. I needed to be strong and successful.”
Her Father passed & she had to step away from the kitchen for a while.
A herniated disk put her in the hospital for a week and she had to recover at home for a month after surgery.
She was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Luckily it was caught in the early stages.
If Natsuko can do it, so can you! ⭐️
Personal Brand FAQ
What’s a personal brand?
🛍 Brand: How people feel about you.
🦸♂️ Personal Brand: How people feel about you.
What’s the difference between a personal brand and a traditional brand?
👧🏻 A person
🥤 A group of people
👧🏻 Known for you
🥤 Known for a product or service
👧🏻 Wide-ranging interests
🥤 Niche offerings
Key (👧🏻 = Personal Brand, 🥤 = Traditional Brand)
Why build a personal brand?
Well, now it’s actually possible. Before social media, it was really really difficult to achieve reach.
Now with how social media algorithms are designed today— it’s a lot easier for people to go viral and gain a following and be known for something.
Should everyone build a personal brand?
Like all things, nothing is for everybody. Here are some reasons why you might want to reconsider:
It’s hard work! The reality is many people will not enjoy the process of building a personal brand. You might rather want a quiet, private life.
Prepare for hate. Jesus Christ said “turn the other cheek” and got crucified. Gandhi preached non-violence and got shot to death. Can you stomach the ridicule that comes with being a public figure?
Can you actually provide value to people? Unfortunately, many creators bring little value to their audience. Showing a bikini photo may actually be a net negative for society as it might feed into other people’s insecurities.
What’s a good reason to build a personal brand?
You’ll have creative freedom. Unlike work or school, an employer or teacher can’t force you down any undesirable path. You will have control over what you want to make and how you want to make it.
Prepare for love. Finding your loyal fans is one of the most satisfying feelings in the world. It’s what motivates a lot of creators & artists to keep doing what they love.
It’s highly practical. Many things in life require the attention of at least one other person (eg. getting a job, making a friend, opening a restaurant). Having a strong personal brand will help you in whatever you want to accomplish.
If I’m starting from zero, what should I do?
Post content online! It’s free and you can get started today. Here are some tips:
Communicate your passions. Talk about what you want to talk about— not what you think others want you to talk about.
Friend the algorithm. Believe me— as someone who’s building a social media company— I have every incentive to match you with the people who’ll most likely be your true fans.
Patience & persistence. Building a personal brand will take a lot of work (& time). Don’t give up when you don’t see “results” too soon!
7. Build a Social Media Agency
Here’s how you can build a social media agency. We won’t cover finding clients or collecting payments & instead talk about the things you’ll work through with the client.
Disclaimer: This is only one viable path. Feel free to tweak as fit.
Case Study: Maison Margiela
Maison Margiela is a Parisian contemporary fashion brand known for its secretive and iconoclastic appeal. They have wide-ranging product lines from garments to bags to fragrances. Today we will focus on their signature “Replica” fragrance collection.
REPLICA
Maison Margiela’s first fragrance collection, Replica, was introduced in 2012 and remains an iconic best seller today with scents that resonate with everyone’s imagination. Irreverent names such as Lazy Sunday Morning and Beach Walk, re-transcribe the scents of our collective memory.
A. Brand Positioning
What do I stand for?
Every brand stands for something, or else they’d be spewing gibberish 😂
What do you make?
What’s the product or service?
What are your values (if any)?
B. Business Objective
What’s my business objective?
Most brands will have a sales target.
What’s positive ROI? Dollars Profited > Dollars Invested. Most brands will want direct sales, but some may want awareness and a few may even opt for a long-term brand-value play.
In the case of Maison Margiela, they may want X number of sales in the Spring / Summer season.
C. Consumer Segmentation
Who am I communicating with?
Every brand sells to different groups of people. Each group has its own preferences and motivations for buying. Communicate to them differently for more effectiveness.
Create 30-50 consumer segmentations:
Single Moms in Tokyo making over $100,000 a year
Female Fashion Students in London who care about Sustainability
English-Speaking Travel Vloggers who prioritize Comfort & Leisure
D. Platform Education
Understand the platforms.
Each platform has a unique audience and consumption pattern. The right strategy on LinkedIn is different than Snapchat is different than BeReal.
Features: LinkedIn Carousels, Instagram Green Screens, Snapchat Discover Shows.
Culture: We share different parts of ourselves on different platforms. Eg. Formal communication is expected on LinkedIn; informal chatter is promoted on Twitter.
Psychology: Did you know? There’s a positive correlation between Impermanence & Authenticity? 24hr Vanishing Stories let teenagers post party pics with less fear of retribution.
E. Platform Selection
Decide which platforms you want to be on.
A brand should ideally be on all of the platforms, but the reality is nothing in the world is “free” as you’ll either need to spend time or money. So it’s important to pick the areas with the highest leverage & most impact.
AUDIT
Maison Margiela is currently active on:
Instagram: @maisonmargiela - 4M followers, @maisonmargielafragrances - 307k followers
Facebook: @maisonmargiela - 470.8k followers
Twitter: @Margiela - 285.3k Followers
RECOMMENDATION
I recommend Maison Margiela to establish a Pinterest presence.
Currently, Maison Margiela has an account but with 0 posts and 13.7k followers. Some of their products are being pinned by retailers such as Sephora and Farfetch.
Why Pinterest?
Visual-Based. Users create & curate pinboards, a collection of photos and links.
Ad Reach. Advertisers can reach more than 271 million people on Pinterest.
Female Audience. 76.2% of Pinterest audiences are female and 17.2% are male.
High-Income. 45% of people in the US with a household income of $100k are on Pinterest.
US Presence. 84.6 million active Pinterest users in the U.S. 46% of U.S. women adults use Pinterest. Does Maison Margiela want to expand its US market position?
I encourage Maison Margiela to begin posting content now, even though the peak shopping season for fragrances (Jan-Mar) just ended.
F. Strategic Organic Creative
Make content.
Find the formula that works for you
Making content in-house > outsourcing
Browse examples of “Social Media Done Well” here
Last week Maison Margiela ran an influencer marketing campaign on Instagram.
Jen Ceballos - American model based in New York, previous collaborations with Chanel and Saint Laurent.
📊 687k Followers
Brian See - Malaysian fashion/travel/lifestyle vlogger, previous collaborations with GAP, Levis, Puma, and Club 21.
📊 152k Followers
Edie Rose - English model, previous collaborations with Burberry, Pull & Bear, and Calvin Klein.
📊 687k Followers
What They Did Well (Strategic):
Chose the right niches: fashion, modeling, travel, lifestyle
Chose influencers who were already fans + users of the product
Chose influencers active on Instagram
What They Did Well (Platform):
30-Second Product Demo (Good Length + Edits)
Voiceover + Captions
Campaign-Specific Hashtag: #neverendingmemory
G. Qualitative Analysis
How well did my content do?
Review comments & replies
Assess qualitative feedback
Provide insights to improve future content strategy
H. Quantitative Analysis
How well did my content do?
Review impressions & engagement metrics
Assess quantitative feedback
Provide insights to improve future content strategy
Steps F,G,H are iterative. They should be done on a daily or weekly basis. Review Steps A-E when they change.
9. Birth of a Foodie
I check reviews before I make decisions. Recently I stumbled across じゆりぼん (“zyuripon”) on Google Maps:
I was blown away by her reviews and her contributor score.
I was so blown away that I decided to start my own Google Maps “Local Guide” contributor account. Basically, I review places & the more helpful I am, the more points I get, and the more trustworthy of a guide I become.
My dream is to become a Level 10 (highest level) Local Guide someday.
Please Steal This Idea 💡
There’s so much that goes into a restaurant besides taste. Start a food review channel called “Everything But The Food”. Instead focus on:
Speed of service
Attentiveness of staff
Location
Headcount
Amenities
Menu size
Menu pricing
Menu congruency
Interior Decor
Exterior Decor
Layout
Liveliness
Vibe
Do reviews of restaurants, cafes, food stands, fine dining, airplane meals, sunset cruises, bars, etc— without eating anything. Bring a hungry friend along for less awkwardness. I think it’s a niche idea with great potential.
That’s all for today! Thanks for reading, Have a great week, and feel free to drop me a line on WhatsApp +1 978 844 1678.
Leo A
PS: Thanks for reading my 40th Postcard! If you’ve been following my journey, then you’ve probably noticed that my postcards have been getting longer over time. This is because each week I try to push myself beyond my current capabilities. I made a little graphic to showcase my postcard evolution over time:
If you’re new here, welcome to Leo’s Lemonade! My name is Leo Ariel, and I am a World Traveler, Writer, Entrepreneur, Marketer and Mentor.
Every week I write a postcard to you from wherever I am in the world. Generally, I like to share travel tips, business ideas, personal essays, and mundane observations from life.
My readers have previously enjoyed Why Did Amazon Pay Me $170k/yr to Update a Wiki Page?, Growing Up in an Asian American Household, and Top 5 Life Advice for 23-Year-Olds.
I would greatly appreciate it if you would share this with your friends. It would help me out a lot :)
This was fun Leo! Love all the photos from Japan. Brought back lots of memories from my trip there in 2019. And the infographic at the end is superb. Very smart way of representing your newsletter evolution over time.
It's a delight to peek into your mind and see the world through your experiences, Leo. Keep it up!