The Rich Life Chronicles: My Trip to Japan
I talk often about how an online business can help you live a Rich Life, but what does it actually mean?
Here’s a really specific example of MY Rich Life: my trip to Japan.
So let’s do something fun: I took a 10-day trip to Japan with my fiancee and decided to share the trip in Instagram stories (Instagram: @ramit).
My trip to Japan hit all the things I LOVE:
- Beauty
- Simplicity
- Being totally present on my trip, knowing my business is running without me being there
- And my favorite of all…LOGISTICS
So follow along to see Ramit’s Rich Life…in Japan (and If you just expect pics of sushi, close this window now):
I’ll show you some of the customs I learned and things I found surprising:
I talked to an American buddy of mine who lives there who explained that lots of companies in Japan get together to decide how much money they want to make, then collude to keep other entrants out of their market. Good for business owners…not so good for consumers or innovation:
I did like the money handling there:
Yet again, LOL at American parents who think your kids have too much homework:
Oh no, are the mommybloggers going to get mad at me?
This was interesting. There were coffee machines everywhere, but almost no garbage cans. You never see anyone walking around and eating/drinking like in the USA. One reminder (among many) of how differently the Japanese consume food. And it shows:
Tons of restaurants would put up signs like this. Not so different from clubs in NYC:
I’m starting to really understand the power of reframing. When something is bad, you can not only make it bearable…sometimes you can actually turn it into something good (“Pain is gain”). Here’s a great reframe you can use:
There’s a phrase, “You’re never as American as when you’re not in America.” I notice a lot of things Japan does better than we do…but it also makes me appreciate some of the things America is absolutely stellar at. Like accessibility, where we do an awesome job:
The cosmetics were on point. My fiancee was obsessed. I stood around on my phone until I finally decided to look around….then I got obsessed, too. I bought a bunch of stuff, including Q-tips, some tooth cleaner, and a tongue cleaner:
This was adorable:
Real quick pop quiz:
Send me your thoughts. I’m on Instagram @ramit.
This was a pretty amazing meal:
You would never see this in the USA:
I really liked getting feedback from readers, who told me they enjoyed my more personal side. There’s something about traveling and using Instagram to share stories that I really liked:
I liked the food but sometimes we got intimidated:
This is “shisa kanko,” or pointing and calling. It’s an industrial engineering technique designed to improve safety. It works.
Hope you guys enjoyed this! Let me know what you think by posting a comment below or DM’ing me on Instagram (@ramit). ***
One of my goals is to show you that you can live your Rich Life — however you want to define it. If it means a trip to Japan where you can eat amazing food, take the bullet train, go all around Tokyo and Kyoto…awesome.
If it’s something totally different for you, that’s great too.
One of the coolest things about this trip was knowing that my business was running while I was gone. I hardly checked email. The systems I’ve set up worked beautifully. And these are the same systems we talk about here on IWT.
Budgeting is unsustainable. Start “Conscious Spending” instead.
As seen on the IWT podcast, my Conscious Spending Plan helps you buy the things you love, guilt-free.
