I'm on a mission to make you live longer

Next week I go to Okinawa where it isn't uncommon to see people who are 100 years old

We just hit the half way point of our 2 month Japan experiment.

This trip has been far from a vacation, but it was never meant to be relaxing.  We have two teenagers that love anime and all things Japanese culture, so it was a place for them to work on their online courses to finish high school and also explore a foreign environment.  

They really loved Tokyo and now we are in Miyazaki for a month, and it’s quite the opposite of Tokyo.  It’s a beach town on southern island of Kyushu and it is very remote, for from any bullet train stops.

I wanted to share this excerpt from a letter I wrote my teenagers one night when I couldn’t sleep. It kind of sums up a bit of how I am feeling about things while traveling:

The main reason I wanted to write to you girls is after watching some horrible media on TikTok that made me feel like the world is full of hate is to let you know that it isn’t. The world is full of love.  

I hope you guys realize that almost everyone you ever meet is a good person.  They do what they think is best for their survival and the happiness of those around them.  Very rarely do people want other people to suffer, but it happens when a person themself is suffering. 

We are here in Japan to see how people around the world think and live.  I have learned a ton watching the people here interact with you girls and with myself.  I watch how they work with each other.  Just like any place in the world, there are things that many of them do differently than us and there are things that are similar.  The goal of traveling is to take the parts that you think will work well for you to your life back home.  It’s also to learn what doesn’t work for you.  I really dislike the strictness to rules in this country…it’s not for me.  But it sure makes this place safe and clean and respectful.  But it also makes this place feel like there is less wiggle room for diversity and individuality. If you think about it, we have never stayed in a place with such little diversity as Miyazaki.  It’s great to be an outsider and the stranger in a strange land.  

We have hit our half way point of our two month trip and this has been such a different experience than when we lived in Mexico or spent 2 months in Europe.  As teenagers with friend groups, I know this has been difficult to be away.  I know online school has been worthless and unfulfilling.  I imagine it creates desire to go back to school next year and just see teachers in real life and be able to ask questions.  Question asking doesn’t really happen until you have good classes at a university, but when you have those professors that make for good class discussion, learning will happen at light speed. 

The letter goes on and on but you get the gist, we are trying to do school while we experience their favorite country and most of the time it is frustrating trying to do either and teenagers with phones aren’t always pleasent.

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Right now Stack is my main dish when it comes to my work.  It is in prelaunch stage, so I have little to tell or share with you. The first product from our company is a day and night supplement of micro-beads made of 24 of the basic minerals and vitamins our body requires.  You will get 60 capsules each month.  Next will come an Ai doctor that you can talk to about how you are feeling. Drop your email off at www.stack.sc if you want to be signed up for more info as we launch this year.

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Convoi Ventures has been staying so busy while I have been gone.  Trent is on fire with ideas and community building for Utah.  It’s so great to have a growing organization in Utah, a State that repeatably wins awards for being the place to live and do business.  Soon you will see what we have been brewing with a brand new Convoi Accelerator that will help startups get started and mentored.  Our team continues to do things to bring the startup community together.  Next week you can meet a great founder who has invested a lot in Utah and growing his team here.  Swapnil, Founder of Zeni, is doing an AMA Convoi for our first in person event at TribeHouse. Here are the details https://lu.ma/zeni

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Right when I get home I have our 4th Cryptopia event.  Crypto isn’t dead, but it isn’t 2021 with high hopes all going around.  Ai has captivated the attention of most of the investors.  But Utah has a few shinning Web3 companies that are growing.  Local company, RTFKT, had a massive launch while I was here in Japan.  They have teamed up with Murakami and Nike. Check out this video of their billboard in Tokyo:

Another growing company is Giddy.  They announced their fundraise this month and have been adding users to their mobile app and teaching defi in this volatile time.  I am always happy to give someone their first crypto, so let me know if you still have zero in your wallet. Cryptopia on May 31 will highlight all that is happening in Utah and have plenty of networking to get done. I have searched for Satoshi Nakamoto all over Japan to invite him to cryptopiaconference.com and I think he will make an appearance after all.

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This last news bit is more asking for help. Seeing that I have once again been banned from Linkedin, I have only this email and Twitter to talk to my connections and ask for help. I have been working with a local resident and friend here in Miyazaki where there is a new concept for onsens (japanese spa) and we are planning on brining this concept to Utah. It is a concept of private-micro onsens that you rent per hour and they will have several hot baths and even cold bath for you and small group to enjoy. This idea will work best and be most authentic if we can access hot spring water like you find in Midway, Utah. If anyone reading this knows owners of land with access to hot spring water filled with minerals, we would love to chat. Also, we don’t need the onsen to be on the property and have worked with ways to make onsen anywhere, so help with real estate and building out this type of retail/experience business would be fantastic.