A vow to travel more

I’ve spent the few weeks writing only about my Japan trip and I think it’s finally time to put the trip behind me. I did want to write one more post about traveling and life to close things out.

Traveling and seeing the world has been part of my DNA since I was a kid. My Dad ran a small travel company that sold airline tickets primarily in Southeast Asia. I spent my summers in Indonesia and was fortunate to be able to travel all over as a kid. My love for travel continued into my teens and my adult years.

One thing that has been weighing on me recently is the fact that my travel schedule seems to be destined for a slow down as Sophia and I look to start a family. In some ways, it’s a good thing as this has propelled me to take a lot more trips recently. On the other hand, it sets almost a time limit that once I have kids, I can no longer travel again.

I’ve been told my whole life from older folk that I should travel as much as possible when I can. That everyone changes once you have kids. These people are definitely right but at the same time, I’ve come to realize that it’s an extreme statement that is also wrong.

Everything of course does change when you have kids, but I’m now of firm belief that travel and enjoying life does not stop, it’s just different. Sure I can’t get up and grab a backpack to go to Asia at a moments notice anymore. But that does not mean that we can’t have exotic vacations with our kids.

I’ve been fortunate to work with a lot of great coworkers who have spent a lot of time traveling with their young and adolescent children. Having kids seems to be an excuse for many people to not travel which I don’t really understand. Things will undoubtedly be a bit more difficult to travel with kids, but sharing those experiences, if I have kids, will be invaluable life lessons for them and myself.

Travel has shaped my worldview and has made me a better person. I hope to give my kids my love for travel as well. And that means traveling often and a lot with them even if it means the challenges that come along with it. I can’t wait to see the world with my kids, when time comes.

Japan trip recap: Tokyo Pt2

After writing my first four posts on my Japan trip, I’ve realized that I wish I had more time to write. Growing up, I never was a great writer and I generally hated it. I’d much rather do a math problem or math homework than my English homework. I do think this blog has made me a lot better writer in the last 4+ years I’ve had it although I wouldn’t call it necessarily my strength.

I’ve gone much longer than I’ve wanted to in each of the posts. Part of that is maybe I’m not the most succinct writer. Another part of that is that I’ve found that I really enjoyed reminiscing about my trip and writing about it. I wish I had more time to really go into depth, but that’s life. Maybe as things settle down in my life (lol), I’ll start writing more in-depth essays.

Anyways, time to bring this one home.

Tokyo: Day 12-15

When we booked the trip, we knew we wanted to end in Tokyo as a way to tackle everything that we missed as well as get some shopping done. I’m really glad we did as this segment turned out to be the perfect ending to our Japan adventure. After a quick ride on the Romance Car to Shinjuku station, we checked into our tiny hotel room and decided to head out to lunch.

We knew we wanted to try Tsujihan which has gone viral on Tik-tok and Instagram lately for their damn good looking seafood donburi bowls. It was about 2pm when we arrived and luckily, we had no line. Sophia and I both ordered their famous donburis which consisted of a mix of seafood including squid, ikura, uni, and other various fishes diced up on top of a bowl of rice. It looked really damn amazing, but unfortunately only tasted okay. I’d come back, but it definitely was something that looks better than it actually is.

We went back to the hotel to rest a bit and went back out to Shibuya for the early evening. Sophia found this awesome rooftop that served drinks that overlooked the famous crossing. It was fun, but unfortunately we missed rush hour and perhaps the peak of the crossing. We got standing sushi bar once again as a pre-dinner snack and god I love that place.

After a quick sushi snack, Sophia and I headed to Roppongi to grab drinks and eat dinner at Savoy. The restaurant has gained a lot of popularity recently for their delicious pizza. My mind was absolutely blown. The best way I can describe Savoy is that it’s one of those things that makes no sense…. pizza in Japan?!? but at the same time, makes a lot of sense at the same time. The Japanese are true masters of their craft and the bar for food is so damn high. Sophia and I thought that this might be the best pizza that we have had, and we’ve both been to Italy.

We met the sushi maker who has been posting daily photos of his clientele on Instagram at Savoy for years now and it was great to be connected to him. He mentioned that he was looking to move to New York and open a shop soon enough. I loved that and I can’t wait to hear about Savoy moving to NY. I can imagine the push back from traditional NYers confused about a Japanese pizza chain, but they’ll be pleasantly surprised once they get a taste of that pizza. I can’t wait.

The next day we decided to have a shopping and eating day. This consisted mainly of Sophia shopping and me stopping in various sushi bars. I had a good run at Sushi Ginza Ondera Kaisen which is a famous sushi shop’s conveyer belt sushi location which was fantastic. We also stopped at Sushiro, another popular conveyer belt sushi chain. I love how fun, affordable, and delicious these conveyer belt sushi places are. If these existed at these price points in the U.S., I might eat at one of these places every day for lunch. At night we headed to Piss Alley for some yakitori in a small shop. The food was good but it was more of an experience that we had to partake in.

On Thursday, we went back to Tsukiji fish market to grab a few more bites and ate at a local sushi shop. It was some of the best value sushi I’ve gotten. This was a local spot on the outskirts of the market and for $15, I got a sushi platter that was to die for. Again, I wish I could do this everyday.

After the market, we did a bit more shopping in Ginza as Sophia was looking at some bags that were on discount due to the conversion rates. Then we headed to the kitchen street to do some kitchen shopping. That was a really cool experience and we got some really awesome Japanese kitchenware. One thing I did notice was that we had a lot of the same stuff in the stores in San Francisco. We had a good laugh when we realized that the same chopsticks that we bought in Japantown SF was being sold in this chopstick store in Tokyo.

We capped our last night in Tokyo with a night out in Shinjuku. We stopped at Golden Gai for some drinks and then hit the town. The Kabukicho tower was pretty cool but got old pretty fast so we ended up going to some of those Japanese claw game arcades. I told myself that I didn’t want to leave Tokyo without winning once. Unfortunately, all that happened was Sophia ended up winning a small doll and I ended up spending a lot more money to win nothing. She’s going to hold that over me forever.

The next morning, we checked out of our hotel and parked our bags in Tokyo Station. We checked out the tech district to see some of the towers of anime and manga just to see it. And headed to Manten Sushi for one of our last meals. This was a popular omakase counter that is advertised as affordable at only $50. It did not disappoint. We were actually pretty full from an udon meal a few hours before, and the food felt like it wouldn’t stop coming. For the price of $50, it was maybe one of the best value experiences we had in Japan.

Afterwards, we went to Ginza for Sophia to finally purchase her hand bag that she wanted while I ventured off to check out Daiso and Muji real quick. Afterwards, I found a Japanese bath house to take a shower before our flight. We met back up in Tokyo Station and headed to Haneda.

Those last few hours in Japan were definitely a bit sad for myself. I was thinking back about the trip and our experience. We’ve been lucky to visit some amazing places over the last year, but Japan was definitely probably the top destination. The food and culture is just second to none. Everything in Japan just simply worked.

All that said, I was actually ready to go home at that point. Two weeks away was a good amount of time. I felt recharged and even wanted to go back to work. I know I’ll be back to Japan sooner than later. It was 7 years since my last trip there and hopefully it won’t take me another 7 to make it back. Until next time Japan.

Japan trip recap: Hakone

It was a rare summer weekend here in San Francisco and I took full of advantage with two rounds of golf and a night out with high school friends. I had a blast, but I am a bit beat today. It’s officially over a week since I’ve been back from my trip, so I think it’s time to finally put a wraps on this trip recap this week.

Hakone: Day 10-11

After a great morning exploring Arashiyama and putting a bow on our trip to Kyoto, we got our bags and headed to catch the bullet train to head back east to Hakone. I knew that we had to do a stay at a traditional Japanese hotel called a ryokan at least for one night. Hakone is a popular area an hour south of Tokyo known for having many ryokans and onsens.

Sophia and I grabbed a few ekibens for our two+ hour train ride to Hakone and hopped on the bullet train. The wait to get tickets was a bit crowded and frustrating, but in Japanese fashion everything moved quickly and was so orderly. I couldn’t help but contrast that to a travel day at Penn Station.

We checked in to our ryokan called Hakone Airu. It was a very interesting place as it had a lot of traditional Japanese build but also mixed with modern and Balinese elements. We checked into our room and we were immediately stoked by how much space we had compared to our hotel rooms. We booked the room with a private hot tub on the deck and the view was just incredible.

After relaxing, we changed into our Japanese robes and headed to a semi-private room for our dinner. We went with steak the first night and unfortunately we were a bit underwhelmed. There was quite a bit of food which was awesome, but nothing really stood out. The steak was not very tender. It wasn’t bad by any means, but we had some high hopes.

The next day we decided to take the late morning and early afternoon to explore. Hakone is in a mountainous area with a bunch of natural hot springs. We book the bus to the trolley which took us to the top of the mountain. At the top were a few stores, some hot springs, and a gorgeous view of the entire area. The area is known for a bit of a tourist gimmick called black eggs where the eggs are steamed in the hot springs giving them a black shell. I was thinking about trying one but it really just seemed like a hard boiled egg so I passed.

Afterwards we took the trolley all the way down to the town called Gora to grab lunch. I found this great local spot called Futaba that cooked some fire tofu and tonkatsu for Sophia and I who were very hungry. After lunch, we decided to grab a few drinks at this place called Gora Brewery. I was pleasantly surprised to find a brewery in this region. The beer was just okay, but the Japanese bar snacks were great. They had some homemade squid jerky which was unique and delicious.

Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel to just relax the rest of the afternoon. We grabbed some sake and spent a few hours in and out of our private onsen while enjoying the view. For tonight’s dinner, we decided to go with the king crab. I was excited as it’s nearly impossible to screw up king crab. To our surprise, the dinner that night as fantastic and felt night and day from the night before. All the dishes were excellent and it was all capped off with a good serving of king crab.

That night was one of those moments where I was just smiling ear to ear. I was happy to be alive and felt incredibly blessed. I was sitting in my Japanese robe in a private dining area facing the sunset over the mountains eating a traditional Japanese multi-course dinner next to my wife. I’m not sure I deserve to be so lucky in this life.

After dinner, we decided to go to the bar downstairs for a few drinks. The bartender was incredibly friendly and had this amazing laugh. And he laughed often. His English wasn’t great, but we used a lot of google translate to have conversations. We chatted about work, Hakone, and life in general. It was another one of those moments where I sat just amazed how much tech has improved our lives. I knew we were leaving the next morning and while I was ready to get out, I was definitely sad to say goodbye to the bartender.

We went to bed early and slept in. The breakfast at the hotel was great and filling. I wish I could have a Japanese breakfast every morning. It’s a healthy, nutritious, and tastes amazing. After enjoying the onsen and view for a couple more hours, we hopped on the train back to Tokyo. The train is pretty interesting as it’s been branded the “Romance Car” which I believe is in reference to the two seats and the views/sights you see while on this train. Hakone is a bit of a romantic place.

The Romance Car took us straight to Shinjuku station which was nice as it was just a short walk to our hotel. Given how far our last hotel was from the station, we decided to book a place at a hotel as close as possible to the train station this time. It was about 10x less stressful getting to our new hotel than it was the prior week when we first got to Tokyo.

Next, we end the trip in Tokyo with a bunch of food and shopping.

Japan trip recap: Kyoto

Kyoto: Day 7-9

After a relatively late but uneventful night out in Osaka, Sophia and I slept in a bit and decided to just get to Kyoto. The train ride up was very easy and pleasant. We got off the train and made the short walk to our hotel. Sophia and I don’t typically splurge on hotels and we usually end up with cheaper but solid options. I was pleasantly surprised by the Granbell in Kyoto. The rooms were small as all of Japan, but the facilities were new and modern.

After getting settled in, we decided to book it to a soba restaurant called Honke Owariya which is touted as the oldest soba restaurant in Kyoto. It normally comes with a line, so we were lucky to have only waited 10 minutes. The restaurant was fantastic and was a great introduction to traditional Japanese wooden architecture that is so famous in Kyoto. The soba might be the best I’ve ever had.

After lunch, we decided to check out Nijo Castle which was pretty cool. Unlike Osaka Castle which was rebuilt after the war, Nijo Castle was still relatively well preserved and we got to see most of the rooms as the samurais did. For dinner, we decided to try Gyukatsu which was delicious but disappointing. My steak was clearly overcooked while Sophia’s was in a good spot. It was still great so what can you do.

We decided to get up really early the next morning to hike Fushimi which is the famous place with all the Japanese red gates. We didn’t count, but apparently there are over 10,000. We got to the base at 7am and it was perfect. The crowds of tourists weren’t there yet and it wasn’t as hot as normal. We hiked all the way to the top taking a lot of pictures along the way. Fushimi was surreal and it was incredibly meditative hiking up and down through the gates.

Afterwards, we went to grab shabu shabu for lunch right in the middle of Gion district. I really enjoyed it but definitely left hungry. After a quick break at the hotel, we went to a really awesome beer bar to grab a pre-dinner drink. It was smack dab in a tourist location, but it was really refreshing to meet some very tourist friendly bartenders. We met a few other Americans and had a great couple of hours just hanging out, drinking great local beers. I was happy to finally drink something with a bit more flavor than a lager.

For dinner, we went to go get dinner at this gyoza location that Sophia found. She’s always good at finding hidden gems and she really nailed this spot as we had the best gyoza we ever had in this small 6 seater. The chef has been making his gyoza here for 30 years.

We had a lazy morning the next day to rest a bit. In the late morning, we went to Nishiki Market to eat brunch. Compared to Osaka’s market, it was definitely a lot more interesting albeit much more touristy and crowded. The variety of food was a lot more interesting at least. We decided to get off the tourist tracks and headed to Izugen which is one of the famous Kyoto style sushi restaurants in the city. I have never really had proper Kyoto style pressed sushi like this so I was pleasantly surprised.

People come to experience old Japan. While most of the country was bombed during World War 2, Kyoto was one of the few that was spared and still holds it’s old Japan charm. I just loved walking around everywhere here. We spent most of the rest of the late afternoon and early evening walking around Gion and checking out the Japanese architecture. We did make a stop to Maccha house which is a famous matcha spot to grab some of their matcha tiramisu. I don’t know what they put in that thing, but it was as good as advertised on Tik-Tok and Instagram.

For dinner, we decided to do our splurge on a traditional Japanese Kaiseki dinner. It’s a traditional multi-course Japanese meal with local and fresh ingredients. The restaurant was right in Gion in an old Japanese wooden house that used to be an inn. Given we were in Kyoto, I wanted to try one of these traditional Japanese meals. We had over 10+ courses and while everything was good, nothing really stood out as great. The experience was fantastic however. There is something about sitting shoeless in a wooden Japanese restaurant being served by someone in a kimono that hits different.

The next morning we decided to go to Arashiyama bamboo forest in the morning. We got there early again to avoid the crowds and glad we did. The whole place is serene and I just felt refreshed walking through the bamboo garden. After, we hiked up 30 minutes to a temple called Otagi which is famous for the hundreds (thousands?) of hand carved statues. These 2 foot statues all had different expressions and actions. Some were happy. Some were playing tennis. To my dismay, I couldn’t find one playing golf.

We got back to the hotel and checked out to get on the road for our next leg which was Hakone. At this point, we were absolutely just exhausted from all the sight seeing and we were happy we were going to a place to relax and unwind.

Japan trip recap: Osaka

Osaka: Day 4-6

Sophia and I took the shinkansen (bullet train) from Tokyo Station to Osaka on Monday after spending the weekend in Tokyo. The bullet train was pretty awesome and our ekibens made it a lot better. There was a sumo wrestler in our car which made things interesting.

I had been to Tokyo before, but never made it to Osaka the last time I was in Japan so I was excited to be able to explore somewhere new with Sophia. Osaka has been dubbed the anti-Tokyo. I wasn’t quite sure how I’d feel considering I love Tokyo, but I was also quite excited to eat everything in Osaka given that it’s been called Japan’s kitchen.

We got to our hotel right outside of Dotonbori and first thing I noticed about Osaka is that it’s a whole lot less crowded than Tokyo. People dress more casually and the subway trains were not packed to the brim of salary people. It was a bit refreshing. I heard someone call Osaka the California of Japan, and while I can see what they mean, I wouldn’t go that far.

We started out our first evening in Osaka by having a few drinks right on the river in Dotonbori. I immediately fell in love with Dotonbori. It was just simply unique. The area seemed like one giant arcade or amusement park. There was a ferris wheel towering over the area and food stalls everywhere. There were games and arcades like carnival in between those food stalls. I started off my food journey with getting some takoyaki from one of the more popular stalls.

Sophia and I ate at a local yakitori place for dinner and it was fantastic. We also decided to check out this run-down complex of bars that was very unique. My one big regret from this trip was that I booked Osaka during from Monday - Wednesday. I could tell immediately from the first night that we would’ve preferred to be here over the weekend to truly experience the nightlife here.

The next morning we went to check out the local market called Duromon. Given that markets are one of my favorite things, I was incredibly excited. Unfortunately, I left a bit disappointed. There were a lot of redundant stalls catering to tourists and I didn’t find much appealing. As someone experienced in markets, I could tell a lot of their items were packaged… hell the King Crabs were from Alaska.

I did find an amazing unagi restaurant on the side run by a mom and pop. It might have been the best bowl of unagi I’ve ever had. Interestingly, I was sitting at the counter next to a Japanese business man at 9:30am who was absolutely crushing beers and highballs. It was a bit of an odd sight and he was clearly drunk arguing with the waitress. I wish I could understand Japanese at that moment.

We spent the afternoon exploring Osaka Castle and that was a cool experience. Unfortunately the castle was rebuilt in the 1950s so it lost a lot of it’s luster, but it was cool learning about Japan nevertheless. At night, we went to an area called Shinsekai to explore and eat dinner. It’s a neighborhood known for being a bit seedier. We didn’t see it, but there’s Japan’s only true red light district just south of the main drag. The main area of Shinsekai was pretty fun. It felt like an extension of Dotonbori and a smaller carnival.

We ate dinner at a local Osaka kushikatsu chain. It was my first time having a proper kushikatsu which are fried skewers and it was good as expected. We played in the arcades for a bit and I tried my luck at the famed Japanese claw games. I love arcades and understand that there’s a gamification behind everything, but I was surprised to see that these Japanese claw games are set-up much more like a casino than a child’s game.

Everything is made to draw you into the arcade. Once you’re in, everything is there to get you to play the games. Almost all the games require multiple plays and you will win eventually, after spending a good amount of money. The dealers (attendants) will even come and try to help you. Our attendant purposely tried to make things easier and easier for us and gave us hints. But I quickly learned that this was a game of brute force. You had to keep paying to push the doll through the hole. I left disgruntled after getting the doll about 80% through the hole.

We were absolutely exhausted by the next day. Five full days of exploring Japan really took it out of us. We slept in a bit and decided to have an easy and relaxing day. We went back to Kuromon market for brunch and got a few seafood dishes including geoduck and fugu (pufferfish) that I wanted to try before I left. The geoduck was good and the fugu was uneventful.

We spent the early afternoon in the “American district”. I’m not sure how it got it’s name, but it’s a higher end area with a lot of shops specifically vintage stores that sell used American clothing. I went shopping for vintage University of Washington, 49ers and Giants gear. I found some cool stuff, but nothing that fit me or really caught my eye unfortunately. After some shopping, we ate at a delicious ramen joint in Dotonbori and then took a nap.

I wanted to try to limit our meals to one nice (expensive) dinner per city we were in. For Osaka, I knew I wanted to try the amazing beef and I booked a reservation at Yakiniku M. This is a popular place known for having real matsusaka beef which is like kobe beef but much less commercialized and better. The beef lived up to it’s expectations and it was some of the best meat I have ever tasted. Almost all the cuts absolutely just melted in your mouth. I wouldn’t want to be a cow, but if I had to be reincarnated into one, I would definitely try to be a cow in the Matsusaka region of Japan.

After dinner, we went to the TeamLabs exhibit. After our great experience in the TeamLabs Tokyo, we were hoping for the same thing in Osaka. Unfortunately, it was a botanical garden with lights and we were really disappointed. We spent the rest of the night hitting the town in Dotonbori. We stopped for drinks at a local bar run by a mom and pop. The 75 year old man running the bar was wonderful and we had an amazing conversation via our phones. We spoke about skiing, his kids, and life. When talking about his age, he said a phrase in Japanese that was translated perfectly to “time flies when you’re having fun”. I couldn’t agree more.

The rest of the night was largely uneventful. We went back to the bar complex but most places were closed given it was still Wednesday. Next time I come to Osaka, I’m for sure coming over the weekend to really experience the night life.

Next up is a Kyoto.

Japan trip recap: Tokyo Pt1

I wrote a large recap about my trip on this blog earlier this year when I got back from Southeast Asia. It was a way for me to memorialize the trip to possibly look back on it one day and reminisce. It was also a really nice way for me to wrap up the trip and start moving on. So I wanted to continue the tradition with my Japan recap over the next few days.

Tokyo Night 1-3

Sophia and I took off Thursday morning and we were blessed with having the entire row to ourselves. It made up for the subpar United flight on an old 777. After 11 hours and the 16 hour time difference, we landed in Tokyo at around 3pm and proceeded to take the train to our hotel in Shinjuku.

It was a bit of a nightmare once we got to the station. We were tired and I forgot just how freakin’ big and confusing Shinjuku station is. We got a bit lost trying to find an underpass to cross the street. Lugging our roller bags in 90 degree humidity for 30 minutes after a 11 hour flight with jet lag was not fun, but we made it to our tiny hotel room.

After getting to our hotel, we showered and rested for a bit. Given that we were early for dinner, we decided to book it to Ramen Tatsunoya. We got lucky and got a seat within 20 minutes eating some of the best ramen we’ve had. After a good pit stop to Golden Gai, we went back at 9 and passed out.

The next day was filled with exploring. We decided to use our jet lag to our advantage and got to Tsukiji market nice and early. Unfortunately, the market changed quite a bit since I was went in 2016. The tuna auction was moved to Toyosu and the market lost a bit of it’s flavor. It’s now mainly just a tourist trap with some good, but touristy food stalls. We checked out some stores in Ginza for a bit and got absolutely exhausted from all the walking in the heat. After a quick stop at a delicious anago stop, we headed home to rest.

For dinner, we had a sushi omakase at Nishiazabu Taku which comes highly recommended. It was an amazing experience, but to be honest, a bit underwhelming when it came to food. We met Santiago and Fernanda who was in the same room with us for dinner. They were from Monterey, Mexico and were on their honeymoon. We ended up spending the night with them and got drinks with them at Golden Gai until 2am.

We slept in a bit and decided to hit some tourist sites the next day. We took the train to Asakusa and did some exploring around Senso-ji temple. It was incredibly crowded with tourists and we decided to check out the temple and get out. While exploring some shopping streets, I ran into a delicacy store called Himiadaru which sells cured fish. It was absolutely delicious and perhaps one of my best food finds on this trip.

Sophia and I took the train to old town part of Tokyo called Tanaka. It was one of the few places in Tokyo that was not bombed and still retained the old Tokyo feel. We had an amazing set lunch at a mom and pop shop and then explored the stores and area. For dinner, we pulled a ticket for Udon Shin and then we got a snack at Uogashi - The Standing Sushi Bar which was fantastic and cheap.

We came back to Udon Shin after a two hour wait and it was once again, the best udon I’ve ever had. I went 7 years ago prior to being one of the most popular restaurants in Tokyo and I’m happy to report that it was still as good as it was 7 years ago. The udon was fresh and chewy. The tempura was maybe the best I’ve also had.

On Monday, we woke up early and went to TeamLabs which was a really cool interactive museum. It was very unique and I’ve never experienced a museum like it. The walk through the water with the video fish was probably my favorite exhibit. After TeamLabs, we bought some Ekibens and took the bullet train to Osaka for the next leg of the trip.

Ikigai

One of my best friends gifted me a book called Ikigai many years ago. The Japanese word roughly translates as your life purpose. The author studied a small Japanese village which also happens to be the highest level expectancy in the world. The book goes over some of the things these villagers do on a day to day basis that could likely be the result of the much higher than average life expectancy. As you can probably guess, the author attributed having an ikigai as the the likely reason for the expanded life expectancy.

I love the Japanese culture for many reasons, but perhaps my favorite is the Japanese passion for improvement and the constant striving for perfection. This is reflected in everyday life in Japan. Stop by many of the amazing popular restaurants in Japan, and often times the owners have been running the same shop by decades. Often times these restaurants serve a limited menu whether it be soba, udon, gyoza, sushi, etc. They spend and dedicate their entire lives to perfecting the art of cooking that one dish.

Our sushi chef at Nishiazabu Taku told us that he spent 8 years learning before he made his first piece of sushi. 8 years basically just cleaning and watching until he was allowed to make his first piece of sushi. It’s no wonder why food in Japan is so damn delicious — these folks dedicate their whole lives to making it amazing.

Watching the Japanese culture in action is a refreshing break from our traditional western culture. It’s hard for me to call one better than the other. There is something about having options and there should be nothing wrong with changing your career. All that said, I love when I meet someone who has found their ikigai. You can tell and taste the difference.

Life is good

I’m back in the office today for the first time in over 2 weeks and I’m happy to report that I’m actually excited to be sitting here right now. It’s a good feeling to actually be excited to get back to work. It’s a great sign that this trip was very successful on multiple fronts.

When I left, I wanted to take time off to really recharge and reset. But perhaps more importantly, Sophia and I wanted to take the time to really travel and explore some of the world together before we potentially start a family.

Traveling to Japan definitely made me long for more travel in the near future. I already started looking at our next potential destination. I know things potentially could get harder in the future to travel as freely, but I’ve also realized that it can be done and that gets me excited.

I feel very optimistic and happy right now. You can say I’m on cloud 9. I’m sad to have left Japan, but after coming back, my life feels at a bit of a high right now. I’ve needed that after a tough 18 months.

Life is good.

Back home

We got back home last night after our two week trip to Japan. We decided to come back a day early so we can take the weekend to recover and I’m glad we did. It’s nice to have a couple days and nights to readjust to schedule and get my mindset back into work mode.

I’ll write a lot more about the trip throughout the week, but overall I loved my second trip to Japan. It came at a perfect time. I felt that I was able to largely disconnect from work and recharge. The week of the 4th was a great time to be away as work slowed down significantly.

Being abroad does make you realize how lucky we are to live in America. We’ve got a lot of problems here, but pretty much every Japanese person who spoke to wanted to visit or had gushing praise for America. I suppose that we’re so lucky and have so much privilege in this country that we forget that others don’t have what we have.

On our last day in Tokyo, I complained to Sophia that there are not that many gifts that are worth buying in Japan anymore because we have nearly everything already. We have Japanese grocery stores stocked with the local goods and candies that also line the stores in Japan. We have the biggest Japanese chains such as Uniqlo, Daiso, and Muji right here in SF.

Being home is bittersweet. I’m sad our trip is over and I’m going to miss Japan. But coming back home to a sunny San Francisco with everything we have here isn’t all that bad.

Day 12 in Japan

A few days ago, a 75 year old Japanese bar tender in Osaka used Google translate to let me know that time flies when you’re having fun. I don’t know if it’s a common Japanese saying or not, but it couldn’t be more true. Before I know it, we’re coming up on the last leg of our trip.

This trip has felt that it flew by but at the same time I feel absolutely fulfilled so far. Sophia and I have done quick a lot. We spent 3 nights in Tokyo, 3 nights in Osaka, 3 nights in Kyoto, and we’re rounding out our 2nd night in Hakone before heading back to Tokyo for 3 more nights.

I always feel that the best vacations are ones where it goes by quickly but feels like you did a lot. That’s definitely been this trip. Sophia and I have loved our time here. The Japanese culture is really 2nd to none in my opinion.

I’m writing this in our ryokan in Hakone right now. It’s a traditional Japanese hotel with a bit of a modern Bali flair. It was the perfect 2 nights for us to get back to a relaxing place and well… do nothing.

We have some big plans to close out our trip in Tokyo over the next few days and we wanted to split it up with a nice rest. Hakone was perfect for that and I look forward to my traditional Japanese dinner in 30 minutes.

Day 5 in Japan

We’re on our fifth day in Japan. So far the trip has been filled with a lot of amazing food and exploring. To say that we’ve been spoiling ourselves is a bit of an understatement. I’m probably eating a meal every 3-4 hours.

We’ve been on our feet quite a bit and we’re quite tired from the first leg of our trip. But I feel quite relaxed. I think everyone has a different way to recharge their batteries. Apparently, mine is getting out of my comfort zone, exploring, and doing what I love the most, eating.

We have a couple more days in Osaka and then head to Kyoto for more of the tourist sites.

Protecting time

I’ve got an ultra short week with the Juneteenth holiday and my flight to Japan tomorrow. In my younger days, I’d probably have filled up my schedule end to end and tried to squeeze every last individual in before my trip, and then taken some calls once I landed. I’m glad to report that those days are largely over.

I’ve spent the last couple of years really trying to protect my time more. Early on in my career, I wanted to speak to and meet as many people as possible. I definitely don’t regret it, but I probably spent way too much of my time chasing dead opportunities and getting taken advantage of.

As I’ve gotten older and advanced in my career, I find myself with less and less time on my hands. I’ve had to triage a lot of calls and meetings in order to save my sanity. Some times that means pushing the meeting back a week or two to when I have more time. Other times it means just not be able to take the call or meeting in general.

Technological overabundance

I take off for my two week trip to Japan on Thursday. I had previously been to Japan 7 years ago, but only to Tokyo and Sapporo. This time around, we’re headed to Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Hakone. Now in my 30s and traveling with my wife, it’s going to be a much different trip than when I was 26 and single.

Sophia and I were already discussing which movies and shows we wanted to download and watch on the flight. I also started googling how good the WiFi is on this United flight to Japan just to test whether I would be able to stream my video game. And of course, this is already on top of the in-flight entertainment system.

When I was a kid, I used to love airplanes. I loved being on a long flight. I would take long flights to Indonesia either with family members or solo often. 14 hour flight to Hong Kong? No problem. I had the tiny television screen and Super Mario on the in-flight entertainment system. That one game along was enough to keep me entertained for nearly the entirety of the flight.

I sometimes wonder to myself whether we live in a period of overabundance. One in which we have nearly everything we want or need at our fingertips, but at the same time, we’re never satisfied. There’s no doubt that technology has contributed positively to our lives. We live longer. We can connect more easily with friends and family. The world is more open and global generally.

Nowadays, I’ve got a running Excel list of restaurant recommendations from Tik-Tok, Instagram, and Reddit posts alone of 70+ places. Back in the day, you had to read books or talk to friends to find out the best places to eat. There was a whole lot more serendipity about finding some great places to eat.

Maybe a world where you’re stuck with only Super Mario 2 and 3 movies for a 14 hour flight is one in which we’d prefer to not go back to. Of course, more options and entertainment the better. But I guess there is something great about the simplicity of things back in the day.

Another golf trip in the books

I spent the early weekend in Tahoe golfing with the guys. I love Tahoe at all times, but there’s something different about the summer time. I am just always happy whenever I’m up there. We got a tee time at the famous Edgewood golf course on Friday and drove out to Carson City to play at Toiyabe on Saturday.

My golf game is getting a lot better, but I still make a lot of critical mistakes that prevent me from scoring well. For the first time in awhile, I’m back to swinging the club with confidence. But consistency is a major issue for me and I find myself putting up big numbers on the score card far too often.

On both our Friday and Saturday rounds, I headed on 18 down on my head-to-head and pretty much even on the team cumulative score. I ended up going full clutch and won both days on the last hole of the day. My Saturday round included maybe one of my best shots ever as I had a very difficult chip off the side of a hill to get up and down.

I may not be good at golf, but I feel like I play my best when it matters the most.

Are we back?

Activity in the VC world has started to pick up again. I myself personally lost out on an angel deal as I wanted to slept it on last night and came back this morning to see that they hit their cap.

I had an email forwarded seeing that an AI company raised over $100M in their seed as well although that may be isolated to the AI world.

We’ll see where this goes. It could very well be a false bull run. But I know a lot of VCs are sitting on a lot of capital right now and it will need to get deployed at some point.

Early stage deal flow

I’ve been seeing some great deals in the early stage lately. Nearly every company I’ve come across is raising on a SAFE still and postponing their Series A and Series B until the markets settle a bit. With that said, the valuation caps are much more aligned to investors like me who write smaller checks.

I’ve largely kept my wallet closed over the last 6 months except for a couple opportunities. I wanted to see where valuations would settle and how the latest trends in AI would shake out.

I still don’t have an amazing grasp on the AI trend, but I suspect that it’s overhyped and the biggest benefactors will be the incumbents. For that reason, I’m holding off on any major AI investments right now. Part of that is that I just don’t have access to the great AI investments out there.

Beyond AI, there seems to be some amazing founders building some interesting products. I’m pretty excited to start writing checks again in this bear market. There will be some great companies built during this time that have much better fundamentals and plans than what we saw in 2020-2021.

For me, I need to make sure to temper my excitement. There’s going to be a lot of good companies to invest in, but I’m in search of the great ones. I never want to be in a position where I can’t write a check to one of these can’t miss opportunities because I overextended too early.

SoftBank and WeWork

This week, I’ll be moving down the hallway in my WeWork from a 7 person office down to a 3 person office. It just didn’t make sense to keep paying for a large office that has at best 3 of us in at a given time during the week. I have to give it up to WeWork though - the product has been pretty damn good. The flexibility for us to move around is great. The weekly happy hours have allowed me to get some social interaction.

It seems like WeWork, as a company, is in a bit of trouble as their CEO has stepped down amidst a lot of pressure from SoftBank. I don’t know what the future of WeWork will be. I hope they are able to stay alive and make it through. While far from perfect, I’ve enjoyed being a WeWork member over the last 6 months.

On the topic of SoftBank, they themselves seem to be having major issues with reported layoffs coming for a 1/3rd of the company with a focus on the Vison Fund staff. At this point in time, I’m ready to hang it up on the capital as moat strategy that SoftBank pioneered and others like Tiger followed.

It’s largely been a net negative on the startup ecosystem. We have a ton of otherwise great companies that raised at insanely valuations that may now be dead in the water. I met with some CFO who equated what these crossovers funds were doing as a ponzi scheme and it’s hard to argue with that point. They invested and hoped to get out before it came all crashing down.

Technology and kids

I’m a bit afraid of raising kids in this era because of social media. Maybe it’s because I’m just in that last generation where social media wasn’t part of our childhood. But I see kids today like my younger sister who is 12 that’s just glued to YouTube or Tik-tok all day and it worries me.

When I was a kid, I was definitely glued to a computer screen and it worried my Dad quite a bit. I loved surfing the internet and playing computer games. I guess this is part of me just getting a bit old and out of touch with the kids of these days. But I feel like social media is a completely different animal than playing Starcraft with your friends.

There’s a lot of scary studies on the negative effects of social media on our kids these days. It seems that people are generally unhappier and are suffering from lower than ever self-esteem. Of course, this all could just be overblown by the media narratives and I need to chill out a bit.

All that said, I’d be lying if I wasn’t worried that my kid(s) won’t want to play catch with me or attend a ball game together. It seems that we’re closer that the norm will be attending a football game via a VR headset than stadiums becoming completely full again.

For now, I’m just operating under the principle that change is inevitable. Our kids will have much different childhoods than Sophia or mine. Despite all the potentially scary stuff, the optimistic in me does believe that our kid(s) will have a better childhood than mine.

Routines and feeling good

This week was the best I’ve felt in a long time. I had a lot of energy and felt optimistic the entire week. I don’t really know for sure why this was the case. My routine didn’t change much, but I felt a lot better waking up this week.

I didn’t sleep a whole lot, but my sleep quality was high. I slept consistently and woke up at 6:30am everyday. I ate decently healthy, but wasn’t a saint. I worked out hard and 4 times this week. None of that has been much different than before.

The one thing I can maybe point to was having a great last weekend. I didn’t really drink much and therefore my sleep was better than normal. On top of that, I woke up more consistently to my weekday sleep schedule. Lastly, I had a long and full weekend of activities I enjoy.

At this point, it’s very likely a sign that I need to use my weekends more to recharge more. Staying out later and upending my sleep schedule is likely a big culprit of how I feel during the week.

My management philosophy

My management philosophy is fairly simple. I hire smart people and empower them to make the right decisions.

The way I view managing people is the opposite of micro-managing. I believe micro-managing is possibly the worst way you can treat your employees as well as the worst thing you can do for your time. I view micromanaging someone as an insult to their intelligence and their abilities.

I’ve heard some people say that I am a hands-off manager. There’s probably a bit of truth to that, but I’d like to say that I lead with trust. I empower my team to make decisions and move the ball forward. If there’s something that I need to decide on, I’ll let them know.

The power to make a decision doesn’t mean that they will always make the right decision all the time, but if I hired right for the role and provide the proper framework, they should make the right decision more often than not. Mistakes are a crucial learning tool.

Of course, where things always go wrong is when you hire the wrong type of people for your management style. I’ve made that mistake before. Some people do not handle the freedom well and prefer a manager that’s a bit more hands-on and puts more guardrails up. That’s okay, but they’re just not a fit for my team. There’s plenty of other companies and teams that have that.

Lastly, once you have the hire, it’s also my job to make sure that there is a proper framework for working. The captain still needs to steer the ship in the right direction. The framework needs to be non-restrictive and still allow the team member creative freedom. Employees need to be given the chance to thrive and prove themselves through their work.