🎯 Japanese lessons & AI voice data licensing 👉 https://sites.google.com/view/shigeki/home ——— 📣 このポッドキャストでは、日系企業で働きたい方向けに、ビジネスで使われる日本語やマナー、面接・業界研究のコツなどを解説しています。 ◆ 無料メルマガ https://my162p.com/p/r/odSmegng ◆ YouTube www.youtube.com/@Shigeki-Sensei ◆ブログ https://businessnihongo555.blogspot.com/ ◆Instagram https://www.instagram.com/shigeki_sensei555/ ◆電子書籍 www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0DSWMHJRZ ◆Substack https://shigekisaito.substack.com/ ◆お問い合わせ https://forms.gle/Ph1frcztsKPEH5H79
最新エピソード
表現を均質化させているのはAIなのか
Why does so much online expression begin to look and sound the same? In this episode, I argue that AI may not be the real cause of this uniformity. The deeper force may be our desire to be liked, understood, and accepted. When people constantly optimize their words for approval, they naturally choose safer ideas and familiar expressions. Even provocative or rebellious content can become another form of conformity when creators begin performing for an audience that expects them to be edgy. AI can accelerate this process, but the original demand for agreeable, predictable expression often comes from humans themselves.
好きでもない商品を売ることと、信じてもいない生き方を売ること
Do you need to love what you sell? In this episode, I reflect on my years working in sales and the difference between selling a product and selling a way of life. A salesperson does not necessarily need to love the product itself. Understanding customers, explaining value clearly, and delivering what people need can be enough. But when someone sells ideas about lifestyle, identity, or personal values, the situation changes. Authenticity becomes part of the product. If a person promotes a belief only because it is fashionable or profitable, the message loses its foundation. Selling products and selling convictions are not the same thing.
自己管理という名のマイクロマネジメント
Self-management is supposed to make work easier, but sometimes it becomes a form of micromanagement. In this episode, I question the obsession with schedules, task lists, daily reports, and constant tracking. These tools can be useful, but they can also create extra work, reward what is easy to measure, and restrict creative thinking. Following a plan is not the same as doing good work, and feeling organized is not the same as creating value. Especially for independent workers, freedom can disappear when we recreate a strict manager inside our own heads. Sometimes the best system is simply to begin working.
文章を読んでいるのに、広告を見せられている
When does personal expression become advertising? After spending time on Substack, I began to notice how often essays, personal stories, recommendations, and reflections seem to lead toward a product, course, or consulting service. In this episode, I explore the blurred line between writing and marketing. Content marketing can be useful, but constant promotion may make readers suspicious of everything they see. A meaningful article should not always require a sale, subscription, or conversion afterward. Sometimes a piece of writing can simply be interesting, thoughtful, or memorable. If readers buy nothing, was the writing still worth publishing?
会社を辞めても、会社員を卒業できない人々――サラリーマンという生活様式
Leaving a company does not necessarily mean leaving the employee mindset behind. In this episode, I explore how being a salaried worker can become more than an employment status—it can become a way of thinking. Companies provide tasks, goals, evaluation systems, training, and regular pay. After becoming independent, those structures disappear, and people must decide what to sell, what to work on, and how to measure progress for themselves. Some even recreate the old structure through business schools, mentors, and paid communities. True independence may require not only quitting a job, but also rebuilding how we think about work, effort, and value.
「成果が出るまで時間がかかる」と「時間をかければ成果が出る」は違う
Some goals take time, but spending more time does not guarantee better results. In this episode, I explore the difference between “results take time” and “time will eventually produce results.” Studying longer, practicing every day, or continuing for years may still fail if the method itself is ineffective. Persistence matters, but so does evaluation. We need to ask what has actually changed, what skills have improved, and whether our approach still makes sense. Believing in yourself does not mean believing that your current method is always correct. Sometimes progress requires continuing. Sometimes it requires changing direction.
成功していない自分を肯定する産業――現代の自己啓発は何を売っているのか
Self-help used to focus on becoming more successful, productive, and ambitious. But today, another message is everywhere: stop comparing yourself to others, move at your own pace, and accept yourself as you are. In this episode, I explore how self-acceptance itself can become a product. Encouragement and reassurance can be valuable, but feeling better is not the same as solving a real problem. A failed business may still require better pricing, stronger products, or a different strategy. We can accept our own worth while still admitting that our methods may be wrong and need to change.
文章の効率化が思考を貧しくする
Business writing often tells us to be brief, start with the conclusion, and make everything easy to understand. These techniques can be useful, but they can also become dangerous when applied to every kind of writing and thinking. In this episode, I examine how excessive emphasis on efficiency may reduce complex experiences and difficult questions to simple slogans. Writing longer texts can force us to organize ideas, consider opposing views, and even revise our conclusions. Clear writing matters, but clarity is not the same as simplification. We can shorten sentences, but we cannot always shorten the complexity of reality.
成功哲学は具体的な仕事の手順を教えてくれない
Success philosophy often sounds inspiring: take action, keep going, build connections, use your strengths, and never fear failure. But these ideas rarely explain what to do tomorrow morning. In this episode, I examine the gap between motivational advice and the concrete work of business: deciding what to sell, who the customer is, how to price an offer, how to deliver it, and how to improve when it fails. I also question a business model in which vague advice leads to paid consulting, while poor results are blamed on mindset or effort. Inspiration can help, but real business requires specific actions and market feedback.
SNSにあふれる、にわか思想家たち
Social media is full of people offering life lessons about failure, growth, courage, freedom, and human connection. But are these ideas really based on careful thought, or are people simply fitting their experiences into familiar slogans? In this episode, I explore the difference between deduction and induction and argue that much online “philosophy” starts with weak assumptions and then forces reality to fit them. Real thinking requires observing concrete experiences, questioning exceptions, revising ideas, and sometimes admitting that we still do not know. Perhaps genuine thought begins not with impressive conclusions, but with the willingness to keep asking questions.
人脈を作る能力と、商売をする能力はまったく違う
Is being good at networking the same as being good at business? In this episode, I argue that these are two very different abilities. Knowing many people, joining communities, attending live events, and gaining support can create opportunities, but they do not automatically improve your product or service. Real market value is tested when people who do not know you are still willing to pay. Networking can support a business, but it cannot replace competence. For anyone trying to become independent, facing the market directly may be more valuable than collecting connections. One unknown customer can teach you more than a hundred friendly contacts.
手に職という幻想──AI時代に、なぜ好きなことをやるべきなのか
Is learning a practical skill really enough to guarantee lifelong stability? In this episode, I question the traditional idea that having a trade will always protect us from unemployment. AI, automation, robotics, and changing industries can reduce the value of skills that once seemed secure. Choosing a job only because it appears safe may create another risk: spending decades doing work you do not enjoy for a future that is never guaranteed. If the future is uncertain anyway, perhaps it makes sense to seriously consider what you actually want to do and build a life you can personally accept.
日本語ができる外国人と日本企業をつなぐ――企業インタビューを始めます
I have started a new corporate interview project for Japanese companies that want to connect with Japanese-speaking international talent. In this episode, I explain why I created the service, drawing on my own experience working in Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos. Job listings can show salary, location, and responsibilities, but they rarely reveal how a company thinks, what kind of people it wants to hire, or how it works with foreign employees. Through online interviews with business owners and HR professionals, I hope to introduce Japanese companies in a more personal and meaningful way to listeners around the world. English: Corporate Interviews Japanese: 企業インタビューのご案内
日本のものづくりは、なぜ世界に勝ち、そして負けたのか
Why did Japanese manufacturing once dominate global markets, and why has that advantage weakened? In this episode, I explore the strengths that made Japanese industry successful: quality, continuous improvement, long-term employment, close supplier relationships, and careful coordination. I also examine why those same strengths became less effective as competition shifted toward software, services, speed, and flexibility. The key lesson is that technical excellence and business success are not the same thing. A company can make outstanding products and still lose in the market. Past success does not guarantee future success when the rules of competition change.
実業の魅力、それでも私は虚業で生きる
What is the difference between “real business” and work built around ideas, media, and digital products? In this episode, I reflect on my years in manufacturing sales and compare that world with my current work creating podcasts, audiobooks, and ebooks. Physical businesses offer clear feedback: products are made, customers respond, and results are visible. Digital creative work is less tangible, but it offers freedom and accumulation. After producing more than 120 audiobooks, I have come to value the fact that each piece remains as an asset. I know the world of real business, yet I still choose to create intangible work.
インターネットの中に答えを探しに行く感覚は危ない
The internet makes it incredibly easy to find answers. Google, YouTube, and AI can explain almost anything within seconds. But this convenience can create the illusion that every problem has a clear answer somewhere online. In this episode, I explore the difference between collecting information and actually thinking. Some questions about life, society, success, happiness, and values do not have simple universal answers. Reading books, searching online, or asking AI can be useful, but only if we continue to question what we find. In an age of instant answers, the ability to live with uncertainty may become a form of intelligence.
攻略法という幻想――なぜ人は「成功の秘密」にお金を払うのか
Why are people so attracted to secret strategies and guaranteed formulas for success? In this episode, I explore the illusion of “winning methods” in business, investing, social media, and online publishing. Useful techniques certainly exist, but improving your chances is not the same as having a guaranteed path to success. When people feel anxious, frustrated, or desperate for results, simple answers become especially attractive. That is why marketers can sell not only knowledge, but also hope and relief from uncertainty. The deeper question is whether we are buying a method, or buying the comforting belief that a perfect answer exists.
生成AIコンテンツのカンブリア爆発 ── なぜネットは奇妙な生命体で埋め尽くされるのか
The internet is rapidly filling with strange new forms of AI-generated content: virtual influencers, synthetic voices, AI films, artificial musicians, and characters that never existed. In this episode, I compare this explosion to the Cambrian explosion, when life diversified into many unusual forms. Most of today’s AI formats will probably not survive. Some will disappear, while others will adapt to the online environment and remain. As AI content becomes more abundant and polished, human imperfection may become more valuable. In a world of perfect synthetic media, people may begin to prefer real voices, real mistakes, and real human experience.
なぜ現代では貧乏人が自分を貧乏人だと思わなくて済むのか
Why is inequality often difficult to recognize in modern society? In this episode, I explore how comfort, entertainment, success stories, and ideas of personal responsibility can make structural differences less visible. Wealthy people are often presented as aspirational figures, while poverty is treated as an individual problem. I also examine inherited advantages in politics and business, where family networks, capital, reputation, and existing organizations can create very different starting points. The point is not to blame rich people or second-generation leaders, but to understand the structures that reproduce advantage. Without seeing those structures, we may misunderstand both society and our own lives.
コストを最小化して幸福を最大化することだけが、人間の生の目的なのか
Is the purpose of life simply to minimize costs and maximize happiness? In this episode, I reflect on the popularity of “small happiness” lifestyles: cheap meals, quiet weekends, modest homes, and few ambitions. There is nothing wrong with living simply, but reducing desire also reduces the risk of failure, disappointment, and pain. Drawing on Nietzsche’s idea of the “last man,” I ask whether happiness alone is enough. Perhaps some of the most meaningful things in life—art, love, adventure, creation, and self-overcoming—are inefficient, risky, and costly. Maybe the deeper question is what we are willing to live for.
AIリストラ時代、私たちは挫折を学ばなければならない
As AI continues to reshape white-collar work, many people may eventually be forced to leave familiar careers and enter completely different fields. In this episode, I reflect on my own difficult experience in door-to-door sales after university and how that early hardship gave me resilience later in life. Losing a job is not only about income; it can also mean losing status, identity, and a carefully planned future. I argue that setbacks can broaden our perspective and teach us that no career is permanent. In the AI era, adaptability, humility, and the ability to learn again may matter more than credentials.
正論のインフレ、経験の希少化
In the age of AI, saying the “right things” has become incredibly easy. Anyone can produce polished advice about success, learning, discipline, or personal growth in seconds. But as correct opinions become abundant, real experience may become more valuable. In this episode, I explore the inflation of conventional wisdom and the growing scarcity of lived experience. AI can tell us to learn from failure, but it cannot replace years of trying, failing, regretting, adapting, and thinking. The future value of human expression may depend less on knowing the right answer and more on what we have actually lived through.
なぜ人は一流という言葉に弱いのか
Why are people so attracted to the idea of being “first-class”? We hear the phrase everywhere: first-class universities, companies, hotels, restaurants, and even first-class people. But who actually decides what “first-class” means? In this episode, I examine how the label creates authority without clear standards, how prestigious institutions can make individuals appear more valuable, and why such language is so persuasive. I also explore the danger of ranking human beings with a single scale. Competition may be unavoidable, but reducing people to “first-class,” “second-class,” or “third-class” categories is far too simple for the complexity of real life.
「稼ぐ方法」を売る人は、なぜ自己啓発屋になっていくのか
Why does advice about making money so often turn into self-help? At first, online business experts may teach practical skills: how to create products, use social media, write better copy, or build a sales funnel. But when customers fail to achieve the promised results, the explanation often shifts from the method to the person. Suddenly, the problem is your mindset, commitment, discipline, or environment. In this episode, I explore why businesses that sell “ways to make money” naturally drift toward motivational advice—and why years of trial, error, persistence, and adjustment may matter far more than having the right mindset.
賢く生きる系インフルエンサー
Why are so many influencers obsessed with “living smarter”? They teach us how to quit our jobs, reduce expenses, invest efficiently, avoid bad relationships, and optimize every part of life. But behind these strategies lies a deeper idea: life can be hacked like a game. In this episode, I examine the rise of “smart living” influencers, the hidden role of luck and personal circumstances, and how social problems are increasingly turned into individual optimization problems. Perhaps life is not something to be perfectly optimized. Sometimes wasting time, taking detours, and living inefficiently are part of being human. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ● Shigeki Saito — Official WebsiteJapanese lessons / Japanese voice data licensing for AI companies https://sites.google.com/view/shigeki/home ● ビジネス日本語学習者のための無料メルマガ講座 https://my162p.com/p/r/odSmegng ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
法人営業は盛り上げ役も求められる
Corporate sales is not always just about selling products or solving customers’ problems. Sometimes salespeople are also expected to entertain clients, create a lively atmosphere, and represent the personality of the company itself. In this episode, I recall an experience in Ho Chi Minh City when my company president told me to stop sitting quietly and join people dancing at a karaoke bar. It made me realize that corporate sales can require much more than sales techniques and product knowledge. You may be expected to become an entertainer, a likable character, or even the life of the party—roles that are rarely mentioned in the job description. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ● Shigeki Saito — Official WebsiteJapanese lessons / Japanese voice data licensing for AI companies https://sites.google.com/view/shigeki/home ● ビジネス日本語学習者のための無料メルマガ講座 https://my162p.com/p/r/odSmegng ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
オフラインの営業は今後もやるつもりはない
Every business needs sales, but not everyone needs to sell in the same way. In this episode, I explain why I have no intention of relying on offline networking events, business gatherings, or the constant maintenance of professional relationships. For some people, meeting new contacts, attending social events, and building relationships face-to-face comes naturally. For me, creating content and building trust gradually through the internet is a much better fit. Online marketing is certainly not easy—it requires patience and years of consistent work. But the important question is not which method is easier. It is which kind of effort you can realistically continue for years. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ● Shigeki Saito — Official WebsiteJapanese lessons / Japanese voice data licensing for AI companies https://sites.google.com/view/shigeki/home ● ビジネス日本語学習者のための無料メルマガ講座 https://my162p.com/p/r/odSmegng ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
仕事だと思って取り組むのは優等生的考え方
Should we simply treat work as work and separate it from what we truly enjoy? At first, this may sound like the mature and rational approach. We all need money, and not everyone can earn a living doing what they love. But being too good at tolerating work we dislike may create another problem: we can spend years following a path that never really belonged to us. Working for a company can teach us discipline, social skills, and how to create value for others. Yet adapting too much can gradually erase our own preferences and ambitions. Sometimes the most rational choice in the short term becomes irrational over a lifetime. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ● Shigeki Saito — Official WebsiteJapanese lessons / Japanese voice data licensing for AI companies https://sites.google.com/view/shigeki/home ● ビジネス日本語学習者のための無料メルマガ講座 https://my162p.com/p/r/odSmegng ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
愚痴は社会化しないと鬱陶しがられる
Everyone complains sometimes. We complain about difficult bosses, annoying coworkers, health problems, relationships, and the frustrations of everyday life. But listening to someone complain for hours can be exhausting. In this episode, I introduce the idea of “socializing” our complaints: transforming a private frustration into something that other people can recognize in their own lives. A personal complaint can become a broader observation about work, relationships, or society. Literature, films, essays, and social criticism often begin with very personal dissatisfaction. Complaining is not necessarily meaningless. If we learn how to transform it, private frustration can become something worth sharing. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ● Shigeki Saito — Official WebsiteJapanese lessons / Japanese voice data licensing for AI companies https://sites.google.com/view/shigeki/home ● ビジネス日本語学習者のための無料メルマガ講座 https://my162p.com/p/r/odSmegng ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
久しぶりにカフェでノマドワークしてみた
Yesterday, I worked outside my home for the first time in quite a while. I drove to a shopping mall about ten kilometers away and spent several hours working in a small café. The change of environment was refreshing, and the background noise of people talking was surprisingly easy to ignore. At the same time, I rediscovered the limitations of café work: recording audio is difficult, sitting for hours becomes uncomfortable, and food and drinks can quickly become expensive. For me, working from home remains the best option. Still, an occasional afternoon in a café can be a pleasant change of pace. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ● Shigeki Saito — Official WebsiteJapanese lessons / Japanese voice data licensing for AI companies https://sites.google.com/view/shigeki/home ● ビジネス日本語学習者のための無料メルマガ講座 https://my162p.com/p/r/odSmegng ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------