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What Is The True Story Behind Nissan And The Fall Of Carlos Ghosn?

If you’re a business leader living in Japan who can speak English, there’s no doubt you heard about the fall of Carlos Ghosn. Mr. Ghosn, the Lebanese born, Brazilian raised, French leader was famous in Japan for coming in and cutting costs to help Nissan from the brink of bankruptcy.

Ghosn and Michael Kelley, his close lieutenant, were arrested in Tokyo for lying about their finances. The Western media and many highlighted the fact that Japan prosecutors can basically hold someone indefinitely while they investigate an issue (without filing charges). Truly, this is a problem, but Japan is famous for being a safe and orderly country for a reason.

What exactly happened to Carlos Ghosn?
Early on, in November 2018, there was a lot of speculation about how the former icon was arrested. However, the Wall Journal took a deep dive into investigative reporting to flush out the facts. You can read that for yourself here. But what exactly happened?  Here’s a quick compilation we did here in country via Japanese and foreign readily available information.

  • Ghosn overstayed his welcome as the boss of Nissan. 63 years old.
  • Ghosn overstayed his welcome @ Renault as well, causing hopeful successors to leave the company and creating a leadership vacuum
  • Ghosn was under pressure in both Japan and France not to show too much income as both societies look down on over-paid CEOs (ie. American companies such as Tim Cook @Apple, Robert Iger @ Walt Disney, Mark Hurd @Oracle, Brian Duperreault @AIG to name a few)
  • Ghosn began to live on Nissan’s money, with houses in Lebanon, France, and Brazil and expensive jets to fly him there.
  • Ghosn represented a move to make a major Japanese company subservient to a lesser French company they felt was a parasite on their performance (despite financing the return from the brink of bankruptcy years earlier.
  • A European shell company was made to move around Nissan money.
  • Ghosn was trying to hide income. Never mess with the tax man.

Some people outside Japan assume that he was arrested for being a non-Japanese. That’s just completely wrong.  The fact of the matter in Japan, you don’t want to get on the wrong side of the law whether you’re local or international (ex. Mr. Horie of Livedoor). The conclusion from those of us in business in Japan is that the Ghosn case will not decrease the number of non-Japanese CEOs working in Japan.  It will just make people a bit more sensitive about how they try to move money around.

No doubt the Ghosn story will continue to unfold. His detention has been extended again. He should be taken to trial, not under continued arrest without charges. However, if you’re at a publicly traded company, you’d better not be gray with the corporation’s finances.

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Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s False Accusers Cases Crumble

The attack, stall, and delay tactics by US Senate Democrats has achieved the goal at least temporarily.

The attack on Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s integrity was distracting. However, the politicians picked the wrong guy to attack. Who would of guessed he kept a detailed calendar for 50 years and know where he was and what he was doing most of his life.

The sex abuse stories that they encouraged have continued to fall apart. The latest from major news media.

In a memo released Sunday, experienced sex-crimes prosecutor Rachel Mitchell flagged numerous inconsistencies in Ford’s testimony, saying that her case against Kavanaugh was even weaker than the typical “he said, she said” scenario. Specifically, Mitchell noted that Ford repeatedly changed her story as to the number of people at the party where she allegedly was assaulted, and could not remember certain key details like how she got home or whether she had given her therapist notes to The Washington Post just two months ago.

None of the witnesses Ford named as present at the house, including her lifelong best friend, has backed her claims. Additionally, Ford admitted under questioning by Mitchell that she travels regularly on airplanes, even though her team had cited a fear of travel as a reason she could not promptly come to Washington, D.C. to testify. Ford also indicated under oath she was not aware that Senate Republicans had publicly and privately offered to fly to California to interview her — a disparity that Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., vowed to investigate.

And Swetnick seemingly has changed her story on whether she had first-hand knowledge that Kavanaugh intentionally plied women with alcohol so that they could be gang-raped decades ago. One of Swetnick’s ex-boyfriends also has questioned her credibility, exclusively telling Fox News that she once threatened to murder his unborn child and “exaggerated everything” to get attention.

A separate ex-boyfriend has also said in a sworn statement to the Judiciary Committee that he does not believe Swetnick, and claimed that Swetnick’s father intimated she has mental health issues.

Swetnick’s lawyer, Michael Avenatti, has called repeatedly for the FBI and Senate investigators to interview his client, even as major inconsistencies in her account continued to surface Tuesday. Swetnick was sued in 2000 by her former employer for allegedly falsifying her educational experience, and she also was accused of fabricating sexual harassment episodes.

On Tuesday, Mike Davis, who works as the nominations counsel for Grassley, reportedly told Avenatti: “We have already reviewed your client’s allegations. We focus on credible allegations. Please stop emailing me.”

Above quotations from here.

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Watch Brett Kavanaugh’s Thoroughly Refute Christine Ford’s Accusation Before The Senate Committee

Judge Brett Kavanaugh thoroughly refutes the accusations of leftist politicians attempt to take down his nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States.  Watching the video, you will find that they targeted the wrong guy.  How many of us keep a thorough record of what we have done during our school days.

We’re looking forward to seeing Judge Kavanaugh on the US Supreme Court!  A man of great integrity that has overcome the pollitical hit job shall surely help make America better and give hope for a country in search of direction.

Below is a very with not questions from Senators.

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To Hawaii Senator Mazie Hirono, All Men Are Sex Offenders?

Did Hawaiian Senator Mazie Hirono smoke too much ‘Maui wowie’ (marijuana) ?  In this interview, she tells all men to ‘shut up and step up’.  In her mind, all men are sex offenders, rapists, and perverts?

For years, Hawaii has struggled to keep good teachers in their public school system.  Mazie must have been highly educated but how could she make such ignorant conclusions?

She should probably take her own advise and not talk about what you doesn’t know about.

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Christine Blasey Ford- Political Pawn, Liar, Or Confused?

(BrightCitizen.com) Washington DC seems to have no shortage of divisiveness.  How a ‘disunited states’ can continue to prosper is very concerning even to the passionately positive people among us.

The highest Judicial Court of the United States of America has a nomination from President Donald Trump for a new Justice or Judge to serve for lifetime appointment.  The judge has a very positive record, is well regarded amongst all that he has worked with over his career, and is considered to be consistent with the conservative traditional values of the United States.  The issue is he is not being recommended by the leftists in the Democratic Party of the United States but instead a ‘Republican’ nomination.

After several FBI background checks, weeks of testimony, and hundreds of meetings between Judge Brett Kavanaugh and Members of the United States Senate, and anonymous letter from July is released just before confirmation process to the full senate begins.  The accuser, Christine Blasey Ford claims that she was groped in a bedroom 35 years ago by the young future judge at a beer party in Maryland.  Unfortunately, there are many problems with the story

  • Christine Ford doesn’t remember the house location or date of the alleged attack
  • Christine Ford may have had some traumatic affair but the mental health professional recorded her saying there were four boys in the room not the two she now talks about.  Which is it?
  • The accuser has no witnesses or confidants to confirm that the trauma happened, but more importantly who the perpetrators where if something did happen.
  • Christine Ford deleted all her social media accounts before going to the Washington Post to announce her accusation.  It would seem more a move for political battle than for keeping privacy.
  • People who have had a truly traumatic attack would relive the details constantly and would usually have them seared into their consciences.
  • 57 women have gone to the effort of writing a letter to the Senate Committee confirming the kindness and great treatment they have received from Brett Kavanaugh over his years and putting their names to a recommendation
  • Sexual predators don’t stop, they keep going for years until they are caught. Bill Clinton is a perfect example of a sexual deviant that continued to violate women from his days of governor in Arkansas to the Whitehouse.  If Judge Brett Kavanaugh were a sexual predator, he would have been continuing to display those traits and not been appointed his previous judicial positions.  Nor would have such a large group of friends and coworkers attesting to his integrity over his career.

Based on the timing and story, it would seem that everything is about trying to prevent a republican nominated judge from being seated on the US Supreme Court.  Is Ms. Ford a political pawn, a liar, or confused?  Ms. Ford is a political activist on the democratic side.  She has given money to political causes and signed her alias name to a letter against President Trump’s moves to fix immigration.  She has attained a post graduate degree so we would conclude she is likely no fool.

Based on the above, Christine Ford would seem to be an actively engaged political pawn trying to derail a nomination and destroy the personal lives of the target judge and his family.

Christine Ford’s story seems to have more holes than a shot-gunned milk jug.  What’s your take?  Feel free to make thoughtful comments below.  Avoid the politics and stick to the logical side.

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Know Your Timing

It’s great to see get out there and do great things in music, entertainment, and research. However, there’s a time for everything.

Great business know when to run and when to build. Pictured above is a former Japan heart throb (Takuya Kimura or ‘Kimutaku’) in j-pop music. He’s over 40 now and attempting a come back. His fan generation is not interested.

Great business people become great because they’ve got the timing element nailed.

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Time To Delete Facebook #deletefacebook

Facebook is the fantastically successful company founded by a sneaky son of a dentist. They make money selling your details on people.  They generate cash by telling others about you.

Do We Really Need FaceBook?
People use FB for keeping up with friends and relatives. We also look for ‘likes’ from people we don’t really know. Sadly though, many relationships have been broken by FaceBook. People leaving their spouses for an old flame, others fighting over political points that really don’t matter (it’s okay to respectfully disagree), and all sorts of trash talk because people don’t get something the way they wanted. People looking for approval on the platform by being accepted as a friend or being liked. Seth Godin recently commented on how superficial our relationships are on social media, AKA social surveillance media.   A friend is someone you can visit and maybe even sleep on their couch when you visit their city.

FaceBook Shares More Than You Think
Recently with the Cambridge Analytica scandal where Facebook users data was taken by third party advertisers, the world saw how loose Facebook really is. They are tough on bloggers and leaders that don’t share their morals but happy to share our information, posts, pictures as well as whatever we’ve given them as well as those who are connected with us.

FaceBook is founded on the concept of using your information to make money. They have repeated scandals about bleeding user information and giving away our data. The Cambridge Analytica revelations reveal that again. It has become the last straw for thousands.
When the founder and insider of a company that made billions of USD from being acquired by the social surveillance firm says it, it’s probably time to start listening. After all what good really is this company for society?

Time to
#deletefacebook

Copy and paste freely!  Post on your internet feeds and spread the word!

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President Trump Needs To Get The Facts Right On US Bases In Japan

(BrightCitizen.com) Donald Trump has told us repeatedly that other countries need to pay their fair share for defense. When discussing the United Nations it is true that the United States has been paying most of the bills for military related activities and more. However, Trump has leveled the same judgment on the US military bases in Japan.

Japan pays for 50% or more, for everything at the US bases in that country. If the US government does not think that is enough of the costs, it should consider phasing out and closing the bases. That would cut costs and also give the Japan government a chance to show what they’re made of.