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A blog about Dave Gatchell.

  • Body

    Woke up today thinking about how much money hotels in Japan hotels are leaving on the table because of their tattoo rules.

    One of the biggest attractions for vacation in Japan are the hot spring baths. A majority of hotels have rules barring people with tattoos from using the bath.

    Estimations:

    • estimated percentage of Americans with tattoos is 30%
    • estimated visitors from America to Japan is between 1 and 1.5 million

    That means around 400,000 Americans that visit Japan can't use the hot spring baths. Most don't travel alone so it's probably likely their group will choose a hotel that they can all enjoy together.

    Let's use an easy price, like $100 for one night, to calculate.

    400,000 people * $100 = $40,000,000 (or ¥5,981,400,000)

    Rooms are more expensive than that usually. That number doesn't include food and drinks even. That's a lot of money left on the table because of body art rules.

  • Body

    Got some half-priced katsuo at the supermarket last night. Marinated it in sesame oil and vinager overnight. ¥200 tasted like ¥2000 for lunch today.

  • Body

    After watching a video about iterative thinking, it made me feel less bummed about trying ways to organize projects in my to-do system. The video reminded me to enjoy a failure because you get to try the next idea. Each attempt is a chance to level-up the skills.

  • Body

    Yesterday ruled. We went to see a friends photography exhibit at Tennozu Isle station. A very cool exhibition and nice to chill out by the ocean.

    After that we went to see a legendary 1970s punk band called Totsuden Danboru at a live house called 七針 (nana hari/seven needles) near Hatchobori station. Such a cool spot to see a show.

  • Body

    One of my pinball philosophies is if you win a free game in pinball, you leave it for the next person. Better someone else comes along and gets the joy of finding it.

    I usually don't have a better game if I play the free game so it's better to leave it and move on to a different machine.