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mishkasthings · 2 years

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I know this is a travel blog and talking about how to lose weight fast is the last of the topics to discuss here.

However, on the 27th of May every year which happens to be my birthday.

I write about something personal unrelated to travel.

It could be an achievement or something premium I would like to pass out for free as a way of giving back to the community.

With that said, are you struggling with weight? Do you want to become lean? You have been conned to buy those unrealistic concoctions?

You go to the gym every day but instead you keep on adding weight no matter how much you try, nothing is working?

You even went ahead to subscribe to those expensive Apps without much success?

The list is endless including slimming pills and some bitter concoction of herbs I usually see with women carrying to work.

Funny how they clench and flinch their faces while taking them.

It is a struggle to work so hard and spend so much with minimal changes.

Then the system will make you believe your weight issue is genetic and there’s nothing much you can do.

Lie, there`s if you follow what I`m about to share with you but before that.

I`m a case study and here’s my Journey/experience.

How I Lost 44 Pounds In Two Months.

44 Pounds is about 20 Kg I know it is hard to believe but there’s nothing I’m trying to promote or sell why would I exaggerate?

However, this did not come on a silver platter and only a small fraction of humans can do what I did. My body was transformed. (I will explain how shortly)

After achieving my “ideal weight”. I remember bumping into my ex-girlfriend whom we had not seen each other in years and she did not recognize me.

Well, you don’t have to go the extreme I went to shed those extra pounds but if you follow some of the simple ways I’m about to unveil.

It will be a gradual slow but sure healthy process that 90% of humans can comfortably manage only if they master discipline.

Why I Decided To Lose Weight.

It is not like I was Obese but just a little bit overweight with a BMI of 29. This is how you Calculate your BMI.

Take your height in Meters Squared then divide by your weight, for example, my height is 1.70 Meters my weight then was 86kgs

86KGS ÷ (1.70M ×1.70M) =29.655

Below 18 you’re underweight

5- 24.9 Normal weight

25 – 30 Over Weight

30 – Above Obese

So, from the above, I was overweight and I felt it was a shame for a man like me to grow old without seeing the beauty of his chiseled body.

After all, no one was coming to tell me to start. I was becoming tired of my “one pack”, and I wanted 6 instead.

It is at this moment I challenged myself to start and this is how it went down.

How To Lose Weight Fast Without Exercising.

This was my first google search, I tried everything but nothing was working. Then during one of those lazy days after a heavy unhealthy lunch.

I saw #bettertogether trending on Twitter. It was talking about being Fat and how to lose weight. I clicked and followed the Author immediately.

His name is Eric aka Amerix a Kenyan Doctor (Masculinity Saturday).

I swiftly went through his tweets and at some point, I thought he was misleading his followers if anything goes by what I have been reading online.

This drew my curiosity more and for the first time, I came across the word OMAD (One Meal A Day).

If you’re keen, I just answered your question about losing weight fast without exercising. Even though on his tweets the doctor (Amerix) emphasized a combo of OMAD and lifting weights/exercising.

I defied and jumped into OMAD immediately without much consultation. We shall see the effects of this shortly.

This was the hardest task I have ever taken in a long time but I was determined. Nothing was going to stop me!

The first 3 days were the hardest but on the 5th day, it felt normal and even started wondering why the heck I needed 3 to 4 meals a day.

Why Breakfast Is The Most Useless Meal Of The Day.

I’m good at research and this become my task, I met three other experts on YouTube Dr. Eric Berg, Dr. Sten Ekberg, and Jason Fung.

These four-spoke same language and I have grown to know breakfast is the most useful meal of the day. Even now when you google it still says so.

Whenever you go to hospitals, they are going to tell you not to skip your breakfast. This is what the system propagates and teaches us to do. (I don’t blame them)

This was just an advert gimmick by Kellogs, general mills, and Nestle food companies to sell their cereals.

According to Amerix, this is why you don’t need it.

At 4 AM, the body releases a thread of hormones known as counter-regulatory hormones.

These hormones are-:

Glucagon

Adrenaline

Cortisol

Growth hormone

These hormones raise blood sugar in the morning. In a Process known as the dawn phenomenon.

The rising blood glucose level prepares you to face the day. While the Growth hormone prepares your muscles for the day as the adrenaline wakes up your mind to face the morning.

This rising blood glucose will remain till a few minutes after midday when it begins dropping. If it drops, the body will now use another mechanism to mobilize more glucose from muscle tissues and the liver, including converting fats in the liver into glucose.

So, in the morning, you don’t have to eat. It is useless.

How To Lose Weight In One Week.

I was losing weight gradually the right way but it reached a point I wanted more. I wanted to be lean as fast as I could but at least naturally.

By now I had watched a million YouTube tutorials but I always went back to my best four i.e. Amerix, Dr. Eric Berg, Dr. Sten Ekberg, and Jason Fung.

It is at this moment one thing stood out about losing weight and the answer was Intermittent Fasting. I decided to challenge myself for a one-week water fasting.

I don’t remember taking such a risky challenge in my life of course apart from the day I quit my 8-5 Job and even then, it was a calculated risk but this one.

You see before you decide to go for a prolonged fast, you should first consult with your Doctor and test if you’re fit for this, well I didn’t.

The first 3 days were the hardest but thereafter, I had the best feeling ever. My mind was as clear as a Monk. More spiritual, I think at that time I could pray for a Cripple and walk.

As I was coming to finish the 7th Day without food only water, I become so weak that if you pushed me, I would have fallen.

From the look, you could just tell I had no energy left. At the same time, I was so happy I accomplished my goal.

I felt different and looked younger despite losing immerse weight which I learned later was water weight and some muscle loss.

Mistakes I Made While I Fasted For One Week To Lose Weight.

Intense Exercise

I would still do the Morning run of about 4 Kilometers in the first 5 days since the last two I tried and I couldn’t. Walking was a problem.

You see, your body is already straining, and adding more stress was not a good idea. This didn’t respond well.

Consuming Apple Cider Vinegar.

This one is good for Intermittent Fasting but not for prolonged fasting. Dr. Eric Berg stated that, while in prolonged fasting since you’re in a strong Ketogenic state so your PH is going to be pretty Acidic, and taking the ACV will only make it tenfold acidic.

Instead, you can/should take baking soda and mix ¼ of a spoon and mix it with water, this will help neutralize the Acidity.

Breaking Fast With The Wrong Foods

First, I wanted to have a heavy meal which was wrong. To make it worse I broke the fast with wheat (Chapati). NB// That was the last day I ever took wheat, we shall be looking at what to and not eat shortly.

You should take a light soft meal like bone broth, and eggs then gradually resume your normal food.

How Many Pounds/Kg Did I Lose With One Week Of Water Fasting?

I lost a whopping 17.6lb/8 kgs. With the combo of OMAD which I had started in December 2021 up to the date, I did the 7-day fasting. I had already lost 7 Kgs so in total 15 Kgs were lost.

I had different physic but I noticed I did not have muscles. I wanted lean and not bulk Muscles so I started lifting weights and within a month or so my body was toned up a bit.

Abs were visible (something I thought was impossible) and the Journey continues.

How To Lose Weight Fast Naturally And Permanently?

How to lose weight fast and Naturally - Two month body physic transformation

How to lose weight fast and Naturally – Two-month body transformation.

So, what will I do never to go back to the old weighty days? Simple Discipline! You must have the will and the best thing about all this is that once you get used, you’re unlikely to ever go back.

These Are The Measures I Took To Stay Lean.

Intermittent Fasting.

I was doing OMAD but it was not working for me but it is the best you can ever practice and make it a lifestyle.

So now I do take 18/6 whereby you fast for 18 hours and only have 6 hours feeding window. For example. I take my breakfast/first meal of the day at 1:00 PM and Dinner before 6:00 PM.

NB// Please don’t take this challenge if your goal is only to lose weight, yes you will but when you go back to bad eating habits you will regain the weight tenfold! What a waste. What will be the point? Make this a lifestyle.

Autophagy Marathon

I got this from the Kenyan Doctor, Amerix. Search benefits of Autophagy. I do this once a week.

What is Autophagy?

This is the consuming of the body’s tissue as a metabolic process of starvation or rather destruction of damaged cellular components occurring in vacuoles within the cells.

Autophagy will help clear dead debris within your cellular Components. So how do I go about it? I fast for straight 48 hours only taking water weekly. It’s now a lifestyle.

Eat Healthily.

Yes, 70% of the work starts in the kitchen, and the small remaining portion is the gym. This means you might not need exercise to lose weight but just to keep fit.

What to eat and what to avoid, I shall discuss below.

This is a battle that will define your commitment.

What To Eat To Lose Weight.

You must have the following, sorry no shortcuts.

Self-Control

Self-Discipline

Self-Awareness

To Start Us Off, Note The Following

Stop consuming sugar in any form. Even the so-called diet coke and sweeteners

Drop SEED OILS and embrace Extra Virgin Oil Organic, Tallow, ghee, Coconut Oil, and butter.

If you are struggling with fat loss, stop consuming fruits.

Eliminate simple carbs from your diet especially if you are struggling with weight, hypertension, and Diabetes.

Simple carbs are wheat, maize flour, cassava, maize, processed foods, and processed drinks.

Here Is What You Should Eat To Achieve A Tolerable Calorie Deficit.

Complex carbs

Sweet potatoes

Arrow roots

Green bananas

Beans

Pumpkins

Butternuts

Millet and sorghum flour milled at your local posho mill.

Proteins

All types of meat

Eggs, I take 3 Daily

Vegetables – All types of vegetables particularly cruciferous veggies e.g. Spinach, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbages, and Kales.

To achieve a high level of self-control, do this from tomorrow

Push your breakfast to 1 PM.

Eat your last meal at 7 PM

Between 7 Pm and 1 PM the next day, drink water only. Don’t snack.

Do this for 1 week and see what happens not only to your weight but also to your mental strength.

Finally

Go join a sports team

To learn a new skill

Go to the gym

Go join a books club

Conclusion.

I want to start with a disclaimer, I am not a Doctor and what worked for me might not work for you so consult your doctor first.

If someone asked me what is the easiest way to lose weight and live healthily and I was to answer in one word.

That would be Intermittent Fasting (IF). We take 3 to 4 meals a day which is unnecessary and all we do is store fat.

The question you should ask yourself is when will this stored fat ever be used?

This is why you add weight as you age and society has conditioned us to believe being overweight is normal.

It is genetic, it comes with age and money. The leanest are the wealthiest.

I believe no greater wealth than being healthy and I’m not talking about TOFIs.

Like Amerix always say and I quote him. “There’s no pride in being Fat, change, or Perish”.

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garudabluffs · 7 years

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You have one day to stop Congress from giving away your web browsing history March 27,2017

UNLESS THE BILL FAILS IN THE HOUSE, THE NATION’S STRONGEST PRIVACY PROTECTIONS WILL BE ELIMINATED AND THE FCC CANNOT REVIVE THEM Even creepier, they’ll be able to install software on your phone to track you, and inject undetectable “cookies” into your Internet traffic to record everything you’re doing online. If this bill passes the House, companies like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T will be able to constantly (and secretly) collect our online activity and sell our browsing history, financial information, and real-time location, and sell it to advertisers without our permission.

“Color of Change, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Free Press have simple ways for you to tell your Representative what you think of the FCC’s rules and Congress’ efforts to eliminate them.” 33 Comments “Canada has very strong consumer protection laws in place… so much so that I don’t even bother with VPN’s.That said, you do have to pay premium and live by the downsides. ISP rates in Canada are almost twice as high in certain areas, and similar to the US, there are only 3 companies (Telus, Bell and Rogers) that own the market. The rest are just the small ones that offer limited services and simply borrow the infrastructure of the big 3.Many tech updates also take ages to reach here; Youtube Red still isn’t available, and the Canadian app/music stores often need to wait longer (up to a year) before receiving the latest releases.” READ MORE http://www.theverge.com/2017/3/27/15073162/fcc-broadband-internet-privacy-rules-congress-vote

6 comments “ Only to be expected. The giant telecom co's just want more money. They know that data services will eventually become either subsidized or considered a commodity and are trying to cash in now. Pretty crazy though - any tools you use client side are more or less meaningless now - all one can do is pay for VPN I guess.” + “ Well, the googles and facebookes will have to be dismantled on antitrust principles. Like many other institutions and firms with excessive "environmental" (let me use this simil) hassles, scattered to oblivion.” READ http://www.blacklistednews.com/You_have_one_day_to_stop_Congress_from_giving_away_your_web_browsing_history/57554/0/38/38/Y/M.html#disqus_thread

Because Congress is using a little-known tool called a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution, it would also effectively prohibit the FCC from creating similar privacy rules in the future. That could leave consumers without a federal agency to protect them against privacy invasions by their ISPs.

And it’s not just following you around the Internet to sell your browsing records to advertisers that we’re worried about. If Congress repeals these rules, ISPs will be able to do things like hijack your Internet searches to redirect you to advertisers’ pages, show you additional ads, and use supercookies to track you even when you’re using pro-privacy settings like Incognito mode.

#ISP legislation

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dipulb3 · 4 years

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Samsung's Galaxy Tab S6 Lite is way better than its name implies

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/samsungs-galaxy-tab-s6-lite-is-way-better-than-its-name-implies/

Samsung's Galaxy Tab S6 Lite is way better than its name implies

Samsung’s 10.4-inch Android tablet isn’t light on features.

Josh Goldman/CNET

After spending a few weeks using the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite, I’ve decided the tablet’s capabilities exceed its name. I mean, it is lighter on features and performance than the full-fledged Galaxy Tab S6, so in that sense it is a “lite” version. But the name does it a disservice, because I never really felt like I was missing features. Maybe it’s because the S6 Lite isn’t trying to be an Android two-in-one laptop and instead just does more than I expected from a midrange Android tablet, and that’s what makes it a standout.

Included S Pen is good for note-taking, sketching and more

High-quality display and audio

More than 11 hours of battery life

Don’t Like

Palm rejection needs improvement

Samsung’s Book Cover is pricy on its own

The Tab S6 Lite starts at $350 with 64GB of storage or $430 for 128GB. Both have microSD card slots to expand storage up to 1TB and include the full-size S Pen and four months of ad-free YouTube Premium service. It’s $70 for Samsung’s Book Cover, although you can likely find it cheaper with a bundle. Costco, for example, sells the 128GB model with the cover for $450. You’ll probably want the cover because it not only protects the tablet, but stands it up — horizontally and vertically — and gives you a safe place to store the pen. The cover also gives you a place to grip the tablet without actually touching the display. (There are cheaper options, too.)

By comparison, the current base model 10.2-inch iPad is $329 with 32GB of storage, but the 128GB version is the same as the Lite at $430. It does not include Apple’s $99 Pencil or a cover with ($160) or without ($50) a keyboard. So, as is usually the case, Samsung is giving you more for your money against that iPad, in hardware, at least. Of course, if you don’t care about writing and drawing on a screen or being overly productive, you might be best off with Amazon’s $165 Fire HD10. The Tab S6 Lite is more than an entertainment tablet though.

Productivity in a different light

One of the biggest differences between the S6 and S6 Lite is that the latter doesn’t have Samsung’s DeX, which gives its Android tablets a “desktop OS” feel. For instance, there’s support for a touchpad or mouse. Because of this, it might feel like the Lite isn’t as good for work and that might be the case for some people, but wasn’t for me. I just leaned into using the S Pen more.

The pen is as comfortable to hold as a regular pen. It’s responsive, with little discernible lag in my experience. I’m not much more than a doodler when it comes to illustration, but I loaded up Autodesk’s Sketchbook to test out the S Pen and was able to draw straight lines without jitter, accurately shade with varying amounts of pressure and create broad or narrow strokes by angling the tip. My biggest issue was that it didn’t reject my palm on the screen incredibly well, so I would accidentally open menus or move my drawing on occasion.

Josh Goldman/CNET

As a productivity tool, the S Pen is great. You can write notes on the screen without unlocking the tablet or launch the Notes app or other pen-enabled tools from the onscreen Air command shortcut that appears when you hover the pen over the display.

I used the pen to write a chunk of this review in Google Docs using the built-in handwriting-to-text translation. Similarly, you can highlight your writing in the Notes app and have it turned into text. Your results will vary based on how sloppy your handwriting is, but it does work well. While I was watching a slide presentation recently, I used the Smart Select tool to draw a box around a slide, which could then be used to extract text from the slide. With the Screen Write option, I could take a screenshot of the presentation and then write notes on the picture to include more details.

Paired with a small Bluetooth keyboard, the S6 Lite is fine for banging out emails or editing Word docs.

Josh Goldman/CNET

Like I said earlier, you can be productive with the S6 Lite without a keyboard and mouse, you just have to take advantage of what the S Pen can do. If you do want to type, though, Samsung does make a $99 keyboard cover for the S6 Lite, but any Bluetooth keyboard will work. I paired it with this $20 Arteck keyboard that’s roughly the same size as the tablet, so it’s good for travel when you want a full keyboard. Basically, what I’m getting at is you don’t necessarily need to spend more for the higher-end Tab S6 just to get a good tablet for work.

Pen-down play

Tablets are generally great for entertainment and the Galaxy Tab S6 Lite is no different. When you’re ready to put the S Pen down and relax, the 10.4-inch LCD and the AKG-tuned speakers with Dolby Atmos support look and sound first-class for the money. The top-notch Super AMOLED display and quad-speaker system on the higher-end Tab S6 are better, but the Lite will likely be fine for most.

The S6 Lite’s Book Cover holds the display at two different angles.

Josh Goldman/CNET

Likewise, you’ll probably get a more immersive gaming experience out of the S6, but that didn’t stop me from playing Modern Combat 5 and Asphalt 9 for hours. I would’ve liked a bit more screen brightness, but between using a Bluetooth controller and the Book Cover’s two position options, I was able to adjust the display angle to mitigate reflections.

Battery life is another plus for the tablet. In our streaming video test, the S6 Lite ran for 11 hours, 17 minutes with the display brightness set to 50% and the audio played through earbuds with the volume set to 50%.

In the end, with the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite you’re getting an all-around tablet that’s good for both entertainment and productivity. It might not replace a laptop like the Tab S6 attempts to, but you can easily use it for classes, commuting and more — especially if you’re ready to pick up the pen.

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johnmuffus · 5 years

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eCom Profits Builder Review

eCom Profits Builder Review (Amber Digital Course)

Today, we’ll be going through Amber Digital’s course, what you get with it, and whether or not it meets the asking price.

The course aims at teaching you the process of creating a profitable dropshipping store, regardless of your experience level. You have 2 versions of the course: you can pay $297 for the course’s content, and you can pay $50 more for access to the Facebook group and a few other bonuses.

Who’s the author?

She’s a young entrepreneur focused on eCommerce, specifically dropshipping with Shopify. She has a YouTube channel with the typical content on recommendations, methods, and her own insight. It’s also filled with clickbait titles like most gurus’.

Amber is around the 7,000 subscribers mark, which isn’t as surprising as other channels, but it seems to be increasing constantly, albeit at a slow pace.

Outside her channel, you won’t have a lot of luck finding info on her. Her name seems to be popular for entrepreneurs, since Google yields different businesses if you google her name. She does have an Instagram profile, but it has less than 300 subscribers and almost zero posts

Her sales page says that she’s also been through the frustrations of working office hours without financial freedom. Like many others, she often uses these empathetic statements to promote her course.

Reviewing eCom Profits Builder

Product research

It starts off straight to business, thankfully. Amber explains how to research products and a few items she’s used to exponentially elevates her profits. She says no one else is selling them, but after being placed in an online course, get ready to see all students trying to sell the same.

You have other videos on how to pick your niche, and another one about how to find products without too much effort and, read this, without guessing. Remember that you can never be 100% sure of a product’s profitability, and even if you have solid criteria, you still need to test them.

Amber closes the module with her own strategy utilizing all the lessons you saw.

Supplier research

The second module teaches you how to spot the best suppliers for you to get your products with good prices. You learn how to do this using AliExpress, and there’s a video about getting suppliers competing against each other to ensure better prices; this was a nice video.

It closes by touching on how to find quality products, how to save some money upfront, and automating your order fulfillment once you start getting orders.

Store building

In this module, you learn how to build your –let me quote Amber –Money Making machine. You get a guide detailing the steps to how Amber says you can ensure more sales.

There’s a video teaching you how to come up with a brand name that stands out, and she then tells you how to implement that into your store’s domain name. You also learn about which settings and apps you want in place before closing with shipping rates.

Instagram influencers

This is the first module about marketing, called “Influencer Academy”. You learn how to find influencers, reach out to them, and how to negotiate the best prices once they replied.

There’s a neat lesson about spying on influencers used by your competition to spot how and what they’re marketing. It’s funny how she mentions how the products she recommends are things no one else sells and then has a lesson about spying competitors.

Of course, you already know that wasn’t a particularly truthful statement, so this is a good lesson. The module closes with how you set up your ads.

Facebook Ads

This is the second “Academy” in the course, and it goes into setting up your ads and making sure they’re as profitable as they can be.

Amber shows you her strategies and her process to create an ad from zero. She also touches on how to set up marketing objectives, writing your ad copy, and how you should target your customers.

It closes with 2 videos on social proof and a few scaling strategies about increasing your investment on successful ads.

Scaling Ads

Here’s the actual meat on ad scaling. You see how Amber does it for better efficiency as well as how to spot the signs telling you which ads are successful for scaling.

You learn how to prepare your scaling approach, keeping your ROI healthy, how to be time efficient, and a few strategies to ensure your customers stick to your products.

Maximizing profits

The course closes with how you can improve your long-term with a few strategies to increase profit margins. You learn how to increment your AOV before learning why it’s important to keep track of your profits and finances and how to manage these aspects.

You also have a video about using product bundles and abandoned cart recovery before the final video explaining how Amber gets 4.7% in conversion rates on her different stores.

Refunds

Asking for a refund requires you to watch under 40% of the content inside the course. That means you should stop after the 2nd module just to be sure. It’s also only available for 2 weeks after you bought the course.

It’s half the time that most courses allow, but at least there seems not to be any over-complicated processes or proof as requirements for the refund.

Final Verdict

Is It Worth It? Final Verdict

This might be a good course for beginners, but people with a good grasp on the fundamentals will find a lot of the content here irrelevant.

It’s also missing many other marketing approaches like Google Ads, SEO, and email marketing. The Facebook Ads section is also missing a lot of details.

Furthermore, the cheapest package here is the same price as eCom Elites premium package, which offers over 3 times the content in this course. It also has a Facebook community with over 5,000 members included in the course’s price.

You’ll learn everything in this course with more depth, plus more methods like the ones I mentioned all the way to chat bots and Snapchat.

I hope you found this review useful and if you have any questions, please comment down below. I’ll be more than happy to assist you.

Once again, thanks for reading my eCom Profits Builder Review and I wish you the best of luck.

The post eCom Profits Builder Review appeared first on Only Genuine Reviews.

source https://www.onlygenuinereviews.com/ecom-profits-builder-review/ source https://onlygenuinereviews.tumblr.com/post/190320664167

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traveltheworldwithme · 6 years

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Conquering Your Fears: Tokyo, Japan

Whenever we decide to travel, we have these anxieties, fears, and all those scary feelings aside from the excitement that we get when we know we’re going to go somewhere new. SOMEWHERE NEW. There are really those people who are adventurous enough to not be bothered by the anxiety of going someplace new. Whether you’re traveling somewhere local or traveling internationally, there’s always one or two things that make you worry. In this post, I’m going to list some of the most common fears/anxieties/whatever you want to call it of foreigners when going to Tokyo, Japan.

LANGUAGE BARRIER

The first thing that would really scare you when going to Japan is the language barrier. All those signs you can’t read, all those sentences and words you can’t understand, it would really put you off. Now I’m not going to say that I have gotten over this worry already because I still worry right now that I badly want to take actual classes to learn how to speak and read Japanese. My level of understanding with the language is just about 10% which knowledge I just got from anime. I still can’t read any hiragana or katakana and kanji. I can understand the context of the sentence by hearing words I’m familiar with but I can’t come up with my own coherent sentence because the placement of words is just different. I usually end up just saying words without forming sentences.

While there are some phrases you need to at least know before coming to Japan, I can pretty much say that you’ll get by there by using hand gestures and even though it’s not perfect, using Google Translate. Japanese people are very kind and will try to communicate with you and help you when you need help. I personally had some trouble with a coin locker and asked someone standing there for help, and she helped me. She was meeting with her boyfriend that time and when her boyfriend came he asked what happened and he also helped. I think I wasted 15 minutes of their life but I’ll never forget that moment when someone genuinely wanted to help a stranger. Another instance was when we were lost because the Google Maps walking path is not accurate (yep, Google Maps is awesome when it comes to pointing you to the right train station to ride but it sucks when there’s walking involved) and we just asked someone and she helped us tremendously, even using Google Translate to communicate with us so that she can point us to the right direction.

At the airport and on major train stations, there are tourist information booths and they usually speak and understand English. In most touristy places like in Nakamise-dori going to Sensoji temple, the vendors there can also understand and speak English.

In restaurants, there are some which offer an English menu so you can ask them for that. In case there’s no available English menu, most restaurants would have a picture of every dish they have there. In case you want to go to a place where there’s really no English menu nor photos of food, it’s best you Google all the information about it first or look up for some Youtube videos about the place so that you won’t be at a loss. If you’re really adventurous, go ahead and just use Google Translate coupled with hand gestures and they will try to understand you and you can still order.

In trains, specifically JR trains, the announcements are also broadcast in English so you’ll know which side of doors will open and the stop and where to get off if you want to transfer. However, in some subway lines, there’s really no translation whatsoever but you can still hear the name of the station where you want to go to so just remember the name of the station and listen carefully. Usually the name is written in kanji but there will be the Romaji equivalent of it, and if there’s none, just look at your Google Maps and try to remember the symbols/characters.

PRICE OF FOOD, LODGING, TRANSPORTATION, GOODS, ETC.

“Tokyo is an expensive place to go to!” is what people would always say. While comparing to the prices of goods here in the Philippines, the goods in Japan are really more expensive, I can still confidently say that you can go to Japan on a budget.

Comparing the price of food to the Philippines, it is really more expensive in Japan. However, you can choose to buy those relatively cheap food from restaurants or fast food places - you just have to know where to look. You can buy a plate of sushi for just 100 yen. 10 plates and it will just cost you 1,000 yen (+ tax) and you’ll be really, really full. In Yoshinoya/Sukiya/Matsuya, you can buy gyudon for less than 500 yen and it is already filling. It is optional to buy drinks at these food places because they offer water or tea for free!

JAPAN VISA

First thing that you’ll have to spend money on is getting a Visa. There are a lot of accredited agencies and there are some which are cheaper than the others. Watch out for Travel Expos too and you can apply for a Japan Visa for just Php 500. I think this is the cheapest that they offer. You can actually see the prices of getting Japan Visa through their websites so you can already include this in your budgeting.

PLANE TICKETS

Next would be plane tickets. If the flight is just 4-5 hours, I guess you can just choose an airline offering cheap economy seats instead of those airlines which are really more expensive. You can compare prices online (click here for my previous post related to this) and choose which is the cheapest. Most budget airlines don’t have wi-fi or any form of entertainment at the plane, and it doesn’t automatically include the checked-in baggage fees, seat selection fees, and meals so you also have to check this. Just my experience on this:

So we belatedly bought plane tickets last year because we’re still weren’t sure of the date so the prices are pretty much the regular prices and not the discounted ones. I was about to book at Jetstar because I thought it was the cheapest. They have this bundled add-on which includes a checked-in bag of 20kg, meal, and seat selection. The bundle is to be bought per trip so you will pay for the bundle going to Japan, and coming back from Japan. It has a fixed rate but you can still purchase add-ons like if your checked-in luggage is heavier, if you want premium seats, and all that. I then went to the Cebu Pacific website and tried to book there to see if it’s cheaper. So you can choose if you just want to fly, or if you have checked-in luggage, or if you have checked-in luggage plus meals. I chose the one with the checked-in luggage already Then on the next pages you’ll be asked if you want to choose your seats for a fee, if you want to add more kg to your baggage and if you want to pre-order meals. I just chose seats as another add-on because I’m traveling with my sisters and I want to sit beside them and I want the window seat! If you want to save up money, you can just do an early web check-in which can be done 7 days prior to your departure and you can choose your seat there for free. What I like about booking with Cebu Pacific is that they have the option for you to pay your travel tax which is Php 1,620 already so you don’t have to line up there! The lines can get really long. (When I checked Jetstar though this 2018, if I remember correctly there’s also an option already to pay for the Philippine travel tax.)

This 2018 trip, we bought tickets when it was on sale by Cebu Pacific. It is around Php 35,000 cheaper! Even though it’s not from the Php 1 sale (Piso sale), it’s still a whole lot cheaper when it’s on sale.

LODGING

Next thing that you would look for is the place where you’ll stay. Booking and Agoda are great apps for you to look at to have a rough estimate of the costs of hotel. When we went there we stayed at a hostel and it was great! However when I checked even months before June 2018, it is already fully-booked. Most cheaper hotels are also fully-booked so I looked for another option and found Airbnb. I booked there and even with the new Japanese law we were able to stay there (really a relief!!!) and it was a great experience. I will provide a separate post about the Airbnb we stayed at to give you an idea about it.

If you’re traveling alone staying at capsule hotels is actually a good idea because it’s inexpensive but it still looks good.

There are also those manga cafes where you can stay at a cheap price but I just don’t think it’s comfortable to just stay there if you’re staying for more than a week in Japan.

GOODS/FOOD ITEMS

There are a ton of shops and restaurants in Tokyo - you just need to look for it. There are many travel guides available online and on Youtube, so you can just search for it. Most of the time they already include the prices of the goods or the food so you’ll have a rough estimate of how much you’re going to spend. (Check out this post for a list of Youtubers I watched!)

For souvenir shopping, there’s always those 100-yen stores like Daiso and Can-Do. They have a vaaaast selection of items and you just have to decide whether it’s worth it or not. Daiso is everywhere too and you can find a lot of Can-Do stores as well. I like Daiso but there are items in Can-Do which are not available in Daiso so you definitely have to check it out.

In buying chocolates or grocery snack items, it is best to go to your local grocery than to those tourist-y shops because it is cheaper at the groceries. For snacks, there’s this place in Ueno located Ameyoko which is Niki No Kashi and it pretty much sells all kinds of snacks and chocolates. It’s also a tax-free shop! Also in Ameyoko there are a lot of stores there which sell snacks and teas so you just have to look for the ones which offer the cheapest one.

TRANSPORTATION FEES

When you arrive at the airport, you need to ride a bus or a train to go to Central Tokyo. There are quite a lot of options here - some expensive, and some cheap so you just have to choose accordingly. Taking the bus is the cheapest I think because it just costs 1000 yen as opposed to those trains like the Narita Express which I think is about 3000 yen? There are also those local trains which are cheaper but travel time is longer. What you’re basically paying for those Narita Express and Keisei Liner (the expensive one) is that you can get to Tokyo in less than an hour and they have reserved seats. You can also search for this in Youtube as there are many guides there already. Pretty much everything I know, I learned from vloggers first before I was able to experience it myself.

Just a quick story: When we went this 2018 in Japan, we had a place at Kinshicho and we chose that place in Airbnb because it has a direct train to and from Narita Airport. Our travel time from Narita to Kinshicho station is about 1 hour and 30 minutes but the train was not packed when we rode so we were able to sit, and it just costs 1,320 yen one-way. A lot cheaper than 3,000 yen!

Going around Tokyo, Google Maps is your best friend. From there you can see the price of trains going from one place to another. We used this to have an estimate about the transportation fees that we need to spend.

TRANSPORTATION - TRAINS (and others)

Traveling around Tokyo is easy. Yep, I am kidding you not, it is easy. “But what’s with that subway map that you so graciously provided without explaining anything? It looks so complicated!” Well yes it looks so confusing and you really wouldn’t understand it. However, Google Maps is your best friend! It shows you everything you need to know. The time trains depart, the stops, the cost - just everything. I also used another app which is the Japan Travel app by Navitime Japan, and when you reach Japan, you can also download the Hyperdia app. These apps have this option to prioritize JR lines for when you have a Japan Rail pass so that you can maximize your JR pass. (Picture provided is just a subway map. JR lines are not included yet.)

The trains can take you around Tokyo and it costs about 170 yen from one stop to another. The price differs but yes, Google Maps and the other apps I mentioned provide the price already so you don’t have to worry about it.

Another worry would be the buying of tickets. I removed this worry altogether by just purchasing an IC card. I had a friend who didn’t know about the existence of this and he had a hard time navigating Tokyo just because he cannot read the name of the stops and he doesn’t know how much the fare is and he had a hard time communicating there because they don’t really understand English. Anyway. mine is a Suica card just because it looks cute. There’s also a Pasmo card. The only difference is the issuing authority. These two can be used in any station or subway, and can be used to buy drinks from vending machines or stuff from convenience stores as long as they have the option. I think it can also be used in buses. Basically you can have this card at the train stations. There’s an English menu available so you can just choose that. (Please search for this in Youtube so that you’ll know what I’m talking about. There are many vloggers who show how it’s done and all that. I wasn’t able to make a video about this because I completely forgot to do so.) There’s a deposit fee of 500 yen, and you must load it there. We had a rough estimate of how much it would cost us to go around Tokyo for the entire time we’re there so we deposited that amount. Once you leave Japan, you can return the card and the balance would be returned to you and the deposit fee. However, I’m not sure about this fee that they’d charge you if the balance is more than 500 yen still. Since we know we’ll go back to Japan again and again, we just kept the card because the card is valid for 10 years. Yes, it is valid for that long so if you’ll go back to Japan within 10 years, I highly suggest just keeping it.

So I just talked about trains because this is the only mode of transportation we used (aside from walking). I apologize if this is not enough but with the convenience of trains, I just really didn’t bother with other modes of transportation anymore.

Oh, there are taxis too but they’re expensive especially when you’re alone and you have no one else to split the bill. We used a taxi once during our last trip because we were just so tired and from Skytree to our place in Kinshicho, it costs 810 yen. Considering that it is just near, this is quite expensive but I was with my sisters so we split the bill. Taxis are amazing because of the automatic doors! Also, they issued a receipt when we paid. There are some taxis too that accept Suica/Pasmo as a mode of payment which is just really convenient.

So these are some fears/concerns we commonly experience. I know there’s still a lot so you can leave questions or comments or just anything in my Ask.

I will try to update this post when needed because I know I forgot something which I’ll remember soon. :)

(Posted on July 17, 2018)

#traveltheworldwithme #traveljapan #japan #tokyo #tokyojapan #travelguide #travelguideph #japantravelguide #travelguidejapan

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digital-strategy · 7 years

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Nestled alongside the cliffs of Laguna Niguel, California, at the Digiday Video Anywhere Summit, both digital and traditional media companies had a lot of things to gripe about. They also shared a lot of insights into what works and doesn’t work on social and streaming video platforms, as well as finding the right video talent. Here are some of the best things we overheard at the event.

Facebook issues: “Facebook views are a vanity metric. But it’s hard to walk away from that, even though they are valueless.”

“Facebook is the worst search engine in the world. I can put something up and not find it anywhere. I don’t know how that’s going to convince people to choose to watch videos there.”

“There’s going to be an earthquake. The era of aggregating a bunch of views in a news feed is over. I don’t care how many billions of views you got last month.”

“Facebook doesn’t care if someone shoots a video of a dog — as long as people watch and spend more time there, they don’t care.”

“They’re always quick to pivot. I think they’re going to try [Watch] for a while, but if they gave up on it next year, it wouldn’t surprise me.”

“Facebook is still an unbelievably powerful traffic driver for us. Facebook monetization isn’t working, so we stopped doing that. It’s more valuable as lead gen for our apps and subscription program.”

“We’re investing on our site to protect ourselves when the next algorithm change hits us.”

Streaming/OTT issues: “No one is watching Go90. And it’s because they don’t promote it well. And that’s made it hard for us to sell talent on doing anything because if they’re not going to promote it, no one is going to see it, and then it’s wasting the talent’s time.”

“[Go90] has to succeed — for us.”

“Go90 markets one show every quarter. They’ll have 50 shows, but they’ll market one show and do a good job with it, and people will see it. What I think you’re likely to see is that they pull back on the volume of shows they do and put more marketing behind the stuff that they do.”

“Verizon’s going to be a player in the video space, whether that’s through Go90 or something else. Verizon is here to stay. Go90 might not be.”

“I don’t think Go90 is going anywhere. But what you tend to see is that regimes change. New people come in trying to make something work. It doesn’t work out. So then they hire TV people to make it work, and they have a different strategy and don’t typically understand digital. It’s a lot of running around with no clear long-term strategy in place.”

“We saw a 600 percent increase in video viewers per month by just instituting autoplay inside our TV app.”

“We got rid of pre-roll on our OTT apps and we saw viewership go up by 20 percent.”

“Skinny bundles are such an interesting bet. Comcast and others are going to try and bring some of these digital publishers as a linear channel on a skinny bundle.”

“Apple TV is very erratic. Ever since they opened it up to everyone, it’s hard to find things, and you can go from a lot of viewers one day to next to nothing the next.”

“The new Apple TV [operating system] has been great. Now, if we can get someone to download our mobile app, our TV app automatically shows up on their Apple TV. We’re driving a lot of subscriptions that are initiated on the TV screen, but it’s the result of a mobile download.”

“The No. 1 keyword on Roku is ‘free.’ We’ve programmed an extensive video library so we can get discovered.”

“I won’t say their name, but it begins with an R and ends with a U, and they’re not a good partner to work with. If you start to see any kind of success on their platform, they’re going to charge you more for promotion or ask for a bigger cut of the ad revenue you can generate on their platform.”

“Audience measurement is our biggest problem because it doesn’t exist on most of these TV platforms. Do we just try to bully our way out of Nielsen and find something new that can drive those dollars away from traditional TV?”

“Most agencies and TV money want to live and die by Nielsen, so these other measurement vendors don’t really matter. We’re going up against a lot of entrenched thinking that’s been there for 50 years.”

“Digital has always been a value-add. Everyone knows this is a problem, but it’s based on a smoke-and-mirrors model, which is Nielsen.”

“You have to separate ratings from monetization. More people at agencies are buying premium video — they’re really sophisticated about that. That practice has merged with their TV buying practices. Social is more problematic, and that’s different from premium video.”

Funding/content issues: “I don’t look at any content-funding platform as a long-term, viable solution until they are. We already have platforms for video, and that’s TV and it’s YouTube. I’m glad there’s a big group of companies out there now trying to buy our stuff, but I don’t know how that dust settles.”

“YouTube trolls are good engagement, if you think about it.”

Talent issues: “Writers are surprisingly not good at scripting. They’re great for ideas and we go to them regularly for ideas on videos, but they need help when it comes to actually writing the script.”

“It’s good to keep the writers involved. If you take their idea and run off and make a video or web series and come back to them afterward, you’re going to get a lot of pushback. But if you involve them from the beginning, there’s less of an issue with that.”

“We’ve been trying to bring our video producers closer to the marketing and social teams. Otherwise, they’ll come to you and say, ‘Here’s my beautiful video,’ and then no one will watch it because the title sucks and the thumbnail sucks.”

“We are so heavily indebted to data that sometimes we have videos that don’t play like a story but just an algorithm hack.”

TV issues: “There’s no fraud issues on TV — so that’s nice.”

“TV networks don’t get digital, and it’s pissing me off. They look at comScore to figure out which digital partner to work with. ComScore is about web traffic; they can’t tell you shit about what you’re doing on Facebook, YouTube. We’re trying to do marketing deals with TV and movie studios, and they always ask for your comScore data. If anything, look at our raw Facebook data.”

The post ‘Facebook views are a vanity metric’: Overheard at the Digiday Video Anywhere Summit appeared first on Digiday.

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