Podcasts about Japan

Quietly, without any fuss, Poland's per capita GDP has matched that of Japan. By the end of the decade they will have, by far, the most powerful armed forces in Europe. Poland has been a bulwark against the east for centuries, and now, in a war of assimilation that has consumed so many European neighbors, the Poles stand resolutely true to their own heritage.

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Last time we spoke about Operation Chahar. In July 1937, the tensions between Japan and China erupted into a full-scale conflict, ignited by the Marco Polo Bridge Incident. Following a series of aggressive Japanese military maneuvers, Chiang Kai-shek, then enjoying a brief respite at Kuling, learned of the escalating clashes and prepared for battle. Confident that China was primed for resistance, he rallied his nation, demanding that Japan accept responsibility and respect China's sovereignty. The Japanese launched their offensive, rapidly capturing key positions in Northern China. Notably, fierce battle ensued in Jinghai, where Chinese soldiers, led by Brigade Commander Li Zhiyuan, valiantly defended against overwhelming forces using guerrilla tactics and direct assaults. Their spirit was symbolized by a courageous “death squad” that charged the enemy, inflicting serious casualties despite facing dire odds. As weeks passed, the conflict intensified with brutal assaults on Nankou. Chinese defenses, though valiant, were ultimately overwhelmed, leading to heavy casualties on both sides. Despite losing Nankou, the indomitable Chinese spirit inspired continued resistance against the Japanese invaders, foreshadowing a long, brutal war that would reshape East Asia.   #156 The Battle of Shanghai Part 1: The Beginning of the Battle of Shanghai Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. On August 9, a bullet riddled sedan screeched to an abrupt halt at the entrance to the Hongqiao airport along Monument Road. The gruesome scene on the dashboard revealed that one of the victims had died in the car. He had been dragged out and subjected to brutal slashing, kicking, and beating until his body was a mangled mess. Half of his face was missing, and his stomach had been cut open, exposing the sickly pallor of his intestines, faintly glimmering in the night. The other man had managed to escape the vehicle but only got a few paces away before he was gunned down. A short distance away lay a third body, dressed in a Chinese uniform. Investigators swiftly identified the badly mangled body as belonging to 27-year-old Sub-Lieutenant Oyama Isao, while the other deceased Japanese man was his driver, First Class Seaman Saito Yozo. The identity of the Chinese victim remained a mystery. At first glance, the scene appeared to be the aftermath of a straightforward shootout. However, numerous questions lingered: What were the Japanese doing at a military airfield miles from their barracks? Who had fired the first shot, and what had prompted that decision? The Chinese investigators and their Japanese counterparts were at odds over the answers to these questions. As they walked the crime scene, searching for evidence, loud arguments erupted repeatedly. By the time the sun began to rise, they concluded their investigation without reaching any consensus on what had transpired. They climbed into their cars and made their way back to the city. The investigators were acutely aware of the repercussions if they failed to handle their delicate task with the necessary finesse. Despite their hopes for peace, it was evident that Shanghai was a city bracing for war. As they drove through the dimly lit suburbs on their way from Hongqiao back to their downtown offices, their headlights illuminated whitewashed trees, interspersed with sandbag defenses and the silhouettes of solitary Chinese sentries. Officially, these sentries were part of the Peace Preservation Corps,  a paramilitary unit that, due to an international agreement reached a few years earlier, was the only Chinese force allowed to remain in the Shanghai area. In the hours that followed, both sides presented their versions of the incident. According to the Chinese account, the Japanese vehicle attempted to force its way through the airport gate. When members of the Peace Preservation Corps stationed at the entrance signaled for Saito, the driver, to stop, he abruptly turned the car around. Sub-Lieutenant Oyama then fired at the Chinese guards with an automatic pistol. Only then did the Chinese return fire, killing Oyama in a hail of bullets. Saito managed to jump out before he, too, was gunned down. The commander of the Chinese guards told a Western reporter that this wasn't the first time someone Japanese had attempted to enter the airport. Such incidents had occurred repeatedly in the past two months, leading them to believe that the Japanese were “obviously undertaking espionage.” The Japanese account, predictably, placed the blame for the entire incident squarely on China. It asserted that Oyama had been driving along a road bordering the airfield with no intention of entering. Suddenly, the vehicle was stopped and surrounded by Peace Preservation Corps troops, who opened fire with rifles and machine guns without warning. Oyama had no opportunity to return fire. The Japanese statement argued that the two men had every right to use the road, which was part of the International Settlement, and labeled the incident a clear violation of the 1932 peace agreement. “We demand that the Chinese bear responsibility for this illegal act,”. Regardless of either side, it seemed likely to everyone in the region, war would soon engulf Shanghai.  Meanwhile, as the Marco Polo Bridge Incident escalated into a full blown in the far north, General Zhang Fakui was attending a routine training mission at Mount Lu in southeastern Jiangxi. A short and small man, not considered too handsome either, Zhang had earned his place in China's leadership through physical courage, once taking a stand on a bridge and single handedly facing down an enemy army. He was 41 years old in 1937, having spent half his life fighting Warlords, Communists and sometimes even Nationalists. In the recent years he had tossed his lot in with a rebel campaign against Chiang Kai-Shek, who surprisingly went on the forgive him and placed him in charge of anti communist operations in the area due south of Shanghai. However now the enemy seemed to have changed.  As the war spread to Beijing, on July 16th, Zhang was sent to Chiang Kai-Shek's summer residence at Mount Lu alongside 150 members of China's political and military elites. They were all there to brainstorm how to fight the Japanese. Years prior the Generalissimo had made it doctrine to appease the Japanese but now he made grandiose statements such as “this time we must fight to the end”. Afterwards Chiang dealt missions to all his commanders and Zhang Fakui was told to prepare for operations in the Shanghai area.  It had been apparent for weeks that both China and Japan were preparing for war in central China. The Japanese had been diverting naval troops from the north to strengthen their forces in Shanghai, and by early August, they had assembled over 8,000 troops. A few days later, approximately thirty-two naval vessels arrived. On July 31, Chiang declared that “all hope for peace has been lost.” Chiang had been reluctant to commit his best forces to defend northern China, an area he had never truly controlled. In contrast, Shanghai was central to his strategy for the war against Japan. Chiang decided to deploy his finest troops, the 87th and 88th Divisions, which were trained by generals under the guidance of the German advisor von Falkenhausen, who had high hopes for their performance against the Japanese. In doing so, Chiang aimed to demonstrate to both his own people and the wider world that the Chinese could and would resist the invader. Meanwhile, Chiang's spy chief, Dai Li, was busy gathering intelligence on Japanese intentions regarding Shanghai, a challenging task given his focus in recent years. Dai, one of the most sinister figures in modern Chinese history, had devoted far more energy and resources to suppressing the Communists than to countering the Japanese. As a result, by the critical summer of 1937, he had built only a sparse network of agents in “Little Tokyo,” the Hongkou area of Shanghai dominated by Japanese businesses. One agent was a pawnshop owner, while the rest were double agents employed as local staff within the Japanese security apparatus. Unfortunately, they could provide little more than snippets, rumors, and hearsay. While some of this information sounded alarmingly dire, there was almost no actionable intelligence. Chiang did not take the decision to open a new front in Shanghai lightly. Built on both banks of the Huangpu River, the city served as the junction between the Pacific Ocean to the east and the great Yangtze River, which wound thousands of kilometers inland to the west. Shanghai embodied everything that represented modern China, from its industry and labor relations to its connections with the outside world. While foreign diplomatic presence was concentrated in nearby Nanjing, the capital, it was in Shanghai that the foreign community gauged the country's mood. Foreigners in the city's two “concession” areas nthe French Concession and the British-affiliated International Settlement often dismissed towns beyond Shanghai as mere “outstations.” Chiang Kai-shek would throw 650,000 troops into the battle for the city and its environs as well as his modest air force of 200 aircraft. Chiang, whose forces were being advised by German officers led by General Alexander von Falkenhausen, was finally confident that his forces could take on the Japanese. A German officer told a British diplomat, “If the Chinese Army follows the advice of the German advisers, it is capable of driving the Japanese over the Great Wall.”   While Chiang was groping in the dark, deprived of the eyes and ears of an efficient intelligence service, he did have at his disposal an army that was better prepared for battle than it had been in 1932. Stung by the experience of previous conflicts with the Japanese, Chiang had initiated a modernization program aimed at equipping the armed forces not only to suppress Communist rebels but also to confront a modern fighting force equipped with tanks, artillery, and aircraft. He had made progress, but it was insufficient. Serious weaknesses persisted, and now there was no time for any remedial action. While China appeared to be a formidable power in sheer numbers, the figures were misleading. On the eve of war, the Chinese military was comprised of a total of 176 divisions, which were theoretically organized into two brigades of two regiments each. However, only about 20 divisions maintained full peacetime strength of 10,000 soldiers and officers; the rest typically held around 5,000 men. Moreover, Chiang controlled only 31 divisions personally, and he could not count on the loyalty of the others. To successfully resist Japan, Chiang would need to rely not only on his military command skills but also on his ability to forge fragile coalitions among Warlord generals with strong local loyalties. Equipment posed another significant challenge. The modernization drive was not set to complete until late 1938, and the impact of this delay was evident. In every category of weaponry, from rifles to field artillery, the Chinese were outmatched by their Japanese adversaries, both quantitatively and qualitatively. Domestically manufactured artillery pieces had shorter ranges, and substandard steel-making technology caused gun barrels to overheat, increasing the risk of explosions. Some arms even dated back to imperial times. A large proportion of the Chinese infantry had received no proper training in basic tactics, let alone in coordinated operations involving armor and artillery. The chief of the German advisory corps was General Alexander von Falkenhausen, a figure hard to rival in terms of qualifications for the role. Although the 58-year-old's narrow shoulders, curved back, and bald, vulture-like head gave him an unmilitary, almost avian appearance, his exterior belied a tough character. In 1918, he had earned his nation's highest military honor, the Pour le Mérite, while assisting Germany's Ottoman allies against the British in Palestine. Few, if any, German officers knew Asia as well as he did. His experience in the region dated back to the turn of the century. As a young lieutenant in the Third East Asian Infantry Regiment, he participated in the international coalition of colonial powers that quelled the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. A decade later, he traveled through Korea, Manchuria, and northern China with his wife, keenly observing and learning as a curious tourist. From 1912 to 1914, he served as the German Kaiser's military attaché in Tokyo. He was poised to put his extensive knowledge to good use in the months ahead. Chiang believed that Shanghai should be the location of the first battle. This decision was heavily influenced by Falkenhausen and was strategically sound. Chiang Kai-shek could not hope to win a war against Japan unless he could unify the nation behind him, particularly the many fractious warlords who had battled his forces repeatedly over the past decade. Everyone understood that the territory Japan was demanding in the far north did not need to be held for any genuine military necessity; it was land that could be negotiated. The warlords occupying that territory were unpredictable and all too willing to engage in bargaining. In contrast, China's economic heartland held different significance. By choosing to fight for the center of the country and deploying his strongest military units, Chiang Kai-shek signaled to both China's warlords and potential foreign allies that he had a vested interest in the outcome.  There were also several operational reasons for preferring a conflict in the Yangtze River basin over a campaign in northern China. The rivers, lakes, and rice paddies of the Yangtze delta were much better suited for defensive warfare against Japan's mechanized forces than the flat plains of North China. By forcing the Japanese to commit troops to central China, the Nationalists bought themselves the time needed to rally and reinforce their faltering defenses in the north. By initiating hostilities in the Shanghai area, Japan would be forced to divert its attention from the northern front, thereby stalling a potential Japanese advance toward the crucial city of Wuhan. It would also help safeguard potential supply routes from the Soviet Union, the most likely source of material assistance due to Moscow's own animosity toward Japan. It was a clever plan, and surprisingly, the Japanese did not anticipate it. Intelligence officers in Tokyo were convinced that Chiang would send his troops northward instead. Again in late July, Chiang convened his commanders, and here he gave Zhang Fukai more detailed instructions for his operation. Fukai was placed in charge of the right wing of the army which was currently preparing for action in the metropolitan area. Fukai would oversee the forces east of the Huangpu River in the area known as Pudong. Pudong was full of warehouses, factories and rice fields, quite precarious to fight in. Meanwhile General Zhang Zhizhong, a quiet and sickly looking man who had previously led the Central Military Academy was to command the left wing of the Huangpu. All of the officers agreed the plan to force the battle to the Shanghai area was logical as the northern region near Beijing was far too open, giving the advantage to tank warfare, which they could not hope to contest Japan upon. The Shanghai area, full of rivers, creaks and urban environments favored them much more. Zhang Zhizhong seemed an ideal pick to lead troops in downtown Shanghai where most of the fighting would take place. His position of commandant of the military academy allowed him to establish connections with junior officers earmarked for rapid promotion. This meant that he personally knew the generals of both the 87th and 88th Divisions, which were to form the core of Zhang Zhizhong's newly established 9th Army Group and become his primary assets in the early phases of the Shanghai campaign. Moreover, Zhang Zhizhong had the right aggressive instincts. He believed that China's confrontation with Japan had evolved through three stages: in the first stage, the Japanese invaded the northeast in 1931, and China remained passive; in the second stage, during the first battle of Shanghai in 1932, Japan struck, but China fought back. Zhang argued that this would be the third stage, where Japan was preparing to attack, but China would strike first.   It seems that Zhang Zhizhong did not expect to survive this final showdown with his Japanese adversary. He took the fight very personally, even ordering his daughter to interrupt her education in England and return home to serve her country in the war. However, he was not the strong commander he appeared to be, as he was seriously ill. Although he never disclosed the true extent of his condition, it seemed he was on the verge of a physical and mental breakdown after years in high-stress positions. In fact, he had recently taken a leave of absence from his role at the military academy in the spring of 1937. When the war broke out, he was at a hospital in the northern port city of Qingdao, preparing to go abroad for convalescence. He canceled those plans to contribute to the struggle against Japan. When his daughter returned from England and saw him on the eve of battle, she was alarmed by how emaciated he had become. From the outset, doubts about his physical fitness to command loomed large. At 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, August 10, a group of officers emerged from the Japanese Consulate along the banks of the Huangpu River. This team was a hastily assembled Sino-Japanese joint investigation unit tasked with quickly resolving the shooting incident at the Hongqiao Aerodrome of the previous night. They understood the urgency of reaching an agreement swiftly to prevent any escalation. As they drove to the airport, they passed armed guards of the Chinese Peace Preservation Corps stationed behind sandbag barricades that had been erected only hours earlier. Upon arriving at Hongqiao, the officers walked up and down the scene of the incident under the scorching sun, attempting to piece together a shared understanding of what had transpired. However, this proved to be nearly impossible, as the evidence failed to align into a coherent account acceptable to both parties. The Japanese were unconvinced that any shootout had occurred at all. Oyama, the officer who had been in the car, had left his pistol at the marine headquarters in Hongkou and had been unarmed the night before. They insisted that whoever shot and killed the man in the Chinese uniform could not have been him. By 6:00 pm the investigators returned to the city. Foreign correspondents, eager for information, knew exactly whom to approach. The newly appointed Shanghai Mayor, Yu Hongjun, with a quick wit and proficiency in English, Yu represented the city's cosmopolitan image. However, that evening, he had little to offer the reporters, except for a plea directed at both the Japanese and Chinese factions “Both sides should maintain a calm demeanor to prevent the situation from escalating.” Mayor Yu however was, in fact, at the center of a complex act of deception that nearly succeeded. Nearly eight decades later, Zhang Fakui attributed the incident to members of the 88th Division, led by General Sun Yuanliang. “A small group of Sun Yuanliang's men disguised themselves as members of the Peace Preservation Corps,” Zhang Fakui recounted years later in his old age. “On August 9, 1937, they encountered two Japanese servicemen on the road near the Hongqiao military aerodrome and accused them of forcing their way into the area. A clash ensued, resulting in the deaths of the Japanese soldiers.” This created a delicate dilemma for their superiors. The two dead Japanese soldiers were difficult to explain away. Mayor Yu, likely informed of the predicament by military officials, conferred with Tong Yuanliang, chief of staff of the Songhu Garrison Command, a unit established after the fighting in 1932. Together, they devised a quick and cynical plan to portray the situation as one of self-defense by the Chinese guards. Under their orders, soldiers marched a Chinese death row inmate to the airport gate, dressed him in a paramilitary guard's uniform, and executed him. While this desperate ruse might have worked initially, it quickly unraveled due to the discrepancies raised by the condition of the Chinese body. The Japanese did not believe the story, and the entire plan began to fall apart. Any remaining mutual trust swiftly evaporated. Instead of preventing a confrontation, the cover-up was accelerating the slide into war.  Late on August 10, Mayor Yu sent a secret cable to Nanjing, warning that the Japanese had ominously declared they would not allow the two deaths at the airport to go unpunished. The following day, the Japanese Consul General Okamoto Suemasa paid a visit to the mayor, demanding the complete withdrawal of the Peace Preservation Corps from the Shanghai area and the dismantling of all fortifications established by the corps. For the Chinese, acquiescing to these demands was nearly impossible. From their perspective, it appeared that the Japanese aimed to leave Shanghai defenseless while simultaneously bolstering their own military presence in the city. Twenty vessels, including cruisers and destroyers, sailed up the Huangpu River and docked at wharves near "Little Tokyo." Japanese marines in olive-green uniforms marched ashore down the gangplanks, while women from the local Japanese community, dressed in kimonos, greeted the troops with delighted smiles and bows to the flags of the Rising Sun that proudly adorned the sterns of the battleships. In fact, Japan had planned to deploy additional troops to Shanghai even before the shooting at Hongqiao Aerodrome. This decision was deemed necessary to reinforce the small contingent of 2,500 marines permanently stationed in the city. More troops were required to assist in protecting Japanese nationals who were being hastily evacuated from the larger cities along the Yangtze River. These actions were primarily defensive maneuvers, as the Japanese military seemed hesitant to open a second front in Shanghai, for the same reasons that the Chinese preferred an extension of hostilities to that area. Diverting Japanese troops from the strategically critical north and the Soviet threat across China's border would weaken their position, especially given that urban warfare would diminish the advantages of their technological superiority in tanks and aircraft. While officers in the Japanese Navy believed it was becoming increasingly difficult to prevent the war from spreading to Shanghai, they were willing to give diplomacy one last chance. Conversely, the Japanese Army was eager to wage war in northern China but displayed little inclination to engage in hostilities in Shanghai. Should the situation worsen, the Army preferred to withdraw all Japanese nationals from the city. Ultimately, when it agreed to formulate plans for dispatching an expeditionary force to Shanghai, it did so reluctantly, primarily to avoid accusations of neglecting its responsibilities. Amongst many commanders longing for a swift confrontation with Japan was Zhang Zhizhong. By the end of July, he was growing increasingly impatient, waiting with his troops in the Suzhou area west of Shanghai and questioning whether a unique opportunity was being squandered. On July 30, he sent a telegram to Nanjing requesting permission to strike first. He argued that if Japan were allowed to launch an attack on Shanghai, he would waste valuable time moving his troops from their position more than 50 miles away. Nanjing responded with a promise that his wishes would be fulfilled but urged him to exercise patience: “We should indeed seize the initiative over the enemy, but we must wait until the right opportunity arises. Await further orders.” That opportunity arose on August 11, with the Japanese display of force on the Huangpu River and their public demand for the withdrawal of China's paramilitary police. Japan had sufficiently revealed itself as the aggressor in the eyes of both domestic and international audiences, making it safe for China to take action. At 9:00 p.m. that evening, Zhang Zhizhong received orders from Nanjing to move his troops toward Shanghai. He acted with remarkable speed, capitalizing on the extensive transportation network in the region. The soldiers of the 87th Division quickly boarded 300 trucks that had been prepared in advance. Meanwhile, civilian passengers on trains were unceremoniously ordered off to make room for the 88th Division, which boarded the carriages heading for Shanghai. In total, over 20,000 motivated and well-equipped troops were on their way to battle.  On August 12, representatives from the United Kingdom, France, the United States, Italy, Japan, and China gathered for a joint conference in Shanghai to discuss ceasefire terms. Japan demanded the withdrawal of Chinese troops from Shanghai, while the Chinese representative, Yu Hung-chun, dismissed the Japanese demand, stating that the terms of the ceasefire had already been violated by Japan. The major powers were keen to avoid a repeat of the January 28 Incident, which had significantly disrupted foreign economic activities in Shanghai. Meanwhile, Chinese citizens fervently welcomed the presence of Chinese troops in the city. In Nanjing, Chinese and Japanese representatives convened for the last time in a final effort to negotiate. The Japanese insisted that all Peace Preservation Corps and regular troops be withdrawn from the vicinity of Shanghai. The Chinese, however, deemed the demand for a unilateral withdrawal unacceptable, given that the two nations were already engaged in conflict in North China. Ultimately, Mayor Yu made it clear that the most the Chinese government would concede was that Chinese troops would not fire unless fired upon. Conversely, Japan placed all responsibility on China, citing the deployment of Chinese troops around Shanghai as the cause of the escalating tensions. Negotiations proved impossible, leaving no alternative but for the war to spread into Central China. On that same morning of Thursday, August 12, residents near Shanghai's North Train Station, also known as Zhabei Station, just a few blocks from "Little Tokyo," awoke to an unusual sight: thousands of soldiers dressed in the khaki uniforms of the Chinese Nationalists, wearing German-style helmets and carrying stick grenades slung across their chests. “Where do you come from?” the Shanghai citizens asked. “How did you get here so fast?” Zhang Zhizhong issued detailed orders to each unit under his command, instructing the 88th Division specifically to travel by train and deploy in a line from the town of Zhenru to Dachang village, both located a few miles west of Shanghai. Only later was the division supposed to advance toward a position stretching from the Zhabei district to the town of Jiangwan, placing it closer to the city boundaries. Zhang Zhizhong was the embodiment of belligerence, but he faced even more aggressive officers among his ranks. On the morning of August 12, he was approached by Liu Jingchi, the chief of operations at the Songhu Garrison Command. Liu argued that the battle of 1932 had gone poorly for the Chinese because they had hesitated and failed to strike first. This time, he insisted, should be different, and Zhang should order an all-out assault on the Japanese positions that very evening. Zhang countered that he had clear and unmistakable orders from Chiang Kai-shek to let the Japanese fire first, emphasizing the importance of maintaining China's image on the world stage. “That's easy,” Liu retorted. “Once all the units are deployed and ready to attack, we can just change some people into mufti and send them in to fire a few shots. We attack, and simultaneously, we report that the enemy's offensive has begun.” Zhang Zhizhong did not like this idea. “We can't go behind our leader's back like that,” he replied. Zhang Zhizhong's position was far from enviable. Forced to rein in eager and capable officers, he found himself acting against his own personal desires. Ultimately, he decided to seek the freedom to act as he saw fit. In a secret cable to Nanjing, he requested permission to launch an all-out attack on the Japanese positions in Shanghai the following day, Friday, August 13. He argued that this was a unique opportunity to capitalize on the momentum created by the movement of troops; any further delay would only lead to stagnation. He proposed a coordinated assault that would also involve the Chinese Air Force. However, the reply from Chiang Kai-shek was brief and unwavering: “Await further orders.” Even as Chiang's troops poured into Shanghai, Chinese and Japanese officials continued their discussions. Ostensibly, this was in hopes of reaching a last-minute solution, but in reality, it was a performance. Both sides wanted to claim the moral high ground in a battle that now seemed inevitable. They understood that whoever openly declared an end to negotiations would automatically be perceived as the aggressor. During talks at the Shanghai Municipal Council, Japanese Consul General Okamoto argued that if China truly wanted peace, it would have withdrawn its troops to a position that would prevent clashes. Mayor Yu responded by highlighting the increasing presence of Japanese forces in the city. “Under such circumstances, China must adopt such measures as necessary for self-defense,” he stated. Late on August 13, 1937, Chiang Kai-shek instructed his forces to defend Shanghai, commanding them to "divert the enemy at sea, secure the coast, and resist landings."  I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. In July 1937, tensions between Japan and China escalated into war following the Marco Polo Bridge Incident. Confident in his country's resolve, Chiang Kai-shek rallied the Chinese against Japanese aggression. On August 9, a deadly confrontation at Hongqiao Airport resulted in the deaths of Japanese soldiers, igniting further hostilities. As both sides blamed each other, the atmosphere became tense. Ultimately, negotiations failed, and the stage was set for a brutal conflict in Shanghai, marking the beginning of a long and devastating war.

We start with Frank Christ presents They're Fine, Just Fine. After that, Kerry joins us from Japan and award Boner of the Day. Then we take your calls with Hello Yeah What, just before we challenge a listener to Beat Gina. And of course, we finish with the Boner Recap and news.

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Customer Experience as the Ultimate Global Differentiator  Shep interviews Katherine Melchior Ray, a professor at UC Berkeley, brand expert, and author. She talks about her book Brand Global, Adapt Local, and how brands can build value by understanding and personalizing experiences across different cultures and regions.  This episode of Amazing Business Radio with Shep Hyken answers the following questions and more:    How can cultural differences impact customer service interactions?  What role does personalization play in enhancing the customer experience across different cultures?  Why is it essential to understand local cultural perceptions when building brand value?  How can businesses strike a balance between global brand consistency and local cultural adaptation?  What impact does the country of origin have on storytelling for brands?  Top Takeaways:    Understanding cultural diversity builds brand value. Different countries and cities may host a variety of cultures and nationalities where diverse preferences and customer expectations coexist. By embracing these differences, businesses can tailor customer experiences to fit cultural nuances and serve diverse markets better.   Customer experience is a global differentiator. Brands can no longer rely solely on product quality or price alone. The way brands engage with and serve their customers has a significant impact on their success.   Personalization isn't just for luxury brands. Even small daily purchases, such as a cup of coffee, can be personalized to enhance customer satisfaction. Understanding customer preferences helps brands build confidence and provide a greater value than just the product itself.   Storytelling is an essential part of creating brand value because it shapes how customers perceive a brand's origins, identity, and purpose.   Understanding cultural context is important because what resonates in one region may not be as meaningful or attractive elsewhere. Brands need to strike a balance between having a consistent global message and being flexible in the experience they create to adapt to different markets' perceptions.  Trust and brand loyalty are strengthened when businesses prioritize understanding their customers' cultural backgrounds and nuances. This communicates to the customer that they are valued as individuals, not just as transactions.   Cultural dynamics evolve, so it is essential for brands to continually learn from diverse international markets and keep up with customer preferences.   Plus, Katherine shares some interesting nuances in customer interactions from countries such as Japan, Singapore, Italy, France, the United Kingdom, and more. Tune in!  Quote:   "The skills we learn to work across explicitly different cultures are the skills that we can use to embrace diversity in our own country."  About:    Katherine Melchior Ray, an educator at UC Berkeley Haas School of Business, brand expert, and co-author of Brand Global, Adapt Local: How to Build Brand Value Across Cultures. She has worked with some of the world's biggest brands, including Nike, Nordstrom, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Hyatt, Shiseido, and Babbel.    Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, New York Times bestselling author, award-winning keynote speaker, and host of Amazing Business Radio.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shoot us a Text.Episode #1078: Today we're talking stormy shareholder meetings at Nissan, the EV factory tours drawing crowds in China, and the Gen Z men getting caught outsourcing their work to AI.Show Notes with links:Nissan's new CEO Ivan Espinosa faced intense scrutiny from investors at his first annual shareholders' meeting as he moves forward with a bold restructuring plan and ends Renault's board influence.Espinosa replaces ousted CEO Makoto Uchida, part of a March leadership overhaul aimed at reviving a struggling Nissan.Longtime partner Renault lost direct influence as its board reps, including Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard, were removed—marking a clear shift toward Nissan independence.Shareholders grilled Espinosa on governance, executive pay, and the automaker's U.S. and Japan strategy.Nissan plans to cut 20,000 jobs, shut 7 factories, and save ¥500B ($3.46B) by March 2028.It projects a ¥200B ($1.38B) Q1 loss, including ¥450B ($3B) in expected U.S. tariff hits.One attendee described the Q&A as “stormy,” saying Espinosa was “smooth and fluent… but equivocated without substance.”EV factory tours have become a cultural sensation in China, with tens of thousands scrambling each month for a glimpse behind the robotic curtain of brands like Xiaomi and Nio.Xiaomi Auto's factory receives over 27,000 applications per night for limited tour slots, offering racetrack test drives and now souvenirs.Nio drew 130,000 visitors last year; several other automakers are jumping on board.What began as three monthly tours at Xiaomi has expanded to weekday and weekend offerings for over 1,100 visitors.Visitors describe vast facilities with “only a handful of workers” as robots handle most of the labor.“It offers a chance to not only see the production line up close, but also experience the human side of the brand,” said analyst Freya Zhang.A new survey reveals that while AI boosts Gen Z productivity, a surprising number—especially men—are bending the rules by passing off AI work as their own.40% of Gen Z men admitted to submitting AI-generated work as their own; only 20% of women did the same.Nearly 1 in 3 Gen Z workers have knowingly broken company policy using AI and 30% say they've created fake work with AI to appear more productive.42% of Gen Z men say they worry AI could replace them at work—compared to just 33% of women.23% of men said they couldn't do their job without AI; only 14% of women felt that way.Eva Chan, career expert at Resume Genius, “The concern is workers start outsourcing not just tasks, but their judgment, confidence, and even their voice.”Join Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier every morning for the Automotive State of the Union podcast as they connect the dots across car dealerships, retail trends, emerging tech like AI, and cultural shifts—bringing clarity, speed, and people-first insight to automotive leaders navigating a rapidly changing industry.Get the Daily Push Back email at https://www.asotu.com/ JOIN the conversation on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/asotu/

Send us a textBoxing's explosive moments take center stage as we break down Richardson Hitchins' career-defining performance against George Kambosos. Hitchins showcased a flawless jab combined with unexpected body work that ultimately secured his impressive eighth-round stoppage of the tough Australian former champion. While Kambosos showed heart despite defeat, we discuss what's next for him now that he's now lost many high-profile bouts.The conversation shifts to perhaps the most electrifying moment in boxing recently: Brian Norman Jr.'s spectacular knockout in Japan that instantly went viral. This finish wasn't just visually stunning—it demonstrated Norman's fighting IQ and vicious power against a legitimate opponent. We explore how this performance immediately elevated his standing in the welterweight division and sparked conversations about potential matchups with other rising stars.The Jahi "TAC" Tucker vs. Lorenzo "Truck" Simpson bout delivered everything boxing fans crave—genuine animosity, contrasting styles, and non-stop action. Tucker's unique approach—elusive yet aggressive—proved effective against Simpson's methodical counter-punching. This fight exemplified what boxing promotion should aspire to: build compelling storylines around real rivalries that connect with audiences beyond hardcore fans.The show closes out with takes on the recent Canelo vs. Crawford press conference, Jake Paul vs JCC Jr. fight and much more boxing debauchery. THE SPAR-INN ON YOUTUBE

S&P futures are pointing to a strong open today, up +0.7% following the de-escalation signals in the Middle East. European equity markets are surging in early trades with the German DAX up +1.8% and STOXX 600 up +1.2%. Asian markets also closed sharply higher today with notable performances in Greater China and Japan. Israel and Iran have agreed to a ceasefire, confirmed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, marking an end to hostilities after initial confusion over timing. The White House stated the agreement includes a 12-hour ceasefire, after which the war will be considered ended if calm persists. Companies Mentioned: Meta, First Financial Bancorp, Westfield Bancorp

This investor used his primary residence to build a $6,000/month rental property portfolio—helping him semi-retire, cut his workload in half, and generate a sizable income stream outside his job. And he did it with affordable, small multifamily rental properties that he still buys in today's market, all while working a demanding schedule that required his attention 24/7, 40 weeks per year. Bill Price has worked as a sound engineer for some of the music industry's biggest names. He's toured with Justin Bieber, Weezer, and Third Eye Blind (among many more), working intensive hours on global tours. But, in the background, when he was off the road, Bill was building an intentional real estate portfolio to replace his income. Today, less than a decade after buying his first true rental, he's working just 16 weeks per year instead of 40. Bill made some mistakes and some BIG bets that paid off. We're talking terrible tenants, eviction notices, bird cages, dog droppings, and flooded basements. But, through it all, Bill says it was well worth it, as 90% of his rental property investing career has been buying deals and collecting checks. If Bill can manage a rental portfolio while touring in Japan and setting up an impromptu skate park for Justin Bieber, why can't you? In This Episode We Cover How to cut your workload in HALF with a small, cash-flowing rental property portfolio  Turning your primary residence into multiple rental properties so you can scale faster  A big eviction mistake that cost Bill months of time with a bad tenant  Doing a BRRRR (Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat)? Why you should run your numbers as a flip, too Why you should tell EVERYONE within your circle that you buy rental properties! And So Much More! Check out more resources from this show on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BiggerPockets.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/real-estate-1138 Interested in learning more about today's sponsors or becoming a BiggerPockets partner yourself? Email ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠advertise@biggerpockets.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When is a prince not a prince? When he's a frog or a snake! Diamond Feit, Christa Lee, and npckc laud one of Nintendo's lesser-known games outside of Japan, The Frog For Whom The Bell Tolls. Retronauts is made possible by listener support through Patreon! Support the show to enjoy ad-free early access, better audio quality, and great exclusive content. Learn more at http://www.patreon.com/retronauts 

(0:00) WELCOME TO THE SHOW(0:35) Tyler's parents meet Tyler's in-laws(1:27) Breaking down Bo Bassett's de-commitment from Iowa(4:50) Why did Bo Bassett de-commit?(7:55) Melvin Miller takes Iowa off school list(13:05) Bo Bassett's top 3 school list(13:50) How does Bassett fit at Penn State, OK State, and Nebraska?(18:15) Are Bo and Melvin a package deal?(20:15) Breaking down Iowa's recruiting(27:55) Is Tom Brands on the hot seat?(36:40) Will Iowa State beat Iowa this year?(41:50) 149-Pound quarter-century team finalists(47:55) Japan's 2025 Men's Freestyle world team is set(52:40) Questions from friends! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At Blister Summit 2025, we brought together some legends of snowsports — Hoji, Marcus Caston, Nick Russell, & Chris Davenport — to have them share some life updates; their best mountain-town (and relationship) advice; trip reports and travel stories; and more.Note: We Want to Hear From You! We'd love for you to share with us the stories or topics you'd like us to cover next month on Reviewing the News; ask your most pressing mountain town advice questions, or offer your hot takes for us to rate. You can email those to us at info@blisterreview.comRELATED LINKS:Get Covered: BLISTER+TOPICS & TIMES:New BLISTER+ Members (1:55)Introductions (2:23)Life Updates (9:58)Riding Groomers with Nick (14:25)Mogul Skiing with Marcus (17:00)Skiing in Japan (18:18)Backcountry Safety (26:17)Dav on Snow Safety w/ the 14er Classics (36:40)Audience questions:Technology / More People in the Backcountry (39:54)Thoughts on / Concerns with the Industry? (42:03)Maintaining Relationships while Traveling for Work (43:59)Having Loved Ones who Worry about Your Safety (47:10)Group Decision Making (50:43)CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Blister CinematicCRAFTED Bikes & Big IdeasGEAR:30 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week's episode of The One Piece Podcast we go through One Piece Chapter 1152 “A Horrible Day” with Josh McKenzie (OPP contributor and storyboard artist), Vero (OPP contributor and artist) and Delaney Jordan (OPP editor and video essayist)! Next, join Sam and Steve for a double Anime Recap of Episode 1132, “A Pledge to Ginny - Kuma Becomes a Father” and Episode 1133 “To Save His Daughter - Kuma the Timid Pacifist“ We also have our Piece Together segment, where we take your questions, comments, and theories, and a special round of Yaoi Thunderdome! SUBSCRIBE TO US ON PATREON! You can subscribe on Patreon and get access to ad-free episodes and our 800+ episode archive, our exclusive series 4'ced to Watch 4Kids with Steve & Alex, our full-length film OPPJapan, exclusive episodes with our special guests and a lot more. 00:00:00 Introduction 00:10:12 Manga Recap: Chapter 1150;01:39:24 Anime Recap; Episodes 1132 & 1133;02:14:19 Piece Together;02:42:21 Yaoi Thunderdome & To Be Continued…! NEWS & UPDATES Want to know when One Piece is going to end? So does our man in Japan and OPLA live action series advisor Greg Werner! Check out his column “The End of One Piece,” posted exclusively by the OPP! Our video recording of the OPP at City Winery is now LIVE for patrons! You can watch our previous show from April on YouTube here! The OPP is officially British Famous! Read what Zach had to tell the good people of England about One Piece as it lands on BBC iPlayer in “One Piece: From ‘niche within a niche' to global phenomenon” by Samuel Spencer! OPLA! is back for a whole new season! Check out interviews with the cast including Aidan Scott (Helmeppo), Alexander Maniatis (Kuro), Craig Fairbrass (Zeff) and Chioma Umeala (Nojiko)! Don't miss out, subscribe at patreon.com/onepiecepodcast to get the full One Piece Podcast experience!  We have an all new series about the history of 4Kids … as told by the people who were actually there. Check out 4Kids Flashback every Wednesday! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

FULL VERSION. Filmmaker Doug Roos (BAKEMONO) joins Adam and Joe in the ArieScope studio to discuss his international career journey and shooting his latest film in Japan. From seeing ALIENS at age 6 and falling in love with genre cinema… to his fascination with making his own monsters and starting out with nothing but clear plastic bags and a flashlight… to making his first short film at 12 years old and why 1993's CARNOSAUR was such an inspiration to him… to making films in China before relocating to Japan where he has been living for the last 7 years… to being told “it's too expensive to shoot a movie in Japan” and accepting the statement as a challenge… to learning about the dark side of Tokyo from actor friends and conceiving the idea for BAKEMONO… to how he made the incredible creature effects himself on an extremely limited budget and why he chose to tell the story of BAKEMONO in a “non-linear” structure… to why he waited to crowd fund the film until he already had footage to show the world… to the hurdles of promoting his film through his own efforts and positive word of mouth alone, Doug is an inspiration for anyone out there who is tired of waiting for permission and ready to make their own movie happen. Pick up your own Blu-Ray copy of BAKEMONO here: https://www.allpracticalfx.com/ OR get the fully loaded version (special features, more nudity, more gore) here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/new-monster-film-bakemono-no-cgi-horror-movie#/ Don't miss YORKIETHON IX - The Movie Crypt's 9th annual LIVE charity event for Save A Yorkie Rescue - happening July 25th - 27th! With non-stop special guests, live film commentaries, a live script reading, “Arwen's Silent Auction,” and more YORKIETHON is always the podcast event of the year! Watch FREE on ArieScope.com all weekend long!

Joe's Premium Subscription: www.standardgrain.comGrain Markets and Other Stuff Links-Apple PodcastsSpotifyTikTokYouTubeFutures and options trading involves risk of loss and is not suitable for everyone.0:00 Iran and Markets3:02 Soybean and Wheat Rally4:45 Drought + US Weather9:12 Export Sales10:31 Ethanol Production11:32 Flash Sale12:02 Cattle on Feed

In this week's MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing some of the recent activity on LiveWire, which includes a little movement on wait lists. We then continued our discussion on the recent U.S. Government decisions as they pertain to international MBA students; visa interviews are now available again. No doubt this whole situation is causing great anxiety. Graham highlighted Clear Admit's new summer series of webinars, which focuses on top MBA programs' admissions essays, which will be attended by more than 20 of the top MBA programs. Signups are here: https://bit.ly/mbaessay0725 Graham then noted two new articles, posted on Clear Admit, regarding Chicago / Booth. The first addresses a generous donation for their health care focus, the second addresses an entrepreneurial contest which awarded more than $2 million to the top 10 finalists. Graham also highlighted three admissions tips that focus on addressing gaps in unemployment, and two “myth busters” that dispel the notions that you need to have experience in finance or consulting to apply for a top MBA, or that you need perfect test scores for the very top MBA programs. We continue our new series of Adcom Q&As, which is a yearly series where we interview the admissions leaders at all the top MBA programs; this week we have Q&As from Washington / Foster, Cambridge / Judge, and Michigan State / Broad. Finally, Graham highlighted two Real Humans alumni spotlights, alums from Emory / Goizueta working at BCG, and Duke / Fuqua working at Accenture. For this week, for the candidate profile review portion of the show, Alex selected two ApplyWire entries and one DecisionWire entry. This week's first MBA admissions candidate has two years of work experience to date and is originally from Japan. They have yet to complete the GMAT test. This week's second MBA candidate has five years of experience with a GRE of 326. We believe their overall profile is very strong, but we discussed the merits of retaking the GRE. The final MBA candidate is deciding between London Business School and INSEAD. This episode was recorded in Paris, France and Cornwall, England. It was produced and engineered by the fabulous Dennis Crowley in Philadelphia, USA. Thanks to all of you who've been joining us and please remember to rate and review this show wherever you listen!

Send us a textEp 281 Bas Boon Dutch Mafia & MMA Bas Boon is one of MMA's  most prolific managers, his involvement in K1 & Pride FC is largely undocumented This interview took almost 3 years to finally track down and it guarantee's a multi part series with a man that has made deals with mafia organizations over 3 different continents Ep 281 Bas Boon Dutch Mafia & MMA 0:00 plugs/ promotions 0:42 MMA history podcast intro 1:14 guest introduction1:54 interview start 2:55 issues publishing book10:47 Semmy Schilt pushback in K115:15 Bob Sapp easy to market as a fighter 16:53 Bob Sapp contract issues 20:08 numerology behind Golden Glory 22:04 Semmy Schilt vs Ernesto Hoost 23:52 illegal Shin tape controversy 28:29 dealings with promoter Simon Rutz 32:19 Apy Etcheld hiring a hitman 37:12 exposing Apy Etcheld on MMA forums 42:48 Patrick Freitas defending Apy Etcheld 43:18 drug and alcohol related crimes 46:30 issues with Phil Baroni at UFC 37 49:15 Karimula Barkalaev50:48 dealings with Amar Suloev55:02 twin brothers having different perspective 59:12 Yakuza involvement with Pride Fc1:06:26 thoughts on Gerard Gordeau1:08:33 Dutch fighters having respect in Japan 1:10:13 relationship with Jon Bluming 1:11:19 student Chris Dolman 1:13:40 Dirty Bob Schrijber dealing with problems 1:16:16 Bob Schrijber vs Gilbert Yvel 1:17:09 relationship with Andre Brilleman 1:17:44 Negotiations with Fedor Emelianenko 1:26:10 Little information on Bas Boon online 1:27:20 putting K1 into bankruptcy 1:29:54 Alistair Overeem negotiations 1:38:20 interview wrap up 1:40:04 outro/closing thoughtsSubscribe to the Lytes Out Podcast:https://www.youtube.com/@MMAHistoryPodcastDiscord:https://discord.gg/s3mV6wyNgvSocials: Facebook -https://www.facebook.com/groups/1027449255187255/?mibextid=oMANbwInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/lytesoutpodcast/iTunes - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lytes-out-podcast/id1568575809 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/3q8KsfqrSQSjkdPLkdtNWb Mike - The MMA Detective - @mikedavis632 Cash App - $mikedavis1231Venmo - Mike-Davis-63ZELLE: Cutthroatmma@gmail.com / ph#: 773-491-5052 Follow the #LOP team on Instagram: Chris Lytle - Founder/Owner - @chrislightsoutlytle Mike Davis - MMA Detective - @mikedavis632 Joey Venti - Assistant - @aj_ventitreTyson Green - Producer - @ty.green.weldingAndrew Mendoza - Timestamps - @ambidexstressAndy Campbell - Social Media Manager - @martial_mindset_Josh Campbell - ContributerJohn Perretti - Historical ContributerOutro song: Power - https://tunetank.com/t/2gji/1458-power#MMA #UFC #NHB #LytesOutPodcast #LytesOut #MixedMartialArts #ChrisLytle #MMADetective #MikeDavis #MMAHistory #OldSchoolMMA #FiftyFightClub #MMAPodcast #FightPodcastSupport the show

HOLY SMOKES YOU GUYS I won't have much time to blather on about the amazing trip we took to South Korea and Japan (but I'm sure I'll get in plenty of blathering) because you may have heard that the US did a sneak attack against the Iranian regime that may or may not have ended their nuclear program for the time being. President Trump gave some brief comments about it the other night and you can watch them here.I love that there is an active effort to bring civility back to our lives and political discussions. Today at 2:30 I've got Lori Leander from Reclaiming Civility and Sandra Brownrigg from Braver Angels Southern Front Range Alliance on to talk about what their organization is trying to do to elevate the dialogue in our communities again. They've got an event coming up called "Civility on the International Space Station with Astronaut Jim Dutton" and you can go. To find out more and reserve your seat, click here. Find out more about Braver Angels by clicking here!

Based on a prize-winning novel of the same name, this poetic film illustrates the frustration of being trapped into a system you had no part in creating. SUPPORT THE SHOW: PATREONSHOP THE SHOW: TEE PUBLICFOLLOW THE SHOW: INSTAGRAM // TIKTOK // YOUTUBEEMAIL THE SHOW: abreathoffreshmovie@gmail.com    

The boys are back this week. Mike, Jesse and Alex take a stroll into cryptid world to check out Japan! MERCH - http://www.theyetee.com/collections/chilluminati Thank you to - Factorform: http://www.factor75.com/chill Heroforge: http://www.heroforge.com Promocode: Chill All you lovely people at Patreon! HTTP://PATREON.COM/CHILLUMINATIPOD Jesse Cox - http://www.youtube.com/jessecox Alex Faciane - http://www.youtube.com/user/superbeardbros Editor - DeanCutty http://www.twitter.com/deancutty Show art by - https://twitter.com/JetpackBraggin http://www.instagram.com/studio_melectro

Santa Clara University history professor Sonia Gomez discusses the intimate relationships between people of different racial and ethnic backgrounds that occurred in Hawaii and Japan during and immediately after World War II. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Max Keiser calls Japan's bond yield Bitcoin's “countdown clock,” warning a collapse could fuel a rush to BTC, pushing it as high as $850K. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guest: Justin Thompson, Senior Artist at Charles M. Schulz Creative AssociatesOn LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-thompson-91a47339/On Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/mythtickle/_____________________________Host:  Marco Ciappelli, Co-Founder at ITSPmagazine [@ITSPmagazine] and Host of Redefining Society Podcast & Audio Signals PodcastOn ITSPmagazine | https://www.itspmagazine.com/itspmagazine-podcast-radio-hosts/marco-ciappelli_____________________________This Episode's SponsorsAre you interested in sponsoring an ITSPmagazine Channel?

NHK WORLD RADIO JAPAN - English News at 14:00 (JST), June 21

The latest on California versus Trump over the deployment of military troops. Fire weather warning on tap for parts of L.A. County. L.A. Opera opens its fabulous closet for a once-in-a-decade costume sale. We went searching for the origins of a cola in Japan named "Los Angeles" -- and found a story about growing up in Osaka. Support The L.A. Report by donating at LAist.com/join and by visiting https://laist.com Visit www.preppi.com/LAist to receive a FREE Preppi Emergency Kit (with any purchase over $100) and be prepared for the next wildfire, earthquake or emergency!Support the show: https://laist.com

TopicsI have spoken via Zoom with David Nicholas, the creator of the GLF station that is mentioned in two stories covered in today's Week in Review episode. https://x.com/MichaelSalla/status/1933866580594594193Humanity's understanding of the universe has expanded tremendously since 1922. https://x.com/MichaelSalla/status/1934219553518584232A prominent antigravity researcher, Dr. Amy Eskridge, died in mysterious circumstances after showing interest in UFOs and disclosure. https://x.com/MichaelSalla/status/1934223527290245285Amazing footage of Iran's missile retaliation against Israel. What would galactic civilizations think? https://x.com/MichaelSalla/status/1934547106343084496Ross Coulthart is correct that officials coming forward to claim UFOs were used as a cover to "hide a lot of things" is only delaying the inevitable. https://x.com/MichaelSalla/status/1934553131037176016Out of Body Encounters with Non-Human Intelligence in Multiple Dimensions: Interview with Darius J. Wright https://x.com/MichaelSalla/status/1934571124244779327Update by JP where he discusses his experiences in Japan and the upcoming update on him being taken to the Pacific Space Ark. https://x.com/MichaelSalla/status/1934988524744560722Brad Johnson gives a masterful overview of what's coming from 2025 to 2029 in this free presentation: "Ancient Metaphysical Systems Predict 2025 to 2029 | ANOINT System" https://x.com/MichaelSalla/status/1935010010766913637Dr. Andrea Martin discusses how a contrived alien salvation event may occur in the Middle East and how the Galactic Federation of Worlds has cleansed itself of compromised operatives. https://x.com/MichaelSalla/status/1935157115414351884A former Russian Navy admiral reveals that he has seen USOs flying into & out of the North Atlantic. https://x.com/MichaelSalla/status/1935256377716289815Deep State Abducts JP in Space Ark Takeover Plot – JP Update #47 https://x.com/MichaelSalla/status/1935659209091063986Another Starship Upper Stage has been destroyed, this time before a routine static fire test. https://x.com/MichaelSalla/status/1935663010137170125Galactic Envoys are Waking Up & Arrests of Compromised GFW Operatives - Get Early Access on Patreon! https://x.com/MichaelSalla/status/1936033509790896174Excellent intro to the distinct galactic organizations called the Galactic Federation of Worlds and the Confederation of Planets: https://x.com/MichaelSalla/status/1936046067239592388Agree that "there is no bearded loving male God who came to Earth to bless us with his favor." Disagree with the idea that the Galactic Federation (of Worlds) is the only ET group to have stuck around. https://x.com/MichaelSalla/status/1936047492895739976John Ramiez, a veteran CIA officer attended a meeting of govt officials/experts at a SCIF in 2022, deferred to channeling when it comes to understanding UFOs/ETs and what's coming in 2027. https://x.com/MichaelSalla/status/1936067142115332284 One Week to Dilemma of a Star Trek Future webinar https://www.crowdcast.io/c/dilemmastartrekfuture

We are back with another Cannon Summer! Nothing like sitting inside with a ice cold drink watching Cannon films, especially a film with ninjas and Franco Nero.   Version with Movie Audio: https://podcasts.simplistic.reviews/   Enter the Ninja | 1981 Cole (Franco Nero) is a former American military operative who's just finished his training in ninjutsu in Japan. He heads to the Philippines to visit an old army buddy (Alex Courtney) and his seductive wife (Susan George), who are living on a large property targeted by a wealthy CEO, Charles Venarius (Christopher George), for oil drilling. When Cole fights off his stooges, Venarius recruits Cole's old ninjutsu school rival, the vicious Hasegawa (Shô Kosugi), leading to an explosive showdown. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082332/   Want More or Less? Click Here: Simplistic.Reviews/links Site: www.Simplistic.Reviews Podcasts: https://simplistic.media/podcasts Spotify: https://goo.gl/pcBg5V Twitter: https://twitter.com/simpletweeters Facebook: http://facebook.com/SimplisticReviews Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simplygramming iTunes: https://goo.gl/orhsR4 #movie #Commentary #GoodBadMovies #Podcast #entertheninja #action #scifi #FrancoNero #Ninja #cannonfilms

We are back with another Cannon Summer! Nothing like sitting inside with a ice cold drink watching Cannon films, especially a film with ninjas and Franco Nero.   Version without Movie Audio: https://podcasts.simplistic.reviews/   Enter the Ninja | 1981 Cole (Franco Nero) is a former American military operative who's just finished his training in ninjutsu in Japan. He heads to the Philippines to visit an old army buddy (Alex Courtney) and his seductive wife (Susan George), who are living on a large property targeted by a wealthy CEO, Charles Venarius (Christopher George), for oil drilling. When Cole fights off his stooges, Venarius recruits Cole's old ninjutsu school rival, the vicious Hasegawa (Shô Kosugi), leading to an explosive showdown. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082332/   Want More or Less? Click Here: Simplistic.Reviews/links Site: www.Simplistic.Reviews Podcasts: https://simplistic.media/podcasts Spotify: https://goo.gl/pcBg5V Twitter: https://twitter.com/simpletweeters Facebook: http://facebook.com/SimplisticReviews Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simplygramming iTunes: https://goo.gl/orhsR4 #movie #Commentary #GoodBadMovies #Podcast #entertheninja #action #scifi #FrancoNero #Ninja #cannonfilms

NHK WORLD RADIO JAPAN - Chinese News at 15:10 (JST), June 21

Our analysts Andrew Sheets and Kelvin Pang explain why international issuers may be interested in so-called ‘dim sum' bonds, despite Asia's growth drag.Read more insights from Morgan Stanley.----- Transcript -----Andrew Sheets: Welcome to Thoughts on the Market. I'm Andrew Sheets, Head of Corporate Credit Research at Morgan Stanley. Kelvin Pang: And I'm Kelvin Pang, Head of Asia Credit Strategy. Andrew Sheets: And today in the program we're going to finish our global tour of credit markets with a discussion of Asia. It's Friday, June 20th at 2pm in London. Kelvin Pang: And 9pm in Hong Kong. Andrew Sheets: Kelvin, thank you for joining us. Thank you especially for joining us so late in your day – to complete this credit World tour. And before we get into the Asia credit market, I think it would just be helpful to frame at a very high level – how you see the economic picture in the region. Kelvin Pang: We do think that the talks and potential deals will probably provide some reprieve towards the growth for the region, but not a big relief. We do think that tariff uncertainty will linger here, and it will keep growth low here; especially if we do think that CapEx of the region will be weaker due to tariff uncertainty. A weaker U.S. dollar, for example, plus monetary easing will help offset some of this growth drag. But overall, we do think that the Asia region could see 90 basis point down in real GDP growth from last year. Andrew Sheets: So, we've got weaker growth in Asia as a function of high tariffs and high tariff uncertainty that can't be offset by further policy easing. In the context of that weaker growth backdrop, higher uncertainty – are credit spreads in the region wide? Kelvin Pang: No, they're actually really low. They're probably at like the lowest since we start having a data in 2013. So definitely like a 12 to 13 year low of the range. Andrew Sheets: And so why is that? Why do you have this kind of seemingly odd disconnect between some real growth challenges? And as you just mentioned, really some of the tightest credit spreads, some of the lowest risk premiums that we've seen in quite some time? Kelvin Pang: Yeah, we get this question a lot from clients, and the short answer is that, you know, the technicals, right? Because the last two years, two-three years, we've been seeing negative net supply for Asia credit. A lot of that is driven by China credit. And if you look at year-to-date, non supply remain still negative net supply. And demand side, for example, has not really picked up that strongly. But it still offsets any outflows that we see the last two-three years; is offset by this negative net supply. So, you put this two together, we have this very strong technicals that support very tight spread. And that's why spread has been tight at historical end in the last, I would say, one to two years. Andrew Sheets: Do you see this changes? Kelvin Pang: Yeah, we do think it's changed. We have a framework that we call the normalization of Asia Credit technicals. And for that to change, essentially our framework is saying that Treasury yields use need to go down, and dollar funding need to go down. Cheaper dollar funding will bring back issuers. Net supply should pick up. Demand for credit tends to do well in a rate cut cycle. Demand tends to pick up in a rate cut cycle. So, if we have these two supports, we do think that Asia credit technicals will normalize. It's just that, you know, we have four stages of normalization. Unfortunately we are in stage two now, and we still have a bit of room to see some further normalization, especially if we don't get rate cuts. Andrew Sheets: Got it. So, you know, we do think that if Morgan Stanley's yield forecasts are correct, yields are going to fall. Issuers will look at those lower yields as more attractive. They'll issue more paper in Asia and that will kind of help rebalance the market some. But we're just not quite there yet. Kelvin Pang: Yeah, we feel like this road to rate cuts has been delayed a few times, in the last two-three years. And that has really been a big conundrum for a lot of Asia credit investors. So hopefully third time's a charm, right. So next year's a big year. Andrew Sheets: So, I guess while we're waiting for that, you also have this dynamic where for companies in Asia, or I guess for any company in the world, borrowing money locally in Asia is quite cheap. You have very low yields in China. You have very low local yields in Japan. How do those yields compare with the economics of borrowing in dollars? And what do you think that, kind of, means for your market? Kelvin Pang: Yeah, I think the short answer is that we are going to see more foreign issuers in local currency market. And, you know, we wrote a report in in March to just to pick on the dim sum corporate bond market. It benefits… Andrew Sheets: And Kelvin, just to stop you there, could you just describe to the listener what a dim sum bond is? And probably why you don't want to eat it? Kelvin Pang: Yes. So dim sum bond is basically a bond denominator in CNH. So, CNH is a[n] offshore Chinese renminbi, sort of, proxy. And it's called dim sum because it's like the most local cuisine in Hong Kong. Most – a lot of dim sum bonds are issued in Hong Kong. A lot of these CNH bonds are issued in Hong Kong, And that's why, [it has] this, you know, sort nickname called dim sum. Andrew Sheets: So, what is the outlook for that market and the economics for issuers who might be interested in it? Kelvin Pang: Yeah. We think it's a great place for global issuers who have natural demand for renminbi or CNH to issue; 10 years CGB is now is like 1.5-1.6 percent. That makes it a very attractive yield. And for a lot of these multinationals, they have natural renminbi needs. So, they don't need to worry about the hedging part of it. And what – and for a lot of investor base, the demands are picking up because we are seeing that renminbi internationalization are making some progress. You know, progress in that means better demand. So, overall, we do think that there is a good chance that the renminbi market or the dim sum market can be a bit more global player – or global, sort of, friendly market for investors. Andrew Sheets: Kelvin, another sector I wanted to ask you about was the China property sector. This was a sector that generated significant headlines over the last several years. It's faced significant credit challenges. It's very large, even by global standards. What's the latest on how China Property Credit is doing and how does that influence your overall view? Kelvin Pang: it's been four plus years, since first default started. and we've been through like 44 China property defaults, close to about 127 billion of total dollar bonds that defaulted. So, we are close to the end of the default cycle. Unfortunately, the end or default cycle doesn't mean that we are in the recovery phase, or we are in the speedy recovery phase. We are seeing a lot of companies struggling to come out restructuring. There are companies that come out restructuring and re-enter defaults. So, we do think that it is a long way to go for a lot of these property developers to come out restructuring and to get back to a going concern, kind of, status – I think we are still a bit far. We need to see the recovery in the physical property markets. And for that to happen, we do need to see the China economy to pick up, which give confidence to the home buyers in that sense. Andrew Sheets: So, Kelvin, we started this conversation with this kind of odd disconnect that kind of defines your market. You have a region that has some of the most significant growth risks from tariffs, some of the highest tariff exposure, and yet also has some of the lowest credit risk premiums with these quite tight spreads. If you look more broadly, are there any other kind of disconnects in your market that you think investors around the world should be aware of? Kelvin Pang: Yeah, we do think that investors need to take advantage of the disconnect because what we have now is a very compressed spread. And we like to be in high quality, right? Whether it is switching our Asia high yield into Asia investment grade, whether it is switching out of, you know, BBB credit into A credit. We think, you know, investors don't lose a lot of spread by doing that. But they manage to pick out higher quality credit. At the same time, we do think that one thing unique about Asia credit is that we have significant exposure to tariff risk. Asia countries are one of the few that are, you know; seven out the 10 countries that are having trade surplus with the U.S. And that's why we think that the iTraxx Asia Ex-Japan CDS index could be a good way to get exposure to tariffs. And the index did very well during the Liberation Day sell off. Now it's trading back to more like normal level of 70-75 basis point. We do think that, you know, for investors who want long tariff with risk, that could be a good way to add risk. Andrew Sheets: Kelvin, it's been great talking to you. Thanks for taking the time to talk. Kelvin Pang: Thank you, Andrew. Andrew Sheets: And thank you listeners as always, for your time. If you find Thoughts of the Market useful, let us know by leaving a review wherever you listen. And also tell a friend or colleague about us today.

In this bonus episode of Freaky Folklore, host Carman Carrion ventures beyond the familiar werewolf to explore the diverse world of shapeshifting entities—from the seductive Selkies of Celtic seas and vengeful Werehyenas of Africa to the trickster Kitsune of Japan and terrifying Wendigo of the North American wilderness—revealing how transformation myths reflect our deepest fears about identity, control, and what it truly means to be human. Discover more TERRIFYING podcasts at http://eeriecast.com/   Follow Carman Carrion!    https://www.instagram.com/carmancarrion/?hl=en   https://twitter.com/CarmanCarrion   Subscribe to Spotify! https://open.spotify.com/show/0uiX155WEJnN7QVRfo3aQY   Please Review Us on iTunes! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/freaky-folklore/id1550361184   Music and sound effects used in the Freaky Folklore Podcast have or may have been provided/created by:  CO.AG: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcavSftXHgxLBWwLDm_bNvA Myuu: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiSKnkKCKAQVxMUWpZQobuQ Jinglepunks: https://jinglepunks.com/ Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com/ Kevin MacLeod: http://incompetech.com/ Dark Music: https://soundcloud.com/darknessprevailspodcast Soundstripe: https:// Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week: we take a look at the genre of the yakuza movie, or ninkyo eiga, which started off as a branch of the samurai film genre before becoming very much its own thing--and, for a decade  or so in the 1960s and 1970s, dominating the Japanese box office. Show notes here. 

HEALTH NEWS   Ginseng's dual power: Relieving stress and improving exercise recovery Can a Japanese diet help with depression? Large study says yes Living near an ocean polluted by microplastics may increase cardiometabolic disease risk Vaccine data in Japan reveals deadly trend: Deaths PEAK with each COVID jab  Positive wellbeing may help reduce the risk of memory loss in middle age Ozone antiseptic shows potential for treating severe gum infections

A new week means new questions! Hope you have fun with these!A magnifying glass features what kind of lens?Give any of the 3 types of animals in the titles of surviving plays by ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes.Tyrian Purple, aka Royal or Imperial Purple, was once a highly valued dye secreted by several species of what kind of animal?The Second Temple period in Jewish history ended with the Roman siege of which city?In mechanical terms, what are the toothed disks on a conventional bicycle referred to?The grape variety known in France as Syrah is called by which name in Australia, Chile and other wine regions?Comics or graphic novels originating from Japan are known by what collective term?The Louvre Pyramid, the large glass-and-metal entrance way and skylight designed by which Chinese-American architect?Who voiced Ms. Frizzle on the children's television series “Magic School Bus”?MusicHot Swing, Fast Talkin, Bass Walker, Dances and Dames, Ambush by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/Don't forget to follow us on social media:Patreon – patreon.com/quizbang – Please consider supporting us on Patreon. Check out our fun extras for patrons and help us keep this podcast going. We appreciate any level of support!Website – quizbangpod.com Check out our website, it will have all the links for social media that you need and while you're there, why not go to the contact us page and submit a question!Facebook – @quizbangpodcast – we post episode links and silly lego pictures to go with our trivia questions. Enjoy the silly picture and give your best guess, we will respond to your answer the next day to give everyone a chance to guess.Instagram – Quiz Quiz Bang Bang (quizquizbangbang), we post silly lego pictures to go with our trivia questions. Enjoy the silly picture and give your best guess, we will respond to your answer the next day to give everyone a chance to guess.Twitter – @quizbangpod We want to start a fun community for our fellow trivia lovers. If you hear/think of a fun or challenging trivia question, post it to our twitter feed and we will repost it so everyone can take a stab it. Come for the trivia – stay for the trivia.Ko-Fi – ko-fi.com/quizbangpod – Keep that sweet caffeine running through our body with a Ko-Fi, power us through a late night of fact checking and editing!

John Lee examines the critical decision President Trump faces on Iran's nuclear program, underscoring its profound implications for global stability. He critiques Australia's passive foreign policy, urging a robust defense strategy to counter emerging threats.Building on this, Lee examines power shifts in the Middle East and Indo-Pacific, pressing Australia to strengthen alliances with the U.S. and Japan. He warns of China's rapid military buildup and calls for strategic resolve to secure national interests, advocating for bold action to restore Australia's influence an increasingly volatile world.Dr John Lee is a Professor and Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute. He is also a senior fellow (non-resident) at the United States Studies Centre and Adjunct Professor at the University of Sydney. John's articles have been published in leading policy and academic journals in the United States, Asia, and Australia. 

NHK WORLD RADIO JAPAN - English News at 14:00 (JST), June 20

NHK WORLD RADIO JAPAN - English News at 03:00 (JST), June 21

NHK WORLD RADIO JAPAN - English News at 23:00 (JST), June 20

NHK WORLD RADIO JAPAN - English News at 18:00 (JST), June 20

As a property manager, have you ever worked with foreign investors? If not, what is stopping you? Is it because you don't know another language or because you don't know where to find foreign investors? What if there were a service that handled that piece for you? In this episode of the #DoorGrowShow, property management growth expert Jason Hull sits down with the founder of HomeAbroad and Ziffy to talk about how property managers can connect with investors living outside of the United States.  You'll Learn [01:49] Building a Platform that Helps Foreign Investors Find Properties  [08:21] Helping Investors in the U.S. Find Investment Properties  [14:46] How HomeAbroad and Ziffy Can Benefit Property Managers  [25:23] Using Real Estate Investing and Property Management to Move to the U.S.  Quotables “No one wants to be a landlord… They're looking for a good way to maximize return on their investment or return on their cash.” “If you are a smart investor, if you are running this as a business, right, you got to have property management.” “You can't build a portfolio of a hundred properties by managing each property yourself.” “You grow together. It's a small industry, you know, we got to help each other and we grow as a business together.” Resources DoorGrow and Scale Mastermind DoorGrow Academy DoorGrow on YouTube DoorGrowClub DoorGrowLive Transcript [00:00:00] Client finds the property through a platform. We do the mortgage financing, so we will introduce the property manager at the right time and say, "Hey, by the way, you can find the right property manager to help you manage this property, so, we'll kind of introduce you in the right point in that journey to make sure that you have a high conversion as well.  [00:00:20] All right, I'm Jason Hull, the founder and CEO of DoorGrow, the world's leading and most comprehensive coaching and consulting firm for long-term residential property management entrepreneurs. For over a decade and a half, we have brought innovative strategies and optimization to the property management industry. At DoorGrow, we have spoken to thousands of property management business owners, coached, consulted, and cleaned up hundreds of businesses, helping them add doors, improve pricing, increase profit, simplify operations, and build and replace teams. We are like Bar Rescue for property managers. We have rebranded over 300 businesses and we run the leading property management mastermind with more video testimonials and reviews than any other coach or consultant in the industry. [00:01:06] And if you are wanting help with any of that stuff, then reach out to us at DoorGrow. So we believe at DoorGrow that good property managers can change the world, and that property management is the ultimate high trust gateway to real estate deals, relationships, and residual income. At DoorGrow, we are on a mission to transform property management business owners and their businesses. [00:01:28] We want to transform the industry, eliminate the bs, build awareness, change perception, expand the market, and help the best property management entrepreneurs win.  [00:01:38] Now let's get into the show. All right, so my guest today, I am hanging out with Amresh Singh, welcome to the DoorGrow Show.  [00:01:46] Thanks, Jason. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it.  [00:01:49] It's good to have you. So I would love to get into your background so people understand, like who are they listening to or viewing on this, and tell us a little bit about your journey into entrepreneurism and how you kind of got started and that will lead us into your business. [00:02:04] Awesome. So my background has been at the intersection of mortgages and technology. I used to work for a leading international bank before I started HomeAbroad. And originally I'm from India, so I moved to the US 10 years back, working for this big bank who moved me from India to the US to work closer to the headquarters over here. [00:02:25] I managed their international customer acquisition. And you know, in that journey, you know, I realized that two things that we have. Or I should say two really fascinating things about the US real estate market, which is, you know, 30 year fixed state mortgages, which we, in the US you know, we tend to ignore and we take it for granted. [00:02:45] It does not exist in most places around the world. It's a superpower, 30 year fixed state mortgages. Right? Yeah. Plus combine that with, you know, higher rental leads in the US market. You know, you're really looking at a true wealth building too. Right? So that realization coming from, you know, an international market into the US market, seeing the superpower of the, you know, how real estate in the US can really help you build generational wealth. You know, gave me the idea to start HomeAbroad, you know, which was a company that was focused on global investors investing in USD asset market, right? You know, and taking the advantages of, you know, some of these superpowers, I will speak later in your podcast. [00:03:24] Right? But that's how the journey started. And then, you know, as part of that journey, we realized, you know, some similar gaps exist in the domestic market as well that led to formation of Ziffy, which I'll talk about as well as we progress in the podcast. So that's kind of in nutshell, my know, my entrepreneur journey, my background, so.  [00:03:40] Very cool. I've noticed, you know, every now and then I get clients that they've got some special connection to an international market. You know, I've got a client from Israel and he's able to pull in Israeli investors and they're wanting to get into the US market, and he helps them handle all of that. [00:03:56] I had a client that same thing with China you know, and other different foreign countries, you know, and so that's a competitive advantage that each of these property management business owners have, but it's not one that every property manager can just create because they don't know a different language. [00:04:14] They don't have a network or connections overseas, and so that could be a challenge. But I see how that could be a competitive advantage for building up your own portfolio if you could access international investors. And I didn't really realize that, but I just grew up in this bubble of the US but 30 year fixed rate mortgages sounds so normal. You know? Yes. So, okay. So cool. So, so tell us a little bit about what you've got going on.  [00:04:40] Yeah, so, you know, as I mentioned, you know, we operate two brands. HomeAbroad is where we started, right? And that's a shop, that's a PropTech and FinTech shop that's focused on helping global investors invest in the US real estate market. [00:04:52] Right? If you think about, you know, real estate, right? It's kind of, you know, wealth building tool or is a mode of, you know, building generational wealth around the world. People invest in real estate for stability, right? For, you know, that that ease of mind, okay my investment is going to grow, right? [00:05:08] But you know, in most places around the world when you're investing in real estate, you're not doing that with leverage. You know, you are buying that in cash and you are, you know, mode for return on that investment is really banking on the capital appreciation on that property, right? What changes in the US market is because of 30 year fixed rate mortgages, there's no payment shock. [00:05:28] The rate is fixed for the term of the loan. That's 30 years. Since it's amortized for a 30 year period, your monthly payments are lower, right? Rental liens are higher. So what ends up happening in the US market is rent covers mortgage in majority of the scenario. [00:05:44] Yeah. It cash flows day one. Absolutely right. And that is something. So think about it, right? So you are generating cash flow from day one with leverage. I'll repeat that with leverage, right? So 20-25% of your money is able to help you buy a hundred percent of the property with cash flow or passive income from day one. [00:06:05] It just does not happen in most places around the world. Now imagine this: you explain this to someone who has no idea about the US state market, right? And then you tell them, Hey, not only you know the value prop, but as a company HomeAbroad, we are going to give you mortgage financing with no US state history. [00:06:25] Right. And we are going to underwrite you not based on your personal income or assets from your home country. We are going to look at the property's income, right? And we're going to underwrite based on that, right? Suddenly someone who has no affiliation with the US, you know, market or financial market is able to invest or buy US real estate for the obvious benefits I mentioned, right? [00:06:49] Cash flow with leverage, but also you're putting your money in the largest economy in the world. USD is still the reserve currency, right? So you're shielding yourself from currency risk that's might exist in your home country, right? And suddenly when you explain this to a global investor, it's an aha moment for them, right? [00:07:04] Because this is something that does not exist in their home market. You know, they want to, you know, kind of diversify their assets and dip into what US has to offer this kind of opening American dream to the world. Yeah. Without them having to live or work in the US. You can live and work in your home country and dip into what America or American dream has to offer, you know, while you sit in your home country. Right. And that's kind of what was a game changing phenomena for us. Great traction, great, you know, reserves. But what we saw, Jason, you know, these people were coming in and we're like, okay, great. I want to invest in USA asset market. But I don't know where to invest. [00:07:40] Right. I don't know the US market, I don't know which city to invest in. Right. And my team, you know, we found ourselves going onto Zillow doing investment analysis and coming back to them and saying, "okay, this is a good place to invest." And then we said, "okay, wait a minute. Let's just build a tech platform, and that's what led the evolution of Ziffy, which is kind of, you know, Zillow for investment properties, ziffy.ai, where you know, as an investor you can kind of just say, okay, this is my investment objective. [00:08:05] I want to generate X dollar cash flow every month. I want to generate Y percent in rental. I want to find all the rent properties. And the algorithm mines everything that is listed on MLS right now from an investment perspective gives you detailed investment analysis and helps you take the data driven recommendation. [00:08:21] And then we realized only 8% of Americans own investment properties. If it's such a good thing that global investors want to put their money in the USA market, why Americans are not building generational wealth by investing in real estate. Right? Because people don't want to be a landlord, right? [00:08:37] Right. But once you put this data in front of them, suddenly the perspective changes. And that's what we are right now. We are launching ziffy.ai where it's going to be the Zillow for investment properties to really help more Americans buy and invest in US real estate.  [00:08:50] Okay, great. And what's that tool called? [00:08:52] It's Ziffy, Z-I-F-F-Y, dot A-I.  [00:08:56] ziffy.ai. Okay. And you mentioned the big other z name Zillow, you're like, you're trying to take their lunch, I guess. Right? We'll see how...  [00:09:06] not really. Thing about it, zillow is focused on primary market, right? Yeah. It's a much bigger market. Right. And, you know, investment, of course, 16% of the transactions are investment properties. [00:09:17] Right. But having said that, it's a huge market and there's lot of, you know, scope for growth because a lot of Americans still, you know, what they don't know about is there are specialized loan products that exist, you know, that can underwrite based on the rental income of the property. [00:09:32] So if I have a mortgage, I have a car loan, I think, okay, there's no way I can buy investment property. No one's going to give me a loan. I'm going to walk in my local bank or my local branch, and they're going to say, "okay, Jason, you know, what's your current mortgage? What's your car loan? Oh, you don't qualify based on your debt to income ratio." [00:09:49] They don't know that this specialized loan product called DSCR loan, which is debt service coverage ratio loan, where I'm qualifying you for the mortgage based on the rental income of that property versus your personal income. Right. So suddenly now you can build portfolio of hundred of investment properties because each property qualifies based on its own merit. [00:10:11] You buy one investment property, right? Rent covers mortgage from day one generates you cash flow. You wait three, four years, you gain equity in the property, do a cash out refinance, take that money to put down payment on other property. That property is cash positive from day one and the cycle repeats. [00:10:27] So if you're a smart investor can really help that first investment property, help you build a portfolio of investment property over 10 to 15 year period and build that generational wealth for you and your family. And people just don't know about it. And that's what we're trying to democratize.  [00:10:41] All right. [00:10:41] I love the idea. You know, we've leveraged a DSCR loan and it's nice because you don't have to give them all your personal info. You know, it doesn't matter how much debt you already have leveraged with properties you already have. So the rates are a little bit higher. [00:10:55] Right. But if you're able to cash flow it effectively, then I guess it doesn't matter.  [00:11:01] It doesn't matter. But also, I'll tell you, Jason, it's not that much higher either. No. If you think about an investment property loan from Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae conventional loans the rates are going to be higher than what you're going to pay for a 30 year fix it mortgage for a primary home. [00:11:14] Right. If you compare an investment property loan from an, from the jcs versus a DSCR loan, the rate difference you're talking about is 0.25%, or, you know, like, so it's not, it's very competitive.  [00:11:28] So. A lot of the people listening run property management companies. They've got a pool of investors. [00:11:33] These are their clients. How do they leverage  [00:11:37] HomeAbroad or Ziffy? That's a great question. Right? So we are also opening a marketplace for property managers, right? Because think about these foreign clients that are coming over to us, right? Think about domestic clients, right? A lot of these clients, you know, no one wants to be a landlord, as I mentioned earlier, right? [00:11:52] They're looking for a good way to maximize return on their investment or return on their cash. Right. And they don't want to take the day-to-day hassle of being a landlord. Right. Right. That's where property management comes in. Right. And if you are a smart investor, if you are running this as a business, right, you got to have property management. That's what we tell our clients. You can't build a portfolio of a hundred properties by managing each property yourself. You got to get property management in, right? Yeah. And what we are doing is we are trying to, you know, open up a marketplace where, you know, foreign investors, of course, they have no idea about whom to work at in the US so they can connect to property managers in the US through a platform. [00:12:31] Right. But in addition. If you're a property manager and if you have clients who are looking for next investment and so forth, you can white label our Ziffy platform for your clients. Right, okay. To give them as your own tool. And if they come back to us, you know, for a mortgage, we give you a referral fee. [00:12:50] You know X, we give up to 40 to 50 basis point on the loan amount as their referral fee. So that could be not only you're servicing your clients, you're giving them tools to help them find their next investment, which by the way, you will end up managing as well. But you're also increasing your value prop by helping your client find the next investment and adding additional revenue stream to your overall portfolio, right? [00:13:12] So it's a win-win situation for everyone.  [00:13:15] So becomes absolutely profit center. Okay, so. And they can white label Ziffy. What about is the Ziffy and HomeAbroad databases, are these linked? Like, are these properties, because you know, I think a lot of property managers listening are like, "how can I get access to these foreign investors because I don't have that capability?" [00:13:32] They're linked. It's just the branding, right? Because for foreign investors, you know, we go with the brand name HomeAbroad, okay? And for domestic, of course, you know, HomeAbroad will not resonate with the US based customers, right? So that's where Ziffy comes in. And we are kind of actually actively going through a rebranding exercise where HomeAbroad will become powered by ziffy.ai. [00:13:52] You know, so at the end of the day, Ziffy is the overall umbrella brand, right? Ziffy.ai is our AI powered investment property search platform and HomeAbroad is the portion of Ziffy that's focused exclusively on foreign investors. But if you're part of our network, you get access to both clients, you get access to foreign investors, you get access to local investors. [00:14:13] Okay, perfect. So it sounds like property managers, if they're listed in this marketplace, it sounds like 1. You might be feeding them some free business from. Absolutely. HomeAbroad brand. Yep. They wouldn't be able to access otherwise. And they're able to support boots on the ground helping with the property locally. [00:14:32] Yep.  [00:14:33] And then they can also leverage Ziffy and do a white label thing for their existing clients and help get them and facilitate getting them into more property.  [00:14:41] Absolutely. Yep.  [00:14:42] Awesome. Okay, cool. Yeah that's very cool. So how does a property manager get into this marketplace?  [00:14:49] What are your qualifications? [00:14:51] So we of course, want to make sure that our clients are taken care of, you know, so we do initial vetting, just to understand, you know, you have the I would say capabilities and infrastructure to help service our clients. So everyone has a good positive experience, right? And then once we kind of have that initial meeting to vet you out, you will become part of our network. [00:15:10] We'll sign a good partnership agreement. You'll be part of the network and then, you know, you'll be listed prominently. If the customer is looking in that particular area, you know, you'll be listed prominently within that ecosystem. Now, good news is we are vertically integrated shop, right? [00:15:24] So client finds the property through a platform. We do the mortgage financing, right? And you know, we know exactly when the customer, you know, is closing that transaction, right? So we will introduce the property manager at the right time. There's no point introducing a property manager right when they're starting their journey to find an investment property, right? [00:15:42] But as soon as they close on that transaction, we'll introduce the property manager. We will expose our, you know, marketplace to them and say, "Hey, by the way, you can find the right property manager to help you manage this property from our vacant property management, based in say, Phoenix, Arizona, or say, you know, Dallas, Texas, like wherever the client is, you know, closing that transaction. [00:16:03] Right. So, we'll kind of introduce you in the right you know, point in that journey to make sure that, you know, you have a high conversion as well.  [00:16:11] So how do you, at Ziffy and HomeAbroad, how do you determine which markets you want to be in and focus on?  [00:16:21] So the cool thing, Jason, you know, like as the customer decides for us, right? [00:16:24] We are operating in 43 states, right out of 50 states in the US right now, right there are of course hot markets, right? But you know, we let our algorithm, because now, it's data, right? We know the data. We know what's the expected rent, which is our for algorithm to calculate the expected rent across every plus property listed on the MLS right now for sale. What's your monthly mortgage payment is going to be? We are the mortgage shop. So we know what the monthly mortgage payment is going to be. Yeah. Rent minus mortgage is your cashflow. Right? So you can basically punch in those numbers and you say, okay, I want to generate $500 in cashflow every month. [00:16:59] Show me properties in entire us. Show me properties in Midwest us. Show me properties in California. Show me properties in Texas. Right? Whatever is your appetite, right? But you can kind of, you know, find that right investment property with right investment objective, you know, and I would say market agnostic. [00:17:16] Right? Yeah. Find that property and then say, okay, yeah, this makes sense, this doesn't make sense. And what we are adding to our AI layer. You can ask AI question, show me population growth trend in this area in the last five years. Show me rent you know, growth in this area in the last five years. [00:17:30] Show me you know, is this a landlord friendly state? You know, like our AI will help you basically California, evaluate that property.  [00:17:36] So basically, California's out. Florida and Texas are in, or?  [00:17:40] Yep. Yep. And that's what we see. That's what we see. You know, Florida and Texas are two hot markets. Yeah. [00:17:45] Midwest is really picking up, you know, because the property prices are lower, taxes are lower, rents are higher, right? So Midwest US is the new hot market from a rental standpoint Okay. Is what we are seeing a lot of fixed and player opportunities as well. But Florida and Texas continue to be two hot states, you know, from a rental property standpoint. [00:18:03] Got it. Okay. Now, these people that are, you know that they're global investors. They're around, you know, around the world. They're watching the news, they're seeing all this stuff that's going on in the us. I don't know what their perception is, but when they're watching all this, I'm sure that factors into their decision making in which states they want to be in. [00:18:23] Absolutely a hundred percent.  [00:18:25] So they're like, it does, I don't want to be in California. They look like they're crazy there and they're watching the news and they're seeing these, you know, sanctuary cities with homeless people everywhere. And then they're like looking at like areas where it's more conservative and there's like more freedom and more options. [00:18:41] Then they're like, maybe, maybe there. So perception, I would imagine affects where they're choosing to invest as well.  [00:18:49] Yeah, it totally does. Right? And what we tell our clients, you know, you got to think of real estate as a long-term investment game, right? For example, you know, the rhetoric around current administration, right? [00:19:00] From global investor standpoint, you know, like, do I really want to put my money in the US at this point? You know, what happens if like X happens? Y happens, right? And what we tell our investor, right? The basics why US, you know, is a good market for real estate investment has not changed, will not change, right? [00:19:15] It's going to be still remain a good market for US estate investment. The question is, where do you invest, right? And what are your objectives, right? You want to invest in a landlord friendly state, right? You want to invest in, in states with, you know, job growth, population growth, right? And you want to invest in state you know, in a market where you're getting good ROI on your cash investor, right? [00:19:36] And that's a function of, you know, appreciation and function of cash flow, right? That you're generating. Right. So until you have those data points figured out, right, you know, in long term it's going to be a viable investment. Right. And you're going to make money, right? Is what we tell our investors, right? [00:19:51] And when we explain them from that perspective, from that lens, you know, I have not seen someone that has said, okay, USDS investment is off my list. Right? Is something that just still motivates and drives them.  [00:20:04] Very cool. All right. I like it. And the best property managers, they're DoorGrow clients, like we help them figure out how to actually do a good job. [00:20:10] Most property managers suck in most markets. This is... absolutely, yeah. The admission of property managers, they're like, I get a room of property managers. I'm like, how many of you believe all your competitors suck or most of them do? And everyone's hands go up. And everybody that comes to me and says, "Hey, I'm thinking of starting a property management business." [00:20:27] I say, cool. And they tell me their story. It's they have investment properties and they tried property managers and most of them were terrible and they decided to finally start a good company. And so there's this issue. So yeah, maybe we should get all the DoorGrow clients getting into your marketplace. [00:20:43] So  [00:20:43] A hundred percent, you know. Let's talk about that a hundred percent.  [00:20:46] Alright, cool. Have you heard a Blanket, have you heard of these guys? Not really. So I think I should connect you to Lior over at Blanket. They've got a really cool platform as well, and I think there's some synergy. [00:20:59] They're basically like a retention platform. Okay. For property managers. They were one of our sponsors at DoorGrow live. And they've created a platform that allows their clients to see all of... they're basically a white label portal for all their clients to have their portfolios. And it allows them to keep the properties in their portfolio by helping them find and access other owners when that owner wants to sell. [00:21:25] Awesome. Okay. I think there'd be some awesome synergy between these two tools. Yeah. And I'm always making connections. You guys don't see this, those that are watching the podcast behind the scenes, I'm always trying to connect different vendors to each other when I see some synergy. So, but I think that might be a cool connection. [00:21:40] So, because I think what you're doing would work really nicely with that and it'd be a really cool synergistic thing. So we'll just get HomeAbroad, Ziffy, Blanket, DoorGrow, and then some other vendors, we'll just start stacking, we'll create Voltron. Yep. This ultimate, you know, superpower to help.  [00:21:57] This very exciting. [00:21:58] Hey you grow together. You know, that's how I've always believed. You know, you grow together. It's a small industry, you know, we got to help each other and we grow as a business together.  [00:22:06] Yeah, absolutely. So, well, I like what you're doing. What's the easiest way for a property manager to reach out? [00:22:14] Which of the websites should they go to? How do they start getting vetted so they can get into this marketplace? And is this like a free thing because they're providing value or do they pay to become part of the marketplace or how does that work?  [00:22:27] It's a free thing, right? They will be listed on a platform for free. [00:22:31] So it's a two way street, as I mentioned here, right? So we are going to pay a referral fee to our property manager partners, when they refer clients over to us, we're going to give them free tools to help facilitate that process and vice versa. You know, we'll collect a referral fee if our existing client signs up with them as well. [00:22:47] You know, it's a revenue stream for us too.  [00:22:48] So if let's say I have one of those clients that has, a bunch of connections in a particular country like Israel or China or something like this, would there be an advantage to them to leveraging HomeAbroad to facilitate that rather than having to figure out all this work themselves? [00:23:05] Absolutely. Absolutely. Because we are, as I said, you know, we are one stop shop, right? So say for example, you have an Israeli client that is just thinking about investing in US real estate, right? So what we do, we start. From setting up the LLC, right? If you are US based, you know, setting up an LLC, receiving an EIN is pretty easy, straightforward process, right? [00:23:23] If you're a foreign national who has doesn't have an SSN or an IT number, just getting an EIN number from a IRS, you know, you're talking about faxing, you're talking about mailing, you're talking about six months, six to eight weeks to get, you know, your number in mail. Now, you know, we kind of have developed that expertise in this segment so we can get an EIN and with an analysis set for a foreign national not living in the US within a week. Right. Wow. We can help them open a US bank account while they're in their home country. Right. Of course, you know, we'll need the US Bank account as part of the mortgage process, but also they will need a US bank account to manage their property, right. [00:23:58] When they invest in the US market, right? We can, of course, financing for Foreign National, which is our bread and butter, right? So we help them with 75% LTV or 75% leverage to purchase an investment property in the US. So they only need to put 25% down payment on that investment property, as I mentioned, we don't look for any US history. [00:24:18] We don't look for trade lines or create history from their home country as well. It's a pretty straightforward process for foreign nationals. You know, all we are looking for is, you know, they have enough assets to close, which is 25% down payment plus closing costs. Right? And if the appraisal comes in right where we want it to be, right. [00:24:36] So whether they meet the ratio or the DSCR ratio where rent covers mortgage, right? Even if it does not, we have a sub ratio DSCR program for them. So one way or the other. You know, we'll be able to do the loan just based on the property's income versus considering their personal income or assets in their home country. [00:24:52] Right? So we covered them right from helping setting up an LLC you know, opening US bank account mortgage financing, connecting them with a local realtor, which is not just any realtor, but a realtor with CIPS, which is certified International Property Specialty Designation by now. Right. So they have gone through specialized training to work with foreign national, global investors, right? [00:25:13] And then property management connections, you know, through a marketplace, right? So we are kind of one stop shop for everything that foreign national would need to do to invest in the US real estate.  [00:25:23] Interesting. So here's another random idea that comes up. And I don't know if this even relates, maybe this is just completely out of left field, but occasionally I get clients that they've come from a foreign country to the US. [00:25:36] And in order to, you know, to immigrate and to become integrated in the US, they have to start a business. And so they will buy a franchise sometimes, which usually in this industry, buying a property major franchise, I'm pretty outspoken about that. I think it's generally a bad idea. I get a lot of franchisees coming to me that have struggled like, you know, a gal that came, bought into a franchise, she's already invested $100k into this and the franchise gave her poor strategy and she only has one unit under management and she's $100k in and over half a year in invested into this. And she's like, you know, concerned and freaking out. I've got another client, he's immigrated from the uk. [00:26:16] He's built a property management business. They both built their business in Florida, by the way. Nice. So the land of freedom and humidity. So is there some sort of advantage for some of these people that are overseas also? They're like, "you know what? I like the idea of investing in, you know, the US but I want to be in the US." [00:26:37] Is there a way that they could build a business leveraging this and could that be something that is facilitated as well?  [00:26:45] Yeah, that's a great question, Jason. You know, and something like a lot of, you know, foreign clients ask us, right? So I'll give you a two part answer to this question, right? [00:26:52] One, if you are part of E3D countries, right? So US has a E3D, you know, with I think UK, Japan you know, Australia, Canada, and the few other countries on that list, right? Yeah. So if you're part of one of these countries where the, where you have a E3D you know, with the US you get a visa called E2 Visa. [00:27:12] E2 Visa, where, you know, where you can start a business in the us, get that visa to come manage the business. And a lot of our clients in from these countries would start up LLC to manage two to three properties. Show that okay, they're managing a real estate business. Right. To kind of get that E2 visa, right? [00:27:29] And so it's a great way for them to not only build you know, a profitable business in the US right? And kind of benefit from the US estate investment, but then also, you know, try get a residency visa, you know, based on this business. Property management kind of falls under the same aspect as well. [00:27:46] Okay? Then other countries which are not part of the E3D, where you have something called an EV5 Visa, which is you know, which were one of the key differences is that you have to show that you generate 10 employments and invested at least around a million dollars in the US to generate those employments. [00:28:03] Now that is where, you know, it becomes a little bit trickier, right? Because you know, you have to show that you brought that money in, you putting that money in real estate qualifies. Right. But the the important aspect is creation of 10 jobs. You have to show that you've created 10 jobs through that investment, you know, for that purposes. [00:28:21] If you buy, you know, like 10 properties or buy a multifamily unit and you know, you have a property management around it that employs 10 people to take care of it, technically it qualifies. Right. You can also you know, buy a hotel, you know, buy 2 commercial property that employs, you know, 10 people to kind of, you know, to qualify on the, that, that visa rule. [00:28:44] Right? But again, you know, you're talking about a million dollar investment. You know, from your end, you know, which is not, you know, applicable for everyone, right? Yeah. So there are a couple of ways, right? But for E2 Visa, you know, it becomes really easy, right? Because that job requirement criteria is not there. [00:28:59] You have to show that it's a functional business. It's an active business, which could be a real estate business, right? And it becomes, the qualification becomes a little bit easier on from that perspective.  [00:29:09] Got it. Okay. Interesting. If you run into these people, we should totally be homies and... [00:29:15] absolutely. [00:29:15] If you run these people one of the things we're really brilliant at DoorGrow is helping people avoid all the mistakes they make when they get their business started. We help them clean. We're like bar rescue for property managers, as I said in the intro. And for startups, we're ideal. [00:29:29] We help them avoid all the pitfalls of the franchises. We help them come up with their own brand, their own website. We help them build out their hiring process. We help them make sure they get good people, like we help optimize the business and get the right systems and installed. And so we really are like the ultimate franchise alternative. [00:29:46] And I've just gotten tired of seeing the franchises hurting people. And so my mission. Is to get people to sign up with DoorGrow instead of going to these franchises and set ourselves up as a franchise alternative because we can help them get going with a lot less cash involved and a lot more help. [00:30:05] And and then we can help them give them real strategies for growing their portfolios. And it sounds like this might be a really nice addition to any of my client's strategies for growth is to leverage HomeAbroad because they would love to have people that are hands off. Yeah. In another country trusting you to just take care of stuff that, that's a easy, no-brainer type of client they would love to have. [00:30:25] Yeah, absolutely. Jason, and we should talk after this podcast. We'll talk, you know, this. I think there's a lot of synergies.  [00:30:31] Okay. Very cool. So, well, what else should property managers or investors listen to the show know about HomeAbroad or Ziffy that we haven't covered? Or what questions do people tend to ask that they're concerned about? [00:30:45] Yeah, I think, you know, one of the things, you know, that we also advise our clients, right? You know, it's not about, you know, property management eating into my cash flow, right? Because that's something that we see, you know, people concerned about, or people you know, like want to kind of, you know, want to do it by themselves because they want to make sure they maximize their cash flow, right? [00:31:05] But what we tell our clients, you know, at the end of the day, you got to think of it as a business, right? And what's your net return and how do you value your time? Right. What's the hourly rate that you assign to yourself, right? And what would else you'd be doing if you're not managing five properties on your own? [00:31:21] Right? That's an opportunity cost, right? So think about this more from an opportunity cost standpoint versus, you know, okay, it's eating into my cashflow because that opportunity cost can help you buy five more properties, right? That can, you know, overall amplify your return on your cash invested versus nickel and diming, you know, the money that you're trying to save, right? [00:31:42] And you know, when we kind of, you know, talk to them about your, their ROI return cash, we want them to kind of consider this as an expense that goes into it. Because at the end of the day, even though we are not the property management providers, right, we partner with your clients, so to speak, Jason, right? [00:31:58] We are trying to do what's in best interest of that client in order to build that real estate investment portfolio. Right. So that's something that, you know, just want to reiterate to you, to the listeners of your podcast. Right. Why partner with us? You know, because that's something that we inherently, you know, advise our clients, you know, and we position property management as one of the pillars, they need to really succeed to build a successful real estate investment portfolio. [00:32:22] So you kind of insulate, because I know there's some property managers listening and they're like, man, some of these foreign investors are such cheapos. They're like so cheap and they complain about everything and they're really difficult. You kind of insulate them from that. Yep. With your organization and you know, and property management really, yeah. It is a no brainer. I mean, there's a lot of properties that a lot of these investors on their own probably wouldn't even accurately raise rent. And so if they didn't raise rent over the last two to three years, for example, they're probably 10% below market rate anyway. And so if the property manager just kept rent where it actually is in the marketplace, the property management basically is free. [00:33:01] Yeah, it pays for itself. Hundred percent. It's a no brainer. And so, yeah, I think the biggest mistake investors can make period, if you're an investor listening to the show, is to not use a property manager, a good one. Because there are bad ones. But if you can find a good one, that is the biggest game changer because it takes all the work off your plate and you make just as much money. [00:33:22] Absolutely. And another thing for your listeners, Jason, right. You'd be surprised how few people know about the specialized loan products for DSCA investor, right? So if your client is with you managing one property and is thinking in my head, oh, I already have a mortgage in my primary, I have another investment property here. [00:33:38] No way in the world I can buy another investment property. It's an education gap. It's a knowledge gap, right? Yeah. So they can help educate and that's where like and HomeAbroad comes in. because we will educate them on your behalf. You know, you retain the relationship, you retain your brand, right? We'll white label it, but like not only show them properties that will give them their next cashflow investment. [00:33:58] But also educating them, okay, for this loan to qualify, I don't need to see your debt to income ratio. I'm going to qualify based on that property's income. And you know, the only upfront cost is an appraisal cost, right? But us being the mortgage shop, you know, vetting that, okay, this property gives you cash flow, or from a conservative standpoint, it's good for you at the end of the day because you know, you won't invest if the property is not cashflow policy from day one, right? [00:34:24] So something that people don't know, you know, and there's a gap there.  [00:34:27] Yeah, we've had some lenders on talking about DSCR loans in the past, and yeah, a lot of people just aren't aware of it as an option. Yeah. So property managers, if they can have a partner like yourself to, you know, educate them on these alternate sources of funding and methods of getting cash to invest in real estate. [00:34:46] Yeah, it's going to open up the door. Not only that, but I like the idea of those because it kind of creates this veil of protection. So it's not an asset in your name if there ever is a liability with the rental property. Absolutely. They don't even know who the owner is. It's an entity and there's kind of a shield there of protection. [00:35:05] And so there's some additional advantages to going that route as well.  [00:35:09] So, absolutely. And like majority of our clients request the title in an LLC. What's the reason that you just mentioned you always need to have that, you know, protection around you in a litigation rich country, so. [00:35:21] Got it. Cool.  [00:35:22] Well, hey, I think this is a really awesome idea Amresh. It's great to have you on the DoorGrow Show. Any parting words or how can people get in touch and how can they find out more?  [00:35:32] Sure. You know, so if you're a property management company, you can get them in touch with us at partner@homeabroadinc.com or partner@ziffy.ai. [00:35:42] You know, my personal email address is amresh.singh@homeabroadinc.com. You can shoot me an email as well. Website is HomeAbroadinc.com for HomeAbroad and Ziffy.ai for our Ziffy brand. Okay.  [00:35:56] Awesome. Alright, thanks so much for coming to the show. So those of you listening, if you've ever felt stuck or stagnant, you want to take your property management business to the next level, reach out to us at doorgrow.com. [00:36:07] Also, be sure to join our free community just for property management business owners at doorgrowclub.com. We reject 60 to 70% of the people that apply to join that group. And if you found this even a little bit helpful, don't forget to subscribe. Leave us a review. We'd really appreciate it. Until next time, remember, the slowest path to growth is to do it all alone, so let's grow together. [00:36:30] Bye everyone.

Shoot us a Text.Episode #1075: Today we're talking CarMax's record-setting quarter, Congress clashing over EV tax credits, and Honda's surprising success in rocket science. Yep, you read that right—Honda landed a rocket.Show Notes with links:CarMax's latest quarterly results are in—and they're cruising past analyst expectations with strong used vehicle sales, revenue growth, and record-breaking profit per unit.Q1 net income jumped 38% to $210.4 million, while revenue rose to $7.5 billion, up 6.1% year-over-year.Used retail vehicle sales hit 230,210 units, a 9% increase and gross profit per unit hit a record $2,407.Same-store sales were up 8.1%, marking the fourth consecutive positive quarter.“These results highlight the strength of our earnings growth model… and our sharp focus on execution.” — CarMax CEO Bill NashPresident Trump's proposed budget is taking aim at federal EV tax credits, with House and Senate Republicans offering two versions of how—and how fast—they should end. The result could drastically shift EV affordability and consumer interest.The House plan ends credits in 2026 for smaller brands but cuts off top sellers like Tesla and GM this year.Automakers under the 200,000-vehicle cap—like Rivian, Honda, and Lucid—would still benefit temporarily.The Senate version is more aggressive, ending all credits within 180 days and leasing perks immediately.EV leaders warn of market disruption; some predict a sales dip once credits vanish.“They're really trying to put a stake in the heart of EV subsidies,” said Mike Murphy, CEO of the American EV Jobs Alliance.In a move beyond automobiles, Honda has successfully launched and landed a reusable rocket as part of its R&D efforts to enter the space industry and support future satellite demand.The rocket hit 890 feet before landing within 14in of its target at a Japan test site.Honda leveraged tech from its automated driving systems for flight and landing.The launch took place in Taiki Town, a growing hub for aerospace development in Japan.The 21-foot, 2,800-pound rocket flew for just under a minute on retractable legs.“Honda will continue making progress... with a technology development goal of realizing a suborbital launch by 2029,” the company statedJoin Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier every morning for the Automotive State of the Union podcast as they connect the dots across car dealerships, retail trends, emerging tech like AI, and cultural shifts—bringing clarity, speed, and people-first insight to automotive leaders navigating a rapidly changing industry.Get the Daily Push Back email at https://www.asotu.com/ JOIN the conversation on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/asotu/

Gilad Cohen is an acclaimed composer, performer and theorist in concert music, rock and theater. He plays piano, bass guitar and guitar. In the last year alone his music has been performed in over 40 concerts around the world including in France, Spain, Austria, Lithuania, Canada, Japan and the U.S. He's won multiple competitions. And he's a Pink Floyd SuperFan!My featured song is my reimagined version of The Who's “I Can't Explain” recorded live in concert at the Nisville Jazz Festival. Spotify link.---------------------------------------------The Follow Your Dream Podcast:Top 1% of all podcasts with Listeners in 200 countries!Click here for All Episodes Click here for Guest List Click here for Guest Groupings Click here for Guest TestimonialsClick here to Subscribe Click here to receive our Email UpdatesClick here to Rate and Review the podcast—----------------------------------------CONNECT WITH GILAD:www.giladcohen.com________________________ROBERT'S RECENT SINGLES:“THE CUT OF THE KNIFE” is Robert's latest single. An homage to jazz legend Dave Brubeck and his hit “Take Five”. It features Guest Artist Kerry Marx, Musical Director of The Grand Ole Opry band, on guitar solo. Called “Elegant”, “Beautiful” and “A Wonder”! CLICK HERE FOR THE OFFICIAL VIDEOCLICK HERE FOR ALL LINKS—----------------------------“DAY AT THE RACES” is Robert's newest single.It captures the thrills, chills and pageantry of horse racing's Triple Crown. Called “Fun, Upbeat, Exciting!”CLICK HERE FOR THE OFFICIAL VIDEOCLICK HERE FOR ALL LINKS___________________“MOON SHOT” reflects my Jazz Rock Fusion roots. The track features Special Guest Mark Lettieri, 5x Grammy winning guitarist who plays with Snarky Puppy and The Fearless Flyers. The track has been called “Firey, Passionate and Smokin!”CLICK HERE FOR THE OFFICIAL VIDEOCLICK HERE FOR ALL LINKS____________________“ROUGH RIDER” has got a Cool, ‘60s, “Spaghetti Western”, Guitar-driven, Tremolo sounding, Ventures/Link Wray kind of vibe!CLICK HERE FOR THE OFFICIAL VIDEOCLICK HERE FOR ALL LINKS—--------------------------------“LOVELY GIRLIE” is a fun, Old School, rock/pop tune with 3-part harmony. It's been called “Supremely excellent!”, “Another Homerun for Robert!”, and “Love that Lovely Girlie!”Click HERE for All Links—----------------------------------“THE RICH ONES ALL STARS” is Robert's single featuring the following 8 World Class musicians: Billy Cobham (Drums), Randy Brecker (Flugelhorn), John Helliwell (Sax), Pat Coil (Piano), Peter Tiehuis (Guitar), Antonio Farao (Keys), Elliott Randall (Guitar) and David Amram (Pennywhistle).Click HERE for the Official VideoClick HERE for All Links—----------------------------------------Audio production:Jimmy RavenscroftKymera Films Connect with the Follow Your Dream Podcast:Website - www.followyourdreampodcast.comEmail Robert - robert@followyourdreampodcast.com Follow Robert's band, Project Grand Slam, and his music:Website - www.projectgrandslam.comYouTubeSpotify MusicApple MusicEmail - pgs@projectgrandslam.com 

On this episode of The Nikki & Brie Show, the twins sit down with rising WWE star Stephanie Vaquer for a heartfelt and empowering conversation that's filled with love, laughter, and major respect. As WWE Evolution approaches, Nikki wanted to spotlight some of the baddest women in the business—and Stephanie was her first pick. From the moment she arrived, it was clear: Stephanie is not just a star, she's a force.Stephanie opens up about her journey from Chile to Japan, Mexico, and now the U.S.—a global wrestling path paved with sacrifice, passion, and persistence. She talks about being inspired by her father, what it means to be La Primera, and why her mission now is to represent her roots while inspiring the next generation. Nikki and Brie gush over her in-ring presence, her humility, and her powerful work ethic!The episode wraps with a fun round of “Spanish Word Rumble” where the twins put their Spanish pronunciation skills to the test (with Stephanie as referee!) and a beautiful Inspiration & Affirmation about the reward that comes from working hard for what you love. This one is all heart, all hustle, and all love for the women making waves in the ring. Press play for great vibes! Call Nikki & Brie at 833-GARCIA2 and leave a voicemail! Follow Nikki & Brie on Instagram, follow the show on Instagram and TikTok and send Nikki & Brie a message on Threads! Follow Bonita Bonita on Instagram Book a reservation at the Bonita Bonita Speakeasy To watch exclusive videos of this week's episode, follow The Nikki & Brie Show on YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok! You can also catch The Nikki & Brie Show on SiriusXM Stars 109!

A night mover

Chris and Pete will return this Monday for a debrief on Chris' super secret mission, and probably a load of Alex James from Blur chat too - in the meantime here's a rather interesting slice of Abroad In Japan history! Mere weeks before Japan closed down for nigh on two years to tourists, Chris and Pete shared a hotel room in Sapporo and recorded a podcast. And here's another chance to hear it! Please fill out Stak's listener survey! It'll help us learn more about the content you love so we can bring you even more - you'll also be entered into a competition to win one of five PlayStation 5's! Click here: https://bit.ly/staksurvey2025 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After the gang catches up on the latest movies and TV, Shipwreck reviews the Nintendo Switch 2, Wombat reports on the Xbox Games Showcase, and Cheapy laments the reactionary nature of the game industry.

Amazon Prime Day 2025 dates are here! TikTok Shop's deal day. Temu is back shipping directly from China? And free AI workshop tickets at Helium 10 HQ. All on today's Weekly Buzz.   ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup  (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft ► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos   We're back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10's VP of Education and Strategy, Bradley Sutton. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, talk about Helium 10's newest features, and provide a training tip for the week for serious sellers of any level. Prime Day is back July 8-11, with double the days and millions of deals https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/amazon-prime-day-2025-date Chinese-backed Temu resumes direct sales to US after Washington-Beijing trade truce https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/article/3314334/chinese-backed-temu-resumes-direct-sales-us-after-washington-beijing-trade-truce TikTok Shop is where shoppers come to discover https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/tiktok-shop-is-where-shoppers-come-to-discover Helium 10 just upgraded its Influencer Finder tool, making it easier than ever to discover Amazon and TikTok creators who've already made videos for products like yours. With new Chrome extension features and detailed influencer insights like email, video stats, and social links, you can now connect with relevant creators in minutes instead of hours. TikTok Rolls Out New Badges To Highlight Seller Performance https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/tiktok-adds-more-seller-badges-highlight-customer-service-performance/750637/ Helium 10's Cerebro gives you unmatched visibility by showing keyword rankings across all seven Amazon search result pages—not just the top two or three like other tools. It also reveals where products appear in Amazon's ad placements, helping you uncover competitor gaps, monitor fluctuations, and make smarter PPC decisions. Resellers can now generate reviews with Amazon Vine https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHNjZKNlRDRzUyVVFDOVo4 Roku And Amazon's New Deal Will Target 80% Of US CTV-Watching Households https://www.adexchanger.com/tv/roku-and-amazons-new-deal-will-target-80-of-us-ctv-watching-households/ TikTok Shop to launch e-commerce service in Japan as soon as this month https://www.japantimes.co.jp/business/2025/06/17/companies/tiktok-shop-japan/ Amazon may be extending its Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals to a surprising 12-day window, from November 20th to December 1st, based on what's showing in Seller Central. Sellers should check their dashboards now to see if they qualify and can start scheduling deals for this extended event. Helium 10 is hosting a live, in-person Elite AI Workshop on June 26th at its Irvine, CA headquarters, featuring top experts like Ritu Java and Andrew Bell— Go to h10.me/q2workshop free tickets are available with code ELITE100. For virtual attendees, join the free TikTok Shop success webinar with Paul Harvey on June 25th at h10.me/ttwebinar, and don't miss the AI Arsenal beginner workshop with Andrew Bell and Bradley Sutton on June 23rd at h10.me/aiwebinar. This episode is packed with actionable insights to keep you ahead in the fast-evolving world of e-commerce.   In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers: 00:50 - Prime Day 2025 Dates 03:11 - Temu Shipping From China Again? 06:19 - TikTok Shop Up 120% 09:58 - Influencer Finder 16:26 - New TikTok Badges 17:59 - Training Tip of the Week 21:59 - Vine For Resellers 22:57 - Roku X Amazon 25:17 - TikTok Japan 25:37 - Amazon Black Friday Week? 27:14 - Webinars/Workshops