After the Summer rush of workshops ( as teachers have no classes and can take the time to train) September is usually a quiet time for me. Last year I even managed a few days off! No such luck this year as after just a couple of days to sort out newsletters ( great new…

After the hustle and bustle ( and 3 or 4 Starbucks per block ) of Tokyo it was a shinkansen and two hours of local trains to get to the heart of Nara prefecture for a full three day workshop. My favourite type, with lots of time to get the teachers not just taking fish,…

One of the things I’ve found over the years is that if you just make a few changes to all the motivational skits, jokes and paradigm changing stuff that I do with teachers, they are just as, if not more so, effective with your average businessman or woman. And even better than that, most of…

Although I’ve done lots of speeches and workshops sponsored by the Ministry of Education (MEXT) before, this was the first time that they had directly contacted me to help out. I also haven’t chatted to any of their new people this year yet and it was good over lunch, and in their speeches that preceded…

As the Ministry asked me to go to Tokyo tomorrow, it meant today I had a 3 hour workshop in the morning in one city then another 3 hour workshop in the next city with only an hour in between. But the teachers were all really cool and after doing 2 hour workshops last week…