Footsoldier

Here are my Bathing Apes. Love them. I bought them about a year and half ago at the Bathing Ape shop in Harajuku. I hear they are planning on opening a shop in LA soon. The cool thing about Bape is that even though they are a Japanese brand(made in China. But then again what isn't made in China), they have big sizes. Obviously they are targeting the international market. I have large feet considering I am Japanese. My Nikes are 12. But Nike makes their shoes smaller than other brands. These Bape sneaks are 11. I could probably go for 11.5.

Bravissimotoring!! Molto Bene!

We have released an Italian version of Best Motoring International in Italy now through our partners in Italy Eurosport Editoriale.
Now Keiichi's drift, testing in Tsukuba and the Touge Showdowns can be appreciated with espresso and panini.
Bravo!

Marc Cuban blog on Youtube Supoena

Marc Cuban Blog

Viacom Sues YouTube and Google

Right after my rant about Youtube, Viacom announced they are suing YouTube and Google for "massive intentional copyright infringement" of Viacom's entertainment properties. The suit was filed this morning in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and seeks more than $1 billion in damages.
Viacom sues YouTube and Google, claiming YouTube is making money off of unauthorized copyrighted content, such as Comedy Central's 'South Park.'

"YouTube is a significant, for-profit organization that has built a lucrative business out of exploiting the devotion of fans to others' creative works in order to enrich itself and its corporate parent, Google," said a Viacom statement, issued in concert with the lawsuit.

Totally true. It's time we start sticking it hard to them. It's just wrong.
The part that really bugs me is that they have the capacity to police themselves better but they just aren't. Youtube has no intentions of blocking users from uploading pirated content.
We have filed complaints about Best Motoring several times. With their technology and man power how can they not restrict uploads with tags and titles that have the word "Best Motoring"?
Because if they do, no one will come watch the pirated content on their site. They are a business based on showing pirated content for free.
Their is no difference between Youtube and the guy selling pirated DVDs on the streets.

Visit to Mitsubishi Motors

We had a meeting with Mitsubishi Motors recently


That EVO that was in "the movie".


Hey what do you know a Mitsubishi "i" from Japan! It's one of the best selling kei car(light weight) cars in Japan.


The new Lancer.
The Evolution version(EVO X) is to be released sometime in spring 2008. I like the design of this new Lancer a lot. The style is a lot more sportier than the previous version. The old stock Lancer didn't have much to do with being sporty but I think this new model is.

Best Motoring on Youtube

Best Motoring is all over Youtube. This is a fact. There is no way we can completely avoid this and this is just part of what the internet is all about. But I am not afraid to say it loud and clear that what is happening is illegal.
I am writing this because recently we received one disturbing e-mail. It was from some guy complaining to us that we are demanding Youtube to take down our video clips. Which is true, once in a while we send a letter to Youtube claiming to take down pirated video clips. As a content rights holder we have that right and it is our duty to protect our interest. We have no right to be bitched at for doing this. But realistically there is simply no way for us to police this 100% and we just let most of it go. We need a full team to keep up with the clips that are being uploaded every day. That won't make sense.

Many people mistake us as being some huge conglomerate Japanese media company and none of these free clips on Youtube would actually dent our multibillion dollar revenue and we could go on our way without even flinching. That is a wrong perception.
First go on Youtube and search "best motoring". There are HUNDREDS of videos up. Secondly, we are not a multibillion dollar media company that has a tree that grows $. Thirdly some people think that the internet has nothing to do with decline of DVD sales. It's just an excuse. Hello everyone, why do you think CD sales have continued to slump since the introduction of file sharing on the net? Why are DVDs going down the same path? Because of the internet! Duh!
Many people don't know that Japanese media companies formed a consortium to ban their content on Youtube and request thousands of clips to be deleted.
Oh wait a second, Youtube is for the people and internet is free flow of content. So content holders should give out their stuff free because it belongs to the people that want it. Not.
You want to share everything with everybody and have everything for free? Try giving away all of your stuff for free.
As long as production companies make money selling their content, free flow of content hurts the producers, the actors, the hair dressers and even the prop guy. Because the rule of capitalism is that you gotta pay for good stuff. It has always been that way.
TV looks like it is fee. But it's not. Companies like Coke, Ford and Verizon all pay to have American Idol brought to you. They pay all the bills. On the other hand, Youtube delivers content, puts up ads and takes all the money for themselves. Somethin is wrong here.
If we got a penny for every Best Motoring clip they showed for free, I wouldn't be writing this now. We'd be on a beach sipping pina coladas and discussing which Veyron we should crash test in our next program.
Ok, there are some benefits of having our stuff up there to some extent. But now we have no control over what goes up. Guys are posting full length DVDs. And you want us not to claim this? It hurts us more than anyone because the core business of Best Motoring videos is selling DVDs. If Best Motoring was a TV show, the advertising sales would somewhat cover minimal costs but our first line of sales is selling DVDs.
It's the internet so should we just shut the f+ck up and stop bitching? No way Jose. I'm not going down like some encyclopedia company that couldn't keep up with the times!
Why should small/mid sized content producer continue to produce content when we can no longer monetize from our hard work? It's a bad spiral and I hope they really find a way to give incentives to the producers. Because right now their policy is content producers get free promotion and Youtube keeps the ad sales.
The reality is that you have to break the law to make it big in the internet and sell the company for 1.65 Billion? Just my 2 cents...

Rocking the Best Motoring Tee

Here's me wearing the BMI signature red t-shirt. We actually have a number of different designs available. This red one was one of the very first we made about 5 years ago. The shirts are available online at the BM Store on http://www.bestmotoringvideo.com.

Recently we signed a deal with Live Sockets which has them handle all of our DVD distribution and EC logistics. Basically we, Zigzag Asia/Best Motoring International wanted to concentrate on being producers and publishers of the content. It will be more efficient for us as a business to let Live Sockets take care of stocking, taking orders and shipping DVDs and we focus on making cutting edge car content on a regular basis. So this year we are scheduled to at least release 4 DVD quarterly and maybe even one bonus or special edition somewhere in between.
The new DVD coming up in April, American Touge 3 will all be distributed by Live Sockets. These guys have been a great distributor for us in the past and it was just a natural course of action.

But all things digital and on the net will be distributed directly by Zigzag Asia/Best Motoring International. Some very exciting announcements coming up soon on that front. We have some big players in that space taking our content for digital distribution...

Sing Shot Acquired by Electronic Arts

About a year ago I posted on this blog that my friend Ranah Edelin started up Sing Shot. Now they are acquired by Electronic Arts! Here is the news:
Forbes Article on Sing Shot and EA

The King and I

One of the interesting things about the Drift King is that he really doesn't give a shit what other people say and think about him. You hang out with him long enough and you will see that he pretty much bows to no one. Well ok, he's Japanese so he'll do a courtesy bow here and there but he'll never do anything or say anything he doesn't want to.
You become a super star and it looks like you have a big fargin ego. Well the big fargin ego that the DK has is pretty much well deserved. Drifting would have never become this big around the world if the man did not exist. Tire companies would not have made so much money if there wasn't driftinng. He single handedly raised the premium on 1986 Corolla Levins. He basically founded D1. Taught the world how to drift. Can I stop now?
I heard a funny story recently that he was not chosen as a committee member for the Japan Car of the Year award. The voting people said he wasn't established enough or what not and didn't want to let him in. Basically they wanted to shut him up because the committee was afraid of him going off on how bad some of the cars were. The sponsors of the Awards are, yes the car makers. They didn't want him ragging on certain cars freely like he does in Best Motoring. BM is an independent media so he is allowed to say what ever the hell he wants.
The story gets better. After he was not voted in, he went public with how the committee is corrupt and how bs the way things are run. That sparked some serious flames here and there in the Japanese car media segment. Like I said, the DK doesn't give a whole lot about what others say and think.
There are ofcourse conscequences to things like this and sometimes as a guy who works close to him wishes if he could be a tad bit more "diplomatic" but he isn't about to change his ways. That's why he's the king...

http://myspace.com/gtchannel

Ok so we finally got onto myspace. URL is http://www.myspace.com/gtchannel.
We've been asked many times why we are not on myspace. We knew it was something we had to do but just putting it off. Now that I made a GT Channel myspace, I can't get enough of it. I like doing things good if we are going to do it. I actually have/had another myspace account but I have like 3 friends and I was soon bored of doing anything with it. I put more time into posting comments on this blog.
Our GTchannel myspace as of today has 5 people including Tom who you get for free...I've sent out some invites to some friends I know on myspace so we'll see who becomes my friends.
So if you are reading this and have a myspace account be my friend!

I'm still not sure how everything works but I somehow figured out how to redesign my background and get rid of annoying ads that seem to pop up sometimes when you use free coding services. They sneak in funky links and their own ads sometimes. I got rid of those. The myspace profile page is cluttered as it is. Some people say that the cluttered chaotic interface is what makes myspace, myspace. Well what ever it is I like my info clean and sorted as much as possible. Maybe I'm old. Who knows. But it looks like you ain't nobody if you're not on myspace so here it goes.

My Article in Modified Mag Feb 2007

There is an article I wrote in the February issue of Modified Mag about the Touge Showdown.
By the way our next DVD will be American Touge 3. It's scheduled for release at mid March. An announcement is coming up pretty soon about a new distribution deal which allows us to concentrate more on production and marketing. We are planning on releasing at least 4 DVDs this year on a quarterly basis. Look out here we come!

Visit to HKS USA

I visited HKS USA this week. HKS has been a great partner for us for a while now. We've worked very closely with them when Nob Taniguchi comes to the US since we like to feature him in our videos.
We've worked with HKS for the XDL show and GT Live in Phoenix. In our last DVD Best Motoring International Japan VS USA Drift Off we included a HKS CDROM product catalog. This year we will be working with them for various projects.

Here's a video of Nob Taniguchi, Dai and Lisa at the Tokyo Auto Salon.

Cold California

The day we arrived to LA it snowed in Malibu. It has rained almost 5 times in the 4 weeks we have been here. I don't know how the weather is usually around here but it's not as sunny and warm as I imagined. I guess this cold is pretty rare because after we moved in we found out that the heater in our house was beyond repair.
Here in these photos the workers are taking the AC unit off the roof and putting a new one on top. The surprising thing was that the old unit was probably about 30 years old and the new unit was just as big and looked exactly like the old one! Cars have become smaller, radios and music players have become smaller, phones have evolved to be smaller, TVs are thinner. Now why haven't the air conditioner units become smaller? How about the performance?
I hope this new unit delivers more power for the buck. Shouldn't they be more efficient too, just like the other devices that we surround ourselves with?

Wallstrip

WRC Subaru Time Attack on the Touge

I always love it when we have special guests on the touge. It's great to see different genres of motorsports interact.

Setting up the pad

Inside Sony Studios in Culver City


Taku stuffed in the back seat with the flat screen

One of the first things you need in your house is a TV. Especially when you are in the business of selling DVDs. So after we got our new place we headed off to get a TV. You can see we barely fit it in the rental car with our friend Taku in the back seat.
Getting cable here in the US takes so much time. My mistake EVERYTHING here takes so much time.
We still don't have a land line because we are still waiting for the guy to come hook up the house. That was after being put on hold for about an hour to get through to someone. Doing this for cable, electricity and internet can get pretty old. I'm glad we're almost finished with everything...
Starting your life from scratch in a new place can be pretty challenging. I grew up here so I can speak the language but I have not spent any of my adult life living here. Which means no credit. No credit in the US means you get no credit card and no record of any financial status. Basically a baby.
Sometimes you really feel like you were born yesterday. I was just telling some friends of mine today that the people at the grocery store looked at me as I was seriously challenged when I asked them what in earth was "cash back" when I used my new debit card to pay.
In Japan we don't have this. You always have to go to the ATM to retrieve cash. Never at the same time you buy something. I was just trying to pay and they are asking me if I want "cash back". I never gave any cash so why would I want "cash back"? It's more like "cash withdrawl" right? The cashier lady was "so you want cash back or what?".
I was so scared by her glaring at me I was like, "no, no I don't want any cash, thank you and I'm sorry". She would have climbed over the counter to kick my ass if I asked another stupid question about how to use the darn debit card.
Anyway we're getting used to this. Lesson one, just use cash if in doubt.

Searching for Director of Internet Strategy and Online Operations

We are seeking to hire the following:

The Director of Internet Strategy and Online Operations will manage the web presentation of Zigzag Asia websites. Director will be responsible for managing a team of content producers and coordinating other related disciplines. Will set work production schedules with the production team for ongoing production, as well as new projects implementation.
He/she will be responsible for:
1. Developing strategy for the site and overseeing all aspects of goal implementations.
2. Managing website development and day-to-day operations to support superior viewer experience and to incorporate new features and offerings.
3. Serve as a single point of contact with development team (internal or contract) to ensure all tasks are clearly defined and are completed according to schedule.
4. Identifying opportunities for leveraging the website in pursuit of other key objectives including cross-promotion of new products
5. Identifying and executing strategic partnerships to acquire compelling content, features, and online tools that support the website strategy.
6. Update management on the status of all projects especially when there are slowdowns or bottlenecks.
7. Tracking and analyzing site traffic to understand customers' usage patterns and trends and assessing ongoing competitive analysis of high-speed Web sites, content and emerging technologies to continually inform the content strategy and foresee new trends.
8. Building and leading a cohesive, professional staff to support strategy and operational goals
Qualifications:
• MUST LOVE CARS
• 5+ years experience managing an online portal with responsibilities including overall portal strategy development, content acquisition, and website development
• Strong knowledge of Website production technologies including HTML, databases and XML if possible, video encoding, extensive contacts in the online space and in depth experience monitoring and evaluating industry trends
• Solid management experience and track record in motivating and building strong teams.
• Strong communications skills and ability to build working relations across all levels of an organization.

Send resumes to taro@zigzagasia.com

PRIMEDIA Acquires Modified Automotive Group

NEW YORK, NY —February 8, 2007—PRIMEDIA Inc. (NYSE: PRM), America's leading targeted media company, today announced that its Enthusiast Media Segment acquired Toronto-based VerticalScope Inc.’s Modified Automotive Group (MAG), publisher of Modified Magazine, Modified Luxury & Exotics Magazine, Modified Mustangs Magazine, and their related event partnerships and websites. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

“The Modified Automotive Group has been an outstanding growth company. PRIMEDIA, as a strategic buyer, is ideally positioned to leverage Modified’s assets for growth into the future primarily by cross-selling with PRIMEDIA’s existing brands, and realizing numerous economies of scale, particularly in the areas of sales, production, distribution, and direct mail,” said Steve Parr, President of PRIMEDIA Enthusiast Media.

MAG was founded in July 2002, with the premiere issue of Modified Magazine, a performance magazine for sport compact and import car enthusiasts. MAG has delivered strong revenue growth in each year of its existence. The Modified brand is well known and highly respected by both marketers and enthusiasts.

Modified Luxury & Exotics Magazine was launched in November, 2004, and caters primarily to the high-end market. Modified Mustangs, launched in October 2005, skews toward a younger demographic. All three MAG publications complement PRIMEDIA’s existing assets and broaden PRIMEDIA’s addressable market.

“In addition to the synergies we expect to realize, we intend to expand Modified’s online presence, begin to generate licensing revenue using Modified’s strong brands, and benefit from Modified’s event partnerships,” Parr added.

VerticalScope was represented in the sale by DeSilva & Phillips, LLC.

北米チューニング雑誌出版社のモディファイド社が大手出版社のプライメディアに買収されたというニュースが２日前に発表されました。プライメディアはnasdaqに上場している大手雑誌出版社。特定趣向の中堅雑誌を何誌も持っているトップ１０に入る雑誌出版社です。自動車雑誌で有名なのはMotortrendですね。チューニング雑誌で有名なのはSuper StreetやSports compact car。とにかく業界を代表するメディア会社です。
２００２年に創業したばかりのモディファイド。厳しい競争を勝ち残ってプライメディア系の購読数を抜き去りました。後から出てきてプライメディアの牙城を破ってすごいなぁと思っていました。
このモディファイド、本社はなんとカナダにあります。チューナー系の情報発信はほとんどアメリカ西海岸なのに。でも一番驚くのはこのモディファイの社長のRob Laidlawはなんと若干２５歳。びっくりです。
買収というと日本ではまだまだネガティヴのイメージがありますが、米国ではacquiredというとベンチャーの世界では「おめでとう」です。起業家にとって買収されるというのは株式上場に続いておめでたい出来事なのです。時には上場よりも手間がはぶけexitできるすばらしい方法です。いままで汗と苦労を正当に評価してもらい他社の傘下に入る。それほど悪い話しではありません。もちろんメリットとデメリット両方あります。例えば従業員の問題、経営の自由度、混乱などがあるかもしれません。しかしより大きな資本下に入ることによってよりブランド力を高めたり、大会社の資産を共有できたり、コストを下げたりする効果も充分期待できます。
Robとは何度か会ったことありますが、落ち着いていて僕より１０歳も年下とは思えないほど発想が大人で関心させられました。
こういう若者が育つ環境、競争できる市場というのは素晴らしいですね。日本の起業家も負けてられません。そういう意味では本件非常に刺激になるニュースでした。
日本男児がんばらないといけませんね！

Pacific Coast Highway

Life in LA started 2 weeks ago. We finally found a place in Marina Del Rey.
I can get to the office in about 20 minutes going South on the 405. I can also cruise down Pacific Coast Highway. Now that I've found a house, I have to find a car! Still thinking about what to get...

ロスでの生活が始まりました。到着して２週間経ちましたが、ようやく家が見つかりました。
トーランスのオフィスの近くを探しましたが、結局マリーナデルレイにしました。事務所までは高速を使えば２０分でいけます。高速を使わない場合はこのPacific Coast Highway通称PCHを南に下っていきます。このPCHはここカリフォルニアの代表的な街道で良く映画などでも登場します。
いつかこの道をバイクででも走ってみたいですね。
あ、その前に先ず車を買わなきゃ。家が決まったので次は車ですね。どれにしようか迷っています・・・

Toyota Camry has been named 2007 Motor Trend Car of the Year

The all-new Toyota Camry has been named 2007 Motor Trend Car of the Year. Launched in spring 2006, the new Camry offers a major redesign for the 2007 model year.
Check Out GT Channel for the full story:http://www.gtchannel.com/AutoNews/index.php


Me at the Motor Trend office this past week in LA.