In this episode, I examine why so-called “establishment-friendly experts” — government advisors, media commentators, consultants, and influencers — tend to survive, succeed, and accumulate wealth in the 21st century. Rather than attacking individuals, this talk analyzes the structural reasons behind their stability. These figures rarely lie outright; instead, they selectively frame problems in ways that protect organizations, sponsors, and existing power structures. This approach minimizes risk, avoids enemies, and leads to long-term financial rewards. By contrast, those who question structures and assign responsibility often remain economically disadvantaged. This episode explores that trade-off and asks listeners to consciously choose where they stand — not morally, but structurally.

In this episode, I reflect on how repeated exposure to AI-generated animal videos may quietly reshape our sense of ethics. These videos are cute, harmless, and comforting—but they depict beings that cannot be hurt, exhausted, or disappointed. As we grow accustomed to relationships without risk, pain, or responsibility, our emotional responses begin to detach from real, living others. This is not a critique of technology itself, nor of people seeking comfort, but an examination of what happens when ethical awareness loses its reference point. I explore how convenience and emotional safety may slowly erode our capacity to engage with real human vulnerability.

This episode examines Japanese TV programs that introduce local companies and factories, especially those aired during the New Year holidays. While these shows present clean workplaces, smiling employees, and strong “teamwork,” they leave out crucial information. What happens if you don’t join company events? Does refusing after-work drinking affect your evaluation? These questions are never asked. Japanese viewers often read between the lines, but outsiders cannot. The programs portray harmony as universal, erasing those who didn’t fit and quietly left. This is not a criticism of companies or television, but an analysis of what remains unsaid—and how corporate culture selects who stays visible and who disappears.

In Japan, year-end and New Year television used to be loud, emotional, and full of forced meaning. Viewers were told to reflect, feel inspired, and set new goals. Today, that atmosphere has quietly disappeared. Modern holiday TV is calm, repetitive, and avoids demanding anything from the audience. This episode explores why this shift happened. It argues that television has not declined, but that society itself has become exhausted by meaning, reflection, and life lessons. Interestingly, while TV withdraws from meaning, podcasts and audiobooks have become places where people willingly engage with heavier thoughts—alone, through their headphones.

In this year-end episode, I reflect on a simple but often overlooked truth: real connection is not created by language alone. You can study a foreign language for years and still feel no bond with certain people, while sometimes sharing deep understanding with someone despite limited words. Communication goes beyond vocabulary and grammar—it rests on values, worldview, and shared emotional rhythm. I also explore how “being natural” or “speaking honestly” is often an act, especially in politics and public life. True understanding comes from sensing what lies beneath words. Thank you for listening this year, and I wish you a thoughtful and peaceful new year.

This episode explores what “confidence” really means in an age obsessed with self-esteem and certainty. Rather than treating confidence as strength, loudness, or unwavering belief, this talk reframes it as the willingness to act while fully accepting the possibility of being wrong. Drawing on everyday examples from work, politics, and self-help culture, the episode critiques performative confidence and exposes how apparent certainty often masks deep anxiety. True confidence, it argues, is quiet, flexible, and capable of revision. In an uncertain world, the ability to hold responsibility without clinging to absolute correctness becomes the most realistic and humane form of confidence.

In this episode, Shigeki analyzes why “lightness” becomes the optimal survival strategy inside Japanese corporations. This is not a personal attack or a moral critique, but a structural explanation. In organizations where decisions change frequently, responsibility is blurred, and evaluation criteria are unclear, taking everything seriously can lead to exhaustion. Those who survive tend to detach emotions from words, tolerate contradictions, and switch positions quickly. What appears as superficiality is actually a functional adaptation. This episode explains why sincere, logically consistent people often burn out—and why incompatibility with such systems is not a personal failure, but a mismatch of environments.

In this episode, I analyze the rise and decline of “meaning-free” YouTubers and explain why that era is coming to an end. Early YouTube thrived on vlogs that avoided opinions, responsibility, and ideology, offering viewers a sense of freedom from overproduced media. However, once this style became a template, it lost its power. As living costs, global instability, and social anxiety increased, viewers began to see “natural” and “carefree” creators as irresponsible rather than comforting. Today, audiences seek clarity, position, and accountability. The creators who survive will be those willing to take responsibility for meaning—and accept being disliked.