How I came to travel the world
First of all, let me introduce myself. I am Seiji Ohata, president of Rapa Nui Inc. and was born in 1975. I used to run around and play in the local mountains and rivers until I was in elementary school. I was baptized with the NES when I was in the first grade of elementary school, and of course, I love Gundam. I was the last of the baby boom generation and grew up in a relaxed atmosphere. In my adolescence, I was immersed in TM NETWORK, and even now, in 2023, I often listen to the CD.
I started playing guitar in high school, admiring Nuno Bettencourt. I played in a band in Tokyo, but gave up because I had no talent, and returned to my hometown Kyoto to find a job. However, I quit that job after a few months and went to a technical school for nursery school for three years to obtain a nursery teacher license. From there, I discovered the joy of studying and transferred to a university with a clinical psychology department to study clinical psychology. During her studies at this time, I read a lot of English papers, which I was able to use to my advantage in English conversation on her travels around the world. I also began subscribing to a study program, “One Minute Every Day! English Newspaper” newsletter. At the time, I still had no idea that this newsletter would change my life in the future.
After I graduated from college, I went to work at a children’s home. The staff were good friends and really enjoyed each other’s company. We went on trips together and went to a nearby hot spring every day. However, I was astonished when I imagined “what I will be like 10 years from now. My salary was less than 190,000 yen per month. At this rate, I would end up a slave to time and money. So, in order to be free from time and money, I started to gather information through the Internet. At the time, it was the transition period from ADSL to optical fiber. The communication speed was slow.
I had been studying English steadily and continued to read the above-mentioned newsletter. The newsletter had an “Editor’s Postscript,” in which the publisher wrote about his daily life. There was an announcement about the release of “Zakzaku Zakzaku Earn Mail Magazine. It was the first information product sold in Japan. I still have a printed out copy of the booklet with me.
I felt the business model of affiliate marketing, which was mentioned only briefly in this “Zakzak~,” had great potential. This led to the opening of Japan’s first affiliate school, Ishida Juku.
The fee for attending Ishida Juku is a large sum of money, over 300,000 yen. At the time, I was really prepared for it and transferred the fee from an ATM at an agricultural cooperative. I was a member of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th terms. Nowadays, if you search for “Ishida Juku,” you will find a lot of negative information, but back then, it was really great. Just reading the textbooks made my head spin, and my idea of working fell apart in a good way.
From there, I steadily created sites as a side business as an affiliate. At first, it didn’t make much noise, but about five years after I started affiliate marketing, I finally started earning affiliate commissions that exceeded my salary at the time, so I quit my job and incorporated the company. From there I even hired an employee, but as soon as the employee quit and it was just me, my affiliate commissions started to grow and I was able to save enough money to do nothing if I didn’t splurge.
What do you spend your hard earned money on? I have no interest in nice cars, expensive clothes, expensive watches, etc. I want to spend my money on my experiences, so I started traveling abroad. Then, I came across a book titled “Dekasegi Millionaire“. The author visited a Japanese “Aniki” living in Bali and wrote about what he learned about life, money, karma, and luck. The author, Mr. Kuroiwasho’s style of writing, as well as the book itself, made me think, “I want to meet Aniki! I decided to apply for the “Let’s go see him” tour that was written on the back page of the book. That was in September 2011.
The person I met on that tour and ended up sharing four trips around the world with was a “mermaid” (female). She was just as crazy as Aniki and really inspired me in many ways. We became friends with her on the Bali tour, and we started going to many places together, both in Japan and abroad (we are not lovers).
When I went to visit Aniki in Bali again, I told her, “I want to go to Easter Island,” and she found a round-the-world ticket professional called “Round-the-world Ticket Professional” who told me, “If you pay 500,000 yen more, you can travel around the world! And in business class! And in business class! He told me, “You can travel around the world for 1,500,000 yen to Easter Island and back. I’ll use the money I earn to travel around the world! I’ll even pay for your trip, mermaid! Let’s go! So, the world trip was decided.
Since August 2020, my interactions with the mermaids have been cut off in a snap. Nothing special, but I think now is the time for us to get away from each other and darken our own colors. When we meet again, I would like to travel the world together again.
