Everything Has Its Cost: Nothing Is More Expensive Than Being Free

Hi everyone! It’s Pentleman (@pentleman_blog) here!

Dedication for own company is one of the common Japanese virtues.

However, we can find such win-lose working style around the world.

I hope this essay can reconsider your working style.

Let’s find it through this short essay!

Six-coin Flag of Samurai, Sanada

”Offense is the best defense.”

(攻撃こそ最大の防御）

A famous and strong samurai, Yukimura Sanada, once said this quote in the Sengoku period (the age of provincial wars in 14-16th century).
This phrase really expressed his driving force to win many battles.

His flag and family crest were symbolized as six coins, Roku-mon-sen (六文銭), which is  about $3 in the present currency.
At the same time, the six coins were popular as a joss paper, one of the possessions buried with a dead person. 

When the person passes through the River Styx in the underworld (The Sanzu River in Japanese), the female demon, Datsue-ba, requires the coins.

If you have the coins, you can cross the bridge safely. However, if you don’t, your clothes are taken and then her partner hung them on the tree, which will evaluate your crime in this world.

Interestingly, ancient Greece had a similar culture, which is the usage of obol coins, while the Chinese people burn joss paper for ancestors during the Chinese New Year. 

This culture is diminishing in this globalized world, but the world has truly been influenced and connected from the early stage of human history, through the human’s great journey.

Judging at the Hell is up to Your Money

There are a lot of proverbs related to money in the world.

One of the many reasons is probably that the financial systems have been under the influence of those who have authority and power.

We have a similar phrase as “ Golden key can open any door”.

“地獄の沙汰も金次第”.
(Zigoku no sata mo kane shidai)
“Judging at the hell is up to your money” 

Of course, giving money will end up in getting things done, even in hell.

This is the main reason why we put the six coins on a dead person to certainly avoid the disaster.

We hope for the persons’s safety always.

And…the phrase is following,

“阿弥陀の光も金次第”
(Amida no hikari mo kane shidai)
“Halo of the Amida God is up to your money”

It appears that we need to earn money to protect our loved ones.

A Balance Between to Budget and to Save

I love traveling. When going to a trip, I always take airplanes or bullet trains (新幹線, Shinkansen).

I “can” choose a night bus, but… never did. Why?

I believe that measuring something’s value is by time, not by money.

Once you search tickets on the web, like TripAdvisor and Skyscanner, you find the cheapest tickets so easily.

Almost 20 years ago, traveling alone from Japan to France was not an easy task for a teenager like me, because there were no sites to compare airfares nor Google maps for free tour guides.
To prepare well for the trip literally meant “dead or alive”, due to difficulty of procuring the requirements and language barrier.

These days, travel sites suggest the cheapest tickets in 3 seconds.

However, a site shows a ticket with 35 flight hours at $1,000, while the direct flight from Japan to Los Angeles takes only 11 hours at $1,300.

“It’s the cheapest! Let’s buy it. “

Would the difference of 24 hours be worth it for the travel plan?

It’s not only depending on the cost=money, which can be visualized.

Actually, you’re wasting your precious possessions, “time” and “physical strength”.
Your holidays are never long enough. Don’t forget that you took extra holidays for the travel, but they are numbered.

I believe considering the balance between the visible and the invisible costs will lead you to your satisfying experiences.

Nothing is More Expensive than Being Free

Investors buy time using money.

It seems that they know what the most valuable thing is.

What you invest your time with defines your life’s priorities.

This phrase briefs us that in life, trading is the fundamental system.

Here, let me share my experience shortly.

When I was a graduate student, an ex-CEO asked me to go with him for dinner.
The Chinese restaurant in Japan we visited was very fancy and offers delicious foods.

After dinner, an interesting turn of event happened.

The ex-CEO asked me to help him out with his preparation for his upcoming lecture.

The preparation took two days because of PPT introduction slides and venue preparation.

Before the lecture, he instructed me to choose A as an answer to his question, and so I did it.

However, the correct answer turned out to be letter C.
The lecture was like a fixed game.

The next PPT slides were already prepared to explain why A was wrong.

Yeah, it was really interesting. I “learned” a lot from the lecture actually.

I will never go to lunch and dinner for “FREE” again.

Everything Has Its Cost

Everything has its cost, even at the river in the underworld.

They are paid by money and time. More to say, the money you have is someone’s time.

Before the stage of starting to work, such as child and university student, the bill and coins are equal to your parent’s life time.

After you get a job, you know the money you get is the incarnation of your time.

How do you utilize your time the most?

This is an eternal project in our life in the miscellaneous world.

Endless watching TV & YouTube, and killing time after school everyday might rob your precious time when in youth.

I don’t want to say relaxing with gadgets and chatting with your friends were meaningless.

If you put your value on the activities, it’s worth your experience.
When you can’t say “Yes, it’s worth it!”, I wonder it’s time to reconsider it.

Passion exploitation, Unpaid overtime… Japanese culture has such kind of problems.

Now, I wonder we can change ourselves to protect your precious time to invest it to your most valuable things.

Time is the biggest property you have for trading with anything, maybe.

Pentleman’s photo travel

@Matsumoto Castle, Matsumoto, Nagano in September