Join me for an hour-long deep dive into the colorful career of a fellow American expat who has long made Japan his home. Kevin McAuliffe is a personal friend whose story could be the inspiration behind the saying, "Life’s most implausible moments tend to come with receipts.” Parts of his story may seem more fiction than fact, but he definitely has the receipts - these are real-life episodes from someone who has literally "been there, done that.”

Real Gaijin is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Hear how Kevin's career has taken him from being a camp counselor on a month-long trip through Asia with a group of teenagers during the Vietnam War, to working as a forklift operator, to becoming a writer for a trade magazine focused on consumer electronics and meeting with the legendary Konosuke Matsushita, the founder of Panasonic, to managing ad sales and circulation for Time and Fortune magazines in Hong Kong, to negotiating contracts with Japanese newspapers and TV stations for Reuters, and to starting his own successful trading company in Tokyo that also provides sales force outsourcing. It is hard to keep track of Kevin's myriad experiences, but we did our best.

Key Takeaways

Along the way, Kevin dropped several life hacks and other nuggets of advice.

* Be open to any opportunity that comes your way — especially those that force you out of your comfort zone.

* Learn on someone else's dime: No matter how mundane the job may seem, there is always something you can learn from it. Hint: Jump to the great story about how to make the most of a summer job at McDonald's (around the 54-minute mark).

* Don't fall for stereotypes when it comes to working with Japanese people: Be flexible and understand the dynamics at play behind the scenes.

Timeline

Substack does not yet have the functionality to allow you to use a link to jump to a specific section, like YouTube's "chapters." So, please just refer to the times listed below to navigate through our hour-long conversation. Thank you for your understanding.

Key Contact

The best way to reach Kevin is by filling out the “Contact” page of the Newport Ltd. website: https://www.newportjapan.com/contact?lang=en

#KevinMcAuliffe #NewportLTD #MarketingConsulting #sustainability #ConsumerProducts #entrepreneur #retail #branding #ConsumerBehavior #ProductDesign #BrandLoyalty #foreigner #ケビンマコーリフ #ニューポート #持続可能性 #消費者 #小売 #起業家 #ブランディング #製品デザイン #ブランドロイヤリティ #外国人 #外人

PS: If you enjoyed what you’re reading, consider hitting the “Like” button. It’ll help more people find this article.

You could also show your support—by recommending Real Gaijin to others.

Here’s how you can do this:

Go to your Dashboard.

Find Settings.

Go to Recommendations.

Go to Manage recommendations.

Add “Real Gaijin.”

Thanks for your consideration. - Mark

Please note that you can subscribe to Real Gaijin for free. If you are so inclined, you can also purchase an annual subscription for a relatively small fee.

However, I understand that even the lowest level of annual subscription allowed by Substack may seem too high for many. If you just want to buy a coffee for Real Gaijin (or maybe a green tea), you can also make a small donation here:

https://buymeacoffee.com/realgaijin

All levels of support - including just liking a particular article and/or leaving a comment - are very welcome. Thanks again for reading.

While Real Gaijin lives in Substack, you can also find Real Gaijin on a few other platforms (listed in alphabetical order).

https://bsky.app/profile/realgaijin.bsky.social

https://www.instagram.com/real_gaijin_on_substack/

https://www.threads.net/@real_gaijin_on_substack

https://www.tiktok.com/@real.gaijin

https://x.com/Real_Gaijin_

https://www.youtube.com/@RealGaijin

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-kennedy-5b50b71/

Get full access to Real Gaijin at realgaijin.substack.com/subscribe