The Best One Yet - 🇯🇵 “Ja-POW” — Japan’s all-time high. BMW’s electric yacht. ChatGPT’s laptop class.

Episode Date: May 22, 2023

Everyone’s talking about China and India, but the real economic story right now is… Japan. BMW’s newest product? It’s an electric yacht, because smart marketing is all about re-anchoring. And ChatGPT’s brand new app is already #1 in the App Store — And that’s a wakeup call to “The Laptop Class.”Want merch, a shoutout, or got TheBestFactYet? Go to: www.tboypod.comFollow The Best One Yet on Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok: @tboypodAnd now watch us on YoutubeLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. Welcome back. It is Monday, May 22nd. And today's pod is the best one yet. Jack, it is a T-boy, man. A week from today, there's no pot. Because a week from today is Memorial Day.

Summer, we can feel you. We can taste you. You're right here with us. You're emanating right now. Jack, whip out the barbecue and whip up the first story for today's pod. What do we got, man? Our first story is Japan. Japanese stocks are at a 33-year high right now.

Because 2023 is the year. of Japao. For our second story, we're looking at ChatGPT. This online AI chatbot just finally launched their mobile app for the iPhone. Because Bessies, there's an upper class and a lower class, but there's also a laptop class. And our third and final story is BMW. BMW just launched their first electric yacht. Because smart marketing is all about re-anchoring. Literally. But Yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix. You know, we didn't know what mix we were going to do. And then boom, We just got the perfect mix to start the week, Jack. But before that mix, a new celebration that Nick and I want to highlight for you.

Yeties, we got a new holiday that we want to celebrate. The new thing is the datchelor party. That's right. The datchelor party. Dad, Bachelor party. Yeties, Nick's like two weeks away from becoming a dad. So a datchel party, it's a lot like a bachelor party. It is, it is, it is.

But it's not about becoming a husband. It's about becoming a dad. So the datchelor party we're thrown for Nick this week. It's like a bachelor party. Right, right. The only difference is you're going to feel it a little more the next day, Jake. I'm going to be sore for like two weeks after this thing. Jack, I'm sore just recording the podcast right now.

That is this week. Nick and I are getting together for a datchelor party. Jack and I are actually flying to Los Angeles for this datchel party. We're going to do it. We're really excited. We got a steak dinner on the itinerary, a whiskey tasting. We're going to go see a ball game. Hopefully, Shohay Otani is pitching.

Jack, maybe we'll be. stop at bed bath and beyond. I just hope we have enough time. Now we should point out, mom is doing most of the work when it comes to having a kid. We should point that out, Jack. Like pregnancy, birth, nursing, all of that is a lot harder than building a bassinet. Yeah, it is. The Allen wrench, it's not that complicated. So here's what Jack and I are thinking. When future dad is on a datchelor party, future mom is on a momerette party. A momerette party. It's a lot like a bachelorette party. And here's how a momorette party goes down. You're still partying plenty, you're just not having as much peanut.

Yeah, at a momarette party, there's less smearing off, more spa. Fewer martinis, more massages. So, Yetis, this is your cue to consider a datchelard party for the future dad to be in your life. Vesties, this is your moment to plan a mamarette party for that future mama. Because you gotta celebrate the wins. Jack, I'm about to wake up wicked early every day. Well, we might as well make up a new holiday. Jack, what the heck?

Let's make up two of them. The Datchelorette and the Mammerat. Jack, let's hit our three stories. I'll see you in L.A. 15 years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dorm. They had an idea to cause a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but the tis.

50% that's a fat tip. Tea boy city on your at list. If you know, you know, because we're ready to go. We can't wait no more, so just start the show. Start the show. For our first story, the Japanese stock market just hit its highest level in 33 years. Nick and I have decided, 2023 is the year of Japan.

Of Japan. But Yeti's, no country cares more about the details than Japan. Nick went to Japan over the holidays, and I haven't heard him stop talking to me about the details in Japan. Can we talk about the pizza? Best pizza in my life wasn't in Naples, wasn't in Tuscany. Best pizza was in Kyoto. And this is coming from a New Yorker, Yeti. Jack, if you get in a taxi in Japan, the seatbelts light up.

They're living like a hundred years in the future, man. Not sure if that's practical or necessary, but still impressive. It gets dark in those taxi cabs, Jack. Yeties, you know of Japan as an industrial economic power. There were mushrooms on the pizza. I don't think exist anywhere else. It's the third biggest economy in the world, and it is a long-time non-nuclear superpower. Okay, tops of their industries.

We're talking Japanese cars, Japanese tech, Japanese video games. They have Toyota, Sony, Nintendo. Hello Kitty. Why don't show? Hello Kitty. That beats Beanie Babies three out of five. days. But we should point out, the last 30 years for Japan have been a struggle, actually. In the last 30 years, Japan's economy just hasn't really grown. They're known as the lost decades of Japan's

economy because of an aging population, a low birth rate, and deflation. But Jack and I jumped in T-boy style, and we notice that right now, Japan is having a moment. Thanks to Japan's unique economic story. Yeties, here's what fascinated Jack and I about Japan. There is a great irony to Japan, and here's what it is. Today, Japan is an open economy, but historically, according to Nick's meticulous economic historical research, again, we had a lot of time over the pizza. Japan is historically one of the most closed economies in the world. Yeti's Japan was historically the most isolated major economy in the world. Like literally, you cannot get on the island and you could not get off of the island for a long period of time. Japan is an island nation. And during

the Edo period, the emperors of that time, closed Japan off from the outside world for 300 years. Yeah, burn the passports. We're talking no trade, no guess. It was literally illegal to leave the island nation. You had to stay on the land. It was a completely closed off country like something we can hardly fathom today. But here was the interesting business case study.

The companies in Japan, the businesses of Japan, they adapted to that isolation. The inward focus of the Japanese economy led to the creation of a unique set of businesses. Yes, the Sogo Shoshua, the Sogo Shoshah. Which roughly translates to trading houses. And basically, Jack and I were researching these trading houses and we realized these were like the first ever conglomerates, but like 400 years ago, right, Jack? Japan has unbelievable economic history. Since the 1600s, these trading houses provided energy. They had food businesses. They were in the entertainment business. And they're still around today. Like, for example, Mitsubishi is a Sogo Shosha, a trading house in Japan. But Mitzibis. Jack, do they just make cars? They're not just cars. They also do food, oil, electronics. Mitsubishi has a bank. And they've been doing it for 200 years. And guess who noticed all this? Our buddy Warren Buffett,

the 90-year-old investing icon. Well, get this, Warren Buffett's biggest investment outside of the United States. Where is it, Jack? He's invested in all five of the major Japanese training houses. And that has helped push Japan's stock market to a 33-year high. That's a lot of yen. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in Japan? China and India get all the headlines. But Japan is the real story right now. Look, Yetis, it's not just Warren Buffett's investment that is powering Japan's stock market right now. Key to Japan's stock market, boom, is that Japan is opening up.

For example, after two and a half years of pandemic tourism bans, Japan just reopened to tourists in October, and we all spent apparently a record. amount of money. According to the next credit card statement, in this past weekend, Japan in Hiroshima, actually, hosted the G7 meeting of the seven biggest economies on Earth. Plus, Japan just approved their first ever casino to attract even more tourists. Get this yet. He's, Japan has the top global box office hit of 2023 so far. Which is the Super Mario movie. And Japan has the top video game of the year so far. Which is Nintendo Zelda. Nick, the top paid athlete in the world, it's about to become Japan's baseball hybrid pitching batting icon Shohei Otani. And he can pass. Yet he's had all of that

up and Japanese stocks just hit their highest level since 1990. China and India get all the headlines, but Japan is the real story of this year. 2023 is the year of Japan. For our second story, on Friday, Chat GPT finally launched their first ever mobile app and how did it do, Jack? It immediately hit number one. And to the laptop class, which Nick and I are both members of, full disclosure. Consider this a wake-up call. Yet he's a fun thing, Jack, and I like to do. Every few days after we're done the pod, we kind of like just play around with some AI. It's like a fun little after noon activity.

They say this is a nuclear transformative technology. We want to be abreast of what's going on. So we go to the chat GPT website. We go on the computer and we start typing stuff. We're trying to see how we can use this. Now, the website for chatGPT is chat.com, which launched in November. the company is run by Sam Altman, who we told you about last week.

And ever since they launched that chat GPT website last year, there has been a, Jack, what do you call it, like an epidemic of CEOs saying AI? It's like the thing to do. CEOs have been tripping over each other to try to convince investors that they are more focused than the other CEOs on artificial intelligence.

I heard that at Google, if you go into a meeting and you don't mention AI, Sunder Pichai will spank you. But yet it wasn't until six months after that website was launched, which is last Friday, that the top AI chatbot, ChatGPT, finally got an app. It finally got an app. ChatGPT launched their very first app on the App Store last Friday, and it immediately hit number one. Before last Friday, you could only use ChatGPT on your computer.

But today, you can finally use ChatGPT on your phone. Now, Nick and I heard this news, and it got us thinking about a great divide there is in technology. Yeah, the great tech divide. This is what Jack and I were talking about over the weekend. Because you got mobile and then you got desktop. Same internet, but different ways to access the internet. And honestly, Jack and I, we really have a solid preference for desktop. We bring a laptop everywhere because we always want a keyboard.

We need the tabs. It's a productivity thing. We know it's like not the healthiest thing. But if we're in the back of a taxi, like we're doing a hot spot and we're prepping the pod stories in the back of a cab on a laptop. This week when we go to L.A., we're going to be like constantly trying to be productive so that at the end of the day we can relax and shut it down. Until the datchelor party starts. And then Jack, then we'll put away the laptop.

Nick and I are members of what Elon Musk referred to last week as the laptop class. Yeah, Elon Musk referred to this entire group of people as the laptop class. We bring our laptop with us everywhere like Maggie Simpson does with her blanket. The laptop class. It's basically anyone who's working in an information job. A consultant, a financial analyst, a product manager at Pinterest. You're all in the laptop class. But the rest of the world is leaving their computer at.

the office. The rest of the world doesn't bring their laptop with them on their honeymoon to Lake Cuomo like Nick did when we first launched our podcast. It was the laptop class at its fullest, Jack. Is the laptop class a section on United Airlines yet? Because it actually should be. I think it's called Delta Comfort, Jack. So Jack, before Sachin Adela spanks us over here, what's the takeaway for our buddies over an AI, AI, AI, AI. This is a wake up call to the laptop class. Yet he's, according to Shopify, of all the web traffic in the world, get this, 60% is accessed on phones. Only 40% of all the web activity is done through a computer. And that 40% is actually shrinking every single day. So when ChatGPT launched a mobile app, that's like not that big a deal for

the laptop class. Yeah, because we've been able to access ChatGPT for six months on a laptop. And honestly, most of the time, we'll probably still use ChatGPT mostly on our laptops. But ChatGPT launching an app is a huge deal for the rest of the world that uses the internet primarily through their phone. And that is why ChatGPT immediately hit number one in the app store the day it launched and probably is still number one. It's a wake-up call to the laptop class. The rest of the world really only cares about their phone. For our third and final story to kick off the week, BMW, its stock is close to an all-time high, so they just launched their most luxurious. Jurious vehicle ever.

BMW just launched an electric yacht. We repeat, an electric yacht. And that electric yacht is actually going to sell electric cars. But Jack, what's the difference between a boat and a yacht? The real question is, what's a vessel? It doesn't matter. That's the answer. If you got a boat or you got a yacht, you just don't stop talking about it, Jack.

The reason we're talking about these boats is because BMW's newest car isn't a car, actually. It's a yacht. It's not even just a yacht. This is an electric yacht. And that's why they call it the icon. BMW debuted this electric yacht like it was a debut taunt at the Cannes Film Festival. Yeah, we saw some pictures of this thing. Picture a penthouse apartment that's in the Wall Street Journal's real estate section.

Like, this is the kind of yacht that should have gotten invited to the Met Gala. This thing has one room, basically, with velvet couches, a plush carpet, a bar, and 360-degree views of the ocean through the all-glass walls. But unlike the diesel engine on your father-in-law's dingy, the electric motors on this thing are Quiet. It's almost awkwardly quiet. And that's why BMW's yacht comes with a custom one-of-a-kind soundtrack to play on the surround sound speakers. We repeat, BMW commissioned legendary composer Hans Zimmer to make a playlist only for this electric yacht. You can only hear this score on the icon.

BMW's electric yacht. Han Zimmer, the guy behind like Gladiator, Dark Night. Basically every Christopher Nolan film, that's what you're getting on this yacht. Plus Pirates of the Caribbean, the nautical theme here. Jack, this yacht, it's going to win an Oscar. See, you may be thinking, Yetis, how did BMW make such an incredible vessel? They're not even in the boat business.

Well, the way Jack and I see it, they did it thanks to their electric cars, because their electric cars are basically organ donors. Yeah. Sitting beneath this boat are six big car batteries that were donated to the boat by their BMW I3 sedan. It's like they harvested the kidneys of their cars

and stuck them in this electric. yacht. Yeah, this boat is powered by motors that run on six donated lungs from the cars. Now, Yeties, Jack and I don't think this new yacht is expected to be a moneymaker for BMW, do we, Jack? No, we think this isn't even really a boat play at all for BMW. No, this is a car play. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at BMW? When you need to move up, re-anchor the conversation. Yeties, just like Tesla, BMW now offers a luxury electric car and a luxury electric car. And a luxury. electric SUV and a luxury electric sports car.

But let's be honest, BMW is behind. It's not considered a serious player in electric cars. So what did BMW do to catch up? You know, they launched a luxury electric yacht for the water. Wow, BMW. You just got my attention with your electric yacht. That was the strategy. BMW got your eyes staring at a yacht so your brain reconsiders its cars.

Because if BMW can make an electric yacht, then you trust that they can make a good electric car too. Like, they have to, right? Like, I mean, if they're going to put this on water, they must do pretty well in land. That's what you're thinking. This luxury yacht just re-anchored BMW, upward in the electric car conversation.

Because smart marketing is about re-anchoring. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us to kick off the week? Japal. Japanese stocks just hit a 33-year high. Oh, Japow's the new cookie, Chris. Yeties. China and India get all the headlines. but this year, Japan is the real story.

For our second story, after six months of being available on the web, chat GPT now has a mobile app. It immediately hit number one, which is a wake-up call to the laptop class. And our third and final story is BMW. They just launched a Hans Zimmer soundtrack, electric yacht. Yeah, BMW's marketing? It was all about re-anchoring.

Literally. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Alexa Camingo from lovely Chicago, logistics. Push and play. Here we go. Hey there besties and yetis, sharing a fact on the national fruit of the Philippines, mango. Mangoes are grown by about two and a half million smallholder farmers across over seven million mango trees. At one point, it was said that the sweetest mango was reported to be from a variety grown in the Zamboanga region of the Philippines. The Philippines exports about 11 million U.S. dollars worth of mangoes to over 40 countries every year.

This export amount doesn't even include the famous Philippine dried mango, which was actually created by a Cebuwana family who left mangoes out longer than their intended shelf life. So the dried mango is an accidental invention. What a delicious accidental invention. Like the sticky note from 3M. Or like the penicillin that saves a lot of lives. Or like curry worst sauce, which is curry sauce and ketchup that accidentally got mixed together. Or like Reese's, those two guys.

One was holding chocolate, one was holding peanut butter and they fell on top of each other. This is Officer Reese's. What seems to be the problem here? The problem is I don't have enough Reese's. By the way, mango is the most consumed fruit in the world, right? I mean, it's basically the cupcake of fruit. It's delicious. Yeties, if you got any more facts about mangoes, send them our way because we're clearly interested.

Let's just cut to the chase. If you got any mangoes, send them our way. Yeties, you look fantastic right now. Jack, I can't wait to see it at the Datchel party. What are you going to pass? I know. This is going to be great. L.A. is going to be awesome.

See you in Los Angeles. Yeties, remember H-Y-H-T-B-O-Y. That's how we grow the show. Have you had the best one yet? Nick and I, we'll see you tomorrow. If you know, you know. And before we go, congratulations to Yeti Scott Lorsch and Casil Crystal, who just got engaged. Get this, in an escape room.

That's where you did it. You better say I do, because you're not leaving here. I got you trapped. And congratulations to Ann Chi, who just got engaged two over in Beijing, China. Happy honeymoon to Rachel and Danny Moore, who are celebrating down in Cabo. We hope you didn't bring the laptops with you. And Sarah and Zachary, congratulations on the three-year anniversary in Koppelais, Hawaii. Congratulations to Stacey and Eric Polonski, who are celebrating their anniversary with the date night in Los Angeles.

And David Johnson, congrats on the new job as a physician's compensation analyst. Check, please. Congrats to Kelly Bridenbach, who just got a new job at Carmel Water. And congratulations to Carly and Trevor Johnson, who just had a baby in the Marina of San Francisco. Carly and Trevor, I'll see you at the first. Farmers Market. Congratulations to Chris Casey, who now has an MBA in Minnesota. And Kyle Radzak is graduating from Boston College with the master's degree. Happy 27th birthday to Lydia Ingamba in Dallas, Texas. And Onamesh Agrawal, happy 28th birthday in San Francisco. Happy 21st birthday to Joseph in Chicago.

And Gowdom Krishna, enjoy that birthday over in Atlanta. Happy birthday to Pugha J. Singany in New Jersey. And David Platt, happy birthday down in... Orlando. Happy birthday to Jamie Cherto-Boy in Hudson, Wisconsin. And Prokosh, Kokelingham, happy birthday in San Carlos, California. And to anyone else celebrating something today, make it a T-Boor. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack, Nick and I both on stock of Apple and Shopify.