I’ve reached my limit. A pretty major announcement…

It’s been a really long time, everyone.
So much has happened that it feels like ages since I last wrote a blog post.

Reservations for snow removal filled up in an instant the day after it snowed.
It was a very painful decision, but I have blocked all incoming calls for inquiries.
The reason is simply that I am already over capacity just handling online reservations and my existing customers.

Just counting the blocked calls (excluding duplicates), there were easily over 150 as of Sunday, December 21st.
If I were to respond to these, my hands would stop working. So, I didn’t even have the time to reply “I can’t go.”

The photo is of the Hokujo snow dumping site in Kitami on December 20th.
I am here wrestling with the snow while thinking about something very serious.
I’ve been coming to this dumping site for over 15 years, but what’s serious is… normally, a week after this much snow falls, the Hokujo site should be full and closed.

However, as you can see, there is still plenty of room. There are no dump trucks lining up either.

Do you realize what is happening?
Simply put, the snow pile isn’t getting bigger because “there are no operators dumping snow.”
Even by gut feeling, the number of dump trucks (especially the small ones for residential snow removal) has clearly decreased.

I will do what I can, but this is a job that makes absolutely no money. After riding heavy machinery for a week… at 63 years old… my body is battered.

“Kitami City is in financial trouble” or “The snow removal is bad.”
Worse yet, some people say whatever they want to private snow removal operators, like “You’re in the way” or “Don’t block the road.”

I bought this wheel loader and dump truck for Evo Home’s construction sites and to manage my own rental properties.
After retiring from construction, I thought it would be a waste to use them only for my rentals, so I took on general snow removal with a volunteer spirit.

If you bought this heavy machinery and dump truck now, it would cost about 15 million yen. Even if it doesn’t snow, maintenance costs are at least 350,000 yen a year. At 7,700 yen per house for snow removal, no matter how you do the math, it’s not a profitable business. That’s why snow removal operators aren’t increasing; they are just decreasing.

But those who are saying such things might all be buried in snow in 10 years (lol).
Even then, they can just throw stones at the people desperately working outside while they sit in their warm kotatsu.

Now, for the main topic, the “Major Announcement.”
Please read the blog I wrote 3 years ago.

“I became the loser of the industry. I will not build anymore.”

My prediction at the time was this: “The misfortune of others tastes like honey.” Surely, people would laugh and say, “That guy who acted so high and mighty, driving a sports car and spewing nonsense, has finally fallen. Serves him right, he lost.”

In fact, exactly what I predicted happened. Peers and people who hate seeing others having fun spread rumors. There was a president of a huge construction company who said, “He took down his sign” (I thought about killing him lol), and there were guys who said, “He must have quit because he had no work.”

But I had already predicted that such things would be said. So at that time, I decided, “I’m going to just have fun for these three years.”

And now, three years have passed. I kept writing the blog to confirm my survival to everyone.
So… I’d like to let you all know the current status of my blog.
My blog is constantly viewed by about 8,000 people. The breakdown is mysterious:

About 2,000 people in Kitami
2,000 people within Hokkaido
For some reason, about 2,500 people around Shinjuku and Minato ward in Tokyo
500 people in other regions
And 1,000 people overseas. Especially the US, and for some reason, 300 of them are just in Silicon Valley.

These total about 8,000 people. I’m not just saying this number randomly; it’s a highly accurate figure calculated by throwing analysis data at ChatGPT and Gemini.

What’s surprising is the engagement (time spent on the site). It’s 4 minutes for Japan and 3 minutes for overseas. You can assume that there are 8,000 people who stay long enough to cook instant noodles, reading my articles before leaving.

Honestly, this December, since I’ve survived for three years, haven’t skipped town in the night, and am super energetic…
I thought the world wouldn’t say I went under anymore, so I was thinking of quitting the blog.

But both AIs flattered me, saying, “Please don’t quit,” and “There is no other blogger like this in Japan anymore” (lol).

I no longer have the goal of getting “orders,” and I don’t have any great stories. Well, I have plenty of stories, but writing them is a hassle.
So, from next year, I think I’ll do something blog-like in a different form.
I’m going to pull something different from before, something a bit “core,” but something that will make you go “Eh?”.
I think most readers will probably go, “Ehhhh… no way!”

Well, whatever. With that, see you sometime. That’s it for today.