The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) has a new prime minister and party leader Yoshihiko Noda. The 'anti-Ozawa' member of the party will need to appoint a new cabinet which is likely to include some members of the other 'Ozawa faction', in order to satisfy both sides of the party which have been struggling with disunity. With a general election 2 years ago, Noda will need to offer in this period to give the party the best possible chance in the election.
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You can view foreclosed properties listed for as little as $US10,000 in Japan thanks to depopulation and a culture that is geared towards working for the state. I bought foreclosed properties in Japan and now I reveal all in our expanded 350+page report. The information you need to know, strategies to apply, where to get help, and the tools to use. We even help you avoid the tsunami and nuclear risks since I was a geologist/mining finance analyst in a past life. Check out the "feedback" in our blog for stories of success by customers of our previous reports.
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Monday, August 29, 2011
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Discount airlines enter Japanese domestic market
Japan has been a notoriously difficult place to fly with discount airlines. In the past there have been a few Chinese airlines, along with Jetstar and Air Asia X and Cebu Pacific, which have been servicing the major cities of Osaka and Tokyo.
Japan's two major airlines - ANA and JAL - have entered into arrangements with two discount airlines - Air Asia (Malaysia) and Jetstar (Australian, Qantas subsidiary) respectively to offer cheaper domestic connections. Really this gives these domestic carriers greater access to tap into the local market, as well as allowing the majors to retain high prices for Japanese customers who are not price-sensitive.
See the story at the Japan Times - my favourite newspaper in Japan.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Japanese brewer decision-making questionable
Asahi Brewing Group is about to buy into Independent Liquor of New Zealand. This is a bizarre acquisition for the Japanese brewer for several reasons:
1. There is an alcohol consumption or cultural shift taking place in NZ, which is likely to see per capita consumption fall
2. The country's population is static - the young go to Australia, UK or Japan for work, and they are replaced by Asian immigrants or retirees who are less likely to drink beer.
3. The currency is at a high - though not as bad against the yen.
4. The economy is in a slump. Commodity prices are high, but then so is the currency
5. Japanese beers have no presences or reputation in NZ
Unless the corresponding price for the asset is good, then I don't think I'd be discarding those yen so easily. Their purchase in Australia makes more sense. I'd be buying San Miguel Brewing in the Philippines. The population is growing at 2%, and there is always the prospect of the poor, whom consume their own domestic brew, opting for a branded 'club' product.
Japanese companies seem seldom to exercise good decisions when investing in foreign markets; this looks like another case. Sorry, NZ, I'm more critical when we lose the footy...but only because I can't stand the game.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Interactive map of earthquake activity
Take a look at a NY Times interactive map prepared by NASA. It shows the distribution of radiation, loss of lives from the earthquake & tsunami, as well as the centres of the aftershocks since the main earthquake. It also offers a probable death toll of 14,554 people, though at this point the confirmed deaths are 13,232.
Monday, April 11, 2011
The death of a sushi franchise
Spare a thought for the endangered blue fin tuna the next time you have your next sushi - in Japan or outside, since this type of Japanese cuisine has become very popular around the world in the last few years, precipitating over-fishing.
NY Times covers this story. Mind you, this could be a liberal in the media having a panic attack. Irrespective this is a valuable resource that needs to be managed...and given Japan's obsession with all things 'sushi', I bet they could care less about the long range implications of tuna stocks...In Japan, sushi is political.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Tsunami imagery from Japan
Imagery of Japan's tsunami. Weeks after the event here is some more imagery of the tsunami. It is among the best imagery I have seen. It will be interesting to see if they ever track down the guy running away from the tsunami.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Might Japan face civil war?
We are accustomed of course to Japanese people being so obedient and civil, you might be inclined to question my thesis that Japan might well be confronting a threat of civil war. But consider the following:
1. There are a great many Japanese people who are struggling to make a living; to get ahead in this economy.
2. There is this nuclear program opposed by the public, launched by the government irrespective of public concerns.
3. There is the lying by the government about the dangers
4. There is the fact that people have no effective voice in government, and never had. It was all a delusional pretense. People did not think it through. They still don't.
5. There is a great deal of unrest around the world; most particularly in the Middle East
6. There are issues endless corruption in government
7. There is the spectre of a huge public sector debt of 220% of GDP, with plans for another spend on this earthquake funding of $US0.5 trillion. There is the problem of 20 years of economic stagnation.
8. There is the prospect of increasing hardship as the population comes to terms with fuel shortages, higher taxation.
We might asks - what could happen? Already many Japanese decide to take their lives. We might expect more suicide. Might we expect a charismatic leader to emerge given the political stalemate in the parliament. The parliament seems to be bogged down by corruption issues.
At some point people tend to break. People who have repressed their anxieties or frustrations are the worst. In Japan, it poses a systematic risk. Already many Japanese children decide to live and marry abroad. Might we expect another exodus? The Japanese have traditionally made a virtue of suffering. Is there any sign that that will finally break? I don't see it. I think they would need to be lead by some charismatic leader, and there is no sign. Having said that there might be a political campaign that I am not aware of. The Japanese are among the most organised people in the world; but most organisation is government-driven. Anyway, it is something to watch for. The tsunami might be another step towards chaos. I don't see any trigger for Japan to reach its tipping point. Perhaps one might emerge out of this crisis. Many a city mayor who is heralded for their courage and quick thinking who becomes a national hero.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Hague Convention poor system for arbitrating international marriages
Japan is considering its policy stance on the Hague Convention governing International Child Abduction. The reality is that its not really even abduction so long as Japan offers its citizens another legal standard.
Japanese women can be just as manipulative as (Western) men can be abusive. There is no question that some Western men are predators when it comes to their pursuits of Japanese women. Japanese women are famous for being submissive. That is a cultural generalisation that has allowed a great many men to play the odds. Some men denied validation seek out Japanese partners because they can also have intimacy issues. Likewise submissive Japanese women can tolerate abusive Western men enabled by their 'mute' compliance.
This ought not dispel the possibility that Japanese women are capable of manipulation. Whilst Japanese women do not generally display a great sense of ambition; make no mistake they will distort reality to achieve their subjective, nurturing desire to retain their children. The prospect of a Japanese government which retains the stereotype of Western men being abusive is of course not helpful. Japanese culture upholds this 'superiority' based on their notion of civility which is based on some notion of 'sensibility', 'courtesy' or consideration for others. The reality is that value system is far more a pretense than a genuine respect for rights or the interests of others, and the stereotype of Westerners being 'aggressive' or uncivilised 'egoists' plays into such issues where Japanese women are able to 'play victim' without proper scrutiny of the issue. Consider the following quote from a women in the Japan Times article:
"If Japan were to sign the Hague Convention . . . (my child would) be forced to live with an abusive father and be exposed to violence again....And I will become a (declared) criminal."
When I first read this I assumed she was concerned about some form of prejudicial treatment....but in fact she is worried about having broken the law in the West, and being accountable for that. Her desire is to avoid Western legal enforcement because the Japanese system created a loophole. The reality is that this woman does not deserve to be in prison. Her actions speak more about the poor legal system which turns people into adversaries.
Many years ago I was interested in a relationship with a Japanese girl in Cairns, Australia who had a child with an Australian man. What struck me as telling was that she displayed no empathy for the guy who was preventing her from getting a passport for her child; precisely because he was aware that Japan had not signed the Hague Convention. If she was genuine in taking her child to Japan for a visit, she was being punished by the Japanese government because her partner needed to taken precautionary measures to protect his interests.
Labelling Westerners as abusive or 'aggressive' is cultural cringe. In my relationship with a Japanese lady. She was the 'abusive' one in a sense....though it was not threatening to me. There was one incident where she pushed me up against a wall. In another case, she came at me with a knife in anger because an argument ensued over the fact that I said "I wanted to cook a roast lamb the way my mother used to cook it". That is the kiss of death to a Japanese wife who sees cooking as her domain. I don't believe she intended to hurt me with the knife. I think she did not even realise she had it in her hand when she came at me, but I pushed her away in self-defense. The reality is - women can react very emotionally, and very defensively to 'cold logic', which she got in spades from me.
These is a problem. Couples who break up and who want to part ways divide the interests of the children. How to deal with this issue when - only Japan - has a different legal system. The problem of course is that these (usually) women usually have no desire to live in the West after their relationship ends. Where does the child go? commonsense says its best left in the country where it has pre-existing relationships. Abuse of course needs to be investigated...but its not the role of a partner to be the presiding judge and determine the interests of the child if they have a conflict of interest. Japan knows that...they have laws against conflict of interest. Why the obstinate delays to signing this convention.
The Japanese government is creating a lot of paranoia and injury with this law. I do however think there needs to be special international tribunals to deal with such issues. I suggest that each country appoints an advocate for its culture and that two advocates and one independent 'third party' advocate provide arbitration on these cases, because there is a rich personal and cultural context which needs to be explored. This approach is far better than a Family Court which has no informed understanding of the cultural context. The implication is that the Hague Convention is not an adequate framework for dealing with these issues. In the current system people's interests are going to be prejudiced by uninformed courts.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Japanese translation of 'Atlas Shrugged'
Here is a Japanese translation of a book that all Japanese 'free-thinking' people should read. Too many Japanese people who lament the Japanese way of living challenge the values of Japan. This book 'Atlas Shrugged', by Ayn Rand, goes a long way towards developing a coherent intellectual framework to challenge and understand the values of contemporary life. I don't believe Rand achieved complete appreciation of the problem, and certainly she offers only limited 'political inspiration' for Japanese people, however the themes have pertinence to all of humanity.
Her book is among Random Houses' top 100 of all time - the readers choice. Not bad for a book as controversial as this. She is either hated or praised. She has changed people's lives including mine. Japanese people might avoid such controversy. I say they need to confront it. People hate the book and the author precisely because the ideas are threatening. That is reason enough to analyse its content - because you might well be scared of it. Its a horrid little tale about contemporary society....even it its set in a fictional period 50-odd years ago.
Rand is the closest approximation to my own ideas. Eventually I will publish these, but they are still work in progress. One cannot just write one book; one has to write a system of them. In the interim, I only deal with concrete political, relationship, investment issues on my blogs. The coherency will eventually come with publication of the philosophical content.
I personally agree with about 95% of what Rand wrote, and intend to add about 30% to what she didn't say; mostly in the realm of psychology and politics. This is not a criticism, but rather recognition that she was foremost an author who developed a philosophy to develop her characters. If she had written just philosophy, its probable that she would not have bad any influence in her lifetime. She was foremost a 'targeted' purposeful missile, and she struck her target audience. The role of post-Randians like myself is to refine or extrapolate her ideas to give them greater pertinence and coherence. Some ideas are merely implicit in Randian philosophy; but in other areas, there are gaps. Those gaps are often true to her purpose. i.e. Her lack of politics might be construed as a desire to avoid controversy which would bury her deeper convictions.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Japanese CEOs offer solutions to age-old problems
Does the world have anything to learn from Japan's business executives? Reading the CNN press responses to this article, you would think so...but I say think again. This story is about the Japan Airlines CEO who earns less than his pilots.
If such thinking was not based on a collectivist pride, maybe that value system would work wonders for Japan. i.e. If it was about earning your salary. As it stands, it is only delaying the inevitable 'real reform' of values in Japan. The values which mean that people work twice as hard for the same money. The Japanese take pride in suffering to new levels....its about time they gave up working hard and used their brains. They can run around like 'worker ants', but they sadly live by that old thinking...'work hard and you will get ahead'....better to work smart.
The Japanese system is based on collectivist or fascist values with a capitalist facade.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
WIMAX services in Japan
Japan is one of the most communications-friendly countries in the world, and that reputation is only going to get better with the roll-out of WIMAX services. KDDI, the largest cell phone company is developing a WIMAX network through UQ Communications. You will need a USB modem - see this gizmo. There is a 2 month free period, though this might be tied to a contract. You will need to assess the coverage in your areas of interest. It is good however the network is supported by KDDI. The cost is Y4650 per month I believe.
This is great news. Even better if they offer a volume plan for those intermittent visitors to Japan.
Friday, January 28, 2011
The Japanese constitution is 'unconstitutional'
The Japanese High Court has ruled that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and Board of Education did not breach the Constitution "by requiring school teachers and other staff to stand when the Hinomaru flag is raised and the national anthem sung during school events". This is the right decision by the Japanese judiciary for the following reasons:
1. The teachers had the option of teaching in the school
2. The imposition is frivolous upon the teachers - required only to stand up and sing
3. The teachers action was in act the wrong one. They should have argued that 'nationalism' is contrary to the national constitution, and that the actions of the government ought to be compatible with the preservation of human rights. Nationalism is an abstract policy which is destined to elevate the threat of collectivism. This places the onus upon the government to stipulate the reasons for adopting a nationalist policy. This requires it to adopt a scientific perspective to defend the policy. It has not done that.
Most particularly the action is a sham because there are so many other more significant breaches of human rights to protest, and these 'liberal' teachers chose such an incidental issue. Why not protest the fact that the Japanese extorts wealth from Japanese people and wastes it with dubious measures of accountability. Why don't they challenge the veracity of the Japanese constitution, in as much as it facilitates this, and is thus a crime against human nature.
We are very much interested in the issues of justice. In fact, we are establishing a consulting service to help people pursue legal remedies in so far as they correspond to constitutional matters.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Prospects for change
The Japanese political scene is looking pretty dismal. The nation's finances are in a tragic state, with the public sector deficit exceeding 200% of GDP. The good news is that this money is owed by the Japanese people, which means that the government need only extort the money from its citizenry, or more likely print money to pay it off.
Since Sept 2007, Japan has had 6 changes in its prime ministers. This does not auger well for political direction. What does the future hold for Japan? In all probability, the future of Japan might be sooner than you think. The Japanese people were once a proud people, but after 2 decades of stagnancy, we might ponder just how soon their tolerance will break, or how soon a young, charismatic capable leader emerges. More probable perhaps is the spectre of a 'false hope'; a leader who promises much, but delivers very little.
This is a theme we have discussed before. Historically, the Japanese people, a repressed culture, when they have augmented change, have done so with great gusto. I suspect we will see a revival, perhaps of the nature we have come to expect from Apple Inc....and still maybe from Microsoft. We live in hope. I have yet to see a leader conveying the required skills.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Cheap thrills in Japan
Riding a bike is the cheapest activity to do it Japan. You might think that its hard because there is so much traffic, but in many respects its easier and more fun to get around than by car. I would find driving in Japan frustrating because of the slow pace of the traffic. The secret is:
1. Using pathways along rivers, drainage channels and parks. These paths can go for kilometres, e.g. Along the Arakawa River is the best way to get around Tokyo, plus the creek and main road at Nerima. Most main roads have paths.
2. Riding up mountain river valleys
3. Taking back roads
I even was given a very good mountain bike by going to the local recycling centre. The Japanese govt reclaims a lot of bikes abandoned at stations. Japanese abandon them, so that is where you can find them. I got mine from a suburban fringe recycling centre in Saitama.
It is amazing where you can find mountain biking trails. I found a really good one near Ranzen-machi in Saitama. It runs along a mountain range before dropping down to a road, then along the side of a golf club, another saddle, then down a creek bed. You can of course ride around rice padis or a long rivers in rural areas, simply by packing your bike into a bag for the train. This makes sense if you want to rail to a location and drive back. Make it a real challenge by taking a GPS and going 100-200km away. See if you can find your way home.
I could almost turn this into a sport. Cross-country riding around Japan. All it needs is a website where people can go for GPS coordinates, places to stay for cheap, good bars. Nice website idea. I'll do the website if someone helps me on the content side. I already have GPS coordinates for about 30% of JR railway stations after using several Japan Rail Passes.
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