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Published in Nikkei Asia 23/5/2022
Impressive social cohesion to keep price rises tame
You have to feel sorry for Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda. Just when he has finally hit his inflation target, after over a decade of trying and failing, he is being slammed by politicians and journalists for being responsible for the rise in the cost of living.
Published in Japan Forward 20/5/2022
In September 1973, Ishihara and his wife travelled to Scotland where he led an all-Japanese team in search of the Loch Ness monster. Candidates had been recruited through an advertisement in a sports newspaper. Altogether, three thousand people applied, with the numbers being whittled down to eleven, two women and nine men.
Published in Japan Forward 8/5/2022
Shintaro Ishihara, four times elected governor of Tokyo, prize-winning literary novelist and outspoken nationalist, passed away in February this year.
Most of the English language obituaries were perfunctory at best, concentrating on his later political career and the various verbal outrages that, it seems, he needed to commit from time to time.
In fact, Ishihara was a much bigger and more complicated man than that.
Published in Nikkei Asia 23/4/2022
In the first round of the French presidential election on April 10, hard right candidate Marine Le Pen racked up a strong result, with a share of the vote just a few percentage points below the total garnered by current President Emmanuel Macron. Opinion polls suggest that 56% of younger voters plan to vote for her in the run-off on April 24.
Are you dissatisfied with your life? Is the stress of the daily grind getting you down? Do you want a little adventure, or perhaps a full blown romance with a gorgeous, sympathetic other?
Or perhaps you just want to pass the driving test, after failing so many times? Or get rid of a problematic lover who threatens your career? Or simply stop backing losers at the race-track?
Anyway, you don’t want the hand that fate has dealt you. You want something better.
Published in Japan Forward 6/4/2022
Joan Miro and Japan, the current exhibition at Bunkamura in Shibuya, is well worth attending – even if, like me, you are not particularly knowledgeable about twentieth century abstract art. For Tokyo-ites, there is not much time left, as it closes on April 17th to travel elsewhere in Japan.
Published in Nikkei Asia 31/3/2022
Have you heard about the great Japanese discount market that offers exclusive deals to foreigners? It’s worth taking a look at the bargains on offer. Prices have been slashed by 50% across the board. Where is it located, you ask? The answer is in every town and city in the country.
Published in Nikkei Asia 12/03/2022
“Pandemics do not put geopolitics on hold… they may even intensify geopolitical competition by distracting states’ leadership.”
Published in Japan Forward 06/02/2022
Apa Hotel (Always Pleasant Amenities) is an impressive outfit. Its tally of over 100,000 rentable rooms makes it by far Japan’s largest hotel chain. Female CEO Fumiko Motoya often appears on TV and is well known for her right-wing views and spectacular hats.
Published in Japan Forward 21/01/ 2022
It was thanks to Covid that I recently managed to view the Yayoi Kusama exhibition at the Tate Modern in London.
The event, which opened in the summer of 2021, had been fully booked until the closing date in March 2022. With the Omicron variant ripping through the British population, persistent telephoning was finally rewarded. There had been a cancellation and a mid-afternoon slot was available.