Musings from a financial translator in Tokyo (and now London)
Posted in Japan on Jun 13th, 2010
Read about this earlier, but forgot about it until reading Japan without the Sugar earlier today. So let’s see: Japan’s public debt is careening towards 200% of GDP. The country has gone through 3 prime ministers in less than 3 years, the country remains in the grips of deflation, its population is aging, it has [...]
Posted in Japan on Jun 24th, 2009
I was talking to the MBH about Japan paying out-of-work immigrants to go home and not come back (see a few posts down). She mentioned that she had heard of some European country doing this recently as well. Wow, I hadn’t heard that at all, and thought maybe I shouldn’t be focusing only on Japan. [...]
The long-term plight of Japan is well-known: First, a dwindling birth rate. Japan’s birth rate for 2008 was estimated at 7.87 births for every 1,000 people. That’s second lowest in the entire world – 220 out of 221 nations, second only to Hong Kong. Japan’s death rate (i.e., deaths per every 1,000 people) for 2008 [...]
Actually, this wasn’t our wedding – instead, a co-worker, RH, got married this weekend. The MBH and I were invited, and since I was her previous boss, she asked me to give one of the introductory speeches. Needless to say, I happily agreed, but of course I was nervous as all get out; giving speeches [...]
For readers in Japan, check out the Wakariyasui series by a friend of mine, Fujisawa-san. I recently worked as a proof-reader for one of his upcoming books on learning English as a Japanese speaker. I was dreading it, thinking it would be like all the other English books out there that are absolute drivel, but [...]
id you know Japan’s government has a cabinet member specifically in charge of the North Korea government issue? I didn’t. I knew there was some government spokesperson, but I guess I always assumed it was someone from the Foreign Affairs Ministry or something. From the Nikkei: Kyoko Nakayama said her appointment as state minister in [...]
Don’t go to the pool…
Japan’s High Court overturned a lower-court ruling that had convicted three former senior managers at Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan (now Shinsei Bank) of ‘lax assessment of bad loans’ (mostly owed by nonbank affiliates. This is a very interesting development – if for no other reason than it’s rare for a guilty in Japan to [...]
I’ve seen a steady increase in media reports in recent years of how Japan’s judicial system places an over-riding emphasis on confessions in obtaining guilty verdicts. The Economist weighed in this past March, and Trans-Pacific Radio picked up the ball as well – I don’t always agree with TPR, but this article is balanced and [...]
So…you want to ride a bicycle in Japan? I have to warn you – it’s slightly different from riding a bike back in the States. First, go out and buy a generic looking bike – you know, one that will look like every other bike in existence in Japan: Once you’ve got your new baby [...]