happyhere comments

For some perspective on the life of SK women let's note their life expectancy is 86. 5 years, fully 6 years more than men at 80.5 years.

BTW, in the US, where the author lives, the numbers are 80.2 and 74.5. Perhaps the US could learn something from SK, and Japan, where the numbers are similar.

Nah, they know best.

So 10th, 14th, 20th and 21st for Japan's top 4.

How the mighty have fallen.

Imports jumped 35.0 percent to 117.68 trillion yen with crude oil, coal and liquefied natural gas among major contributors.

Sanctions on Russia by G7/EU backfiring badly.

According to Ursula it was Russia's economy that was supposed to be in "tatters".

the data at risk includes: the vehicle identification number, which is separate from the license plate; the location of the vehicle and at what time it was there; and video footage taken by the vehicle, known as the “drive recorder” in Japan.

Ok, so a hacker knows where the car is parked every night. What do they mean by "the owner is not identified"?

They know everywhere the car has been. That sought of information management should never be outsourced,. Toyota. Get with the 21st century!

...those aged 65 or above in Japan are projected to hit 33.67 million in 2070 after peaking at 39.53 million in 2043. In 2070, they will comprise 38.7 percent of the population, resulting in ballooning social security costs.

What nonsense. Currently 28.9% of the population are over 65. So during the next 47 years this will increase by (38.7-28.9)/47 = 0.2% per year, hardly a balloon.

If people work for 40yrs in their lifetime, then an extra 0.2% comes out to raising the retirement age by one month, per year. So raising it 4yrs to 69 by 2070 would be enough.

Pretty sure the retirement age will be 80 by then ....

@antiquesaving

How many tanks of gas do you or any of your suburban friends use per week? I bet it is less than one, maybe less than two per month. So no problem even for slow charging an EV from solar.

The grid will not collapse even if a million EVs are added per year. Do the maths. The majority of the cars on the road will be ICEs for at least 20yrs. Plenty of time for Japan to fix its balkanized grid.

It would take 40 large full side solar panels on a nice sunny day functioning at peak performance 8 hours to change the smaller Nissan leaf battery pack.

In reality it will take about 16 hours..

No problem at all. How many people in Japan fill their car up once a day from empty?

Most urban dwellers go two weeks between fill ups, if not a month. So just a few hours a day of sunlight keeps your EV "tank" full (ie. fully charge) all the time.

Furthermore, most cars are parked 90% or more of the time.

Sure long distance truckers and people living in the NWT need ICE/hybrid. But the vast majority of people and their cars are in cities.

@TokyoLiving

If I sail my boat into Japanese waters does it meant it becomes Japan's boat?

@TokyoLiving

Their whales..

No they aren't.

Death of a legend. He knew how to stir it up - everyone on their feet dancing from the first note to the last.

What's killing Japanese universities is not lack of funding, its nepotism. The universities just hire back their own students, and worse, individual professors just hire back their own PhDs to fill the junior slots. Result: mediocracy.

Until this is stopped - say by a quota - these programs are just uselessly burning up money the gov't doesn't even have.

Those who have been here a while will remember the ¥15billion Global 30 Program, 2009-14. Abe's stated goal : 10 Japanese universities in the top 100. Result: Failure, same two, Todai and Kyodai, in 2014 as 2009.

Next we had the ¥7. 7billion Top Global University Initiative , 2015-23 Same goal, same result: Failure, rankings slipped.

Now the same wooly plan but hey, lets spend 1000 times more - 10 trillion yen! - this time.

The price of energy was going up before the war, but the sanctions (not the war) made it go up even faster.

Still plenty of cheap oil on sale though, just ask India and China.

The Ukrainians mined their harbours, as Turkey has repeatedly stated. There is no Russian blockade.

We don't need any more trade pacts. The US should apply to join the CPTPP. Beneath their dignity I suppose, even though they were a founding member under Obama.

A 20% fall in the yen means everything imported into Japan is 20% more expensive. That covers just about everything people buy on a daily basis, except some locally produced food. Even this will be more expensive as farmers need imported inputs such as energy and fertilizer.

Yes, Reckless, we are getting poorer.

Oh, what's that I hear?

Toyota et al. are making bigger profits on their overseas sales? Then why don't they share it.

@antiquesaving

Compare that to the USA where the largest portion of it's debt is owned by 5 foreign countries including Japan

You forget that the US can just freeze that foreign debt by sanctions... unfriendly nations

Nice photo. Italy's defence minister looks like he has a lot more important things to do right now than waste time with Kishi.

Spoiler: he has.

The current US 10 yr govt bond rate is 2.35%/yr (which is still far below inflation).

2.35% of 1000 trillion yen is 23.5 million yen, about 1/4 of the latest government budget.

Ie. massive cuts across the board and/or massive tax increases.

No wonder Kuroda is printing away...........

@JeffLee: Why? The yen is weak because other economies are raising their interest rates while the BOJ has chosen to keep its policy loose (because it can.) Kuroda also says he prefers a weak yen.

On the contrary, the other national banks are raising interest rates because they can. Given Japan's debt load, the BOJ cannot. Without any increase in overall Japanese production (which there isn't) printing money to cover debt just means that each yen in circulation is worth a bit less.

This is the first international crisis I have seen where the yen has fallen (sharply) instead of rising (sharply).

The irony is that Biden will be gone long before Putin.

Target China with Russia is a necessity.

Great idea. Don't forget NK as well!

Let em keep coming, we'll take em all down with the nukes the US will (not) share with us.

The Quad cannot even agree on issuing a statement censuring Russia's blatant invasion.

What a hopeless and pointless group.

Kelly you are a hero, single-handedly exposing the Tokyo prosecutors' office for the unaccountable fraud that it is. They are the ones that should be on trial.

And why did the judge keep attacking Ghosn who wasn't even on trial? How could Ghosn possibly get a fair trial from a judge with such predetermined opinions?

“The United States has overstepped its national borders in every way,” Putin said

Got that bit right at least, so he is not totally insane.

Don't think the US was kicked out of SWIFT after they invaded Iraq and killed thousands of people.

To paraphrase Pierre Trudeau:

Nuclear sharing with Japan would be like wife swapping with a bachelor.

Let me get this straight. The gov't doesn't like the inflation caused by high oil prices, so it will borrow (ie BOJ will print) the money to lower the price of oil.

What a clever idea. Lol.

A railway line does a lot more than just transport people. Yes, sure, buses can do that.

Since stations are much fewer than bus stops, communities and services spring up around them. It is what makes travelling by train in the countryside so pleasant. There is always something there when you arrive.

The Beeching cuts were a disaster for similar rural areas in the UK.

@Ossan Korea ranks 102 in the Global Gender Gap report, Japan…120

touché!

@LDTM

You mean the bit about 24.34 trillion yen in debt-servicing costs, which is about a quarter of the budget?

No worries, Jeff Lee explained above that the government is paying it to itself...or was it to the Bank of Japan who pays it to the government? Whatever, who cares.

Nothing can go wrong because it never has. Lol

Tom San

we should join the Belt and Road and have access to 60% of the worlds trade market.

And bow down before Uncle Xi???

Japan's being doing that for a good long while now.

Please check who is Japan's leading trade partner and report back.