Princess Yuriko, Oldest Member of Japan’s Imperial Family, Dies at 101

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Her death reduces Japan’s rapidly dwindling imperial family to 16 people, and only 4 men, as the country faces questions about the future under a male-only succession law.

Princess Yuriko of Japan, the wife of Emperor Hirohito’s brother and the oldest member of the Japanese imperial family, died on Friday in Tokyo. She was 101.

Her death, in a hospital, was announced by the Imperial Household Agency. The announcement did not cite a cause of death, but the Japanese news media said she died of pneumonia.

Born into an aristocratic family on June 4, 1923, Yuriko was 18 when she married Prince Mikasa, the younger brother of Hirohito and the great-uncle of the current emperor, Naruhito. The wedding took place on Oct. 22, 1941, weeks before Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.

She recounted living in a shelter with her husband and their baby daughter after their home was burned down when the United States firebombed Tokyo in 1945, in the final months of the war. » | The Associated Press | Friday, November 15, 2024

Global Markets Jittery After Sharp Share Price Falls

BBC: Stock markets in Europe remained unsettled on Tuesday despite a rebound in Japan which almost reversed record falls at the start of the week.

London's FTSE 100, along with stock markets in Paris and Frankfurt, opened higher but soon slid back.

Overnight, Japan's Nikkei 225 stock index jumped by 10.23%, or 3,217 points in its biggest one day gain in points, after the previous day's plummet.

Focus has now shifted to US stock markets, which open in a few hours, after a couple of days of torrid trading. » | João da Silva and Dearbail Jordan, Business reporters, BBC News | Tuesday, August 6, 2024

Shares in New York and London Tumble On Fears of US Recession

THE GUARDIAN: FTSE 100 on track for its lowest close since April and Japan’s Nikkei suffers biggest fall since crash of 1987

Shares on Wall Street and in London have fallen heavily amid a global stock market rout triggered by fears of a recession in the US.

The tech-focused Nasdaq index dropped by 6% as trading in New York opened on Monday, while the broader S&P 500 index fell by 4.2% in a sell-off triggered by weak US jobs data. The Dow Jones industrial average lost more than 1,100 points, a 2.8% decline.

Japan’s benchmark stock index, the Nikkei 225, suffered its biggest decline for nearly four decades. It was down by 12%, the biggest single-day fall since the Black Monday crash of 1987. Other stock indices around the world were lower as investors dumped riskier assets. South Korea’s Kospi fell by 9%, Germany’s Dax was down 2%, and share indices in Australia, Hong Kong and China also fell heavily. » | Jasper Jolly and Graeme Wearden | Monday, August 5, 2024

Advice: When the Stock Market Drops, Stay Calm and Do Nothing: There is no reason to think that you can predict what will happen in the markets in the next few hours or in the near future. It’s better not to try. »

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies plunge, mirroring global markets.: The precipitous falls show that digital currencies remain vulnerable to the same broader economic forces that affect technology stocks and risky investments. »

Global Stock Markets Sink On US Economy Fears

BBC: Stock markets across Europe and Asia tumbled on Monday, spooked by fears that the US economy is heading for a slowdown.

In London, the FTSE 100 index opened 2.3% lower while the Euronext 100 tumbled by 3.5%.

They followed sharp falls across Asia with Japan's Nikkei 225 dropping 12.4% or 4,451 points in the biggest fall by points in history.

It follows weak jobs data in the US on Friday which sparked concerns about the world's largest economy.

Meanwhile, the yen has been strengthening against the US dollar since the Bank of Japan raised interest rates last week, making stocks in Tokyo more expensive for foreign investors.

Stock markets in Taiwan, South Korea, India, Australia, Hong Kong and Shanghai all tumbled. » | João da Silva, Business reporter | Monday, August 5, 2024

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Markets Around the World Are Jolted by Fears of Slowing U.S. Growth: A rout that began in Asia continued in Europe, and U.S. stocks are set to fall. Japan’s benchmark index logged its worst single-day point decline. »

Michael Lambert: Britain Has No Future Outside the EU - Growth Will Be Almost Impossible

Jul 31, 2024 | Brexit is possibly the stupidest and most damaging event ever to befall the UK. There are no benefits, and the cost to the UK has been enormous. Brexit has resulted in loss of trade and the creation of major barriers to trade with the EU. More than £200 million has been spent by the government to erect border facilities which were previously unnecessary. Trade with the EU is now more difficult, time consuming and expensive than before.

Keir Starmer has rebuffed suggestions from the EU to allow British young people to work in the EU for up to two years whilst EU young people would be able to do the same in the UK. At the same time young people from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Korea, Iceland, Japan and Uruguay are free to apply for visas to live and work in the UK for up to three years and even start businesses.

Top Japanese Gymnast Withdraws From Paris 2024 for Smoking and Drinking Alcohol

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Shoko Miyata, the team’s captain, withdrew from the Games after an investigation by the country’s gymnastics board found she had violated its code of conduct.

Japan’s Olympic gymnastics team will head into the Paris Games this week without its captain, Shoko Miyata, after she withdrew from the team following an investigation that found she had violated the squad’s code of conduct by smoking and drinking alcohol.

In a news conference last week, officials with the Japan Gymnastics Association, which conducted the investigation, announced Miyata’s withdrawal from the Olympics, saying that “both parties discussed the matter” and that Miyata had decided not to compete.

The Japan Gymnastics Association’s code of conduct forbids drinking or smoking while in official team programs, regardless of age. The legal age for drinking and smoking in Japan is 20; Miyata is 19. » | Ali Watkins | Tuesday, July 23, 2024

Related article here.

Japanese Gymnast Set to Miss Olympics for Smoking

Shoko Miyata won a first national championship in April | GETTY IMAGES
BBC: Japanese gymnast Shoko Miyata has been sent home and will not compete at the Olympic Games after breaking a team smoking ban.

The 19-year-old left Japan's training camp in Monaco on Thursday as officials investigated the alleged incident.

The teenager - captain of her country's women's artistic gymnastics team - returned to Japan that night after the investigation concluded she had violated the Japan Gymnastics Association's rules.

Smoking is in violation of the association's code of conduct.

"With her confirmation and after discussions on all sides, it has been decided that she will withdraw from the Olympics," Japan Gymnastics Association secretary general Kenji Nishimura told reporters in Tokyo. » | BBC | Thursday, July 18, 2024

Heartfelt Goodbye from Emperor and Empress of Japan 🇯🇵 ❤️

HM King Charles III and Queen Camilla say goodbye to the Emperor and Empress of Japan.

King and Queen Host State Visit for Emperor and Empress of Japan at Buckingham Palace

Jun 25, 2024 | The Queen has worn the new Royal Family Order of King Charles III to the state banquet, the first time it has been seen in public for the new reign.

The Royal Family Order, which is awarded to female members of the family and worn on formal occasions, contains a miniature picture of the monarch, surrounded by diamonds suspended on a silk bow.

The King’s Charles’ Family Order was created in 2024 by portrait miniaturist Elizabeth Meek, and based on a photograph by Hugo Burnand. The King wears his uniform of Admiral of the Fleet, the sash of the Royal Victorian Order, the Garter Star and Thistle Star, and the Garter Collar and Neck Orders of the Order of the Bath and the Royal Victorian Order.


King makes rare public reference to George, Charlotte and Louis in State Banquet speech »

New Zealand’s New Government Says It Will Scrap Smoking Ban

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The law, celebrated as a model for other countries, would have eventually made tobacco illegal.

New Zealand’s new prime minister, Christopher Luxon, leads a government that is the country’s most right-wing in a generation. | Marty Melville/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
New Zealand’s new right-wing government has said it will repeal a law that would have gradually banned all cigarette sales in the country over the course of several decades.

The law, passed by a previous government led by Jacinda Ardern, a prime minister who became an international liberal icon, took effect this year and was celebrated as a potential model that other countries might someday follow. It would have gradually introduced changes in retail cigarette sales and licensing over several years until tobacco could eventually no longer be legally sold in New Zealand.

By Jan. 1, 2027, the law would have made it illegal to sell tobacco products like cigarettes, to anyone born on or after Jan. 1, 2009, according to the government. The law would then have gradually raised the smoking age, year by year, until it covered the entire population.

But last week, the new government said in published agreements between the three coalition partners that it would repeal the law, without explaining why.

The incoming finance minister, Nicola Willis, later told Radio New Zealand that the Ardern government’s plans to restrict sales of tobacco and reduce the amount of nicotine in cigarettes could have led to a “massive black market.” » | Mike Ives and Natasha Frost | Tuesday, November 28, 2023

Even though I am no longer a smoker, this is about the most welcome news I have heard in a long time. Why? Because it may signal the start of a return to common sense in matters related to smoking and the enjoyment of tobacco products. In recent years, one has been able to feel the ever-tightening grip of the health Nazis – they have been choking off all pleasures and enjoyment in life.

For very many people, a smoke is one of life’s daily pleasures. Indeed for some less fortunate people, it can be one of the few pleasures they can look forward to after a hard day’s work. What gives these do-gooding health Nazis the right to deny these people this simple pleasure?

If I were elected into high office, I would slash the taxes on cigarettes and tobacco asap. The enjoyment of a cigarette has been turned into a pleasure that only the privileged class can afford! In years gone by, a cigarette could be enjoyed by people in all classes and strata of society – from royalty right down to the coal miner, from the film star right down to the shop assistant.

The anti-smoking zealots go on and on about the carcinogens in cigarettes and tobacco. Yeh, yeh! We know all about it. So many of our products are actually carcinogenic, not just cigarettes. So are we going to ban those products, too? These health fanatics have harped on about the dangers of smoking for so long now, so how could we not know ALL about the dangers? What they are very sly and secretive about, though, is that there can be certain advantages to smoking cigarettes IN MODERATION. For example, smoking may have a protective effect against Parkinson’s disease. (Click here.) It may have a protective effect in Alzheimer’s disease, too. (Click here.) And that it helps ward off obesity is also well-known. In fact, in years gone by, many a lady would take up the smoking habit to stay slim! Being slim, in turn, helps ward off type-2 diabetes.

None of these facts mean that it is necessarily a good idea to smoke cigarettes. That is not what I am saying. But we need to get these things into perspective. Anyone reading a newspaper article on cigarette smoking would probably conclude that all cigarette smokers end up with lung cancer. But this is not the case. About 10% of HEAVY smokers contract lung cancer. Maybe up to 20%. (Click here.)

But it is interesting to note that in Japan, despite very high smoking rates, lung cancer rates are lower! This is known as the Japanese paradox. (Click here for further information.)

There are other health benefits too!

Do I advocate smoking? No! I certainly do not. But I certainly think that smoking a cigarette is preferable to snorting cocaine or being addicted to opioids, or any other substance. As always, the devil is in the dose.

But I am against the war that is being waged on smoking and smokers for political reasons, too. I am anti-Nanny State. I also am convinced that banning smoking in all public places and making all people paranoid about “second-hand smoke” leads to loneliness in society. People these days are afraid of their own shadows! Snowflakes all! – © Mark Alexander

Now Macron wants to get in on the anti-smoking act! But will the French tolerate being bossed around by the state?

WHO Declares Loneliness a ‘Global Public Health Concern’

GUARDIAN EUROPE: The World Health Organization has launched an international commission on loneliness, which can be as bad for people’s health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared loneliness to be a pressing global health threat, with the US surgeon general saying that its mortality effects are equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

WHO has launched an international commission on the problem – led by the US surgeon general, Dr Vivek Murthy, and the African Union youth envoy, Chido Mpemba – of 11 advocates and government ministers, including Ralph Regenvanu, the minister of climate change adaptation in Vanuatu, and Ayuko Kato, the minister in charge of measures for loneliness and isolation in Japan.

It comes after the Covid-19 pandemic halted economic and social activity, increasing levels of loneliness, but also amid a new awareness of the importance of the issue. The commission will run for three years. » | Sarah Johnson | Thursday, November 16, 2023

Every bloody thing bad must be compared with smoking cigarettes these days! Smoking cigarettes, one of the greatest pleasures in everyday life, has been turned into the bête noire of our day. These people touting this fantasy are batshit crazy! And as dumb as they come! Don’t they realise that by waging this ongoing war on cigarettes and smoking that they have caused the very problem – loneliness – that they now are trying to combat?

As an ex-smoker, and as a widower, I know a thing or two about smoking and loneliness. I can tell you that when you make all public places out of bounds for smokers, you are creating the very problem of loneliness, especially among older generations, for whom enjoying a smoke was a given right in life. That is until the health Nazis got involved.

What does a smoker do when he is retired, and probably lost his life’s partner? Where can he/she go to enjoy him-/herself and meet some like-minded friends? Cafés, pubs, hotel bars, restaurants or any other space where people gather are well and truly out of bounds these days. And because people have been made paranoid about the dubious dangers of second-hand smoke, friends don’t want you smoking in their homes either. Almost all are snowflakes these days.

For WHO’s information, there are health benefits to smoking cigarettes, especially light smoking. People in the World Health Organisation should check them out on Google! Even though it is true that not smoking is healthier than smoking in an ideal world, we do not live in Utopia. And there are REAL benefits to smoking a few cigarettes.

Moreover, don’t these people realise that EVERYTHING in life is bad for your health if not done in moderation. Moderation is key to all healthy living. Too much food, especially the junk people generally eat today, is bad for you. Drinking too much is bad for you. Walking down a street with cars puffing out exhaust is terrible for your health. And what about the health dangers in smoking soft drugs on which laws are being relaxed at a rapid pace in many Western countries, and all the health dangers of opioids? Turn your attention to the REAL dangers to health! So, for heaven’s sake, stop comparing all things bad and unhealthy with smoking a few cigarettes. It is so tiring to hear the same old record, over and over and over again.

If you really wish to combat loneliness, relax the laws on smoking in public places. Provide smoking areas for smokers. Let smokers meet their friends for a chinwag, instead of confining them to their homes.

It must also be said that with your stupid war on smoking, you have created a generation of paranoid people – people who mistakenly think that even if they get a few whiffs of second-hand smoke, they are doomed to a certain death from lung cancer! How stupid can you get? If they were only to consult good sources on Google, they would discover that it is only about 10%, maximum 20%, of HEAVY smokers that end up with lung cancer. And as for Parkinson’s disease and possibly also Alzheimer’s disease, smoking can have a protective effect. So go put that in your pipe and smoke it! – © Mark Alexander

A Puffer’s Paradise: Smoke-friendly Japan

May 31, 2023 | Japan is known for its healthy diet and impressive life expectancy. But it is also a smoker’s paradise. Although the number of smokers has dropped by a third over the last 20 years, more than 17 million Japanese smoke regularly. They are easy to spot in Tokyo’s bars. …


Their relaxed attitude to enjoying a pull is probably conducive to their longevity. Plus, Japan appears not to have been invaded by the Puritans. Not yet, anyway; and hopefully, never.

It is interesting to note that according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), lung cancer develops in around 10 to 20 per cent of all smokers. (MedicineNet) Listening to the health fanatics, however, one would be forgiven for concluding that a much higher percentage of smokers die from lung cancer. But happily, this is not the case.

We are living in dreadful times. People are not supposed to enjoy themselves anymore. These days, it seems that all pleasures are considered to be either unhealthy, sinful or forbidden by religion.

All we hear about is advice on how to stay healthy. Yet, ironically, populations of most countries have never been as unhealthy as they are today. So many people will die young, having led miserable lives either because of poverty or because of depriving themselves a few pleasures in life, in the vain hope that deprivation of these pleasures is conducive to living a longer life. And where and when their lives have been prolonged by just a few years, they can look forward to being shunted off to an old people’s home by their uncaring families, in order to stare at the ceiling and wait for their visa to the ‘Land of Milk and Honey’! I fear that they are in for a big disappointment!

Meantime, the insouciant Japanese cock a snook at the advice of so-called health specialists and continue to smoke as if there was no tomorrow. – © Mark Alexander

IMF Says UK Faces Five More Years of High Interest Rates

BBC: The UK faces another five years of high interest rates to stem rising prices, an influential global group has warned.

The International Monetary Fund expects the UK to have the highest inflation and slowest growth next year of any G7 economy including the US, France, Germany, Canada, Italy and Japan.

However, the Treasury said recent revisions to UK growth had not been factored in to the IMF's report.

The outlook was drawn up before this weekend's developments in Israel. » | Lucy Hooker & Faisal Islam, BBC News | Tuesday, October 10, 2023

Kim Jong-un Arrives in Russia to Meet Putin as US Threatens Sanctions

THE GUARDIAN: North Korean leader travels on armoured train for talks amid concerns Putin is seeking arms deal for Ukraine war

Kim Jong-un waves as he departs by train from Pyongyang for a visit to Russia. Photograph: KCNA via KNS/AFP/Getty
Kim Jong-un has arrived in Russia on his armoured train for a rare summit with President Vladimir Putin to discuss a possible deal to supply North Korean arms for the war in Ukraine.

The train arrived at Khasan station, the main rail gateway to Russia’s Far East from North Korea, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported on Tuesday, citing an unnamed Russian official source.

Kim, who is was reportedly accompanied by senior arms industry and military officials, could meet Putin on Wednesday after the Eastern Economic Forum in the Russian port city of Vladivostok, where Putin has already arrived.

Kim’s trip to Russia and meeting with Putin will be a full-scale visit to strengthen ties, the Kremlin spokesperson said. » | Justin McCurry in Tokyo | Tuesday, September 12, 2023

Pink leather armchairs and bomb-proof floors: inside Kim Jong-un’s armoured train: The North Korean leader’s preferred mode of transport is a slow-moving but luxuriously appointed dark green locomotive »

Related article here.

Fortune Seekers | Planet Finance (3/6)

Aug 12, 2023 | Planet Finance is a mostly unknown, adventurous and also attractive world for the private investor. In Japan, you won't get interest on your savings for decades. Entering the currency market is then a low-threshold step. 'Ms. Watanabe' is a collective name for the one and a half million Japanese individuals in this market and a household name in the shiny towers of Planet Finance. But in the foreign exchange market, the value of one currency always rises or falls against another. Where one wins, by definition someone else loses. It's a Zero Sum Game. Who wins when you lose?

Part 1 is here and Part 2 is here.

Neues Gesetz soll „Verständnis“ für sexuelle Minderheiten stärken

LGBTQ IN JAPAN
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: Als letzte große Industrienation verabschiedet Japan ein Gesetz, dass die Rechte sexueller Minderheiten stärken soll. Ein Satz darin sorgt jedoch für Kritik.

In der Innenstadt von Tokio ist das nichts Besonderes: Der Barista im Hipster-Café trägt Pferdeschwanz und diverse Ohrringe. Vor dem Café laufen zwei Männer Hand in Hand, offensichtlich Touristen, was hier, in der Nähe des Tokyo Towers, niemanden weiter interessiert.

In weiten Teilen der japanischen Gesellschaft sieht das aber noch anders aus – was sich an den jahrelangen Diskussionen um ein Gesetz für mehr Toleranz gegenüber sexuellen Minderheiten (LGBTQ) zeigt. Am Freitag hat es Ministerpräsident Fumio Kishida mit seiner Regierungskoalition nun verabschiedet. » | Von Tim Kanning, Tokio | Freitag, 16. Juni 2023

Michael Lambert: Are They Plotting to Dump Sunak?

May 20, 2023 | On Newsnight last week, Nigel #farage the man who brought us #brexit admitted that it had failed. He blamed British politicians for the failure.

The #conservatives held two conferences, one in Brighton which seemed to favour the return of Boris Johnson as Prime Minister and a second in London where various extremely right-wing politicians spoke. Jacob Rees-Mogg admitted that the introduction of voter ID by the Conservatives in the local elections had been an attempt at #gerrymandering which is illegal.

#rishisunak tried and failed to persuade other European leaders to support his Rwanda policy.

On a flight to Japan for a G7 meeting Sunak was asked what the benefits of Brexit were. He replied that sanitary products (tampons) were now cheaper because VAT is no longer applied and that beer would be a bit cheaper because of a reduction in duty.

Whilst the US are investing £42 billion and the EU £37 billion in the development and manufacture of semiconductors the UK government has proudly announced a budget of £1 billion over ten years.

Rishi Sunak Cites Cheap Beer and Sanitary Products as Benefits of Brexit

THE GUARDIAN: On his way to the G7 summit, the prime minster insists household income is ‘outperforming’ expectations

Rishi Sunak has insisted Brexit is working by citing cheaper beer and sanitary products, as he claimed the economy was looking up and people’s household incomes were “hugely outperforming” expectations.

Despite consumers struggling with high inflation and the cost of living crisis, the prime minister claimed there were “lots of signs that things are moving in the right direction” with the economy.

Rejecting claims from the former Ukip leader Nigel Farage that Brexit had failed under the Tories, he cited freeports, cutting VAT on sanitary products and reforming beer duty as major successes.

“Economic optimism is increasing, consumer confidence is increasing, growth estimates are being raised,” he told reporters on the way to the summit of G7 leaders in Japan. » | Rowena Mason | Wednesday, May 17, 2023

Good God! Which planet is this man living on? Mr. Sunak, you can’t feed your kids on Tampax! – Mark

Ford, Vauxhall owner and JLR call for UK to renegotiate Brexit deal: Carmakers call on Britain to change rules on batteries that they say threaten electric vehicle production »

Die Geschichte Chinas (1/3) | Doku HD | ARTE

May 12, 2023 | Die dreiteilige Doku erzählt anhand außergewöhnlicher Archivbilder von Chinas Aufstieg und Fall im Laufe der Geschichte. Dank der Einordnungen internationaler Historiker:innen entsteht eine völlig neue Perspektive auf 150 Jahre chinesischer Geschichte. Teil 1: China ist den Europäern Anfang des 19. Jahrhunderts unheimlich. Das "Reich der Mitte" schottet sich ab ...

Mehr als 2.000 Jahre lang wähnte sich China im Zentrum der Welt, ohne ernstzunehmende Gegner und hermetisch abgeriegelt von Fremden, die allesamt als unbedeutende Barbaren galten. Doch im 19. Jahrhundert sah sich das Reich der Mitte mit der geballten Macht der Europäer konfrontiert. Ein brutaler Schock, der das Land fast vernichtet hätte.

Aber China gab sich nicht geschlagen, sondern interessierte sich zunehmend für neue Ideen aus aller Welt – aus Russland, Deutschland, Japan und den USA – und machte sie sich zunutze.

Von den luxuriösen Kaiserpalästen bis zu den überfüllten Straßen Pekings, von durch Krieg und Hungersnot verwüsteten Landstrichen bis zu den Kreisen der im Exil lebenden chinesischen Intellektuellen erfanden außergewöhnliche Frauen und Männer das Land neu.

Wie wurde China in anderthalb Jahrhunderten wieder zu dem, was es zwei Jahrtausende lang war: eine führende Weltmacht? Die dreiteilige Dokumentation sucht nach Antworten.

Die erste Folge beginnt in der Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts, als China angegriffen wird und begreift, dass es sich neu erfinden muss, um nicht unterzugehen. Rebellenführer, Mandarine und mächtige Frauen kämpfen im Namen von Idealen, die uns heute widersprüchlich erscheinen, indem sie Anschauungen aus der chinesischen Tradition mit Elementen aus dem Christentum, dem Nationalismus oder dem Feminismus verbinden. In diesem halben Jahrhundert steht die Nation am Rande des Abgrunds und versucht einen Weg zu finden, zu überleben. Ohne ihre Identität zu preiszugeben, erfindet sie sich neu.

Dokureihe, Regie: Karim Miske und Ilana Navaro (F 2022, 54 Min)
Video verfügbar bis zum 19/12/2023


WARNUNG: Diese Dokumentation ist für Kinder nicht geeignet.

Marriage Equality in Japan

You can support gay marriage in Japan by signing this petition.