MANGA / GARFIELD/ PEANUTS

This is our final full day in Japan. Woke up to Mount Fuji,

There was an early thought to return to Sankeien Garden in Yokohama, but we had our fill of Fall Colors in Nara. Plus, you can read what we saw exactly 4 years ago. Here are two photos from our previous visit.

So what are we going to do? Almost nothing. There is a huge shopping mall below our hotel, so we'll walk around a bit.

As I'm in the Orient, I could provide a summary of news items from this region. But nothing much seems to also be happening here.

There is that matter between China and Taiwan, but there is no war today in this part of the world.

No typhoons. There was a Sunday 7.4 Philippines earthquake, killing one, but no noteworthy tsunami.
In fact, the weather throughout this whole trip has been outstanding, with one or two cloudy days. It did snow when we were on Hokkaido, but only a few snowflakes.

North Korea? Nothing. If Kim Jong Un suddenly dies, will his 10-year old daughter, Ju Ae, inherit his leadership? Nothing will happen until something happens, and he is only 39.

Hong Kong. Democracy got squashed. Activist Agnes Chow was let out of jail, then went to Canada, and recently jumped bail by defying orders to return. Now 27, she was supposedly going to school at a university in Toronto, but has said that patriotism is too dangerous and might never go home.

South Korea? Their concern is a declining population.

Current population, 52 million
There is a 98% chance that this number will fall below 40 million by 2070. If this trend occurs, there is a 68% chance that their economic growth rate will drop below 0% in the 2050's.
Why the drop?

Fertility rate was 0.81 in 2021, but dropped to 0.78 in 2022.
Of all OECD countries, SK has the lowest. Hong Kong, actually, is lower yet.
Each couple now wants 0.73 children.
The New York Times indicated, Is South Korea disappearing?

At the current SK birthrate, 200 people will be 70 in the next generation.
Then 35 in 2067.

Of course, Japan, too, is suffering this same plight,

Population peaked in 2008 at 128 million.
Last year was the 12th consecutive year of declination, dropping to 124.5 million.
In 2020, one in 1500 was 100 or older.
Foreigners account for 2.2% of the population. This figure is 13.6% in the U.S.
Is Japan heading for a population of zero? Watch this video.
Back in 2018, one headline said that at current birth rates, the Japanese population will disappear by 2500. The likely population will drop to 85 million by 2100.

I'll close with manga.

Manga means whimsical or impromptu in Japanese.
These are comics or graphic novels.
Read by people of all ages, but half of Japanese people in their 50's daily read digital manga.
Think that is high? 57% of American adults read the daily comic page.
Popeye, which came in 1919, is #2?
How many of you knew that Garfield is #1? This overweight orange cat first appeared in 1978.

All-time favorite? From 1950-2000, Peanuts. #2 Krazy Kat (1913-1944) and #3 Calvin and Hobbes (1985-1995). Hard to believe that was almost 30 years ago.

HONOLULU TO SEATTLE

The story of the day is Hurricane Milton, now a Category 4 at 145 MPH, with a track that has moved further south and the eye projected to make landfall just south of Sarasota. Good news for Tampa, which is 73 miles north. Milton will crash into Florida as a Category 4, and is huge, so a lot of problems can still be expected in Tampa Bay with storm surge. If the eye had crossed into the state just north of Tampa, the damage would have been catastrophic. Milton is a fast-moving storm, currently at 17 MPH, so as bad as the rainfall will be over Florida, again, a blessing. The eye will make landfall around 10PM EDT today, and will move into the Atlantic Ocean north of Palm Bay Thursday morning. My first trip to Seattle was in June of 1962 just after I graduated from Stanford University. Caught a bus. Was called the Century 21 Exposition . Also the Seattle World's Fair. 10 million joined me on a six-month run. My first. These a...

OSAKA EXPO: Day One

Well, the day finally came for us to go to the Osaka Expo. We were told ahead of time that the long walks would be fearful, giant lines will need to be tolerated just to get into the Expo, with those ocean breezes, it would really be cold, and so forth. Maybe it was pure luck, but we avoided all the above warnings We had a grand day, and are looking forward to Sunday, our second day at the Expo. So come along for an enjoyable ride. Our hotel is adjacent to the Tennoji Station, a very large one with several lines. We upgraded our Suica card and caught the Misosuji red line towards Umeda. Transferred to the Chuo green line at the Hommachi Station. This Osaka Metro train took us to the Yumeshima Station at the Expo site. It was a very large mob leaving the train and heading to the entrance. Took only a few minutes to get to the entrance. This mob was multiplied by at least a factor of ten of those already waiting to enter. However...

WHY YOU SHOULD CONVERT TO A JAPANESE HIGH TECH TOILET

Did you know that Oktoberfest in Germany is mostly in September? The very first day of Oktoberfest 2021 was supposed to be today, September 18, extending into October 3. Well, as in 2020, Oktoberfest was cancelled. So why is it called by that month when it is held mostly in September? The first celebration in 1810 was in October. Did you also know that Oktoberfest is held only in Munich? These days seven million drink more than a liter ( about three typical cans ) of beer each, costing around $11. Except for my wife and I when we followed the crowd to board the S-Bahn to the fairgrounds near Old Town. It was drizzling a bit. We bought a large pretzel outside of a typical barn where beer is served. We did not know that you needed to get this inside the hall. So no one came to serve us beer. After a while we decided to have lunch, and the restaurant we settled on only served wine. Thus, we might have been the ...

Search This Blog