Two years ago, the  BBC said Japan was the future,  but it's now stuck in the past.  I agree. Among the detractions is ownership of real estate.  You buy a home, and after paying off your mortgage in, say, 40 years, it is worth almost nothing. Japan recently had the third-largest economy, is a peaceful and prosperous country with the longest life expectancy in the world, the lowest murder rate, little political conflict, a powerful passport, and the sublime Shinkansen, the world's best high-speed rail network.  Actually, about GDP and the economy, Germany has slipped past Japan into #3, with India in the next few months easing by Japan. When the author of this article, Rupert Wingield-Hayes, first arrived in Tokyo in 1993, a third of a century ago, he was effusive about the country being exquisitely clean and orderly.  Actually still is. But he noted that Hong Kong was an assault on senses and Taipei had horrible air pollution. He could have said...

Before reaching back to my past on nostalgia Tuesday, first a lot of news items for today.  I'll mostly hint at the topics, so you can click on the links to follow up in detail. The biggest of all of them is the matter of democracy vs dictatorship.  The headline of the day: Roberts rejects Trump’s call for impeaching judge who ruled against his deportation plans Finally, Chief Justice John Roberts showed some backbone on the matter of President Trump's call for impeachment of all judges who ruled against him. This  deportation case  now appears to be the issue. How important is this comeuppance?  Very, for if Trump continues to do as he pleases, he becomes a dictator. Trump is already in control of two parts of our government, his White House and the U.S. Congress.  The third leg is the Supreme Court. However, the Supreme Court has no enforcement capabilities.   The Supreme Court, while having the power to interpret laws and the Constitution, lack...