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...

The population of Japan was 60 million in 1925, 73 million in 1940, 72 million after the war in 1945, 128 million in 2010, then dropped to 126 million in 2020, and further declined to 123 million in 2025. The falling birth rate has been the primary reason for the decline, but the economy, earthquake / tsunami / Fukushima nuclear disaster and COVID Pandemic also contributed.   In 2024, 60 countries/sites, yes, 60, had a drop in population.   Spain  -0.02% Thailand  -.06% South Korea  -0.08% Greenland -0.16% China  -0.22% Italy  -0.31% Germany  -.0.34% Cuba  -0.38% Taiwan  -0.43% Japan  -0.51% Russia  -.053% Greece  -1.77% Saint Martin -4.92% The U.S. population is projected to increase from 342 million in 2024 to a peak of 370 million in 2080, then drop to 366 million in 2100. The two main population centers in Japan are Kanto (Tokyo, Yokohama, etc.) Province with 43.7 million and Kansai (Osaka, Kyoto, etc.) Provi...

I did say I would post more about the Doomsday Clock today, but I'll wait till a later date to instead write about more topical matters. First, about that horrible  Reagan National Airport air collision  between an American Airlines flight holding 64 passengers and crew from Kansas and an Army helicopter manned by three.  There were no survivors. I still remember a  similar incident on 13January1982  when I was working in the U.S. Senate.  On a cold and snowy day in the later afternoon, Air Florida 90 left Washington National Airport, but crashed soon after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge, killing 78.  Five on the flight survived, but four motorists on the bridge died.  An unrelated accident shut down one of the Metro lines at around the same time, and it took me till midnight to get home. Why he does this is really inexcusable, but...the  New York Times  this morning  said: Trump, Without Citing Evidence, Blames D.E.I. and Demo...