October 2020– date –

【Country towns struggle to survive】 Do your cities (towns or villages) have taglines? This is not a question as an attention getter (as I often do), but I'm really curious. In Japan, with decrease in population, the number of municipal...

【A disposable worker】 Today, by writing this article, I try to make a stir in the philosophy of productivity improvement. I know it's very very tiny one, though. When I decided to resign from Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDAF), the ...

【It's about time to stop expecting a lot for the journey of self-discovery】 In Japan for these 10 years or more, "the journey of self-discovery" has been very popular especially among young people. A typical pattern is: suddenly quitti...

【Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari】 I assume many of you have already read the book, "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari. It's full of intellectual excitement. Truth is always stranger ...

The hidden rule of wrapping is driven by anxiety: I feel terrible if I force someone to perform instantaneous joy. We joke that Japanese gift packaging is more expensive than the contents. The wrapping is an extension of the giver's dedication; destroying it is impolite.

【Investing is more profitable than working according to Thomas Piketty】 Life is hard. No matter how hard we work, we will never be rich, and the gap between rich and poor is widening. This is not my personal feeling but a truth proved ...

【Most of your actions are not done by your free will】 How many times did you reach for a cup/glass to drink something today? Can you believe that you did it not by your free will but by a biological reaction? It is a well-known fact th...

If Japanese culture is defined by one word, it’s "adaptation." We celebrate Christmas as a 6.5 billion USD economic event despite only 1% of the population being Christian—we adopted the party, ignored the religion. Similarly, after 1,200 years of banning meat, we rapidly evolved beef culture, tripling the fat percentage in 20 years to create Wagyu. Though the history of the chair in Japan is short, our centuries-old high-skill woodworking tradition has transformed this foreign concept into uniquely refined furniture. We didn't invent the chair, but we perfected the craft that builds it.

【All good lies are mixed with some truths】 The new Prime Minister took office in Japan last month (September, 2020). He was the most unpopular candidate early this year, but now boasts a high approval rate of more than 70%. I think thi...

【Respect for nature, the core spirit of Japanese food】 UNESCO listed washoku (Japanese traditional cuisine) as an Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2013. I think many Japanese people seem to misunderstand the key point of the event. They...