Old Fashioned Things Are Almost Always Better

I think there's been an ever accelerating trend all over the western world (and Japan) to get back to "old-fashioned ways." I think evidence of this can be seen nearly everywhere you look: The trend towards healthier lifestyles, more natural foods, the return of the popularity of canning foods or making your own jams and jellies at home, the popularity of retro fashions, designs, music and films....


It seems there is a hunger for the more "down to earth" ways of the past. Perhaps this is due to a bad economy or just due to a feeling that we've been heading down the wrong road through all these years of mass consumerism.　

A photo from a Yakitori in Asakusa circa 1969

I even think that this desire to return to the old ways is a catalyst for many of the political and social protest movements like Occupy Wall Street or even the wonderful popularity on the Ron Paul movement in the US election; People think things now aren't as good as they used to be. They want to get back to better times.


Recently, I've noticed this movement in Japan too. Did you know that some products that were very popular 40 or 50 years ago, yet near their death-beds in the late 80's and 90's in Japan have had a massive return in popularity over these last 5 years or so? Yes. It's true.  

One of the items that used to have a very uncool image amongst the young people 30 years ago was Hoppy. Back in the fifties and sixties, a cold glass of beer was a luxury for most Japanese businessmen. The solution? Hoppy. Hoppy is a non-alcoholic beer-tasting drink that, when added with Sho-chu (cheap) Korean liquor tastes like beer and gets the job done quite well, thank you. Hoppy was hugely successful before and during the days of Japan's Economic Miracle. It was still popular until about 1979 or so...


In the late seventies and early 80s, a new drink came on the market that just destroyed the competition and that was called "Lemon Sour" or "Chu-hi."  Lemon Sour is lemon juice and carbonated water with sho-chu. It is quite easy to drink, cheap and didn't have an old fashioned image like Hoppy, so all the young people started drinking that. I used to drink those too.


In those days, of the early 80s, Hoppy was considered a stale old drink from stinky old men, that is, up until about 5 years ago. That's when the old man who ran the company that makes Hoppy retired and put his daughter in charge of the company as president. She is one smart woman and she set out to revitalize the company and the image of the drink. And what a job she's done! Hoppy sales have exploded in Japan and is now being drank by younger people. Why? Well Lemon Sour and Chu-Hi actually are high calorie drinks with lots of sugar in them. Hoppy is very low calorie and almost no sugar. So, since Hoppy is very low calorie (lower than Lemon Sour or beer) and so is Sho-chu, so you can drink Hoppy and be feeling great at a few dollars cheaper per glass and at a fraction of the calories of beer or Chu-hi. 

The new president of Hoppy turned the company around and became a star of the business world

On a diet yet you want to drink but still want to look better? Hoppy it is! 


This "healthier" image has done wonders for the company and the drink. In fact, it is my personal drink of choice now as Hoppy is very low on purine so it is best for drinkers who might suffer from gout or other drink related illnesses.

These sorts of old style drinking places are everywhere and resurgent in Japan.

I've marked where it says, "Hoppy" so you can try it next time.

Another thing that has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity is... Hi-Lite tobacco. Now, in this day and age, a resurgence in popularity in tobacco seems and impossibility, but with the Japanese government continually raising the taxes on cigarettes, many of the western brands, like Marlboro or Lucky Strike have gotten very expensive in Japan. It seems to me that I have witnessed, over these last two years, a high resurgence of younger guys smoking Hi-Lite cigarettes.

Hi-Lite has a similar story to tell as Hoppy does: After the war, premium cigarettes were prohibitively expensive. Then people smoked cheaper brands. And the most popular of the cheapest brands (and strongest nicotine and tar - 14mgs!) was Hi-Lite. Hi-Lite was by far the best bang for the buck. Hi-Lite's package design hasn't changed in years and is very uncool. It's so uncool that it today fits in well, design wise, with the retro boom happening in Japan.

If I were this guy, I'd be drinking Hoppy and smoking cigarettes too... Maybe things weren't so bad for "ojisan" after all...

Another thing that has found a return to popularity and success in Japan is the kid's drink Ramune. Ramune was one of Japan's first "soda-pop" drinks. When the british brought over lemonade before 1870's, the Japanese thought they were saying, not "Lemonade" but "Ra-mo-ne." Some enterprising Japanese businessmen then decided to make Ramune and it first went on sale in 1870. Over the years, there have even been wasabi and curry-taste tasting Ramune....

Today there's all sorts of flavors of Ramune that kids like. My son loves it.

Ramune has been around all these years, and always available at festivals and matsuri season in Japan, but only in the last 5 or 6 years or so, has Ramune really gotten popular again. You might recognize Ramune by the unique shape of the bottle and, when you open it, a glass marble drops down inside the bottle too (never could figure out the reason for that). Ramune is even being sold in restaurants and grocery stores nowadays. I even saw it in a convenience store the other day! 

Besides these three small examples, I see a resurgence of retro style and of people wanting things to get back to the way they were before. I see parents of small children wanting their kids to go do more traditional Japanese things and to enjoy the things those parents enjoyed when they were kids.


It was a time when things were simpler than now and life seemed just a little bit better.

Oh, how I wish we could get back to the way (some) things used to be: Friendlier neighborhoods, less crime, lower taxes, less stress... Maybe our grandparents did suffer through a lot, but I think they can also be envied for living something that us folks today only dream about.


What sorts of "getting back to better times" type of things do you see where you live? Let me know.

Asakusa Jinta is a band that relies heavily on retro sounds and images of the Showa period (1926 ~ 1989). This sort of concept would have died a quick death up until just a few years ago but is very popular today.

Thanks to marketing expert and promoter Asami Shishido

Fifty-Year Old Cartoon Tried to Warn Us - Never Give Up Your Freedom

I remember seeing this cartoon when I was a kid. They tried to warn us.

It's too late? Probably is, but an understanding of this and what this kid's cartoon says, is an education in politics that 92% of all people fail to understand to this day... (my statistics).


I'm relieved that the OWS people are on the streets in the USA now, but can they continue growing? I fear that the powers that be will not relinquish control of the Status Quo so easily.

Thanks to What Really Happened

Ron Paul's "Cousin" Wins in Japan! Political Good Old Boys Get Trounced in Osaka Election!

Ron Paul's real cousin didn't win in Japan, but his "ideological cousin" did. What happened in Japan, and what is happening the world over bids well for Ron Paul and candidates who want to tear down the massive Leviathan of government and restore the constitution and get things back to the way they used to be and the way they were meant to be. Read on!


In Osaka, a minor party candidate defeated one that was supported by both the major parties in a mayoral election. Can you imagine that? Talk about David versus Goliath! Read that again: A minor candidate defeated one that was supported by both major parties!


The smell of revival and revolution is in the air! The updated election results are in and the winner received over 60% of the total votes, but here's an article in English for you about it before the election results were posted.


The Mainichi Daily News Reports:


Ex-Gov Hashimoto assured of Victory in Osaka Mayoral Election

OSAKA (Kyodo) -- Former Osaka Gov. Toru Hashimoto is assured of victory in a contest Sunday for the mayoral post in Osaka, Japan's second-largest business center, by defeating incumbent Kunio Hiramatsu, as Hashimoto won support for his proposal to establish an Osaka metropolis with an administrative structure similar to Tokyo's, according to Kyodo News projections.

In a gubernatorial election held the same day to choose the successor to Hashimoto, 42, Ichiro Matsui, a 47-year-old former Osaka prefectural assembly member and Hashimoto's close aide in a local party led by the former governor, is set to win by beating six rivals in the race.

With the two from the Osaka Restoration Association headed toward victory, the election results are expected to stir a national debate on the structure of regional governments in Japan and influence the strategies of major political parties in the next House of Representatives election.

Hiramatsu, 63, who ran for reelection as an independent, was backed by local chapters of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan and the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party. Osaka prefectural assembly members of the two parties also supported Kaoru Kurata, 63, former mayor of Ikeda in Osaka Prefecture, in the gubernatorial race.

In the double election, the first held in Osaka in 40 years, Hashimoto's proposal to launch an Osaka metropolis by 2015 was highlighted as the most controversial issue.

The outspoken lawyer-turned-politician argued that his idea will eliminate overlapping administrative services by the prefectural and municipal governments and lead to the rehabilitation of the ailing local economy, with Matsui pushing the proposal in the gubernatorial election.

In contrast, Hiramatsu, a former TV anchorman, opposed the plan, saying administrative efficiency should be improved through the cooperation of each municipality.

Get that? One guy wanted to keep the old system and "improve" it. The other guy wanted to slash that system. The guy who wanted the big cuts in government spending, Hashimoto, won. 


Mr. Hashimoto is the new breed of politician that has arisen in these last few years who is sick and tired of the business as usual, meet the new boss, same as the old boss, school of politics that we have been subjected to for all these years. He is young, passionate and he loves Osaka. He kind of reminds me of Chris Christy (before he went out and endorsed Romney!) He is considered a radical by the old school politicians and political parties as he is trying to actually trim down the size of government - not "reform" it by creating new branches and committees. Hashimoto, in spite of his flaws, is fighting corruption and old boy BS. So, far, many say he's doing a great job. 

In Japan, waste of taxpayer's monies is astounding and gets worse with each new elected official. This has got to stop! (Japan's total debt is 492% of GDP!)  For example, in the area,  there are separate water treatment plants in Osaka. One run by the city and another run by the ward (borough). Their services overlap and waste millions annually. Doesn't make any sense that there can't be just one. The examples of this sort of thing are too numerous to list up. Hashimoto is trying to cut this kind of ridiculous waste. 

The guy he defeated in the race, Hiramatsu, is the epitome of what is wrong with politicians in Japan.

The other point about the majors supporting Hiramatsu and yet still losing losing isn't precedent setting, It's been happening recently in Japan as some people are getting fed up. Minor party candidates have been doing well recently. Independents are growing stronger.


So, Ron Paul didn't win in Japan, but his Japanese Cousin did. This bodes well for Ron Paul and reformer politicians all over the world. If they can win in Japan's staid political arena, they can win anywhere in the world! 

Japanese Prime Minister vs. US President - It's nice to know that there's still someone who's worse off than you are!

Oh well.... That loser Naoto Kan survived his vote of confidence the other day. I was quite unhappy about that... But I was very happy with how he did it. He lied and tricked his fellow crooked politicians. In that way, it does make me chuckle. 

THREE STOOGES MOST VIOLENT SEQUENCE EVER!

Moe says, "Power company probably got their wires 
all tangled up. Go up there and straighten out the mess!" Indeed.

 It seems he made deals with other politicians to not vote against him in the vote of no confidence motion. He promised them, that if they'd cooperate, that he'd quit soon if he survived with their help. Then, after he survived the vote, he reneged, and went around telling a different story about leaving office much later (or that he hadn't yet decided) and now other idiot politicians are angry that he lied to them? Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!

Talk about the kettle calling the pot black! What a comedy of morons.


Reuters reports:


Ruling and opposition lawmakers slammed Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Friday, as he hinted that he would remain in power until around January although he promised a day earlier to quit once the country's recovery from the March disaster takes hold. Former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who supported the premier and voted against the no-confidence motion against his Cabinet on Thursday on the condition that Kan would quit soon, denounced Kan for backpedaling on his word. 


Isn't that just hilarious? One liar, in a room full of liars, lies and the rest of the liars are angry?   Don't look now, but doesn't this sound like that place in the movie, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"?

Jack Nicholson stars as leader of unspecified organized political group

Sure, it's humorous. But there's a part that is not humorous about all this. Sydney Morning Herald reports in Japan Faces Downgrade as Economic Turmoil Goes On:


Japan's hopes of bouncing back from the economic turmoil caused by the earthquake and tsunami in March have been knocked by the threat of a credit rating downgrade from Moody's, and a rise in unemployment. Moody's warned that the devastation that struck Japan nearly three months ago is making it even harder for the country to recover from the financial crisis. It put Japan's Aa2 rating - the agency's third-highest grade - on review for a possible downgrade, adding there was a "low chance" of a multi-notch downgrade.


OK. This isn't funny. I suppose people who own lots of golf and silver might find this comforting or funny.... Unfortunately, I'm one of these people who don't believe it is possible to ever have too much gold or silver.


Depressing news. Depressing news, indeed... But then, my good friend Mark, from Diamonds.co.jp (highly recommended) sent me this. 


Mark sent this about Obama (click on image for full size):

Our prime minister, Naoto Kan, is an incompetent clown. But could he possibly be worse than Bush or Obama? No way. Japan is messed up, but we have the luxury of booting out our prime ministers every year. ... Hopefully every six weeks. You guys in the USA get stuck with these clowns for 4 ~ 8 years.

It's always comforting to know that there's still someone who is worse off than you are....

What a Difference a Day (25 Years) Makes

If Japan fails to end industrial policy, its postwar developmentalism may be judged a failure.
--Yasusuke Murakami, 1996

Maria Grever - Cuando Vuelva A Tu Lado

You might recognize the melody. It is "What a Difference a Day Makes." 

This song was written by a Mexican composer named Maria Grever 

and it was originally in Spanish!

"How could this have happened?" Japan, the nation that just 25 ~ 30-years ago was predicted by many to dominate the world spent most of the 1990's and the 2000's just struggling to stay afloat. In fact, the only reason why Japan did stay afloat was massive government spending on useless public works projects and the like.

Today, Japan's debt stands at 225% of GDP. The cupboards are laid bare and with the continuing troubles all around the world with rising food and oil prices, not to mention the recent disaster in Japan do not bode well. Things are headed for a clash this year, I predict.


Mike Whitney says:


....(USA) unemployment is on the rise (Initial claims rose to 424,000 on Thursday), GDP is falling (1Q GDP revised to 1.8%), durable goods are down 3.6 percent in April, the market is topping out, business investment is flat, Europe's on the ropes, Japan is in a historic slump, China is overheating, the output gap is as wide as it was 6 quarters ago, bank balance sheets are bleeding red from falling home prices and non-performing loans, and the housing market is crashing.

Most of the rest of the article that Whitney wrote is pure Keynesian nonsense but he had the above information correct. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.


I have recommended stocking up on food and water and think you should do the same.... Especially if you live in an earthquake prone country like Japan. Because if something happens, all the stores will sell out of water and most foods within a day, if that long.


The store shelves always look full because they are constantly restocked throughout the day. What's going to happen when something bad happens and the delivery trucks stop running?

Japan, in particular is in a very precarious position today. 


In 1998, Richard Katz wrote a book entitled, Japan: The System that Soured (The Rise and Fall of the Japanese Economic Miracle). It was one of any books at the time that speeled out what went wrong with the Japanese economic miracle. I bought the book when it first came out and still have it. I am amazed at how much this writer had predicted that has come true. 

He wrote: 

"Without sweeping structural reforms, Japan will continue to stagnate. Japan's productivity growth is so dismal these days that, even if it operated at full capacity, economists say the fastest it could grow is around 2 percent or so. That's half the 4 percent rate it averaged from 1975 to 1990. And yet; because of Japan's myriad macroeconomic problems, Japan has commonly been unable to operate at full capacity. In four out of the six years since fiscal 1992, Japan has grown less than 1 percent, and in three of those four years less than 0.5 percent. Japan grew less over the entire five-year period from mid-1992 through mid-1997 than it did in the single year of 1990. Unless there is massive budgetary stimulus, this negligible growth is expected to continue through at least 1998 and 1999 (see Figure 1.1). By the dawn of the new millennium, Japan will have spent an entire decade growing more slowly than the United States, the nation it was supposedly "on track to overtake by the year 2000."


"Nor is this a temporary slump. According to official forecasts, without reforms, even at full capacity, the fastest growth Japan could sustain between now and 2010 is only 1.8 percent a year. After 2010, says the normally optimistic MITI, the combination of poor productivity and a declining labor force means it will get worse. Japan's growth potential will plunge to only 0.8 percent a year."

It astounds me that this writer was so aptly able to predict the future growth rate of Japan.

I remember when I first read this, I thought, "Japan will recover!" Now, I am not so sure.

As the quote at the top of this post suggests, if Japan cannot reform its postwar industrial policy, it will be deemed a failure. The only way that is ever going to happen is that the political system that strangles Japan must collapse. The Good Old Boys and vested interests must go.

The only way that the people are going to rise up and demand that is the bottom is going to have to fall out. Just as a drug addict or alcoholic must hit rock bottom before he will admit his problems and seek help, this country will have to collapse under the strain of a massive debt to GDP ratio.

Japan is headed for some very tough times and some very difficult decisions... It's rainy season now in Japan and the weather is cool.... But in about six weeks, it's going to start getting very hot. And I don't think that is just the temperature of the summer days... I think things are all falling into place for some very difficult times for everyone. Not just Japan.

Why Write a Blog?

I think I should entitle this blog, "Japanese Smokin' Babe's Big Boob's Versus the Political and Economic Environment in Japan."

Gee, I'll give you one guess which title will get this blog thousands of hits... And which blog will garner this blog only a few hundred hits for the day...

Duh!

Why write a blog? It's a good question. Writing a blog can be a thankless job. But, then again, you wouldn't write a blog if you wanted thanks because you'll get little, if any... (But thank you so much for the few people who have said, "Thanks!" You are super!)

No, you write a blog because you feel that you have a purpose or a mission. If you didn't feel that way, you'd quit after 3 months.

Why would you quit after 3 months? Because it would get very depressing very quickly when you realize that, after spending 3 or 4 hours a day agonizing over what you write - if you have the willpower to force yourself to write at all - that only 20 or 30 people bother to read what you wrote.

It's even worse if you open yourself up for criticism by having a "comments" section whereby illiterates can insult you and tell you to "f*ck off!" And, even at that, you only get one or two comments per day...

Oh, what we "writers" do for "art." (I can hear you snort, "Guffaw" right now!)

I've been writing this blog for 7 months now. It is a science and economic experiment. I am integrating Twitter and Facebook (as well as other Social Media) in promoting what I write on this blog. I have been trying different things to see what garners many hits (readers) and what goes "viral."

I also write this because I have been advising some companies on how to better market using the Internet, so, I guess if I am going to talk the talk, I'd better walk the walk.

You'd be amazed at how many people I meet who claim to be "experts" on Social Marketing, but they do not blog, they do not Facebook, nor do they use Mixi... How can they claim to be experts if they don't do this for themselves?

Social Media and Social Media Marketing are such new subjects that it's not like you can just go buy a book (there aren't that many good ones) and become an expert just by reading... Tell me, could you become an expert baseball player from reading books?

But I digress.... Back to what kind of content gets many readers? Of course, content is important, but I have also found that titles really do matter.

I've been experimenting with different blog titles; different Twitter teaser titles; different ways to entice people to come read the scribbles that I have written.

Unfortunately, it occurs to me that, if I write what I think are  thought provoking articles about our world as it relates to Japan, my readership drops at a surprising rate.

But, if I write about something that doesn't affect any one's life at all, like how a Japanese woman with big boobs makes $3 million dollars a year doing porn, or a blog about how Japanese girl's are mountain climbing in miniskirts, I will receive a massive hit count that day the article is uploaded.

Of course, said article will require at least one cheesecake photo.

Gratuitous photo... Nothing to see here... Move along...

The one thing that really bothers me the most is how easy it is to sensationalize titles of blogs and promote them on Twitter. But, I guess I shouldn't be surprised, I have worked in the mass media for decades and am never surprised by how easily people's minds are influenced by the media...

If the blog is about, say, how Japan's political environment is making a mess of the world's #3 economy... Then I will get a few hundred readers for that.... But, like I said, if I write, about porn, boobs, or sex, that blog will get thousands of hits....

Just something to consider about the Internet that I have discovered.

By the way, of course, I will insert words such as, "economy," "politics," "economics" and "boobs" in the keywords for search engines.... Give you one guess which word will be searched the most on the Internet....

But, then again, putting photos up of girls is a lot easier than writing a long dissertation.