Japan's economy

18 more months of just 8%~

Below are some conflicting views.  In the second video, the man with the mustache/beard says, around 4 min 35 sec into it, that the only way to increase capital investment is to make it costly to sit on cash. . .to create inflation. . .Then people will go out and take financial risks and invest for a higher return.

Of course, there are risk-takers in this country and in every country, but most of the people I know here are pretty reluctant to make the leap.  I'm more inclined to agree with the economist without the mustache and beard (nothing against mustaches or beards, though).  De-regulating the country, liberalizing the workforce, and cutting corporate tax rates, he thinks, could do the trick.

I took macro- and micro- economics in high school, and I just barely passed, so I think I'm pretty terrible in understanding any economy.  In terms of language, though, the one thing I see in common with the second video and with other videos that I saw last week (when I watched, in a bit of a drunken state, the news that Japan had put out another stimulus) is that America and Japan, while facing some similar problems, differ in this:  America can solve its workforce problems by changing its immigration laws, while Japan will not do this.

Halloween has exploded here

The past couple Halloweens I wasn't much in the mood for doing anything on the eve, so I've been a little out of touch with how big it's gotten in Tokyo.  I started to get an inkling last week Saturday (Oct 25) when I strolled through Ikebukuro Sunshine Street（池袋サンシャイン通り）and found red carpets lined in the middle of the road.  At first I thought it was for a promotional event of some sort--for a movie, an anime, or something--but it seemed that cosplay people were generally welcome to pose while observers and passersby took pictures.

 It was almost a week before Halloween, and here we were already, Ikebukuro packed  with costume delight.  I started to wonder if this area would replace Shibuya as the location of choice for Halloweeners.  Boy, was I wrong.  Below are pictures from last night's festivities in Shibuya Sentā-gai 渋谷センター街.  It was insane.  Like a hanabi festival （花火、 or はなびたいかい), like Meiji-jingu on New Year's Eve, you could hardly move in some areas.  It was pretty great though.  People were coming out of their shells for this night of disguising and pretending.  I only walked around for an hour or two, but it seemed like a playful, sensible friendliness; strangers were talking to one another, but I didn't see anything get out of hand.  Hopefully, this festive thing can keep on going peacefully and safely; this city can benefit from such great communal events.

This is one minute out of a very nice walk~

           

And these are videos posted by other people: