Japan: Samurais at Economics

 

While the stagnation of Japanese economy has flummoxed economists around the world, it is a surprise that the root cause was identified by an amateur. I have no qualms in admitting that my economics principles are only a touch stronger than my command over the language of the ancient Aztecs. My critics would still debate on that. Please read on for this tale of supernatural interventions for addressing economic problems.

 

It all started with a dream. In this dream, I was chaperoned by a group of heavily armored warriors. The swords they wielded and their determined looks made it clear that I ought not make an intervention or ask silly questions. This hunch was right: I was now marched into a castle and was being presented to a court. The court silenced as the nobility arrived and took note of my presence. We were all then seated on wooden floor.

Realization struck: It was the Tokugawa shogunate!

In accented English, The Shogun showered a few good words on my attempt to learn of the Japanese history. Now they had a job for me: I was being chosen for an important mission and was to be bound by the Bushido code. Two swords were presented: a big and a small.

 

Now as you may agree: there are several problems with this situation. I am not a good swordsman: taking my 5 year old to his taekwondo class hardly qualifies to spar with Samurais or Ninjas.

To be or not to be: A Samurai

 But the bigger problem is the smaller sword. While the battle sword of a Samurai is the main kill weapon, the smaller sword has a greater purpose. It is a mark of royalty. And in Samurai scheme of things, you don’t walk up to your lord and say you’re sorry, that you made a mistake. Or I’m sorry: what the master said can’t be done. In such cases: You go to your master and slit your stomach in their presence if you fail him/ her. The small sword is a reminder of your loyalty and adherence to the Bushido code.

 

As per above, I stated these facts and apologized. Clearly there had been a misunderstanding. I don’t kill; and I have no immediate plans to get myself killed either.

 

State of Nikkei: Bloomberg

However, the Shogunate would have none of it. One warrior whispered in my ear. The mission this time was different for modern day Japan. The weapons were not the swords of the Shogunate or canons of the Imperial Japanese Navy. This time the weapon was investigative economics, for the Shogunate was disappointed in the last few decades of modern Japan. I got it now.. The way the rest of the world had been going, and the way Japan’s growth rate was stagnating: it made sense that even stakeholders from the supernatural were disappointed.

 

I woke up sweating. Got my senses back, then I laughed at the dream. Any sense here? Shogunate time traveling for modern Japan?!! To save the economy?! Me?! Hark hark the lark..

 

The only problem was: the dream came back again. And again. Until the sight of blades started scaring me. Then I had variances: once, where General Yamamoto was discussing with me whether the mighty Akagi’s Mitsubishi Zero fighters be fitted with bombs for penetrating the American aircraft carriers; or should they have don combative weapons for those pesky American Hellcat fighters at the battle of midway.

 

I could not stand this situation. So our family planned a trip to Japan. And then once more.

 

And here’s what we found:

 

Tokyo:

·       I was initially not excited about getting to Tokyo (just a city, bah..). I was proven horribly wrong. Thanks to advice of a friend to stay in Shinjuku area.

·      

Shinjuku: the real spirit..

Tokyo is a city: yes; but Shinjuku / Shibuya is where the vibe is. Though our PhD in online research will never discover this (there will be some stuff online to put you away), but Shinjuku is the soul & heart. Perennial gay & merry crowd, perennial party, and guess what: three generations amongst us spanning from age 4 to 60 loved the spirit. Everyone in the world seemed to be going to Shinjuku for something: all the time! No we did not go to the crazy bars, but the potpourri of things happening around us just baffled us. Never have I done this: just sit and watch the volume of people in great spirits and soak in the human spirit. 

·       I don’t have a lot to say about the other places in Tokyo. Part of the blame is attributable to where we live : we have witnessed grandeur of temples and palaces in China and nothing impressed us here. Ginza is a chic area but an hour or two is what we needed.

 

Kamakura/ Enoshima:

·       Though not in our itinerary, this turned out to be a pleasant surprise thanks to good advice from friends

·       The views are brilliant. The weather was kind to us on the day: to the extent that we got to worship Mt. Fuji again from the island.

 

Mount Fuji:

·       There are poems paintings and what not on the great Mt. Fuji. A stratovolcano topped with snow. It is a mystical marvel indeed: standing strong alone there in its majesty.

·       Tip: there are ample things online on Hakone vs. Kawaguchiko question. We would strongly recommend the latter. Kawaguchiko is tougher to get to; but our decision was based on horror stories of many travelers who could see Fuji partially or could not see it at all from Hakone. Weather here can vary a lot.

Kyoto:

·       Kyoto has its culture, heritage and architecture. Our itinerary included:

·      

Gion

Gion: This is more of an area, than a specific destination. Old time charm and history preserved beautifully. We did witness a situation, where we saw a Geisha and tourists chasing (can hardly say dignified/ polite manner) her with cameras. There is a proposal to restrict tourists here and now we know why.

• 
   Railway museum: Rail: something that the country prides itself. This could be in your itinerary to humor kids. The views from the terrace are good enough to keep adults entertained. Japan is known for taking good care if it’s heritage and the museum shows it does this for its recent history as well. There is a beauty in the old trains maintained here and seeing the operational steam train is surreal. 
• Fushmi Inari: Shrine: The area has its charm. The 1000 gates and the area is overhyped in our opinion, but the little street side restaurant astonished us and we had an unforgettable meal.
• 
  
  

·       Arashiyama: This happens to be the best area and one where reality does live up to the hype. This is where we erred: we had kept half a day to it and had to rush through it. While bamboo forest is a lull, it is the village environment that left a marked impact.

·      

Nishiki market: Absolutely brilliant: if you are fine with street food. Our tip: avoid the expensive shops and stick around the ones that lure you with cheap sake shots ( 100 yen/ usd 0.x ).

·      

Samurai and ninja museum: Not to expect live action or lessons to transform you to a ninja. This is a nice storytelling in small areas surrounded by samurai artifacts. An intro to the way of life of Samurais, but more importantly: lessons on the social structure on Japan, the shogunate, hierarchy, weaved with the history of the country. Though a bit expensive, we recommend it more so as a important lesson on history and of the country. The artifacts are nice and you do get to try out some of the stuff.

 

Nara:

• ·       A trip from  Kyoto or Osaka is all you need
• ·       The temple is huge and the complex is beautiful
• ·       But the real pull are the deer. Correction: well mannered deer. These fellows have a courteous habit of bowing when greeting.
  

 

 

Osaka

·    

They say Osaka is a city which can eat itself into poverty. The passion for food is incredible. The star here is the food and this was where we perhaps maxed out food trials. All unpronounceable options.

·       The heart and highlight of the city is Dotonbori. Like Shinjuku, it feels as if all humanity is flocking here for food and joy.

·       Most of the top things to do are walkable around Dotonbori area.

 

Kobe:

·       We would describe it as a pleasant port town with European architecture.

·       The Bay Area exudes good vibes and made the trip from Kyoto worth it.

 

Nagoya:

·       This is the only castle we went to and found the reconstructed section incredibly beautiful.

·       Use of gold as a background paint for glow of the picture/ palace: it is something to be witnessed in person.

·       Market: after Shinjuku in Tokyo and Dotonbori in Osaka, this seemed to be a a lot more peaceful. We strolled around the market and had a meal here.

 

Now coming back to the original problem at hand – what we started with: Why the Japanese economy is (was) in a flux.. What answer do I have as a Bushido nominee for the clan?

 

Such are the ways of fate that it chose my family to identify and bring you the root cause for the Japanese economic and markets underperformance.

 

Ladies and gentlemen: the answer is simple:

 

Dustbins

Or rather: lack of dust bins

My investigative journalism and economic analysis did work smarter than one may think. The Bloomberg chart here does have a culprit.

Let me explain:

We may have had a snack, and perhaps a packaged coffee. But then, we had no clue on what to do with the wrapper or the coffee can. We had bought this & that at sunrise at Tokyo, switched three trains to get to Kawaguchi; worshipped the Mt. Fuji and got back to Tokyo. The four of us traveled 600 Kms+ in the day and so did the wretched wrappers and coffee can, only to be strengthened in population, as company of other rubbish was added with other consumption along the way.

No kidding: one could travel hundreds of Kilometers and return without seeing a dustbin.

This menace had a lasting effect on psychology: Buying anything became a nerve racking experience. When buying something, one thought occurs, another nerve gets activated, followed by another: until one starts hyperventilating: what if I don’t find a dustbin to dispose this disposable cup of coffee / this lollipop/ ice cream stick? Will I carry it back? Even restaurants/ hotels have strict policies on not accepting your garbage from outside..

What if I finally have to accumulate all my rubbish and check it in my flight, pay excess baggage and carry it back home? Only to be laughed at for smuggling rubbish.

No way. Back to the present at the convenience store: my mother told me- do not buy that silly stuff, there is no way we could manage the trash generated. It is easier to stay hungry, choose peace of mind instead that buy something and start begging for dustbins.

Such was the experience and impact on consumption/ buying things for 4 people across three generations. Now multiply that psyche for an entire nation. Simple economics says that loss of consumer spending/ money to circulate -> will lead to stagnation and disinflation.

Hypothesis proven, you can thank me later dear economists.

And as you see, the dream was not a mumbo jumbo: kindly observe the stellar results that my report submitted the Shogunate did to the economy a year later:

Bloomberg - Nikkei post visit

Peaks in Zhejiang: Part 1

To avoid murder in Shanghai, I escape to Zhejiang often. For those of you who don’t know, I am on the hit list (like all Shanghai residents) of the delivery bike riders. They are a unique species, distinct from rest of humanity: blessed with Formula1/ MotoGP skillset, along with an unparalleled ability to break all the rules, knock and kill: in pursuit of their mission of getting the packages to rest of us in time.

So on a weekend, my ride changes: my bicycle (knocked down twice by maniacal bikers) is given a break and the car is rolled out to munch miles.

One may drive to Jiangsu, Anhui, Jiangxi or even Shandong. But one realizes that if mountains are your calling, Zhejiang is the province to head to. These enigmatic mountains have been formed by crux of the Earth, tempered by nature for over a thousand years. They often help you to retain perspective: what all we do, and where it pales compared to mother nature, or grandfather time. If nature doesn’t cover enough, let me throw in some materialistic perspective: Zhejiang is rich and it shows with the quality of build of its interior roads.

Here is the ranking and some of the places are covered in this post (Part 2 later)..

Yangdangshan  (Rank 8)

DaLong waterfall at YangDangShan

A popular destination (UNESCO global), but the challenge here is is the number of spots one needs to cover. And of course - it is swarmed by humanity amply. I covered the DaLong waterfall (unique indeed) and the peak. The tourist area is well developed (China AAAAA rated) but one needs to plan a lot, face crowds and spend a lot of time and money (every area needs a separate ticket).

 If you are driving, you’d be challenged to park across various spots, and if you are not, you will be queueing up every now and then to get to the next buses ferrying tourists across.

The main trek is challenging, to mildly put it. However, the oomph factor for me was dulled by the popularity of the place and the volume of humanity that chooses to hit this place. Maybe I am anti-social: but I don't recommend this highly as the peace and equanimity in the equation collapses. 

Xianhua (Rank 2)

Not the highest peak, not so popular – but my favorite!

It has so little popularity that everyone I mention this to end up searching 'Xiangshan' and missing this masterful place (XiangHua).

Those of you who crib that trekking is focused on working out your lower body only, there is good news for the kind: You have to get on all fours. Your biceps and triceps have a lot to do and you may walk back with stronger muscles to showoff upon concluding your trek.

The climb & the chains

I thought the chains were to help those climbing up. I was terribly wrong. The chains' role is predominantly to keep the people crumbling down and delaying death. The bottle here in the picture is not to irritate my wife, who can annihilate anyone caught littering, but it is to give you perspective of the steps and the attack angles.

This is one of the best places I have seen. Ironically the results you get on google for the place is zero. Nil.

Unique thing here besides the chains: Lizards. There were ample rustles to scare you. I was greeted by 15 lizards of different scientific names in a matter of hour, all ranging from brown to psychedelic green. Google executives called me to inform that their global cloud space was running out as I started to write about my hatred for lizards, so I won’t delve in that. I remembered the strategy of my dear friend Bugga: who when accosted by beings of the wild, kept survival strategy simple: Run..

This is one of the best places I have seen. Ironically the results you get on google for the place is zero. Nil. Xianhua is not accessible by public transport, nor is it found as the top 5 places to visit on forums. However, I rate it one of the best factoring in just that. The crowds are kept away and if you are the contemplative kind or one who loves nature more than humanity – this place is a gem. If you do want to reconnect with humanity after your trek – head to Yiwu – the factory of the world to see where weirdest of the goods of the world (toy cars’ gears, glass grabber, 95% of the world’s Christmas tree decorations, etc.) come from.

Tiantai mountain (Rank 6)

The waterfall here is said to have inspired the famous poet Li Bai.

The waterfall that inspired Li Bai

The silly thing here is the split between the areas and tickets. I was terribly confused about the options and bought the overall package (160 as against 100 for the waterfall only)

The waterfall, with it’s majesty will impress. And it will ask you to undertake a treacherous climb.

Even beyond the waterfall, the trek is enigmatic with great views of the fall, the valleys and the reservoirs.

After an hour and half,  I came at a juncture where a ticket check was needed. Brilliant, this is where the extra money I accidently^ paid would be put to work.

(translation error by the only foreigner thanks to his broken Mandarin) 

Alas, that elation was short-lived; I was confronted by a major problem. That extra money I had spent had but bought me into fear. The author is incredibly scared of heights, and the path ahead entailed walking on a bridge (at unspeakable heights) with a glass base. This maximized the vision of possible plunge below, and sharpened my fear of heights..

After battling anxiety for those long moments, I managed to cross the ghastly life threatening piece that they called an engineering marvel. Only to find myself lost. I headed to the one exit sign, only to find that the aforementioned exit seemed to be miles away from where I wanted to be. Conversation transpired in my broken Chinese with the sole employee I could find there. I explained to her the facts: I was lost, my car was at the map location (which displayed English, a language she could not quite comprehend)

My problem statement was barely conveyed when she was joined in by a a couple of well wishing onlookers who shot a flurry of instructions and life advisory. With my limited understanding, I grappled to comprehend and I frantically took notes and tried to reconstruct the messages *:

- “you are truly lost”

- “Too far”

- “Find ‘that’ exit, and then find 'that' bus”

- “Hope you can find your way in life. And perhaps your car”

 *I am only HSK level 2 qualified, and there could be errors in my comprehension

I was incredibly lost indeed. I kept trekking, often in counterintuitive direction to what the maps depicted. There was another beautiful waterfall, a majestic lake, which tapered to become another waterfall at the edge of the dam. This sight did make my spirits plunge from a state of melancholy to elation for a while, until reality check rightly brought me back to the state of panic. For the sun was setting, the return drive was long, and if I took the simple way of returning the way I came to find my car, I was sure to be eaten up by the creatures of the wild by nightfall.
  

Miraculously, I did find 'the exit' mentioned by a well wishing onlooker, I did manage to get onboard 'the bus' and reached 'the car park' to retrieve the right vehicle. 

Was the whole ordeal beautiful? Incredibly so..

Did I enjoy it? Nope..

And this is because this is because of the guidance I could NOT get. Forget the foreigner/ English instructions problem, the area is sub-divided to many regions (my ticket covered couple of them), and at every region: the map changes, royally ignoring what the master map says. While you could expect an ill-read foreigner going astray from regular paths, my Chinese comrades had similar problems. I met many on the way with similar expression as mine: a unique combination of fear, elation and panic thanks to being lost in nature's splendor.  

The process remains complicated: entry from one, exit from another  area(s), taking the bus to car park.

So while TianTai righteously takes a spot in the top places of Zhejiang, my anxiety resulting from lack of directions forbids me to take it to the top 3.

Fangyan (Rank 12)

Fangyan's' fame: the bridge

This is a nice temple place with a relatively easy trek. The scenic area provides complimentary transport from parking to the ticket counter: saving you ~ 20 minutes of walk. The trek: though modest in terms of time and ascent, involves lots of stairs which can test your knees. There a quirky route which offers to land you at the film city when taking the cable car, but i avoided this to get lost from my car again (memories of TianTai haunting).

There are many interesting spots in the course of the trek, with temples, places of historical interest and view points. Yet, I will never go here again. Jinhua has lot of other interesting places to offer and I would advise to skip this one.

Disclosure: Author's rating is heavily biased as he was cheated into adulterated fuel at YongKang. This led to drops in power with the drive back and a visit to the service station to diagnose the issue.

Lingqi Caves (Rank 5)

River snaking into the karst system

To be clear: this is not a mountain trek but rather a phenomenon of nature worthy of pilgrimage. Hence including in this list. The stalactite/ stalagmite formations date back centuries. Like it is with many things in China: this has been maintained incredibly well and the displays are commendable (can't help comparing this with San Antonio's natural bridge caverns). 

Why it does not feature as one of the 'go to' places in China is a mystery for me. We accidentally discovered this gem during our trip to 1,000 island lake (QianDaoHu) and it turned to be the pinnacle of the trip. There is a moderate walk to get the the caves from the tourist entrance gate and then comes the boat ride, taking you through a secret river snaking through the mountains. The karst water system is a phenomenon to be experienced and wish it were more popular - for the benefit of humanity.

The drive to LingQi caves is an added bonus, with ample fast mountainous roads featuring more tunnels than I had cumulatively seen in my lifetime.

Splendid Vietnam

 

There is a backstory here: Let me start with introducing my friends first ..

My friend : Dr. Fei is one of the most logical creatures to be found on the planet.  While his logic stems from his superior genes, his PhD in mathematics (obtained in record time) from the elitist schools of Europe also has a role to play in shaping his superior thinking. This PhD of his and his analytical mindset do help him earn a living, but these are not the only qualities I cherish in him. More importantly, I lean on him for guidance for most of the other complicated junctures that life brings you at: From complex equations, life decisions, investment avenues and even the deep questions around the purpose of life: I have always walked away wiser after have picked Fei’s brain on the matter.

Miss Z’s nature has similar characteristics. Working on endless heavy-duty work, she still exudes calm and has time to help out rest of us humanity. Conversations with her would add perspectives for the conversant. Plus, she snowboards: and that propels her further up on the coolness chart, paling Fei, me and rest of us. I always look forward to hearing of her adventures & experiences of near and distant lands.

But when it comes to South Asia, this is where the wisdom of my friends take a back seat and strange tunings prop up. While both of them have seen the world, they detest the idea of visiting South East Asia. While Z has conquered the snowy peaks of Japan, worshipped most of the art & architecture in Europe, I have been unable to convince her to visit SE Asia. Ditto for Dr. Fei; who flinches at the mention of Thailand. When I pressed on for the reason, I got the feeling that security was an issue. Upon further investigation, I understood that as is for most of the world’s misperceptions (and negative impact to the grey cells): movies were to blame for this as well.

I got to know the plot of a popular movie, which goes like this. A Girl (who rates high on goodness, kindness and success scale) visits a Southeast Asian country for a well-earned holiday. But behold, she is identified by gangsters, who are of course working in connivance with all corrupt authorities of the country. She is kidnapped and presto: is drugged and operated upon to extract her kidneys. The kidney is transplanted to the relative of the corrupt Mayor of the town, who has been waiting for this moment too long.

Docile Dad of the good girl finds out, who now transforms into Die Hard Bruce Willis & John Wick combined. Lands there and annihilates the gang and the country in revenge, rescues his daughter, killing around 835 bad guys in the process (Do I sense John Wick getting insecure now? per minute kill metric threat?). You know how it goes in movies.

I tried to convey to my friends that this was a work of fiction and the region had a lot more to offer than crime. I have played the price card amply to drive the point of luxury, food, et. all that can be obtained for a lot less money.

When I failed to convince them (neither would go to Phuket), I decided to lead by example and broke the news that my family would be going to Vietnam to prove the point.

They were genuinely worried for me and I assured them that I would take good care of my family, myself, and especially my kidneys..

Saigon, Cuchi caves and the Mekong Delta

We landed in Saigon (the locals and old fans of the city detest calling it ‘Ho Chi Minh city’). While the leader is revered, the name of the city will always be ‘Saigon’ they say, no matter what the sign posts say..

The city has quite a character; lot of it. There is history, war and the grappling between the West and the Asia written all over it. Quick history lesson: you could look at anything in Saigon central area and meditate on how differently survived or served under the French, Americans, Japanese, South Vietnam, Vietcong or the unified Vietnam. As a WW II buff, I loved the war museum visit, it has ample of captured machinery from the war.

Cuchi caves/ tunnels offer ample of those 'see it to believe it' moments. The intensity of war, civil engineering (Vietcong) machinery (primarily American), human determination (of both sides, with respect to their respective causes)is in full display, only to be humbled by the forests. How a tank wreckage stands in middle of the jungle, the logistics mystery & the almost mythical Ho Chi Minh trail: there are ample cases of enigma which need to be though on.

The highlight of Cuchi tunnels was the Automatic Kalashnikov. Raw beautiful, rugged: some of the words I would use for handling the machine: 

The author cannot boast about a 100% hit rate, but can say that I was overwhelmed by the indestructibility and mechanics of the machine. The machine that I got my hands on was a couple of decades old, not military grade, poorly maintained and severely worn by the looks of it. Yet it fired with poetic precision.

Dare I say: when offered the option to switch modes, my shoulders could not muster the courage to switch from burst to full auto mode. I tried my luck by checking if they could lend me their lethal instrument with the leftover rounds. While I had no particular side to wage a war against, I reasoned it could be handy to fend off any kidney racketeers eyeing my organs.

After this, we made a run to the Mekong delta region. Again, nature and recent history leave an impression on you. The place is beautiful, raw and deserves a visit.

HaNoi

With the lovely hangover of Saigon, we landed in Hanoi. Sona's disappointment was very visible, for we started wondering why we were here in Hanoi. There is ample history for sure, but we were unsure if this is what we wanted. The evening had a lovely visit to the Church and the old-town, and soon we were wondering what we were to do with one more day.

The conclusion was cancel rest of the day in Hanoi and reallocate it to Ha-Long bay and Halong city.

Ha Long bay:

Standard operating procedures for foreigners of the place prescribe that you reach here from Hanoi (~2 hour drive), get a cruise and head to the bay.

This is the place where James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) and Colonel Wai Lin (Michelle Yeoh) beat the hell out of the wily news mongering villain Eliot Carver and his goons.*

*If you do not follow what we're talking about, stop reading, cancel all your plans, switch the brain off and watch Tomorrow Never Dies (the best Bond movie - IMHO) 

The cruise we were booked on was 'Peony cruise' (recommended) and the whole affair is a grand one. While one ought not to expect a megaship with casinos and shopping mall, the cruises here are the fashionable Goldilocks scenario (not too big, not too small) and offer incredible service. The meals are very regal indeed, with formal seating, live entertainment, etc. As part of the cruise, they allowed us to kayak, swim a bit in the bay and made a stop at Cat-Ba island for the caves.

 

The next day, I checked my kidneys (there were there in the usual place, intact for now) and headed for the Ha Long city. While the usual tourist itinerary focuses on cruises; giving a miss to the town, we had it from the day reallocated from Hanoi. And this turned out to be a beautiful choice. The beaches are pristine and the town has quite unique things to offer: A theme park, the Bai Chay bridge, the town center and the small eateries.

In all Vietnam left a beautiful impression on us. Distinct from some holiday plans which aim to push you to poverty, we ended up with the same net worth we had started from, most of the things are reasonably priced.

Grab does a good job, though the currency sometime scares many. While the kidneys may not bother on this one, but the heart does have a problem: A family meal + shopping bill of 1 million VND may initiate a heart attack! But here is the trick to avoid wasting time in the ambulance: before you succumb to cardiac arrest, you quickly take out the calculator and compute that the million was USD 40, a number that may not necessitate filing for bankruptcy. Your heart returns to its normal pace and enjoying Vietnam.

The cities have their charm and nature has a lot to offer here. Cities, history, sea, mountains and lush greenery - pick what you like.

PS: The author’s kidneys are safe and at their usual place at the time of writing this.