Into the World:
The Random Thoughts in My Mind

On the streets of Katsuura, a small coastal town on the far side of Chiba prefecture is a scene that one will never see on the streets of Tokyo today. Two brightly lit stores with giant "Sale!" signs specialize in the latest repertoire of portable fireworks, for people to enjoy in their backyards. The stores are not meant to be discreet. Occupying the two prime spots across each other on one of the town's main shopping streets, their wares spill onto the streets on carefully laid out tables, standing out from the other, much more dimly light lit outlets of restaurants and banks.

It's rather odd for me to hear people question my Japanese-ness even implicitly in Japan. Granted, I am by no means Japanese by ethnicity or nationality, but speaking Japanese without much of a foreign accent while having the looks to fit straight into the mainstream, I am accustomed to people assuming that I am Japanese as long as they don't ask for my real name or a copy of my identity card.

Japan has not heretofore been known much for gin. While the country's whiskeys and beers are garnering global recognition for taste and quality in recent years, not all Western liquors are equally taken on by the general public. But as major distillery Suntory has started marketing its own domestically produced gin to a domestic audience, it could be a harbinger of not only Japanese but global, interest in a more wide-ranging alcoholic experience. Indeed, if the new opening of bars and pubs in Tokyo is anything to go by, previously little consumed liquors, from mezcal to pisco sour, are gradually becoming mainstream.

When I first heard about the massive explosion that obliterated the port of Beirut, my first thoughts went to the small West African country of Gambia, where I jetted off back in 2012 as a grad student in London. To my surprise, the country was filled with Lebanese residents. The Lebanese dominated the local economy, running everything from local shops selling imported goods to large logistics companies that made international trade to that remote corner of the world possible. Locals seem to be accustomed to the Lebanese presence, established over course generations of migration as part of European colonization.

There is probably no worse time for people looking for a career change. As COVID-19 continues to rage around the world and output data show double-digit declines across major economies and rising unemployment, employees are lucky that they still have a job. In a world in which employers are concerned whether they will have enough business to cover them for the months to come, none are particularly keen on expanding the number of employees at this very moment. For those who are currently stuck in jobs that are less than interested in and looking for a way out, it seems they are unlikely to be successful at it until COVID goes away.

The "Go to Travel" campaign was supposed to symbolize the return of Japanese tourism. In an industry that has been battered by a 99.9% decline in the number of foreign tourists, the government-initiated campaign promised to save restaurant and hotel operators around the country by subsidizing domestic tourists to make up for the shortfall. Yet, just a few days before the campaign was due to start, the government announced that trip to and from Tokyo, the epicenter of COVID transmissions in Japan, will be excluded as a target for subsidies, leading to a surge of cancelations of hotel and tour bookings.

At first sight, the massive two-floor Patagonia store in the heart of Tokyo sounds like a place where the fashionistas of the world would spurn. Ceiling-to-floor posters extol the value of independence and ruggedness, as beautiful men and women are pictured cooking, kayaking, and hiking in the resolute mountains of, well, Patagonia. The men and women in the posters are simply dressed, with durable dark-colored, simply designed coats, jackets, and pants, a far cry from the vibrant colors and thoughts put into the arrangements among clothes worn by the passersby on Tokyo's high streets.