20260205_This_Japanese_Election_is_about_What_Why_now_Feb_2026_Erv3uK7KxPM

00:00:01 John Daub: Greetings, welcome to Tokyo. It's a very loud place in February, not usually the norm, but they are holding elections right here. This is one of the places where the candidates put up their posters, who's running, and a little bit about their platform. But it's hard not to notice right now because until February 8th, there are people right now, politicians that are going up and down the street. One of them is coming right now. We'll take a look at that truck. They stop at the intersections here. This is one of the wards, one of the cities within the Tokyo metropolitan area. Okay, here they come now. This is Tenno, Kokoro Tenno. I like that name Kokoro. I think that means heart, right? That's pretty cool. So they have a really big loudspeaker. Sometimes the candidate... Oh, there he is waving. Amano Kokoro. Oh, it's a lady in there. But I wanted to go over, I mean, in front of the prefect, the ward office too, because it seems like a safe place. Nice signal in this area.

00:01:12 John Daub: I want to talk about why Japanese people... What are they most concerned about right now? Because at election time, we started to talk about topics. What's on people's mind? Why did Takeichi Sanai, who is the Prime Minister of Japan, why did she dissolve the law? Oh, I thought so. It's just an episode of where we go in the lower house and call this snap election in February which is odd because a lot of the country has a snowstorm, is digging out of some really deep stuff. Tokyo seems fine right now but there's a lot of stuff going on in Japan and this episode should be really enlightening, so buckle in for a little bit. We're going to go through some of the information here, but just let's boil it all down here.

00:01:48 John Daub: Takeichi Sanai is quite popular. The polls, I took a look, a snapshot of all the polls right now. Let me pull this one up here. You can see she's very popular compared, when you think about it, up to about 70%. Her popularity has been dipping over the last couple of months, couple of weeks. But I mean that's normal. There's a lot of, I don't know, positive spirit around her comparatively. Considering her party, the Jiminto, the LDP is not very popular here. We'll talk about that as well. But this might be one of the reasons why she decided to call this snap election. Because it seems like now is the time to do it. Just to put it mildly, because this is a narrow window where voters are unhappy, and they are, because of inflation, more monetary things than anything else. There is a narrow window where voters are happy but not yet convinced the entire system must change. I couldn't have said it any better. This is the perfect way to look at it right now. There is a very narrow window where people are looking for not quite systemic, but they are just kind of not really happy right now. And because Takechi-san's popularity is starting to go down a little bit, coming down to earth I guess you could say, this is probably a pretty good time. And this is a livestream so you can take a look at the live chat. And I welcome my Japanese, Japanese citizens and Japanese nationals that are watching. And I can't actually vote. I'm just somebody who looks very closely at what's happening in the media and the news. Because I live here. I live through it, right? Change always hurts. It certainly does. Systemic change certainly hurts and Japan is in dire need of it. So let me take a look at what the news media, what the interviews on the streets, what the opinion polls, what the consensus is, not just on one media source, but all of them. We'll take a look at this here. So Takechi-san can win, and this is probably her plan and why. It's good to understand why this is happening. If she pins the election on the economy, the number one voter concern is economy, economy, economy. It's absolutely the same.

00:04:00 John Daub: Right now, because of inflation, I feel it. I go to the supermarket and it's really expensive. I went to Costco, everything is up like 30% at Costco because a lot of it is imported. Things are up for all the parts, all the gasoline, the yen is weak, so whenever you buy things abroad, price goes up. So inflation is real here. And we've been having deflation for a very long time. Wages in Japan are stagnant. People aren't getting raises. People aren't seeing more income to help deal with the inflation issue. And that's a very big pressure of everyday life. This is something that my wife and I have been dealing with. And in particular, we're seeing it with things having to do with our son, too. Raising a child here has gotten more expensive. This certainly should be getting cheaper because we need more kids here. Let's be honest. Bridge generational divides with tailored policy priorities, kind of really honing in on certain issues. I use LDP organizational strengths. Jimito is the largest party. It's been ruling Japan for the majority of the post-World War II. It's like 95% LDP, 5% everybody else. Takeichi-san, who I like, considering there's not a lot of really strong leadership here, this might be debatable, she's a very decisive person, or at least she seems so, and that's why she's quite popular here in Japan. So using the LDP organizational strengths is something that could convert into votes, especially with people over the age of 60, and neutralizes protests or anti-establishment. She's got a very different sentiment with pragmatic alternatives rather than just rhetoric. People are tired of the same old stuff talking about it. It seems like the conversations have elevated a little bit. They're a little bit different when you watch them on TV, when you see the talking heads, which are different. They're less opinionated. They're somewhat opinionated, but they're more based on reality, so to speak. But she could definitely win this election, but she called it because she's still quite popular, and right now people are just unhappy, but they don't want systemic change. They have a lot of confidence in Takeichi right now, which is probably a good place to be. So economy first, stability and trust, effective voter targeting and neutralizing fringe populist opponents, which is maybe Sanseido, which is getting more younger voters, or just people that are just disenfranchised with politics in general. No one likes politicians, leaders. But the thing with Takeichi is that she doesn't seem like she's swayed, but she's swayed by her party, meaning the bosses of the party don't really have much sway on her opinions. She kind of goes with who she is as a leader. So Japan is electing a leader over a party with Takeichi, and that's why, despite Jiminto having so many scandals over the last decades, there's always been a scandal, the LDP is not a popular party right now. Despite that, Takeichi-san is quite popular. Because we're looking at the leader over the party, which is, I guess, the way you should look at it to begin with.

00:07:06 John Daub: Alright, let me go through here. These are the things that the Japanese are most concerned about. Ranked. Alright. And for a lot of you, you might be interested on the fourth one, which is immigration and foreign policy. But let's go through this. Cost of living and tax relief. Huge debate on the consumption tax, which is 10% on stuff, 8% for food, I believe it still is. Yeah. Some parties are calling for a reduction of that, or an elimination of the consumption tax in general. And some people are calling for stimulus checks. Some people are calling... Like, everyone has a different plan. Not all of them are good. It's a tough one. But this is number one. By and far, number one. It's not even close. Political trust, corruption, monetary policies. People who have a distrust of the LDP probably are still going to vote for the LDP, because the other parties are just not trying. They haven't tried and true yet, so to speak. National security, because of number three. National security and defense policy is huge. Right now, we have a lot of... Japan feels like it's in a vice right now, between the US and China and South Korea and North Korea and Taiwan. And a lot of stuff is happening right now. Right now, a good percentage of the tourism industry is being pressured by lack of tourism. From China, a lot of... Especially short-term... Here comes the jiminto. That was the jiminto. This street is really kind of nasty with the pollution. Some of these buses, or trucks anyways, they really need to change their whatever. It stinks. But you're going to see all of the politicians going back and forth here as we talk. So we'll keep it interesting. Not all of them have loudspeakers. It was interesting, the jiminto candidate did not have a speaker going. Maybe... Maybe it's a little bit of a joke. But that's a way to say thank you by keeping our sanity. Because it gets really loud during the election cycle. And the fourth one is immigration and foreign policy. And the fifth one is social welfare and labor policy. These are some really big issues too. But I think that has to do, number five, in particular with younger people. Right now, kids coming out of school can't find jobs so much. They're competing for lower-wage, lower-paying jobs. A lot of companies are laying off workers because the yen is weaker. Domestically, companies can't compete, especially medium-sized businesses. So there's not a lot of... Japan is not in the same range as the United States with startups or startup mentality. Kids who come out of the top universities still like to go into the large universities. Not a lot of them like to go into entrepreneurship, which is where jobs are created. Especially in a stagnant economy for the last 25, 30 years or more. So these are the big issues. We can break this down by demographics. Because they kind of change. But it's really important to take a look and understand what is on the mind of the Japanese right now. It's really interesting.

00:10:09 John Daub: So let's take a look here at the younger voters who don't often vote that much. They're looking at job security, economic prospects, wages. They're coming out. They're not getting that much money. Which means you're not getting a lot of Japanese younger people that are going out to traveling. They can't afford to go to Hawaii. They can't afford to go to places. And Hawaii needs Japanese tourism. So does Guam. But a lot of Japanese just don't have that money. And the older generation doesn't have... They're older than they were before. So they can't travel abroad. So we're seeing a lot more domestic tourism. Which means the Tokaido Shinkansen and domestic tourist locations like Kyoto is really crowded. Not just with foreign tourists but domestic tourists. Because we just can't afford to go out. Living costs and inflation release of affordable housing is not as affordable. Especially in Tokyo. I got another episode coming. We're going to be talking about... You can see there's a lot of people taking interest in those posters over my shoulder. Taking a look at the candidates. Because everybody is reassessing politics in general right now. So cost of living is high in Tokyo. Apartments are inflated comparatively. You can find lower places, lower rent of course in Chiba, in Saitama, in Kanagawa, outside of Yokohama. But all the jobs are here. All the jobs are in Fukuoka. In Osaka. They're in the 5 or 6 centers. And 40 prefectures out of the 47 had a declining population from 25 to 26 this year. So we'll talk about that tomorrow. I think it's massive news that came out just 24 hours ago. About the demographic changes and the trends. Because when you look at the data, it is interesting to see. And Hiroshima had one of the biggest migrations of people out of Hiroshima. Which doesn't make a lot of sense to me as someone who lived in Hiroshima for 2 years. But this all plays into the election. It's fascinating stuff. So let's take a look at... Bradshaw Studios in the house. Thank you. How are you doing here? Let's take a look at the middle-aged viewers here. These are people my age. Working people. People that are in the prime of their earning lives, so to speak. The main priorities. Economic stability and family finances. Yeah. It's... People aren't having kids as much. You want to know why? It's just too expensive to have the kids. And you got to... Not only do you have to pay for all the stuff in school. Like the lancero, which is the backpacks, like $1,000. You got to order that a year in advance. It's crazy some of the costs. But on top of that, you got to pay for your kid to go to juku, which is a cram school. You know, a lot of kids do that because they don't learn inside the school. They have to go out to school after the school to learn. So... So the kids are cramming the stuff that they should have learned. And you got to pay for that. That's thousands of dollars. So this all adds up. Hundreds of thousands of yen, so to speak. So it all adds up to families. And they're like, yeah, we're not going to have kids. It's just too expensive. Daycare, expensive. But in Tokyo, it's free. But it's not in every single prefecture. So there's a lot of costs to it. And middle-aged families are struggling quite a lot right now. Work-life balance and employment policies. The Showa era versus the Reiwa era. That old 1960s thinking fighting with the 2020s thinking right now. This is real. Because all those bosses and people that are in charge, the shacho, the bucho, the kaicho, kacho, they're all in their 60s and 70s during the Showa era when... or the early Heisei era when things were traditional. You work 60 hours a week. You go out drinking with your boss every night. That's changing, but not fast enough. And we can't find this work-life balance. Which is harming the family structure here. Which is another reason why people aren't having kids.

00:14:03 John Daub: Security and defense for some. A lot of people are thinking about Japan's future and how the national defense, for sure. And immigration and cultural openness more mixed. Younger people are more accepting of increasing immigration. Middle-aged people like me are more skeptical. Because we want to see... the right people coming in, I guess you would say. But you also want to have a control over it. And not hurt the housing market, hurt the job market. Especially in Tokyo, which is already really hard for younger people. It's something that they're thinking about. But they're going to definitely be talking about this over the next week. Actually, three days. The election is in three days. It's crazy. Immigration and cultural openness is something... well, we'll talk about. And for the older voters, Social Security and pensions, they want their money. They paid into it. They want it. It's tapped. Inflation, it's so expensive. For 30 years, there's been deflation. For 30 years since the bubble burst in 1989, prices were going down. Can you imagine that? I want you to wrap your head around this. This is going to be unusual. The banks had 0% interest. You would save money in the banks because by having a 0% interest, you weren't losing money by saving your money. That's how weird deflation is. So you'd go... Everyone was losing value. But if you just kept it in the banks, it would stay the same. And that was the safe option. You just keep money so it would stay the same. No interest rate by investing. Right? So nowadays, we have inflation. Things are going up. And that money that's just stagnating, and the way people invest is changing. So the elderly, the seniors, those retirees, their money that they saved up isn't as much or maybe it's not enough as what they thought it was going to be in order to survive the 2020s and 2030s. So there's a lot of worry on that order. And law and order is something that because they watch the news because they get a lot more time and they see the media and it makes Japan look like things are dangerous and tourists coming in and seeing Shinjuku, you probably feel that. But they're very much interested in preserving the way of life that Japan is Japan and keeping Japan the way it is. And I understand that because I hope that there's a balance to it. Japan has always evolved. Right? But it also stays Japan. So I'm hoping that this is a way that we can keep... And, you know, it does come down to the older voters because they're the ones who actually vote. Younger people don't tend to vote in the elections. I think that might change a little bit. And there's immigration caution, which makes a lot of sense. Bringing in people who don't learn the language, I think that's never been too much of an issue. But if you're planning to live here forever, you've got to learn the language. You have to assimilate into the culture. You can't go to a place and get angry because you don't understand Japan around you. And there's no system in place to really help integrate people into that. I once made a video for refugees coming from Malaysia. It's interesting. We got government funding to make this video. This is about 10 years ago. More than 10 years ago before I did YouTube. Fascinating video. I worked with Tokyo Police Department, a supermarket chain. And we were able to make this video on the daily life for people from Malaysia to come and immigrate to Japan. And I don't think anyone ever saw that video. Except the agency that was in Malaysia. But it was fascinating to learn how few resources that there are for those that are immigrating here. So maybe that's going to change. I think it will get strict before it starts to relax. But that's not a bad thing. It's about creating a system that is sustainable for the growth that is going to be coming. Because I think it's inevitable. But we will see. Automation, all this other stuff, could play a part. It's fascinating when you break it down by the demographics. And when you look at it, it gives you a better idea how more conservative the older voters are and how more open the younger voters are. But make no mistake. And this is the last time I'm going to get really political. I'm going to get slightly political. I've been meeting... I love to talk with all of you guys when you come to visit Japan. I've been meeting a lot of Americans when I walk around the city. People who watch the show and come up and say hi. They... First of all, thank you for thanking me. It makes me really good and I get really happy when I hear you. So don't feel shy about coming up and saying hi if you see me. And that makes me feel really good to know that you watch the show and you know me. And I like getting to know you.

00:19:03 John Daub: But not everybody, but I think about four or five people over the last few months have come up to me and told me why they left the U.S. to come to live here. They came as tourists. They're trying to move here. And they said that they don't like the policies in America. So they're coming to Japan to live here and move here. That is the worst reason to come and move to Japan. I'm just going to say this right now. Japan, despite the fact that the younger people are a little bit more open, this is an extraordinarily conservative culture. If you do move here, you are not going to be happy. Don't come here because you think that the U.S. is too conservative, okay? And you want to go to a liberal place. This is not a liberal country. This is a conservative country. You might be happy a little bit because people aren't confrontational. But if you come here and you start to be confrontational, you're not the right person to come here and live. It is a conservative country. It is... You got to stick to the way that the social norms are. You go to an interview, you got to wear a black suit with a black tie, you know? Like, there are certain things, rules. This is not the reason to come because you don't like the way the administration is. This is not a reason to move to Japan. I'm just saying it. I didn't argue with them. I just go, hmm, interesting. Hmm, interesting. I don't say anything. I stay out of your politics. I don't care. I'm just telling you that's not a reason to move to Japan. Just come with real reasons to want to live here. And, you know, you could be left or right, but that should not be the reason why you come here, alright? I'm just saying that because it's actually... I'm seeing an increasing amount of Americans that are doing that. And I love you, but it's... As someone who's been here for 30 years, almost, it's the wrong reason. You're not going to like it. You're not going to like it. Alright, let's talk a little bit about these policies here. I want to break this down because the number one issue is the economy, economy, economy. What exactly does that mean? Inflation and rising prices. Let's just break this down real quick from the sources here. Many voters feel daily life is being squeezed. I am right now. I completely feel it. And that's an issue. I don't... I don't know if Takeichi-san has the right answers. I got to be honest with you. I kind of feel like she wants to do stimulus, which is money that Japan doesn't have, alright? I'm not sure that I want to... You know what happens with the stimulus? It goes to the wrong people. And people put it in the bank and they save it. They don't actually spend it. Everybody over the age of 50 won't spend the stimulus. They won't consume, alright? Tokyo has a system that's giving people not money but points, alright? In an app where you have to buy products that are made in Japan. So it keeps the money in Japan to stimulate the Japanese economy, Japanese local businesses, Japanese... I think it's a great idea. Governor Koike is very, very creative in the ways that she's doing this. And for families, Tokyo is doing a pretty good job of finding ways to keep people consuming creatively. I like what she's doing here. I mean, I'm not... I don't agree with everything, but I like what she's doing, the direction of Tokyo. So, yeah. There are things that people are doing to help do this, but I'm not sure if I'm on board with stimulus checks. Again, just printing money is basically what it is. Consumption tax. Sanseido, which is the more conservative party, which won a lot of seats the last time, I'm very much... I think everyone's watching to see how many votes they're going to actually gain off of this one here. But I'm going to tell you what my thoughts are on this election, what are going to be the possible results of it.

00:23:18 John Daub: Consumption tax. If they were to lower the consumption tax, that means that the government would not be raising a lot of money, and I haven't heard of any programs that they're actually cutting, alright? So you can't lower the consumption tax and not have... and balance the budget in another way. They raised the consumption tax for a reason. So, I mean, I don't agree with it. Japan didn't have a consumption tax until like the 1980s, okay? It was like if you bought something at the store, you paid nothing. You just paid income tax. But now the consumption tax started off at 3%, then 5%, then when I came here it was 5%, and then it... I think that it turned from 3% to 5%. 3% to 5% in 1995, I think. And then at... Prime Minister Abe, I think it was 2008 or 9, he raised it from 5% to 8% with an asterisk to raise it to 10%. And everybody pushed back on it, but eventually he... it raised to 10% with 8% on food, which was, I guess, the compromise. So if you go to a restaurant, you get an 8% consumption tax. But I think maybe bringing it down, bringing it down to 5% is not a bad idea, because it gives people the money who need it the most directly, the fastest, without the bureaucratic system that's needed, which costs a lot of money to do. I'm going to be honest with you. A lot of stuff is still done by paper. A lot of stuff is still done by a thousand people behind a desk here, writing everything down and doing it, and you have to wait in line, and it takes a long time. Things are moving towards the digital world, but the more stimulus checks you give out, the more oversight is needed, and the more cost that is to it, and it actually elevates the cost by like 25% to 30% or more. So I can't say... I would say the easiest way would be to decrease it, but by doing that, you're also decreasing... It's like no matter what you do, it's a loss right now. People... And here's the real solution. Get the people who have savings to spend more. Start buying stuff. There was this poll that was done... Not a poll, but there was an economist... I remember this so vividly, like 15 years ago. It said if one per... If the senior citizens spent 1% of their savings, it would boom the Japanese economy. The thing is that they're so frugal, they don't spend their money on anything at all. They don't just buy compulsively the stuff. And the kids, they don't... They want to buy compulsive, but they don't because they don't have money. So if the elderly, the senior citizens, would spend 1% of their savings and just buy stuff, this economy would be booming right now. I'm serious. That would be the stimulus, but none of the politicians want to say that because they won't get any votes. I'm not running.

00:26:09 John Daub: Cost of living, inflation... You see it at the supermarket. It's undeniable. You feel it when you pay the bill. I used to pay like maybe 3,500 yen every few days to get eggs and milk and stuff for the kitchen. I'm paying 5,000 yen every few days for eggs and milk and stuff for the kitchen. So you feel it. And granted, Leo eats a little bit of that too. Why it matters to voters, most Japanese households feel prices rising faster than wages. When the Lehman Brothers spike hit, I was still... I had a lot of friends... I was still a teacher. When I say I was a teacher, I wasn't teaching kids anymore. I was teaching adults. Many of them were executives or middle management people that could afford to take the lesson, to be honest with you, because these man-to-man, one-private lessons were not cheap. And so companies would pay for it sometimes, sometimes out of the pocket. But a lot of them were executives or middle management. After the Lehman Brothers hit, they lost all their bonus checks. And Japan... Japanese used to get, I don't know, like $20,000 of their salary. 20% to 30% of their salary seemed to be from bonus checks. All right? That's a summer's check and an end-of-year check. So their salaries... And this is the thing a lot of people don't understand. Japanese salaries are pretty base. It's not like the US. You make less money. But you got bonuses, which really, really... Even the playing field with the salaries that Americans got. Because it looks like Japanese make much less than Americans. But when you put in the bonuses and stuff, actually, it's not too bad, depending on the position you are in the company. People don't talk about the bonuses. But the bonuses for a lot of places in 2008, they were cut. And they never really came back. So it's a hard thing. The families are feeling it more. Right? Japanese people older are very good at saving for rainy days. Saya. You know, Saya, the problem is, the sunny days never come for them. They're always waiting for... They're always waiting for the worst of the rainy days. So they're always saving their money. If they only spent it, I'm telling you, did Japan, if Japan was to... affected the immigration from the US? No. I don't think so. What happened... What's happening in the Western world, we feel it here a little bit. And you see it. We'll talk about that in another one. But I don't want to get too political in this. But most... I think that the LDP and the leaders, they were globalists. And I think most of the Japanese are not globalists. And I think there's just... There's a disconnect between the average everyday person, the average Joe or the average Taro, so to speak, and actual leadership. So we elect the leaders to lead. And then people just focus on their work. So now people are starting to understand there's a lot of other stuff going on here. Political accountability and corruption, which is the perfect segue into number two. These scandals are allowed to happen, I think, because people, even journalists, I think, sometimes are... I don't know, not focused on them enough, maybe. But the discussion of political money scandals and these slush funds and things like this, you steal one yen, I'm going to be blunt, alright? I'm going to be blunt. You steal one yen, you're a thief. You go to a supermarket. I saw this in the news the other day. You go to a supermarket and you have to pay for the bag. At the self-checkout, if you forget to scan the bag, which is five yen, and you walk out the store and the clerk sees that you didn't scan the bag for the five yen, often they will call the police. And in the news, somebody did that. I think it was three yen out in the countryside. Somebody had to pay a fine or something. One yen theft is theft. I'm telling you. Don't take it for granted. Oh, it's only a yen. It's no big deal. Rules are rules in Japan. Rules are rules there for a place. When that traffic light... I'm going to zoom in if I can. See that traffic light is green right now? When that traffic light turns red, people stop. There's no cars coming. There's no car coming. But people are going to stop and wait for that light to turn green again. Or blue. We say, 青 in Japanese. Because people stop. There's no car coming. The reason why, rules are rules. So you stop and you sit there for two minutes despite the fact that there's almost no traffic on the street. Rules are rules. If you break the rules, someone probably watched you do it. You're going to feel a little bit of shame and guilt for doing it. But we live with rules. And that's why Japan is such an awesome country. Japan has very little crime. Japan's just... Everybody follows the rules. And the rules mean something. You line up for the train. You don't just crowd in. You go to China and you see it's survival of the fittest. It's kind of a culture shock for me. I like both. It's very interesting when I go to China. In 1990... Hold on. In 2001, I took a flight from Chengdu to Lhasa. This is... Lhasa is in Tibet. I had to get a special permit. I waited in Chengdu for it. Alright. I got on the airplane. And we were on the... I'm not joking about this, okay? I got on the... I got on the... And I was... I'd been in Japan for three years. So I was with six other friends. And we... We walked out of the gate. People started to run from the gate to the steps of the airplane. People were running. And I couldn't understand why. On the ticket, there were no seats. So? We got on the plane. And we all had to sit like all apart. Because they ran to the plane and they got seats and stuff. Some people were putting stuff on their seats. Like, you can't sit here. My bag's on the seat. And then the flight attendant would get us in. It was like a massive culture shock to me. In China, it's survival of the fittest. And that makes stronger people, perhaps. But it's not a fun place. Because you're always fighting for everything. So there's pros and cons. But the other thing also, just to put a ribbon in this one. I'm not going to go into this discussion. As soon as the flight got on the runway and started to take off, people started to light up their cigarettes. They were still smoking on flights then. And that was the last smoking flight that I was on. And it was absolutely horrible. I can't even imagine what it was like in the 1960s and 70s. They had those ashtrays in there. And they were full. Even the one I wasn't smoking and the person next to me wasn't smoking. I opened it up. They didn't clean out the ashtrays. There were cigarettes in there. Remember, they used to have little ashtrays in the arm rests. You still see them if you go out to like, I don't know, developing countries with old Boeings from the 1980s. They still have the same arm rests with the cigarette lighters in the cigarette, the ashtrays in there. Massive, massive cultural shock when I traveled back then. And also, by the way, if you go to Lhasa at 5,000 meters, I think it was like 4,000 or 5,000 meters, right? Your head just feels like it explodes for three or four days. So it's hard to acclimatize the older you get. So just a little bit of a note going to Tibet if you are. Some Canadian airlines still have the ashtrays in the arm rests. I don't doubt it. I don't doubt it.

00:33:57 John Daub: Alright. Social welfare and labor policies is number five. Let me look at number three here first. National security, a lot of people are thinking about this, China's rise and Japan's role in regional stability. The kids that were born after World War II that grew up in the occupation era, they don't want to be a superpower. They wanted to back off. They just want to be pacifists. A lot of them told me, I remember having a discussion with somebody and they said, I don't want to be a superpower. I don't want to be, I don't want to have any power. I want Japan to play no role in the world's politics. And I said, well, wait, but you want to do business with the world. And if you don't have any role in the politics of it all, then you're going to have a weaker position, right? You're not going to, no, we don't care about that. We're neutral. So that led to this decay in leadership in the world stage, I think over decades. And now we have, we're Japan. And I think it's not a bad thing. The constitution is pacifist. I don't think it should be aggressive. I think it's a great thing. Japan though is under the umbrella of the United States. But it also means that economically, we're under the umbrella of the United States. So there's advantages to having your own army, navy, air force, marines, space force, all this other stuff, okay? There's advantages to having that. And Japan is ramping this up because they're seeing conflicts in the Senkoku Islands down in the Pacific near, around Okinawa. Those islands are getting more, more infractions in the airspace of Japan. We'll see the ships from China going through without, again, there could be an international waters line going through the Strait of, the Tsunagaru Strait between Hokkaido and Honshu. It could be international waters. But to see warships going through between two Japan islands, slightly concerning. They don't need to do that. But it feels like there's some tension. Tension's not good. So we feel that. And there's, to be honest, there's a tendency now, like a closer relationship between China and Taiwan than there is to China. China says that Japan is not a safe destination for Chinese. Japanese see this. Japan is not a safe destination for Chinese. So Chinese shouldn't go to Japan. The government is saying that. That's not true. I think Japan is an extraordinarily safe place for everybody all of the time because it's just part of the society. So we're seeing this playing out and it's not making people here happy. So, you know, the thing that really irks me on that one... so like national security, you guys know about the pandas, right? The pandas are really, they really hurt a lot of people in Japan. China took all their pandas back. And I dug into this a little bit. In order to have a panda at your zoo, you have to pay China or Chengdu, I think it is. I went to it. It's a fantastic place. This isn't bashing China at all. This is just a criticism. I guess there's a difference between criticism and bashing. Because I think there's a diplomatic reason to it, I'm sure. There's pressures in all sense points. And the Panda Association probably could use that money too because they do a good job of taking care of the pandas there. But it's soft diplomacy to have those pandas at the Ueno Zoo. They have Chinese names. It fosters a connection between the two countries, especially so close. Ueno is happy to pay the fee. The Ueno Zoo, because they get a lot of people to go to visit there. The manhole covers have pandas on them. And they took Japan has no pandas now because China took them all back. It seems not great if you want to have normal relations. But if you hold that stick and carrot, what happens now, I think, is the zoo doesn't rely on those pandas anymore. Do they really need the pandas at all? The only pandas that were ever non-leasable, and this is interesting, a little side story because I'm an American. After President Nixon went to China, he was gifted two pandas that did not have that rental stipulation to it. So they were the only two free pandas outside of China. And they could never get those two pandas to breed as a result. When those two pandas died from old age, there was no more chance to create a panda breed that would be able to live outside of China without having to pay China for that right to have the pandas. I don't know if other animals do this, but this has left not a great... And this has happened last month. So this is not a great feeling to people, especially the beloved panda towards the relationship between the two. It matters. The tension is real. You see it playing out on the news. Immigration, foreign workers, this is a lot less than you realize. People care about it, but not to the extent as how much they're paying. It's not... It's one of the top five issues. But not in the way I think that it's being framed. Fear gets people to click. All right? Fear gets people to click. And the... You know, you watch X, there's a lot of globalists that, you know, are very critical of Takeichi. But I think the system needed to be changed. It needs to be changed. Right? It needs to be reset from 1980 to 2025. Okay? It just needed to be. So it makes a lot of sense to do that. This isn't a massive issue. It's not about keeping all foreigners out. It's about changing the system and having a little bit more control. And Japan's M.O. with this has always been to be extraordinarily strict with the rule and ease up on it. So there's no doubt it's going to be strict. And then they're going to ease down on it. It's just the way things have always been like this. When something is wrong, there's a reaction. The reaction. And then they evaluate and then they ease it. So that's why it matters. The shrinking population, there's no doubt factories need to be staffed. Truck drivers need to be hired. Bus drivers need to be hired. I think you can't, you have to target, like you have to target people in, like the region. I don't know why they're going to other continents. Stick with Asia. There's a lot of people, especially in Indonesia and the Philippines, some of the best nurses that I've met were Filipinos here that have learned Japanese. And it's not easy because they have to learn the kanji. They've lightened the tests. So we're starting to see more immigration, but targeted immigration for people that they need. But there's always debate when we hear, you know, truckloads of people coming from, you know, X, Y and Z for no apparent reason that are going to be drags on the social security, which impacts the older generation, which sees this and feels the pressure already. They don't want more people coming here to take social security. So there's a desire to get, to hire people from local countries that are hungry to work. Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, very, very hard workers. I think many of them can integrate quite well. There's a lot of, I don't know, synergy between it. And the families are really close by, so they don't have to travel too far, so they don't feel cut off. Nepal, a lot of the Indian restaurants in Tokyo, if you ask, I'd say 90% of them are from Nepal. So there's a synergy between Nepal and India. So we see it, you know. I love the Nepal workers too. They speak a little bit of English. We usually speak in Japanese though, which is funny. And they don't make a lot of money. But they send back what they can to their families. And, you know, I think Pokhara, the one guy I know is from Pokhara, he sends back a little bit of money, but he hasn't seen his kids in a few years. So, but he's happy to be able to send money back. He's just a little bit sad. He's sad at Christmas time, I remember. So there's that going on here, okay? Walter Walters is here. I saw that there were no new mayors elected in the cities in Japan that have anti-immigration policies. There were two new mayors. It's possible. I think that, like Shibuya Ward, Shinjuku Ward, they're a little bit more progressive than, let's say, you know, Choda Ward, which is where the diet is, or Chua Ward, which is where I am. It's a little bit more conservative. So there's a little bit more of a, where the business is and the money is, and then where there's a younger population, Shibuya has a younger population. Shinjuku has a sort of younger population, so they have a more progressive way to look at things. Shibuya was the first city, because Shibuya is a city within Tokyo which is considered a state or a metropolitan area, like a state. So the governor, Koike, is a governor. She's not a mayor. There's 23 wards, which means there are 23 mayors inside of Tokyo. So Shibuya is a really progressive city. It's a place where gay marriage was much more acceptable. I think it's one of the first places in Japan where it was accepted. I don't know if it was nationally. I'm not too much on the issues here, but as you can see, Shibuya pushes the envelope with that progressiveness. So, you know, there's that going on here.

00:43:44 John Daub: And the social welfare policies, again, we're kind of worried with this, with foreigners coming to live here that drag on this. I had a time, about a year, where I didn't do too well. I was between jobs, but I had the visa, and I was looking for the new job, and I had it. I had a promise for it, but the job didn't start for a while. But I had savings. I did not go to social welfare programs. I didn't feel like I needed to. I probably should have. I didn't want to drain society. That's how much I hate... Like, you use it if you need it, alright? But I don't want to use it because I know there are people who need it a lot more. And I feel like when I live here in Japan, it's not about me. And this is the mindset a lot of Americans who come here might not have right now. It's not about you, and your policies, and your thinking, and your morals. It's about Japan, and Japan's policies, and Japan's, and the people, and the society here. So, over the years, I've changed to thinking about that. The team, the people, the society, more than just myself. And I don't want to be a drag on that. I want to be an asset on that. Because what society would want to see is not somebody who is a drag on the safety nets, which are, again, safety nets. So I didn't take any money. I had about six months where I wasn't making any income, really. So, it was a really hard time. But, you know, things turned around. But I did it for hard work, you know, and savings, because I saved for that rainy day. But I did not drag on the social network, the social programs here. So, that's really important. But if you need it, it's there for you. But I just don't do it. I'm somebody who doesn't like to go to the hospital either. So I don't use the healthcare probably as much. If I get a sniffle, I stay away. I don't need to go to the hospital for sniffles and stuff. You know, maybe more hardcore that way.

00:45:43 John Daub: Erica Goldberg, Hi John, this discussion is fascinating to me. I've noticed that the word conservative is used in lots of ways. So can you define what it means by conservative? It's different. Conservative is like the norm in Japan, I would say. In Japan, it's just a conservative culture. Like, I don't like that word progressive because I don't even know what that means, to be honest with you. Does it mean liberal? So the way the United States uses the terms, they've self-defined it in a way. So conservative doesn't mean... Alright, the conservative party is the liberal democratic party. This is what I love about Japan. So the LDP is a conservative party. Alright? They really are. It's conservative values for most of the stuff. Prime Minister Abe, who people said was really conservative, he's from the liberal democratic party. Wrap your head around that for a second. This is what I love about Japan, the duality of everything. You read left and right. In America, you read right to left. In Japan, you back into the parking spots. In America, you go front first. For most situations. Like, everything is backwards, society. So it means different things in different ways. Conservative in Japan, it's hard for me to define it, but I think conservative means the status quo. It means traditional values. In the sense, like, that's just the way Japanese live right now. That works. People in Japan don't really want to change so fast. People still read newspapers. But it doesn't mean not changing. It doesn't mean a defined set of terms. It's really fluid in that sense too. Because, you know, the constitution is pacifist, and the LDP has been controlling the government for the majority of the post-World War II era. So, despite the fact that the self-defense force is beefing up, we still have, you know, we still rely on the United States military. So it's not completely defined in the same way. It's very hard to define. I think even for Japanese, in a way, you know what, it probably doesn't mean much of anything. Conservative means traditional, slower, accepting changes, very careful at even the most important things. Evaluating new processes and letting outsiders in. But it's not as strict as that. Alright? I wouldn't say that because, again, the LDP has been the one letting in the most people. And they're the conservative party versus the San Sato, which is more conservative, I suppose. But it's always evolving, I think. I don't see it as defined as one different, one set of ways. You know? It's hard. I think it may be a little bit more difficult to maybe come down to, like, left and right and what that even means here. But most people in Japan are apolitical. They just want a strong leader. And I think in the United States, it used to be mostly like that, too. You didn't have a tribe when you voted for president. And I still do it this way. I vote for who's going to be the best leader, who's going to be the best person at the top. And I never tell anybody who I voted for. You can make assumptions. It's none of my business to tell you, but in Japan, it's the same way. My wife doesn't tell me who she votes for. We never talk about Japanese politics. It's not an issue. I don't know if my wife is left or right. I don't care. All right? I don't care if you're left or right. I don't care. Because I have a lot of friends that are raging, left-side, you know, absolutely tear into President Trump, which I don't like. And I have a lot of people that are absolutely raging, on the right, tearing into President Obama 10, 15 years ago, which I didn't like. All right? And I can... Because I think when you are outside of the United States, you are pro-America. That's my stance. I'm pro-America. That's it.

00:49:56 John Daub: Samuel Robinson. Hi, John. I know that this is off-subject, but it's becoming uncommon for a young Japanese to travel outside of Japan to the U.S. or other countries due to the weekend. That's true. I think the cultural exchange program is being... I think everything is being hit, Samuel. I think this is a really good point. If Japanese have less money to spend abroad, there's less opportunities for them, less scholarships probably on the horizon, funding cuts to everything. My wife... I met my wife because of a scholarship. She got a scholarship to study dance in New York for a year. And while she was there, that's where I met her. So had it not been for scholarship money and a cultural exchange program abroad, I probably would not have met her. So... I think these programs are inevitably going to get cut. I think it's going to be more focused here on Japan, more moving things to Japan. I think it's the same in a lot of places around the world. I don't know if... I don't know exactly because I'm not an economist. I did study economics at Ohio State, but that doesn't make me an economist. It makes me kind of really curious about all of this stuff though. So I could say that I don't know which is the right system for sure. Everybody's really strong, you know, on one side or another side. Maybe the answer is usually right in the middle somewhere. You know, we'll see. But as for my wife's political affiliations and stuff, I just don't know. But inevitably, these cultural programs are going to get cut just because Japan doesn't have the money or the revenue or the resources anymore. This isn't the 1980s where, you know, Japanese were rich. You know, this is the 2025s where Japan is now middle of the road in many ways. Catford, I'd say economics is not a dull science. You're looking at it the wrong way. Economics is not about money either. Economics is about time. It's about resources. It's about efficiency. It's about finding equilibrium. Economics is a story. Economics are principles and rules that are... kind of can guide you through life, I would suppose, in a very successful way. Economics could be the economics of happiness, the economics of exercise, the economics of so many things. So if anything, if you look at it from that point of view, this is certainly not a boring science. It can be fascinating, especially if you're the right teacher. Politics is dull, not economics. Okay, politics is dull. Thank you. That's true. It could be. I guess because people are so... People are too polarized, I think. I mean, I have my side, but it's not anybody's business.

00:52:58 John Daub: What conservatives... Walter writes in here, what conservatives means now in America is not what it was 20... 1000%. And I can say this, okay? When I left in 98, when Seinfeld was still on, I think, or was like just ending, it was a totally different world, okay? It was... It doesn't mean the same thing. I think liberalism was different too. And I think a lot of the people that were liberal in the 1990s when Clinton was president probably have more in common with President Trump than they do with President Biden when he was in office. Just an observation and it seems to be really true. Bill Maher, the comedian, so he's somebody that... Somebody gets into my feed sometimes. I watch his stuff and he's pretty balanced on a lot of this stuff. He calls it out as he sees it and he seems to be a liberal from the 1990s and 1980s and it's very different than the liberals from now. So I think politics in general has changed across the board. But you don't need to be... I'd say 70% of the population is not an activist, okay? They're balanced. And it always... The answer is almost inevitably always in the middle. People bring up good points on the left and people bring up good points on the right. But if you have one party in power too long, this is American history. Bill... I don't always agree with Bill, but he's a very interesting guy to watch. He's very, very... It's common sense, right? That's what it's all about. Not copying and mimicking what other people say, but just common sense. I want you to look, if you are an American, it's not a partisan thing. This is a thing of beauty. This is why I love America. I'm looking at it from the outside in, okay? Start with George Washington and look at all the political parties, look at every president, and look at the parties. It always shifts from left to right. Every four to eight years, no party has had it, I think, except for FDR, no party has had it for like more than three terms in one direction. It always shifts. From Whigs to, you know, Democrat and Democrats or Republicans. Republicans or Democrats. It always switched from left to right. From Woodrow Wilson, from Theodore Roosevelt to Woodrow Wilson, you know, to Truman to Eisenhower. Truman was a Democrat. Eisenhower was a Republican. Two terms. Then it switched, you know, back again. So the beauty of it in America is that it always balances itself. It doesn't balance out. But if you go too far into one side, it doesn't balance its way out and the extremism does rise. So I think it will balance out. I'm an optimist. But look at the bigger picture of what America is and the beauty of it is that it has never been one party for very long. That's a beautiful thing. If you are a left or a right side, it rallies, it cleans house every time your party loses. It cleans house. Okay? And that's a good thing. It's a beautiful thing. Japan doesn't do that. And this is why America, I think this is one of the reasons why America moves at such a fast pace because they are oiled to move at a fast pace. Japan is not. Japan is not.

00:56:45 John Daub: And if you come to Japan to live here and you're American and you hate America, I don't want to know you. I'm going to be honest with you. I don't think you're going to fit in here. When you travel abroad, keep your politics to yourself. You're an American first. That's just my advice. You don't have to follow it. But you have to love America. I don't care who it is.

00:57:16 John Daub: When Rahm Emanuel was here as the ambassador, I don't think he did a great job in Chicago, but I thought he did a great job as ambassador because he was really out there. He was on trains all over the place. Whether you're a Democrat, he's a Democrat, and now the ambassador right now, he's doing posts in Japanese. He's going out. He's doing a great job too, I think. So I really want to stress this. When you travel abroad from your country, you're not left or right anymore because nobody cares in Japan. Nobody cares. When Lady Gaga did her speech, nobody cared about her future. Nobody cared about her feelings, okay, about American politics. People were more upset with it, I think, and confused than anything else when Lady Gaga started getting political. Because she's outside the United States. All people care about is that the people love America that love Lady Gaga. They don't care about the politics internally of the United States. They love Lady Gaga, and they love the United States. Please remember that. Japan loves America. They love the culture. It is a feeling. It's not a Democrat-Republican thing. America is a feeling. It still exists. This love of Hawaii, this feeling of freedom, this largeness that's larger than life. And it is very much still like that. You can go and drive your car down Route 66 and you can see how great America is. And that romanticism, I think, that gets lost in the daily politics is not here in Japan. We don't care about Democrat and Republican. So when this Japanese election comes, we don't really care. And this is my... The last thing I want to say about this, because an hour on this is quite a long time. Everyone has their opinions, and obviously no one wants to hear that. Yes! Yes! That's it! I don't even know... Probably my opinions are not even needed here either. But my opinion is completely as an outsider, so it might have a little bit more value here. Aloha everyone and John. What do you think is causing Japan's population decline? All right, Jared. I'll talk about this at the end of it, but let me just finish up this last thought, because I wanted to finish this within an hour. I love that you guys are so engaged too about this. I think that Takeichi-san needed to call this election. I think that she didn't have a mandate when Prime Minister Ishiba left and then she was voted into office by creating this mishmash of swapping coalitions. It's kind of messy. But she separated herself from the LDP and nobody really likes the LDP, but people like Takeichi-san because she has the perception of being a decisive person. Decisive. She's doing things from her feelings and not so much from the party's feelings. It's leadership. She's actually a leader. People feel this from the way she does stuff. So she has a high opinion. So people like her. And they look at the other parties and they don't see anybody else who can buck the trend of their party and be a decisive leader. Like Prime Minister Abe. Whether you liked him or not, he was a decisive leader. He had a direction. Japan doesn't have leaders like that very often. So I think she wins. I think the LDP might even get... It's hard to tell, but my feeling is that the LDP is going to come out with a mandate. And if they mess this up, then it's over. But if they hit it, they don't even need to hit a home run. All they got to do is keep hitting singles and they're going to stay in power. But she called the election right now because this is the best time to do it for the direction. And things are going to get tougher before they get easier. And if there's a mandate to make things... I got to be honest with you. I think things are going to get... We're going to have some turbulence in the economy, geopolitical, demographics, everything. And if she has a mandate now and we have a strong leader now and we're all solidified around one leader, change can happen. There's optimism. But what you don't understand outside of Japan, and my Japanese friends can correct me here because some are watching. I don't feel optimism when there's a new prime minister every year. I liked Prime Minister Ishiba. I would love to talk with him. I love Tottori Prefecture where he's from. But he did not give me much confidence in Japan. I almost knew when he was elected he'd be gone in a year. And he was less than a year, I believe. I think he hung on it almost a year. It doesn't give you confidence when the leader of your country changes after one year or less. Over and over and over again. Since I came to Japan, and I want you to think about this, okay, from a point of view someone's been here for a while. When I came to Japan, let's look at the presidents. It's so easy to count. Bill Clinton, George Bush, President Trump, Obama, Biden, Trump, and President Obama, and Trump again. So it's like five, right? You want to know who Japan's had since I came here? Hashimoto, Obuchi, Mori. Who comes after Mori? There's just too many. Koizumi. After Koizumi, he was in there for five years. We got Fukuda. I don't know. Abe, number one. And like it changed every year. And then after the Lehman Brothers, after Abe left, it was like one year, one year, one year, one year. Noda, Khan. It was a revolving door. Then we had Prime Minister Ishiba. He didn't do a bad job, but the party was corrupt. What are you going to do? And he didn't have the really power to clean it up because he's part of it. And now we have Takeichi. It's like maybe, it feels like 20 prime ministers. It's like one a year. So you don't understand, I think, how, whether you agreed with Prime Minister Abe or not, what having him as the longest serving prime minister in that stretch meant to Japan and its direction. Whether he cleans stuff up or not, that's not the point. I think people felt optimism in having the same leader. All right. Having a leader. When you don't have it, it's just chaos. So if Takeichi is the leader, then who? And if it's somebody who doesn't have those qualities that she seemingly has right now, then where do we go? It's more uncertainty in a time where we need certainty. So that's why the election is happening right now. She can win right now. Maybe not in six months. She can win right now because there's no other solidified political leader who can lead despite the fact they think they can. The Japanese public doesn't have the confidence in it. So, that's the reality here on the ground is I know it. I could be wrong. I love the fact that this is a live stream and we have comments and our Japanese citizens can correct me. I think I'm pretty much on target here. And I'm behind Takeichi-san 100% because I'm behind every single prime minister 100%. Because I was here in 2011 and that prime minister, who was that, Noda or Khan? That's a crap job. That's a crap time to be prime minister. And you're cheering for that prime minister to do the best job that he could do. So you don't care about the politics on it. You cheer on. I cheer on the president of the United States no matter who they are. Alright? So I want the US to win. I want Japan to win. So, I want Takeichi-san to win. I think she's doing a pretty good job. I think she's got a lot of stuff to do. I don't agree with her on everything but she's the best leader we probably have right now because I don't see anybody else elevating themselves to a position where the population feels confident.

01:05:50 John Daub: The Japanese population is decreasing just because a lot of stuff, Jared. It's a tough one to answer. I probably can do an episode on this. But politics, probably, politics is a result of it. Politics isn't the reason of it, per se. I think that in the 1980s, people had money. It was like disposable income. Just throw it away. I remember hearing stories from old-timers. Now they're all retired. But when I came here, they had the, a taxi shortage problem. This is how much money Japanese had. Alright? With the Otsumami taxis. 1980s, bubble era. I love the stories from here. I gotta get more people on that live through here. You could stand on the side of the road, wait for a taxi, no taxi will stop for you. None. Because nobody wants to pick you up for a 500 yen fare taking you down the street two kilometers from here. Now, you hold up a 10,000 yen note, because that means you're going, you're taking a taxi home to Saitama from Tokyo or something. The Otsumami taxi. You were traveling so far, for like 30 minutes, the taxi driver would give you a snack so you could relax in the back of the taxi. If you didn't hold up that 10,000 yen note, taxi wouldn't stop, a lot of taxis wouldn't stop for you. They just were waiting for that big ride, that big fare. And so, people had a lot of income to take those long, long taxi rides. Now, they don't. As a result, everything is just more frugal. Everything is just a little bit less optimistic. And when you feel optimistic about your prospects, you don't raise a family. You don't. People still get married, but you don't raise a family. So, you take care of yourself. And over the 1980s and 1990s, after the bubble burst in 1989, I think in 1990, a lot of people saw that. They just wanted to, they saw it wasn't really a great prospect like it was before. They moved in at a time where people who had money no longer had the money. I know a lot of people's families lost their family wealth. They were living high and mighty and then they weren't. So, when they get older, they just want to take care of themselves. They have disposable income, the otaku culture. They got a lot of money saved to spend it on what they want. They don't want a family to have to spend it on things that they don't want. I know this as a father. There's a lot of things that I spend money on that aren't for me. But I do it because we love each other and we want to have a, that's what family is about. But Japanese didn't want to have families. They wanted to live for themselves. And I think that that's part of it. There's other reasons for it. But the culture reflected it. And then you got the marketing, reflected it as a result of it because that's what people wanted. People wanted extra revenue to go out and do the stuff that they could do in the 1980s with their families. But if they had families, they'd not have it anymore. So, now we are in 2025, I think families might be making a comeback because we always do the opposite of what our parents did. And now there's a lot of parents, well, that just don't have kids. That sentence doesn't make a lot of sense on the surface. But I think Japan has always been a traditional and a cultural and a conservative place in that respect. And I think, I don't know, moving to the globalist thing is just going to decrease the population more. I think getting more people and getting back to the roots, Japan being Japan, I think is maybe a good idea to help make it better for families to raise kids. I think that there is a lot of, to have kids and to think about that and to tackle some of the issues to make it easier to have both. To have a lifestyle where you can do the things that you want to do, but also have kids and help the future of the country because without kids, there's no revenue for the social services that keep you afloat. It's Economics 101. So, we will see. But that's sort of, I'm glad, Jay, I'm glad you caught it, the live stream, welcome. And that's sort of my two cents on this, but feel free to agree and to disagree because I don't really care about which party you're from. I just, I think it's awesome to debate it and not get upset about it. I'm old enough where I remember where we didn't unfriend people who didn't think differently from us. U.S. lefties and righties and the media extremists, people's beliefs are somewhat in the middle. 1000% Erica. Also, when I lived in France, talking about politics was a national sport, so it's fine to share. It's all relative. It is, but the problem is, I think when people come here, you're either left or you're right and it's a tribe. When you go abroad, I think maybe France is different, but you are a representative or an ambassador of the country from which you come from. When you bash your own country, that's not how the majority of Japanese see it. You see it from a negative point of view. The vast majority of Japanese see America as a positive place, and you are somebody from America saying how bad it is. That makes you look bad. That is not good for your reputation, in particular publicly on social media. That makes you look bad. So, I thought that when Lady Gaga did it, that's fine because if you're American, you say, okay, that's her opinion. In Japan, it makes her look petty and it makes her look bad. And the results from that were, an optimistic look at it is that it was mixed. You didn't need to talk about American politics at a concert in Tokyo. I use it as an example. I don't really listen to Lady Gaga's music. I'm not a huge fan of hers, but I'm grateful that she comes to Japan. I think she doesn't really understand Japanese culture too much if she had to make political statements to a 99% Japanese audience that probably couldn't understand what the heck she was saying. I'm not sure who that was for. But my advice to you is don't get political when you are a resident abroad. Be a representative of the country and understand that the politics of your country changes every four to eight years. Go back to George Washington and look at that map of the presidents. It always swings left and right. But if your opinion is I love America today and I hate America tomorrow and I love America today and the next day and I hate America the next day, who the heck are you? What's your core? You're America first, I think. You love America all the time. You can be critical of it, but you can't have a bad vibe about it. You know what I mean? Because it changes. The winds are always changing. Probably the next election we'll have another president and it'll be a little bit different. It'll be somebody from a different party, maybe. I don't know. Time will tell. But this is the way that things have always worked in the United States. It goes back and forth and back and forth. And there's balance and equilibrium. And I think that it's really important for you guys to understand that as we get sometimes too divided.

01:19:15 John Daub: So just to end this now, we're going over for an hour here. The elections will be finished in about 72 hours. And I don't vote, but my wife will. If not, she already did. I don't ask her who she voted for. I don't really care too much. But my feeling is that Takeichi-san will win because she's a consensus leader right now. She's still quite popular. People are concerned and upset. But there's no trust in anybody else to make the changes. And I believe she's going to win a consensus and a mandate at a time where we're right before some turbulence, it feels like. So that puts Japan probably in a much better position to deal with it. Thank you. Whether you agree with it or not. Jared, well said. Aloha. Thank you, Jared. I hope to catch up with you when you're here again too. This is like the only time I get to talk with you, Jared. Unless you're here. Just a couple of notes. I will be running the Tokyo Marathon on March 1st, 2026. You'll see me on the course. We have got a Discord server group where we are coordinating. So you'll be able to find out where I am on the course. But if you are coming, I'd love to hear from you. And maybe collaborate with you so that we can tell the story of the Tokyo Marathon. So I think I have about four or five people that have contacted me so far. So I appreciate that. I'm looking forward to it. I'm training. Got a big run coming up soon. And do I have it with me here? I've got this month's postcard for the Postcard Club. It's the... One of my new favorite strawberries is the Bijin Hime by Okuda-san. Okuda-san invested in this strawberry brand himself, which is crazy. Not a prefectural or government thing. He made this strawberry. It's the biggest, juiciest, most amazing strawberry, although the Amarin of Saitama might be a consideration. This is a really good strawberry. So I'm making an episode on it right now. And this is this month's postcard with me and Okuda-san, the Steve Jobs of strawberries, I like to think of it. But that's the postcard for this month. This strawberry is really good. It lingers. That's why I think it's so successful. Not just the size. That strawberry lingers on your palate for a long time. So it's quite an extraordinary thing to try. You can get... They're not that expensive. You can get normal sized ones for, I don't know, like 2,000 yen for... It was like $15 for a small box of them. But the larger sized ones are about $75 for one. And they have a... He always has a Tokucho, like a super sized one. And those usually go for... Those usually go for about $350 for one. So I'm going... He's now... I love to make friends with the people that I work with and talk to. So he's like a friend of mine now. He's such a great guy. I'm in contact with him and he told me, come back on the 20th. So I'm going to go there on the 20th and go meet him. And then film his strawberry. It's a little bit out of the way. And get you that story. But he's a super nice guy. Japanese media loves to tell this story every year too. So I'm just kind of telling it as well. So that's this month's postcard. I hope that you guys like that. I'm sending it out in a couple of days. So if you did sign up to the postcard club, do it now in the next couple of days and I'll send it out right away. I wish I could send it from Gifu, but it wouldn't go out until the 20th. I got to get these out ASAP to get to you by the end of the month. So yeah, they're going out on the 10th. From Tokyo Station, which is maybe the fastest route to get to you. Alright guys, it'll have the Tokyo postmark on the stamp as well. And I'll try to find a really good stamp for this as well. For the back. I like the details. I like the details. Alright guys, take care. I'll see you in another episode as we talk about something maybe a little bit less controversial. Elections usually are somewhat controversial. But I think I did it in a way that was quite balanced. Neither left, no right. Just kind of telling it how the media and the polls from the left and the right and the center here in Japan. Japan's left and Japan's right is not extreme like it is in the United States, okay? They're all like bunched up in the middle, sort of. But in the end, yeah. We'll talk about it. Because it does change the direction of Japan each time one of these elections are held. Take care guys. It's great to spend an afternoon with you. Matane.