Japan Rising

This blog gets its name from my 17 years living and working in Japan. I still miss being there and the events of last week only reinforce those feelings. It's not every day a region gets hit with a M9 earthquake and a major tsunami after all.

I used to joke that since I was in San Francisco area during the Loma Prieta quake that Tokyo was fine so long as I lived there. . .on the theory that lightening wouldn't strike me twice. It seems I wasn't too far off the mark!

But this isn't about me. It's about the amazing resilience of the Japanese people,recounted in so many stories of random acts of kindness. There is much to be proud of but here are a few:

1) The "Fukushima 50" who are risking their own lives to stave off a worst-case meltdown scenario at the damaged nuclear reactors.
2) Edano-san, the Chief Cabinet Secretary, who has been on TV non-stop throughout given the best updates possible. Equally inspiring are the many messages of encouragement he is getting from ordinary Japanese.
3) My own colleagues of my company's office in Japan who have gone the distance to help keep our business running, despite their own fears and concerns for friends and family.
4) The countless stories of people getting on with their lives in the face of unimaginable challenges.
5) The humanitarian efforts of the US military who are doing whatever they can to help.
6) The reasoned and reasonable response of the US Embassy in Tokyo and the US government generally. Even President Obama's speech about Japan was good (yes - credit where it is due).
7) The work of thousands of others to restore basic services to many more.

Japan is a singularly remarkable place. This event is bringing out the best in the people there. It's also events like these where you see first hand who can handle leadership and who can't. This reminds me somewhat of the SARS event in Asia, or even the Red-Shirt protestors in Bangkok last year. All too often senior managers, well-paid and with leadership titles, fail to lead. True leadership can be seen in those who embrace the problem as opposed to those who run away. Unfortunately I saw again senior managers who should know better basically abandoning their posts, leaving it to others to pick up the slack.

I for one volunteered to go to Tokyo. Quite frankly I wish I had been there. Indeed I was there on holiday less than 2 weeks before the earthquake! What I can say is that the technology infrastructure at my current and former companies held up well. That's so important given the critical nature of the financial industry to ensure liquidity and access to money in times of crisis. Especially after the recent financial crises, many say that banking is just a bunch of fat cats living off the money of others. However it is at times like these that I am proud of the financial industry and my work in it.

I could go on - but for now let me just say that I hope the best for everyone in Japan, and especially those most affected. There are true heroes there.

Like a phoenix reborn from the ashes, I'm sure Japan will emerge even stronger. There is a more to the "land of the rising sun" than it's geographic location.

This is truly Japan rising.

Money Meet Mouth

Although I am in Madison, I didn't go down to the state capitol to watch the protestors.

Instead, I made a fat donation to the Wisconsin Republican Party.

It was easy to do on-line.

Wisconsin. Seriously?

I haven't blogged much recently. What prompts me to update now? Here I am sitting in Japan's Narita airport having just left the Narita Express. The news screens on the train include just a handful of stories, but there it is: Madison, Wisconsin - my home town - in the news. Ditto the front page of the Japan times? And it is embarrassing.

Teachers fraudulently calling in sick to protest having to pay a bit closer to the industry average for pension and health insurance?

Doctors handing out medical notices without the benefit of the privacy and record-keeping required by law?

Protestors, many of them also public school teachers, comparing the just elected governor of the state with Hosni Mubarak?

State congress members hiding out? in Rockford? at the Clock Tower Inn?

Seriously?

I might have imagined that behavior in Illinois perhaps but Wisconsin?

Good thing I'm on my way to Madison now. I can't do much but lend the elected majority moral support and call out this silliness for what it is: An assault on the democratically elected will of the majority of Wisconsin voters.

Wisconsin is not Greece with snow.

Hang in their Governor Walker! The taxpayers are on your side. Sound government will prevail over thuggery.

On, Wisconsin.

Feeling Much Better

I've been in the USA for medical treatment and getting better each day. It's been an interesting experience. When I return to Hong Kong I'll be able to follow-up if some of the differences I wrote about earlier continue to be true. In the meantime, I found this very detailed Wikipedia link on US healthcare, with  references to all the relevant data points. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_in_the_United_States


As for economic matters, Mark Steyn has this exactly right (how the US could become Greece)

http://article.nationalreview.com/426405/when-responsibility-doesnt-pay/mark-steyn

But stories like this are still depressing. How hard is it to weatherize? This problem isn't unique to the US. Japan could do a lot more too. 

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home_journal/home_improvement/4347294.html 

But this is really depressing. Is it really the case that Obama doesn't understand car insurance? Aside from the pointlessness of comparing it to health care, Obama can't be that ignorant, or stupid, or both, on national television for all to see, can he? In Wisconsin we all learned the difference between collision and liability insurance in driver education before getting a driver's license. Was that not the case in Illinois? 

http://theblogprof.blogspot.com/2010/02/video-obama-doesnt-know-what-car.html

But maybe this is the real issue. Remember Joe the Plumber? 
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2010/02/mankiw-spreading.html
Here's the key quote from the above link:

Joe was an aspiring small business owner, and he asked then-Senator Obama about his proposal to raise taxes on high-income households. The candidate responded, in part, “It's not that I want to punish your success. I just want to make sure that everybody who is behind you, that they've got a chance at success, too…. I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.”

"spread the wealth around, it's good for everbody"

Not feeling as good now. 

Minneapolis St. Paul Airport Satisfaction Up from 20 to 2.

This article expresses surprise that MSP airport jumped so high in a JD Power survey.


I was only surprised that it was so low last year! Here's why. I've been traveling through MSP between Asia and hometown Wisconsin for the better part of 20 years. MSP has many advantages:


1) It can handle winter weather. It has enough plows, de-icers, and the like and I've never once been delayed (unlike ORD, Denver)
2) It is right-sized for the traffic. I've never been in a holding pattern coming into MSP (unlike JFK, DTW, ORD, SFO, LAX)
3) It is among the best US immigration and customs entry point. Speedy, efficient, even for int'l visitors. It took me 30 minutes from the door opening on the flight from Tokyo to connecting gate. A similar experience in DTW on a relatively slow day took 90 minutes. Don't even get me started about JFK or LAX!
4) The terminal connections are easy to navigate, shops are friendly, food is even OK. You can even get a nice shoe-shine from some of the best shoe-shiners in the business!
5) Drive up and parking are relatively easy.
6) It is full of friendly Minnesotans!
7) You can get a drink on Christmas day (unlike Detroit)


Perhaps check-in and TSE security could perhaps be a bit better,  but you can probably say that about any airport these days.


So maybe you are all to hard on yourselves! I don't think I've been just lucky each trip (I'm not that lucky!). More likely, the criteria JD Power uses in their survey are not the true indicators of quality. Additionally there is probably too much variance in the test sample year on year.


But if you want to aim higher don't let me stop you! Singapore Changi Airport is actually far superior with Hong Kong Chep Lap Kok airport not far behind.

All You Need to Know about Climate Change

Nice summary linked above. Putting aside "Climategate," which basically requires a do-over of the underlying data, computer analysis, and theoretical underpinnings of climate science before policy recommendations affecting the planet can be re-tabled, here are the key points:

Climate Changes. Short term trends don't trump the long term trends. We need to be prepared.

We are in a 400 year warming trend, with the most recent dip being the 1860's mini-ice age. Since the industrial revolution started about the same time, this is part of the confusion why the misinformed think human activity is causing warming.

Human activity accounts for less than 0.3% of all green house gases. About 1/3 of that is CO2, with the rest being gases like methane, and various nitrous oxides. Eliminating all of it would have no impact on the other 99.7%, which is naturally occurring.

The best available data suggests that atmosphere is at a lower level of CO2 today than historical norms.

Data also suggest that temperatures were 2C higher in the Medieval Warm Period, peaking in about the year 1200. This warming period was a golden age for many cultures - end of the European Dark Ages, Peak of Angkor Wat, Pre-Columbian Americas, Mongols (though you might not think that if you were Chinese to the south!) and on and on - I'd guess due to better crop yields around the world.

Of course, we shouldn't pump more pollutants into the atmosphere. Pollutants are inefficient waste. Clean coal is better than unclean coal. Nuclear Power is better than that, so long as you can deal with nuclear waste. Solar, Tidal, Geothermal, Hydro-electric, micro-power generation all all becoming better and lower cost with technology each day. Efficiency is also good for business.

Any of the above does not require any global treaties, Co2 carbon credits, cap and trade, UN committees, IPCC, nor even regulation on whether to use mercury-laden light bulbs vs. incandescent ones. Free market profit incentives, including your own utility bill, have done more to drive down emissions than any committee. Even better gas mileage cars (with all those electronics that make it possible that everyone is so worried about now) are driven mainly by consumers looking to economize - not government mandated fleet mileage requirements.

Human-caused global arming hysteria and fear mongering is completely unnecessary. Any attempt to impose change that take away individual freedoms due to such hysteria is morally reprehensible. Worse than carrying out the death penalty on someone who has an iron-clad DNA-based alibi.

2-degrees of Separation from Wasilla

I met a woman from Wasilla in, of all places, a coin laundry at the hotel I'm staying in. She knows Sarah Palin personally. Her comment? Sarah is the genuine article. She is highly respected as former mayor and for her work as governor by a significant majority in Alaska. No surprise really, but interesting to hear it from someone with first hand knowledge.