カテゴリー: 気になるニュース

こんにちは😊

今日はThe Japan Timesより「Drawing on Seattle startup revolution, Fukuoka angling to be entrepreneur hub」という記事の

ご紹介です。

福岡市のスタートアップ企業のこと、福岡市が日本人だけでなく、外国人にとっても起業する街として

いかに魅力的かということなど書かれていますので是非読んでみてくださいね。

ますます活気を増し、グローバル化が進む福岡。ワクワクしますね。

 

Drawing on Seattle startup revolution, Fukuoka angling to be entrepreneur hub

BY YOSHIAKI NOHARA
BLOOMBERG

APR 7, 2017

From the fifth-floor office of his internet startup, Kazz Watabe can see the sea bass jump in the bay as he works on his fishing website to the sound of jazz and the waves washing on the beach below.

It’s a scene that could be from any of the seaside startup hubs developing around the world — Seattle, Tel Aviv, Barcelona, Sydney — but Watabe’s Umeebe Inc. is in aging Japan, far from Tokyo, in the western port of Fukuoka.

“It’s not a bad idea to build your business after thinking first about what kind of environment you want to be in,” said Watabe, 30, who moved to the city in late 2013 from Tokyo to develop smartphone apps and software that help anglers find fish and share pictures of their catch.

 

Fukuoka is the fastest-growing major city in Japan outside of the capital, which has been steadily draining talent and workers from the rest of the country for decades. This ancient port, hemmed in by mountains and as close to Shanghai as it is to Tokyo, is bucking that trend, drawing entrepreneurs like Watabe from Japan and abroad.

Soichiro Takashima, elected the youngest mayor in the city’s history in 2010, is leveraging its status as a national strategic special zone, cutting red tape and introducing incentives like Japan’s first “Startup Visa,” which gives entrepreneurs a six-month exemption from the investment and hiring requirements of a business visa.

“We want to give it a try before anyone else,” said Takashima, 42. “Others will come and see how we do it. That’s the fastest way to change Japan.”

 

Asian gateway

The parallel with Seattle isn’t just geographic. Takashima visited the U.S. West Coast city in 2011 and said he was inspired to create an Asian equivalent in Japan.

Key to Fukuoka’s ambition to become an Asian gateway is its location. At the airport, in the heart of the city, planes line up to fly to destinations like Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan. More than 800 million people live within a three-hour flight of Fukuoka.

Scrolling signs in Japanese, English, Korean and Chinese guide visitors in the subway, which takes less than 10 minutes to reach the main railway station downtown from the airport.

“It’s pretty hard to beat this location,” said Noritaka Ochiai, chief executive officer of the Fukuoka unit of Line Corp., the Japanese subsidiary of the South Korean company that runs Japan’s top smartphone messaging app, in his office next to the station.

Line Fukuoka Corp. has added more than 600 jobs since opening in November 2013. Women make up half of its workers and 30 percent of management roles. About half of its engineers are foreigners.

Lin Koji, a 35-year-old Taiwanese engineer at Line, chose Fukuoka over Tokyo in search of a better quality of life and because it’s a short flight to his home country.

 

The city’s ¥7.2 trillion economy is about 7 percent the size of Tokyo’s and average office rents are 50 percent cheaper. While the capital sits in the middle of a conurbation of more than 35 million people, Fukuoka’s residents are a short drive from the beach or the mountains.

“I wanted to change the environment and challenge myself,” said Lin, a father of two. “Fukuoka was the right size.”

 

City for risk-takers

Encouraging risk has made Fukuoka a make-or-break city. It has the highest ratio of new business starts among Japan’s 21 biggest cities and the second-highest rate of ventures closing, according to the Fukuoka Asian Urban Research Center. Nine out of every 10 jobs are in services, compared with 71 percent nationwide.

Boston-based financial services company State Street Corp. opened an operational center, which now has about 130 people from some 20 countries, in Fukuoka after the tsunami and nuclear disaster following the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011.

“Keeping us only in Tokyo came with a number of risks,” said Richard Fogarty, head of State Street Global Services in Japan. He said the biggest factor in choosing Fukuoka was the large pool of college graduates.

The inflows have helped support Fukuoka’s real estate market while other cities are hollowing out. The office vacancy rate in Fukuoka has fallen to 4.3 percent, from about 15 percent in 2009, according to Miki Shoji Co.

Fukuoka REIT Corp., listed in 2005 as the first region-specific real estate investment trust, has more than doubled its assets under management to about ¥173 billion.

“Real estate is a very local business and being here gives us greater advantage in the speed, quality and quantity of information,” said Takafumi Fujita, a manager at Fukuoka Realty Co., the asset manager of Fukuoka REIT. “Population growth energizes the city.”

Ringed by mountains and 200 km across the Korea Strait from South Korea’s Busan port — a three-hour trip on the Beetle jet-propelled hydrofoil — Fukuoka’s development has been forged as much by geography as planning.

The bowl of hills created a compact, commercial hub at the mouth of the snaking Naka River, with a broad lagoon that hosts one of Japan’s largest passenger ports.

The city’s first master plan in 1961 aimed to build an industrial economy to join the factory boom that was sweeping the country. But it lost out to Kitakyushu, an hour’s drive to the northeast, where steel and automakers built mills and factories on the wide estuary of Dokai Bay. Now the tables are turned. Fukuoka added about 75,000 people in the five years that ended in 2015, the most outside Tokyo, with the number of foreign residents rising by 22 percent. Kitakyushu lost more than 15,000 people, the most among Japan’s municipalities except for towns evacuated due to the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Fukuoka, whose samurai held off Kublai Khan’s invading Mongol army in the 13th century, was picked as a national strategic special zone for jobs and business creation. Kitakyushu was selected for elderly care.

“When young people do something, they have to start with niche, small things,” said Kozo Yamamoto, 68, minister of regulatory reforms and regional revitalization. “Fukuoka is outperforming in that sense.”

 

Race against time

Fukuoka faces a race against time to make the new economic model sustainable. The pool of youth from surrounding areas is dwindling and the city’s population is forecast to peak around 2035 at about 1.6 million.

While Takashima successfully lobbied the central government to cut corporate income tax for Fukuoka startups, he’s aware that Japan’s demographic clock means that government revenue will inevitably decline as the workforce shrinks.

“Using money as an incentive is outdated, not cool and has no future,” Takashima said. “Tax revenue will fall. It’s more important to encourage a business-friendly environment with deregulation.”

The backbone of Fukuoka’s push to diversify the new-technology sector is Kyushu University, one of the most famous in the country and one of 13 chosen to be a gateway for more overseas students. Last year, Kyushu had over 2,000 foreign students with major research areas in medical sciences, engineering and information technology.

A member of the university’s startup club is Kazutaka Okuda, a 22-year-old medical student who is starting two hospital-related businesses with money he made investing in stocks.

“I used to think I could only start a business in Tokyo, but now I’m thinking maybe I can do it in Fukuoka,” he said. “There’s no return where there’s no risk. Pick your fight and bet big.”

Across the road from the vast, striped labyrinth of the Canal City shopping mall is an old galleried building containing The Company, an incubator where almost 200 workers from some 80 firms share facilities. One of them is venture capitalist Shota Morozumi, who runs F Ventures.

A kilometer away across the Naka River, where office workers gather in the evenings to slurp the city’s famous ramen and spicy fish eggs among the restaurants and karaoke bars on Nakasu island, is the Tsutaya bookshop. Inside, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists meet at the government-backed Startup Cafe, which imparts free advice about everything from hiring to tax.

Among those to take advantage of the service were Yasmine Djoudi, 29, and Thomas Pouplin, 28, the city’s first recipients of the Startup Visa. They visited Fukuoka as graduate exchange students in 2014 from Bordeaux, France, and launched online job-matching company Ikkai Inc. in the city in 2016.

“We really fell in love with the city,” Djoudi said. “It really made sense to start the company here.”

こんにちは😊

今日はThe Washington PostよりExecutive Order（大統領令）についての記事のご紹介です。

先日、トランプ大統領が難民とイスラム圏7カ国からの入国を禁止する大統領令を出したことで、

全米の空港でデモが行われ、世界からも批判の声が上がっていますが

そもそもExecutive Orderって何？って思われている方もいらっしゃるんではないでしょうか。

下記The Washington Postの記事に、Executive Orderとは何なのか、

どのようになされるのか、またこれまでどのようなExecutive Orderが出されたかなど

説明されていますので、気になる方は是非読んでみて下さい。

英語レベルは(中)上級です！！チャレンジしてみてくださいね。

＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿

What is an executive order? And how do President Trump’s stack up?

By Aaron Blake, January 27

 

President Trump’s first week in office has been marked by two things: controversy (over things like his inaugural crowd size and voter fraud accusations), and executive orders.

The first is old hat for Trump. But for casual observers — and even some political junkies who are paying close attention to Trump’s policy moves — the second might be a little foreign. Trump signed two more executive orders on Friday, attempting to fulfill his promise of “extreme vetting” to keep potential “radical Islamic terrorists” out of the United States.

So what is an executive action or executive order? And how unusual is what Trump is doing with them?

Below, an explainer.

 

What is an executive order?

Basically, an executive order is an official statement from the president about how the federal agencies he oversees are to use their resources.

It falls under the broader umbrella of “executive actions,” which derive their power from Article II of the Constitution, and it is the most formal executive action. Executive actions also include presidential memorandums (which are a step below executive orders and basically outline the administration’s position on a policy issue), proclamations and directives.

An executive order is not the president creating new law or appropriating new money from the U.S. Treasury — both things that are the domain of Congress; it is the president instructing the government how it is to work within the parameters that are already set by Congress and the Constitution.

Trump’s executive order on building a border wall, for example, basically establishes building the wall as a federal priority and directs the Department of Homeland Security to use already-available funding to get the ball rolling on its construction.

The president’s executive orders are recorded in the Federal Register and are considered binding, but they are subject to legal review. (More on that next.)

 

How can a president do this?

In a word: carefully. Executive orders have often been the subject of controversy, with the opposition party accusing the president of overstepping his authority and acting like a dictator. Basically, they’re arguing that he’s changing the law rather than working within it.

This came up most recently after former president Barack Obama signed executive orders exempting the children of illegal immigrants and parents of legal children from deportation. They are known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals — or DACA — and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents — or DAPA.

The plans would shield about 4 million undocumented immigrants from deportation, but Republican governors and attorneys general have sued, alleging that Obama was essentially implementing immigration reform on his own — overstepping his authority. In June, the Supreme Court deadlocked, leaving a federal judge’s ruling blocking the programs in place.

And questions have already arisen about the legality of an early Trump executive order involving illegal immigration: his order denying federal funding to sanctuary cities. Expect a court fight there, too.

 

What is the history of executive orders?

They have been around for as long as we’ve had presidents, in fact — all the way back to George Washington.

Some of the most historically significant — whether for good or ill — include:

The Emancipation Proclamation (Abraham Lincoln)
The suspension of habeas corpus during the Civil War (Lincoln)
Sending federal troops to integrate Little Rock, Ark., schools (Dwight Eisenhower)
The internment of Japanese Americans (Franklin Roosevelt)
The desegregation of the Armed Forces (Harry Truman)

 

How do Trump’s number and scope of executive orders compare, historically?

While Trump’s first days in office have seemed to be full of executive actions, that’s not really all that uncommon. A new president often shows up with many directives for the agencies he takes oversight of.

Back in 2009, for example, Obama signed nine executive orders in his first 10 days and 16 total in January and February.

 

Trump is under that curve so far. Through his first seven days, he has signed six executive orders (along with eight memorandums and one proclamation).

Of course, many executive orders can be pretty mundane; the true measure is how far he goes with his orders. That’s a measurement that’s both subjective and subject to legal review. To judge for yourself, see the orders and memorandums for yourself here.

Trump’s executive orders before Friday — the border wall, sanctuary cities, beginning the repeal of Obamacare and expediting the Keystone XL pipeline — rankled Democrats who disagree with those policies. And that is even more the case with Friday’s executive orders, which Democrats have argued amount to a thinly veiled ban on Muslim immigrants and refugees.

Whether any of them overstep Trump’s authority or the spirit of the Constitution, though, is a debate that will occur in the coming weeks and months.

 

What are the political advantages and disadvantages of executive orders?

Executive actions are sometimes derogatorily referred to as “legislating by executive order” — basically, what a president does when Congress won’t comply with his wishes.

That’s not always the case — especially on more minor executive orders — but often, it is. Obama’s executive orders on immigration, for example, came after years of failed attempts at comprehensive immigration reform, and Obama cited those failures when pitching the need for executive action that even he once suggested was beyond his authority. And any president would rather have Congress’s stamp of approval on something controversial like that.

The political downside to executive orders, then, basically boils down to two things: 1) Getting struck down by the courts, and 2) Looking like you can’t pass your agenda through Congress and are acting as an all-powerful executive — in a system designed to limit absolute power.

The upside is, of course, that you can try to do this all by yourself, with just the stroke of a pen. (And then hope for the best.)

こんにちは😊

今日はBBC NEWSよりご紹介です。

少し前になりますが、イギリスBBC の「100 Women 2016」に

キャスターの小林麻央さんが選ばれましたね。

BBC の「100 Women 2016」は記事中にも書いてありますが、

毎年、世界でもっとも影響力がありインスピレーション（感動/勇気）を与えた女性100人が

選ばれるものです。

 

（ミシェル・オバマ前大統領夫人のスピーチの記事に続き、

影響力のある女性シリーズになりますが、ご了承くださいね。）

 

少し長めの記事ですが、麻央さんが書いているブログ「KOKORO」から

引用、英訳されている部分がほとんどですので、

麻央さんのことを少しでもご存知の方には読みやすい内容となっていると思います。

英単語や英表現も少し辞書を使えば、難しくないと思います。

英語で読んでも、とても心に響く、勇気づけられる内容ですので

是非是非読んでみてくださいね。

＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿

100 Women 2016: Kokoro – the cancer blog gripping Japan

BBC NEWS/23 November 2016

 

In Japan, people rarely talk about cancer. You usually only hear about someone’s battle with the disease when they either beat it or die from it, but 34-year-old newsreader Mao Kobayashi decided to break the mould with a blog – now the most popular in the country – about her illness and how it has changed her perspective on life.

 

Two years ago, when I was 32, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. My daughter was three, my son was only one. I thought: “It’ll be OK because I can go back to being how I was before once the cancer is treated and cured.” But it wasn’t that easy and I still have cancer in my body.

 

For a long time I hid the disease. Because my job involved appearing on TV I was scared about being associated with illness or showing people my weaknesses. I would try to avoid being seen on the way to hospital appointments and I stopped communicating with people so as not to be found out.

 

But while wanting to go back to who I was before, I was actually moving more and more towards the shadows, becoming far removed from the person I wanted to be. After living like that for 20 months, my palliative treatment doctor said something that changed my mind.
“Don’t hide behind cancer,” she said, and I realised what had happened. I was using it as an excuse not to live any more.

＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿

An unmentionable illness

The BBC’s Mariko Oi writes: Kobayashi (pictured above during her newscaster days) is not alone in Japan in wanting to hide having cancer. It’s a country where people are often reluctant to talk about any personal issues with others, let alone serious illness. When a tabloid newspaper reported about her illness as a scoop, many saw it as an intrusion of her privacy and it caused an outrage. Her husband, Kabuki star Ebizo Ichikawa, held a press conference and begged the media to let them carry on with their lives. So Kobayashi’s decision to start writing a blog three months later surprised many, including some in her family. But her regular updates about things such as how she is determined to attend her children’s kindergarten athletic festival have been inspiring not only those who are also fighting cancer but many others.

＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿

I had been blaming myself and thinking of myself as a “failure” for not being able to live as I had before. I was hiding behind my pain.
Until that time I had been obsessed with being involved in every part of domestic life because that was how my own mother always behaved. But as I got ill, I couldn’t do anything, let alone everything, and in the end, as I was hospitalised, I had to leave my children.

 

When I was forced to let go of this obsession to be the perfect mother – which used to torture me, body and soul – I realised it had not been worth all the sacrifice I had made.
My family – even though I couldn’t cook for them or drop them off and pick them up at the kindergarten – still accepted me, believed in me and loved me, just like they always had done, as a wife and a mother.

＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿

What is 100 women?

BBC 100 Women names 100 influential and inspirational women around the world every year. We create documentaries, features and interviews about their lives, giving more space for stories that put women at the centre.
We want YOU to get involved with your comments, views and ideas. You can find us on: Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, and YouTube.
Spread the word by sharing your favourite posts and your own stories using #100women

＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿

So I decided to step out into the sunlight and write a blog, called Kokoro, about my battle with cancer, and when I did that, many people empathised with me and prayed for me.
And they told me, through their comments, of their life experiences, how they faced and overcame their own hardships. It turned out that the world I was so scared of was full of warmth and love and I am now connected with more than one million readers.

 

If I died now, what would people think? “Poor thing, she was only 34”? “What a pity, leaving two young children”? I don’t want people to think of me like that, because my illness isn’t what defines my life.
My life has been rich and colourful – I’ve achieved dreams, sometimes clawed my way through, and I met the love of my life. I’ve been blessed with two precious children. My family has loved me and I’ve loved them.
So I’ve decided not to allow the time I’ve been given be overshadowed entirely by disease. I will be who I want to be.

Translation by Mariko Oi

こんにちは😊

今日はMichelle Obama大統領夫人のファーストレディーとしての最後のスピーチをご紹介したいと思います。

健全なライフスタイルや女子教育の推進、軍人家族の支援に力を入れてきたミシェル夫人、

初の黒人のファーストレディーとして、マイノリティーのロールモデル(模範となる人）として多大なる影響を与えてきました。

1月6日のホワイトハウスで教育関係者が集まる式典でのスピーチですが、日本人の私たちにとっても、とてもパワフルで勇気付けられるメッセージです。

以下、CHANNEL NEWSASIAの記事に力強いメッセージが抜粋されていますので是非読んでみて下さい。

またスピーチの動画も添付しております。動画ではオバマ夫人の感極まった様子が伺えます。

＊Photo from WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿

CHANNEL NEWSASIA

7 JAN 2017

Michelle Obama issues emotive parting message

WASHINGTON: Michelle Obama urged young Americans not to fear the future but fight for it, delivering an emotive farewell speech on Friday (Jan 6) in which she said being first lady was the greatest honour of her life.

After eight years in the White House, the 52-year-old will be leaving with her husband Barack Obama on Jan 20, when Donald Trump is sworn in as president.

“For all the young people in this room and those who are watching, know that this country belongs to you, to all of you, from every background and walk of life,” she said in the East Room of the White House.

“Being the first lady has been the greatest honour of my life,” she said at an event for School Counsellor of the Year. “I hope I have made you proud.”

As first lady, Obama focused her public role on encouraging healthy lifestyles, education for girls and in supporting military families.

But it was as a role model for minorities that the first African-American first lady wielded the most influence – most spectacularly by denouncing Donald Trump’s attacks on immigrants and Muslims during the White House race.

“If you or your parents are immigrants, know that you are part of a proud American tradition,” she told the audience.

“With a lot of hard work and a good education, anything is possible, including becoming president. That’s what the American dream is all about,” she said.

“Know that religious diversity is a great American tradition too,” Obama said. “Our glorious diversity is what makes us who we are.”

‘DON’T BE AFRAID’

During last year’s campaign Obama was a vociferous critic of Trump.

She made no direct reference to the president-elect Friday but the mogul’s victory framed her remarks.

“You cannot take your freedom for granted,” Obama said. “You have to do your part to protect and preserve those freedoms.”

“So don’t be afraid – you hear me young people? Don’t be afraid, be focused, be determined, be empowered … lead by example, with hope, never fear.”

In a speech delivered in New Hampshire in October, a few weeks before the election, the first lady had denounced, her voice trembling with emotion, what she called Trump’s “frightening” attitude towards women.

“It has shaken me to my core in a way that I couldn’t have predicted,” Obama said, in a takedown of the now president-elect that sent shockwaves around the country and beyond.

“This is not normal. This is not politics as usual. This is disgraceful. It is intolerable,” she charged.

In addition to her work combating obesity and assisting veterans’ families, over the last two years Obama has spoken more pointedly on questions of race and inequality in American society.

A recent Pew Research poll found that 72 per cent of Americans hold a favorable opinion of the first lady.

But despite her political superstar status and a reputation for style, wit and tact, Obama has repeatedly said she has no electoral ambitions herself.

“Michelle will never run for office,” Barack Obama reiterated in an interview several weeks ago. “She is as talented a person as I know. You can see the incredible resonance she has with the American people. But I joke that she’s too sensible to want to be in politics.”

 

＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿

こちらでスピーチ動画ご覧いただけます。（スピーチ抜粋/字幕付き）

【Michelle Obama’s final First Lady speech – BBC News 】

 

こんにちは😊

今日はBBC NEWSより「Why Japan celebrates Christmas with KFC/ なぜ日本はケンタッキーフライドチキンでクリスマスを祝うのか 」という記事のご紹介です。

グローバルカフェの講師たちも疑問に思っているようで、この話題はこの時期カフェで頻繁にあがっています。

記事中には「クリスマスにはKFC」という習慣がどうやって生まれたのか、またどうやってここまで定着したのかにも言及されていて、とても興味深いです。謎が解けました。

またクリスマスセットの売り上げが年間売り上げの３分の１を占めているというのも驚きですね。

KFCのマーケティングについて書かれていますが、マーケティング専門用語は使われていませんので、

初心者の方も辞書を使いながら是非挑戦してみてください。

＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿

Why Japan celebrates Christmas with KFC/ BBC NEWS

How a fast-food marketing campaign turned into a widespread Yuletide tradition for millions.

By Eric Barton
19 December 2016

 

Every Christmas, Ryohei Ando gathers his family together for a holiday tradition. Just like their father did as a child, his two children will reach deep into a red-and-white bucket and pick out the best piece of fried chicken they can find.

 

Yes, it’s a Merry KFC Christmas for the Ando family. It may seem odd anywhere outside Japan, but Ando’s family and millions of others would never let a Christmas go by without Kentucky Fried Chicken. Every Christmas season an estimated 3.6 million Japanese families treat themselves to fried chicken from the American fast-food chain, in what has become a nationwide tradition.
“My kids, they think it’s natural,” says Ando, a 40-year-old in the marketing department of a Tokyo sporting goods company.

 

While millions do celebrate Christmas with KFC, others in Japan treat it as a romantic holiday similar to Valentine’s Day, and couples mark the occasion with dinner in upscale restaurants. For other Japanese families, Christmas is acknowledged but not celebrated in any particular way.
But for those who do partake, it’s not as simple as walking in and ordering. December is a busy month for KFC in Japan – daily sales at some restaurants during the Christmas period can be 10 times their usual take. Getting the KFC special Christmas dinner often requires ordering it weeks in advance, and those who didn’t will wait in line, sometimes for hours.
The genesis of Japan’s KFC tradition is a tale of corporate promotion that any business heading to Japan ought to study, one that sounds almost like a holiday parable.

 

‘Kentucky for Christmas’

According to KFC Japan spokeswoman Motoichi Nakatani, it started thanks to Takeshi Okawara, the manager of the first KFC in the country. Shortly after it opened in 1970, Okawara woke up at midnight and jotted down an idea that came to him in a dream: a “party barrel” to be sold on Christmas.
Okawara dreamed up the idea after overhearing a couple of foreigners in his store talk about how they missed having turkey for Christmas, according to Nakatani. Okawara hoped a Christmas dinner of fried chicken could be a fine substitute, and so he began marketing his Party Barrel as a way to celebrate the holiday.

 

In 1974, KFC took the marketing plan national, calling it Kurisumasu ni wa Kentakkii, or Kentucky for Christmas. It took off quickly, and so did the Harvard-educated Okawara, who climbed through the company ranks and served as president and CEO of Kentucky Fried Chicken Japan from 1984 to 2002.

 

The Party Barrel for Christmas became almost immediately a national phenomenon, says Joonas Rokka, associate professor of marketing at Emlyon Business School in France. He has studied the KFC Christmas in Japan as a model promotions campaign.

 

“It filled a void,” Rokka says. “There was no tradition of Christmas in Japan, and so KFC came in and said, this is what you should do on Christmas.”
Advertisements for the company’s Christmas meals show happy Japanese families crowding around barrels of fried chicken. But it’s not just breasts and thighs – the meals have morphed into special family meal-sized boxes filled with chicken, cake, and wine. This year, the company is selling Kentucky Christmas dinner packages that range from a box of chicken for 3,780 yen, ($32), up to a “premium” whole-roasted chicken and sides for 5,800 yen. According to KFC, the packages account for about a third of the chain’s yearly sales in Japan.
It also helped that the stores dressed up the company mascot, the smiling white-haired Colonel Sanders, in Santa outfits. In a country that puts high value on its elders, the red satin-suited Sanders soon became a symbol of a holiday.

 

‘One of the strangest things I’ve heard’

This phenomenon is unique to Japan – and can seem strange to some outside the country. The idea is unlikely to take off in the home of KFC, says Kevin Gillespie, chef of two restaurants in Atlanta, Georgia.

 

“KFC on Christmas. It’s one of the strangest things I’ve heard,” Gillespie says. “If you brought a bucket of fried chicken to Christmas dinner, honestly, I’d be mad at you.”
It isn’t a crack on KFC’s products necessarily, says Gillespie. The general idea of bringing fast food to Christmas dinner “would be viewed as rude by most anyone,” Gillespie says.
In Japan, however, where around 1% of the population is Christian, Christmas isn’t an official holiday, Rokka says. So the idea that families are going to spend all day cooking a ham or turkey and side dishes just isn’t practical. Instead, they show up with a bucket of chicken.

 

“This is another sign of globalisation, where consumer rituals spread to other countries and often get translated in different ways,” Rokka says. “It’s not abnormal now to have an Ikea store everywhere in the world. This KFC for Christmas is just taking our consumerism and turning it into a holiday.”

 

An excuse for a reunion

Having done some travelling abroad, Ando knows that his country might is alone in celebrating Christmas with a bucket of KFC. But for him, he sees the tradition as more than just a company promotion.

 

For Ando, he’s still planning to get KFC for his kids this year. But he goes to a bakery for the Christmas cake. On Christmas night, the family will gather around the KFC bucket, just as Ando once did as a child, and just as his children will do in another generation.

 

“It’s kind of a symbol of family reunion,” Ando says. “It’s not about the chicken. It’s about getting the family together, and then there just happens to be chicken as part of it.”

 

Photo from © BrokenSphere / Wikimedia Commons

こんにちは😊

イギリスEU離脱のニュースに続き、今回のUS大統領選挙の結果には驚きましたね。

アメリカ国内ではデモが行われたり、真偽は分かりませんがカリフォルニア州がアメリカから独立する話まで出てますね。

トランプ氏の政治家としての手腕や政策がまだまだ未知なので、とても不安です。

外交政策もとても気になりますよね。

日本人にとっては日米同盟、日米安全保障条約、TPPなど気になる点は多数です。

他にも中東政策や気候変動の問題に対する姿勢など挙げだすとキリがないですよね。

以下 The Japan Times の記事はアジア政策や日本への影響について書かれています（記事を読んでも未知は解決しませんが）

是非読んでみてください。

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Trump and his policy in Asia remain an unknown for Japan

9 Nov, 2016

The victory of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump invoked memories of June’s Brexit vote, a reminder that the unexpected can always happen.

For Japan, a Trump presidency could mean more headaches, as he is new to politics, to say nothing of diplomatic expertise. In essence, the billionaire businessman represents uncharted waters, a situation that could undermine the Japan-U.S. alliance and upend regional security in Asia.

“It’s a complete mystery to me what his Asia policy is going to be. He lacks experience, he does not understand the subtlety and complexity of the regional picture,” said Andrew Nathan, professor of political science at Columbia University.

It is unclear to what degree Trump understands the importance and role of his nation’s alliances. Cooperating and coordinating with Asian nations is crucial in dealing with China’s increasing assertiveness in the South and East China seas.

U.S. President Barack Obama’s Asia pivot policy was a priority in his administration, with Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton being a chief architect of the strategy to recommit the U.S. to the region to ensure stability. For his part, Trump has not expressed clearly what his policy will be in Asia other than to accuse China of stealing U.S. jobs and manipulating its currency.

For Japan, the biggest concern is how Trump will deal with the U.S. commitment. Clinton was the first secretary of state to announce that Article 5 of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty covers the Senkaku Islands, administered by Japan but claimed by China and Taiwan. The gesture was echoed by Obama.

“It’s unclear if Trump will repeat that line,” said Fumiaki Kubo, a professor of American politics at the University of Tokyo. “The U.S. protested China’s militarization of islands in the South China Sea and conducted freedom of navigation operations in the area, but it is unclear if the U.S. will continue to do so under Trump.”

The real estate mogul also antagonized the U.S. Asian allies Japan and South Korea by accusing them of freeloading under the nuclear umbrella provided by the U.S. He also said U.S. allies have to pay more for the protection of U.S. forces. Japan’s expenditures for the so-called sympathy budget for the U.S. military hit ¥192 billion in 2016 — the highest in seven years.

It is unclear if Trump will really ask Japan to pay more and withdraw U.S. military forces if it does not.

But Ryo Sahashi, associate professor of international politics at Kanagawa University, warned that Trump could potentially ask each of its allies to take more responsibility and defend itself by itself.

“It could mean upgrading of the military capability and a slight increase in the defense budget is not enough,” said Sahashi.

The only thing for sure is that the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement is almost dead under President Trump, who used anti-globalization rhetoric to attract disgruntled and dissatisfied voters.

While Obama is expected to make a last-ditch plea for Congress to ratify the 12-nation trade deal during the lame-duck session, he is facing staunch opposition from a Republican majority.

“If TPP does not happen, the U.S. will lose credibility among its allies and partners in Asia,” said Sahashi.

While the election results were surprising to many members of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government, Abe promptly congratulated the former TV celebrity, and lauded him, saying he has not only succeeded in business with his extraordinary talents, and contributed to the U.S. economy, but now he is trying to lead the country itself.

“I am looking forward to working with the president-elect closely to strengthen the U.S.-Japan alliance as well as to take the chief responsibility to secure the peace and prosperity of the Asia Pacific region,” said Abe in his congratulatory statement.

Despite Abe’s words, Tokyo has not invested much in establishing a connection with the Trump camp, while it has maintained strong ties with Clinton, who met with Abe in September in New York while he was attending the United Nations General Assembly.

The only aid of Trump who visited Japan recently was Michael Flynn, who serves as Trump’s military adviser. In order to fill the gap, Tokyo on Wednesday hastily announced that it will dispatch Katsuyuki Kawai, special advisor to Abe, to the U.S. next week to meet the Trump camp.

こんにちは😊

今日はThe Japan TimesのLIFEのコーナーより、豚骨ラーメンに関する記事です。

福岡人としては見逃せない記事ですね。

世界の住みやすい街の7位にランクした福岡は、美味しい食べ物で有名ですが、

豚骨ラーメンのことを語らずして福岡は語れません。

しかしながら、ラーメンを知らない人に豚骨ラーメンの説明を英語でするのはなかなか難しいです。

スープのことや替玉や屋台のことなど、ときどきカフェでも話題に上がっていますが

なかなか説明が難しいですね。

またラーメンの発祥の話は福岡の人にも面白く読んで頂けると思います。

以下、参考になる表現がたくさん含まれていますので是非参考にしてみてくださいね。

 

＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿

Hakata, Nagahama, Kurume: A guide to Fukuoka’s best ramen styles

16 Sep 2016

Fukuoka was named the world’s seventh most-livable city by Monocle magazine this year for its eco- and business friendly initiatives — but its status as a ramen mecca couldn’t have hurt. Within Japan, Fukuoka is known, perhaps more than anything else, for tonkotsu (pork bone) ramen, thanks in part to local ramen giants Ippudo and Ichiran. Both of these mega-chains make Hakata-style ramen: tonkotsu broth cooked at a rolling boil and served with thin, sturdy noodles. Thanks largely to the success of Ippudo and Ichiran, this basic style — named for the Hakata neighborhood where it was born — has become synonymous with tonkotsu ramen itself. Hakata ramen may loom large in Fukuoka, but other local styles still shine in its shadow.

While the smell of pork-bone broth being made is not exactly mouthwatering, it contains a promise of lip-smacking results. A short walk from Hakata Station, the acrid stench of boiling bones can be detected long before Hakata Issou is in sight. Open since 2012, Hakata Issou (www.hakata-issou.com) has made its mark on Fukuoka with what it dubs “Neo-Hakata” ramen. The rich and slightly sour broth is handmade, resulting in a delicate froth that fans call “tonkotsu cappuccino.” Each bowl is topped with locally sourced roast pork, scallions, nori and wood ear mushrooms.

The ramen world is full of apocryphal tales. The story of another local style, Nagahama, dates to 1953 when a fish factory relocated to Fukuoka’s Nagahama district. Its workers wanted a quick meal with no fuss, and so an enterprising ramen chef obliged by cutting ultra-thin noodles that could cook in an instant. Die-hard Nagahama ramen fans order their noodles kona-otoshi: dipped in boiling water only long enough to remove the excess flour before being dropped into a bowl of steaming tonkotsu broth.

Ramen lore also has it that kaedama, the practice of ordering extra noodles, originated with Nagahama ramen, as noodles were served in small batches to keep them from getting too soggy. The best place to try Nagahama ramen is at one of Fukuoka’s characteristic yatai street stalls — try the ever-dependable Yamachan (1 Nakasu, Hakata-ku, Fukuoka; open 6 p.m.-2:30 a.m.), which operates yatai in Tenjin and Nakasu, as well as a brick and mortar shop in nearby Nagahama. It’s the local practice to polish off an evening of drinking with a bowl of noodles. Yatai are shuttered during the day, but open late into the night.

Before Nagahama-style ramen there was Kurume-style, which — according to another apocryphal tale — was developed when chef Miyamoto Tokio accidentally over-boiled his tonkotsu broth in 1947. The resulting brew was so flavorful that, Kurume-style ramen shops still recycle their old broth by pouring the remainder of each day’s batch into the next. In this way, Kurume broth retains its richness and doesn’t require the addition of extra fat. Hakata and Nagahama styles, by contrast, pour out old broth, start a new batch each day, and add pork fat for richness.

Honda Shoten offers quintessential Kurume ramen at 15 locations around Fukuoka Prefecture, and is currently featured at Ramen Stadium, a collection of eight ramen kitchens in Fukuoka’s Canal City (www.canalcity.co.jp). As these change regularly to showcase different ramen shops from across Japan, Ramen Stadium is an ideal introduction to the many varieties of the country’s most inscrutable noodle.