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Markets in everything, Japanese edition
The Otaku are at it again:
So the niches are always getting narrower. Maid cafes have been the rage for about four years now, and a true otaku would never be satisfied to go to any old one. There must be a fetish about the experience. Perhaps you'd like to put your head on the maid's lap and let her groom your ears. "Let me show you an extra-special level of nuttiness," Lewis says. He leads me to a shop called Candy Fruit, where a maid cafe once stood. It's now a shop selling glasses to two specific breeds of client: women who want glasses to wear with their maid uniforms. And men who want to buy their glasses from a woman in a maid's costume wearing glasses.
The entire article is interesting.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on June 3, 2008 at 01:45 PM in Travels | Permalink
Comments
The entire article is useless without accompanying photographs.
Posted by: ed bowlinger at Jun 3, 2008 5:10:37 PM
Wow. I can only think of two possible explanations here:
1. Bruce Wallace is a liar. I don't want to imply that, because he writes for a living and reputation is very important, and I know nothing of him besides this piece.
2. Japan is actually another planet, or perhaps another dimension.
In general I consider myself a little geeky; I like Star Wars way too much, and I know the words (and chords) to a heluva lot of Bob Dylan songs. I was even once fairly addicted to Starcraft, for crying out loud. I like Radiohead, and movies about superheroes. But this, this is just insane. Japan is insane.
Posted by: d.cous. at Jun 3, 2008 5:45:52 PM
d.cous,
Having lived briefly in Tokyo, the article is a rather artistic framing of reality. It somehow doesn't seem insane when you're in the midst of it all.
Posted by: Yonnie at Jun 3, 2008 8:23:46 PM
oy. Is it just me, or is there something very deeply wrong about this whole thing?
Posted by: Steve at Jun 4, 2008 12:54:14 AM
Btw, I went there today and the article seems to be quite true.
Posted by: Tyler Cowen at Jun 4, 2008 3:53:47 AM
I've been to a maid cafe in Kobe, and let me tell you, its ridiculous. Lots of poorly dressed Japanese geeks in there on their laptops, having super quiet maids wait on them. I speak Japanese pretty well but I couldn't understand
the waitress who was serving me and my friends, because she spoke so softly and used really polite language.
I asked her to "dumb it down" a bit for me and then I was able to order...but I didn't ask her to write my
name in ketchup on my omelet, which costs extra, nor was there an offer of anything beyond that, like the
article states.
Posted by: Erik at Jun 4, 2008 9:31:23 AM
a glorious four-block-wide stretch--just beyond the tracks--of about 200 drinking shacks in rows of two-story buildings. Most accommodate no more than half a dozen drinkers. ...One bar caters to 1960s British music. Another to Humphrey Bogart. There's one that celebrates pro wrestling. Jazz. French cinema. It's bar culture by otaku...
It's the Long Tail of Bars!
Posted by: Timothy at Jun 4, 2008 1:47:23 PM
Asia has been in the spotlight over the last couple of months as markets across the region rocket upwards. In fact, I would not be surprised to see a short-term setback; I suspect some investors are just waiting for an excuse to bank their profits. If that does happen I would probably consider it a buying opportunity because these markets have massive long-term growth potential.
This week, however, I will be focusing on one of the less glamorous Asian markets. When I first came into the industry, Japan was a very much a hot area. In fact the first two unit trusts I ever bought were Japan ones, and boy did they go up. This has been almost completely forgotten in recent years, perhaps because it has disappointed UK investors for such a long time.
The Japanese market peaked in 1989 with the Nikkei index sitting at almost 40,000. Today it is only around 17,000, so you can see that Japan has experienced a really long bear market. Since the late 1980s it has shown brief periods of recovery, most recently in 2004/5 when it rose very strongly.
However, 2006 was a disappointing year, particularly for small and medium-sized companies, which effectively fell more than 50 per cent.
That might put some people off, but I am always interested in areas which are deeply unloved, unwanted and unfashionable. Over the years, I've often found them to be the best places to look for the next great opportunity. Japan definitely fits the bill.
One fund that, in the words of its manager David Mitchinson, had an annus horribilis last year was JPMorgan Japan. I must hold up my hands and admit to recommending this fund in early 2006; my timing couldn't have been worse but I maintain that it is one of the best funds in the sector for the long term.
Mitchinson's strategy means that the fund tends to have significant investment in small and medium-sized companies, which resulted in the fund battling a strong headwind last year. Some of these companies fell by as much as 60 per cent, but what is truly remarkable is that in many cases there was no real reason for the fall.
Some stocks that had been valued at 17 times their earnings fell to such an extent that they were only valued at seven times their earnings, despite their earnings having actually increased! The market simply wasn't interested in them.Distressed investors have been switching to Japan's largest 30 companies in their droves recently, but Mitchinson believes that the management of those companies are often dull and lack dynamism.
The fund has a bias towards growth-orientated stocks and the manager is basically looking for companies that are cheap, but which he thinks are likely to beat earnings expectations. Today Mitchinson can find stocks that are cheaper than they have been for years, but with annual growth rates in excess of 25 per cent.
He has reacted to the problems that have hit the fund by being ruthless in his selling of poorly performing shares and letting the winners persist in the portfolio. One of Japan's best known companies is Nintendo, which has been a highly profitable holding for the fund due to the runaway success of its DS and Wii systems. Another company David Mitchinson likes is Asics, a sports-shoe business, where new management led to renewed focus on the company's core business and the jettisoning of areas where they had no competitive advantage, such as golf clubs and ski-wear. Japan Tobacco is also in the portfolio as a great restructuring story; it bought Gallagher last year and now generates half its sales profit from overseas.
Japan is not known for being rich in natural resources, but Mitchinson had identified an attractive prospect in Inpex, Japan's largest pure oil and gas company. Another stock of which he has been a long term holder is Moshi Moshi Hotline, a leading call-centre operator that is expanding its market share in this growing sector.
Japan's economy doesn't look particularly exciting, but there is no doubt that many of the companies in this focused portfolio do look extremely cheap. Compared to other Asian investments this represents a fund and market that has been left behind in recent years and could be set to catch up.
I realise some of you might be sending for those men in white coats to take me away, but I really think Japan, and particularly the JPMorgan Japan Fund, is worth reconsidering.
Posted by: Emilly at Jun 2, 2009 12:22:01 AM
Meet the mizuko. In Japanese, a mizuko is a fetus that miscarries or is aborted. Meet Jizo. Jizo is a bodhisattva, or Buddhist saint, who vows to help mizukos get another chance at life. Jizo has other duties, but in the last few decades, since the advent of abortions on a large scale in Japan, his first is the care of unborn children.
More precisely, Jizo rescues the unborn from their sad status. Without his help, they won't be able to cross the mythical Sanzu River into the afterlife, from where they can work their way back to earth in a future incarnation. Most Jizo statues show him cradling a baby in his arms, with two others at his feet clinging to his robe.
Jizo meets the needs not only of the unborn but of their parents, especially mothers. According to journalist Peggy Orenstein, about half of Japanese women who abort go through a ritual known as mizuko kuyo, or "ritual of apology and remembrance." So do many who miscarry. Ms. Orenstein, a pro-choice Jew, was on assignment in Japan when she miscarried, and she herself sought out Jizo to deal with the harrowing sorrow that took-her by surprise.
Like some American women, some Japanese women who abort find themselves deeply troubled by their decision. What started out as a "regrettable necessity" turns into persistent, sometimes haunting remorse. The best way to deal with their guilt is mizuko kuyo.
The ritual may be elaborate and expensive, or simple and cheap. Often, the ritual begins with the purchase or rental of a stone-carved mizuko doll. The doll, which resembles a miniature monk, is dressed up as a baby, with bonnet and bib, usually red. It is mounted in a long line of other dolls at the local cemetery or temple, with a large statue of Jizo presiding.
According to Ms. Orenstein, "A woman may light a candle and say a prayer.... She mayleave a handwritten message of apology on a wooden tablet. She may make an offering of food, drink, flowers, incense or toys. The ritual may be a one-time act or it may be repeated monthly or annually,"
The women's prayers may be addressed to Jizo or the mizuko directly. Either way, the hope is that the mizuko will accept the would-be mother's apology for what she, regrettably, "had to do." Some Japanese women fear that a neglected mizuko can bring misfortune to the family it should have belonged to so the motivation behind the ceremony might not be completely altruistic.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Jizo temples are found all over Japan.
It will interest Catholic readers to know that the Japanese do not regard a mizuko as fully human. Mizuko literally means "water child." As Ms. Orenstein explains it, the Japanese traditionally have believed that "existence flowed into a being slowly, like liquid." In other words, fetuses are potential persons, not full persons. Consequently, abortion in Japan is not viewed with the same gravity as in Catholicism. It is certainly not considered murder. Nevertheless, to end the life of even a potential person is no small matter for many Japanese. Thus mizuko kuyo, the ritual of apology and remembrance.
Do Catholics have anything that compares to this Buddhist ritual? Does the church need a Catholic ritual for the unborn, especially for the aborted and their would-be mothers? Do some women who abort need a public ritual where they can acknowledge their guilt or sorrow and bring healing both to themselves and their unborn baby? Would such an acknowledgement bring spiritual comfort?
The successful Project Rachel retreats already provide comfort and healing for women, especially Catholic women, who feel grief after an abortion. And there is of course the sacrament of reconciliation, certainly the logical starting point for an afflicted conscience. But the Japanese remedy puts one's guilt on permanent public display, and In that it is unique.
Or almost so. The Oblates of St. Joseph, located In Santa Cruz, Calif., provide a ministry devoted to post-abortion and miscarriage sufferers. St. Joseph, Mary's husband and Jesus' father, plays the same role for Catholics that Jizo plays for Buddhists. A seated statue of Joseph holding a 6-month-old fetus is the centerpiece of the outdoor shrine located on the grounds of the order. On a low wall encircling the shrine, the names of aborted or miscarried children are inscribed on plaques. The Oblates Web site explains the symbolism: "Insofar as she [the mother] is able, she must exercise now the parental role she had denied, and for which her motherly heart aches.
"She chooses a name for her child and thereafter always refers to her child by its name.... This advances the process of spiritual healing."
The Japanese live in one of the most secular societies In the world, yet even they experience the aftershocks of abortion. Guilt over abortion is not a "Catholic thing." Neither are the remedies. Buddhist teaching has it that Jizo vowed out of compassion to postpone nirvana "until the hells are emptied." Is God's grace mediated to the Japanese through this somewhat Christ-like personality? Catholics will disagree over the question, but one thing is sure. As the pictures suggest, Jizo fulfills a widespread religious need for the Japanese unmet in any other way.
Posted by: Sam at Jun 2, 2009 12:24:48 AM
