Peter Landers

In reality, we say “menu item,” “dish,” “offering” etc.

“Menu” confusion: In Japanese and apparently Korean, the borrowed English word can mean “an item on the menu,” “a dish offered by a restaurant.” I doubt one in 100 Japanese would imagine it doesn’t have that meaning in American English. Encountered this issue twice today.

China Used to Be a Cash Cow for Western Companies. Now It’s a Test Lab. Competition has pushed some brands to adapt to Chinese taste and introduce lower prices—and use the country as an innovation hub.

Intense competition pushes some brands to adapt to Chinese tastes and introduce lower prices—and use the country as an innovation hub to learn from.

At the 1885 house of spice merchant Tan Yeok Nee, newly restored and open to the public in Singapore. This carp serves as a gutter on a rainy day.

National Orchid Garden, Singapore

Corporate jargon peeve of the day -- why would a company talk about increasing DPS? Of course the dividend is per share. You could just say "increase the dividend."

「高市自民」へ急旋回　維新の「悲願」へ水面下で交渉、連立協議へ：朝日新聞 自公の連立解消からわずか5日。自民党と日本維新の会の党首会談で、連立協議を16日から開始することが決まり、事態が急展開した。政権維持と政策実現で利害が一致した形だ。　党首会談は自民側の呼びかけで開か…

Not a perfect analogy by any means, but Ishin could turn into a kind of Japanese CSU to the LDP’s CDU, with Osaka substituting for Bavaria.
digital.asahi.com/articles/AST...

Four Things to Know About Beijing’s Rare-Earths Bombshell Ahead of a potential meeting between President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Beijing dropped a bombshell: China was further restricting access to the indispensable tech materials.

Our explainer: www.wsj.com/world/asia/f...

President Trump on Truth Social said China announced it would "impose large scale Export Controls on virtually every product they make, and some not even made by them." China said Sunday it is "confident that the impact will be very limited." That discrepancy will have to be sorted out somehow.

Annex 1, Part II, section I, sub-section 4 says, "Parts, components or assemblies that contain any of the above materials." Does that mean any product, even a car, that contains some rare earths is subject to export controls? Or is it limited to parts or collections of rare-earth materials?

What, you may ask, is in Annex 1? Here are the key sections:

Here is the key provision (translation by ChatGPT).

It might be a moot point by now, but the Chinese rare-earth export restrictions released last week are ambiguous about what they cover, so far as I can tell. Let's take a look.

【そもそも解説】ノーベル賞の北川さんの研究「多孔性金属錯体」とは：朝日新聞 今年のノーベル化学賞に、京都大の北川進特別教授が選ばれた。北川さんの業績に、「多孔性金属錯体の開発への貢献」がある。一体どんな研究なのか。　Q　多孔性金属錯体って何？　A　内部に無数の小さな穴が規則…

Japanese media are great at doing prep copy. Here's an Asahi Q&A on Susumu Kitagawa's research, published within minutes of the Nobel announcement. digital.asahi.com/articles/AST...

What Nobel Prizes Say About Japan The awarding of the Nobel Prize for chemistry to Akira Suzuki and Ei-ichi Negishi, alongside co-winner Richard Heck of the U.S., brings to 10 the number of Japanese scientists to win Nobels since 2000...

Further: www.wsj.com/articles/BL-...

The former imperial universities have always punched way above their weight relative to their virtually nonexistent international name recognition (except Todai) and terrible pay for the professors. I’m referring to Hokkaido, Tohoku, Nagoya, Osaka, Kyoto and Kyushu universities.

Takaichi: “I will throw out work-life balance. Work, work, work, work.”

Sanae Takaichi wins LDP vote. Likely next prime minister

Is it a policy “win” if the government rather than the private sector captures the paper gains from surging equity values? Ever since the BOJ’s ETF decision I’ve been going in circles trying to figure that out.

Clear writing with a clear point is unfortunately not always the rule at Nikkei so props to the veteran Ōishi.

競争と協調のさじ加減 - 日本経済新聞 政治記者になって初めての自民党総裁選は1987年にあった。本社にいて現場の記者の電話を受け「何時何分　誰と誰が会う」という図をつくった。いまでいうタイムラインを作成しただけなので経験したというのもおこがましいが、総裁選の話題になると、このときのことを思い出す。厳密には中曽根康弘首相の総裁任期は前年に満了していたのだが、このときは総裁選がなかった。衆参同日選を勝利に導いた功績を考慮し、当時の党則

Itaru Ōishi defends the Japanese practice of trying to avoid shikori (bad feelings) after an election. www.nikkei.com/article/DGKK...

Opinion | These editor’s notes are poison. I learned from every drop. Working with Starling Lawrence, who died last month, was a bracing course in a vanishing art.

How one editor did it:
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Not qualified to say much about the Beijing parade, but if you ask clarinets that have been out in the heat for hours to do a high C to D trill with RH key, you’re asking for intonation problems. And that’s what they got. Also noteworthy that they didn’t standardize the ligatures.

Taipei metro goes 100 times farther than NY subway before a breakdown, on average.
(Source: Singapore Land Transit Authority cited in Straits Times)

No surprise if you’re Chinese, perhaps. I found the film dreadful—like watching someone play a maddening videogame—and walked out halfway through. But folks told me that if you know Chinese language, culture and folklore, it’s a lot more entertaining.

Marathon Petroleum to Sell Gas-Station Chain to 7-Eleven Owners for $21 Billion Fuel maker Marathon Petroleum agreed to sell its gas stations to the owners of the 7-Eleven convenience-store chain for $21 billion in the largest U.S. energy-related deal of the year.

Today’s Connections puzzle (spoiler) hinges on people knowing that 7-Eleven is a place to fill up the gas tank. It is, but largely because of a relatively recent deal. Another reason to read a quality business publication www.wsj.com/articles/mar...

A Local Ice-Cream Chain Shows What American Brands Are Doing Wrong in China During economic doldrums, products don’t necessarily have to be cheap, but they need to show value.

I wrote about a $4 cup of gelato in Beijing, and what it says about doing business in China's deflationary era. (Also served as hand model for the pic, in the absence of a professional).

www.wsj.com/business/ret...

Higuchi Ichiyo’s 1895-96 novella Takekurabe, translated by Robert Lyons Danly as “Child’s Play,” is set in Yoshiwara and captures some of those contradictions.

It seems the district’s original promoters themselves stressed the culture angle to soften criticism, and the gov’t then was happy to play along.

吉原遊廓、増す「文化発信地」の側面　「性の尊厳見失わせないか」：朝日新聞 近年、江戸時代の「吉原」に代表される遊廓（ゆうかく）（遊郭）文化への関心が高い。テレビドラマやアニメ、漫画、展覧会などを通して「先進的な文化の発信地」という印象が流布している。だが、日本近世史の専門…

It’s become fashionable to celebrate the Edo- and prewar-era brothel district Yoshiwara as a hub of cultural expression—a kind of TikTok before its time—but don’t forget the human trafficking and sexual violence that made Yoshiwara possible, says a scholar.
digital.asahi.com/articles/AST...