Out of touch for a week

[Masao]

Just FYI: I have to make an emergency trip to the US on Tuesday. I'll probably have net access, but no email. In the unlikely case someone needs to contact me, PM me here.

[skyhawk223]

I hope it's work related and not personal.
See you back soon.

[Masao]

I'm back. It was personal, unfortunately. My old dad slipped on the ice and cracked his head. Didn't have a stroke, but did bruise his brain. Making a slow recovery.

Hey! It's been pretty quiet around here.

[skyhawk223]

Ouch! Where does he live?
How is he doing?

[Masao]

He's in Minnesota, which, as we all know, is just below the arctic circle! He'll be in the hospital for at least a month.

[Thomas P]

I had thought that it may have been a 'back home' thing. Very sorry to hear this and hope he gets well soon.

[skyhawk223]

Masao: might seem like a stupid question, but just out of curiousity, are you Japanese?

[Masao]

Thanks for the kind words.

Anyway, I'm actually half Japanese (dad) and half Chinese (mom) and all American! Born in NYC (US citizen, both by birth and fourth-generation on my mom's side) and raised in Minnesota. University and med school in St. Louis. I've been working in Japan for almost 10 years.

[Hito]

Sorry to hear about your pops Masao.
I'll send out some healing thoughts for him.

[Masao]

Thanks, Hito

[skyhawk223]

Interesting lineage. My wife is Chinese. Get to NYC at all?
Sounds like an interesting life you lead.
Is your dad doing better?

[Masao]

My wife is Japanese (a real one). I haven't been to NYC since spring break 1982. I heard it's changed a lot since then.

My life isn't very interesting, at least not now. As the Chinese curse goes, "may you live in interesting times."

My dad is making very rapid progress and will be discharged sometime next week (a month's stay was expected). He'll still go in for rehab a few times a week, though.

[skyhawk223]

Glad to hear he is progressing so rapidly.
I have heard it changed a lot too, especially Times Square. I've only been working in the city since 1998. It's all Disney and family oriented now. Heck, there's a Toys R Us right in the middle just across the street from the MTV studio. It's really cleaned up. Crime has really dropped as well.

How tough is it over there economically? Japan has been stuck for the past couple of years now. Seems like the government hasn't been able to get things started, no matter what they try.

[Masao]

I work at a university and have tenure, so am pretty well insulated from economic changes. But the Tokyo Stock Exchange is in the toilet, thousands of companies are going bankrupt, and the unemployment rate is a historically high 5%. This may seem low, but the Japanese government has some weird way of calculating which makes the rate lower than in other countries. So economists estimate that the actual rate would more than 10% if calculated with US or European methods. All the troubles stem from the bubble economy of the 1980s, when the entire country went nuts borrowing money and inflating real-estate prices. The real estate market collapsed and everyone was saddled with enormous debts they can't pay back. These nonperforming loans amount to many billions of dollars and is dragging down the whole economy. Lots of companies that should declare bankruptcy because of enormous debts continue to operate because banks continue to lend them money. These are referred to as zombie companies. However, the government does not want more companies to go bankrupt and put even more people out of work. So, the government makes half measures, such as continual economic stimulus plans and lowering the prime interest rate, which don't work anymore. Hard measures are needed, but would probably entail a lot of economic hardship in the short term, so are avoided.

[Hito]

Originally posted by Masao
My wife is Japanese (a real one).

As opposed to those cheep knockoff japanese being sold by on the chinese black market?
:D

[Masao]

She's a genuine authentic Japanese-Japanese. Not a quasi-Japanese Asian/Pacific Islander-American like myself. I usually tell people I'm one-third and let them try to figure it out.

[Thomas P]

Originally posted by Masao
She's a genuine authentic Japanese-Japanese.

Yes she is. I have had the distinct honor of meeting her and she is one of the nicer people you could hope to meet.

[Masao]

Thanks, Thomas!

[skyhawk223]

Hey, I'm feeling left out here on the east coast.

[Thomas P]

Next time I'm in the neighborhood ;)

[skyhawk223]

Just let me know...