Tokyo Wave

#97 - Japanese Casinos

Apr 29, 2022

Will bids to open casinos in Osaka and Nagasaki Prefectures succeed? Why did the Wakayama bid fail? Aaron and Parker discuss the yen's continuing rapid fall, a survey that found that 48% of foreigners in Japan region are earning less than before pandemic, and how the world’s largest gold bar in Japan has surged in...

#96 - City Pop

Apr 22, 2022

What is driving a boom in vinyl record sales in the US and Japan? Why is city pop, a genre of Japanese pop music that emerged in the late 1970s and peaked during Japan's golden age of the 1980s bubble economy, seeing a sudden resurgence in popularity? Aaron and Parker discuss the Yen's 20-year low and a Japanese...

#95 - Surfing Japan

Apr 16, 2022

Akiya Hunter and black metal warlock Matt Ketchum shares his experiences learning how to surf and rock climb, and how he scored his first surfboard from an eccentric mountain hermit who has a place in Japan's surf history. Aaron and Parker discuss Japan beginning to relax its foreigner entry ban, and a Japanese soap...

#94 - Rocky Swift

Apr 8, 2022

Reuters correspondent Rocky Swift talks about coming to Japan to teach in rural Nagano, becoming a business and market focused journalist, and also his stint as a diplomat serving as a US foreign service officer. Aaron and Parker discuss rising consumer prices, an SMBC Nikko VP busted for stock market manipulation, and...

#93 - Electric Shock

Apr 1, 2022

Why did Tokyo almost suffer electric power blackouts and are we at danger in the future? Why is the Tohoku Shinkansen still not fully back online following the big earthquake on March 16? Aaron and Parker discuss shareholders rejecting a plan to split Toshiba into 2 companies and driver's license center in north Japan...