Blog for Friday, Feb 28, 2025
Geishas, Samurai and Japow, and the craziness of all things Trump
The jet lag is killing us!
I know…I am not going to garner a lot of empathy on that one considering our jet lag is the result of two weeks spent in Japan. Anyone that has been to Japan or Australia or anywhere else on the other side of the world can completely understand what we are going through. It is a journey for sure. Denise and I discovered melatonin, which has been a game changer in helping us reset our internal clocks. As a result of our little miracle supplement, we have turned the corner faster than I thought. The trip was certainly worth the pain we endure now.
So yes, Denise and I were in Japan for the last couple of weeks. The trip was in celebration of a milestone birthday for me. We toured Tokyo, Kaga and Kanazawa with a guide for the first week and then we skied in Nozawa Onsen for the second week. Alex and Yvonne, Emma (my niece), Jason and Henrik also joined us for the second week of the trip.
Tokyo was pretty cool. Very interesting city. Very safe and clean, and very quiet. For a city of 41 million people we were taken aback at how quiet it was. Japan is a very respectful society with no eating in public, drinking coffee on the run, speaking on cell phones in public, looking at phones while walking, nor speaking loudly to others in public spaces. It was a very unique experience indeed and quite enjoyable to say the least. The train and subway systems in the country are exhaustive and complicated, and we appreciated the benefit of a local guide to navigate it. Oh and just in case you were wondering…we managed to find an Irish pub to watch the Super Bowl at 8:30 am Monday! Congratulations Eagles.
Kanazawa, on the west coast, was fascinating. It is a must see place for anyone visiting Japan.
There is a ton of history in this city of 400,000 people. We toured the Geisha district, learned all about their craft, and participated in a show and question and answer period with two Geisha. They are very highly educated and respected in society. They may have once be concubines of rich merchants but today they strictly entertain and party with high level executives on an invite only basis.
We toured the only remaining Ninja temple and marveled at all the trickery in place to confuse and deter intruders to the temple to protect the local Lord back in the day. The highlight for me was the “four tatami mat” room (unique in Japan as four is bad luck in Japanese lore) where captured Samurai were given the option to honourably commit suicide after being captured. This room had a one-way door into the room only. Yikes.
Our tour of Kanazawa also included meeting with a descendant of a real Samurai warrior, learning about his collection of 500 year old swords, and then getting a lesson in how to use them, Ninja costume included. Crazy stuff.
Our second week was spent in Nozawa Onsen, which is a ski village full of foreigners, mostly Aussies as it is cheap for them to visit. We were there to ski the famous Japanese powder (Japow) and it did not disappoint! We received a meter of snow each day for three days straight! It was like skiing on pillows! You had to be careful where you skied for fear of getting stuck and having to dig out if you didn’t have enough pitch on the hill to carry your momentum. The days were topped off with naked (hey that’s how it is done) dips in several of the thirteen naturally fed spring onsens. Most interesting is the fact that they don’t use snow plows but rather rely on unwater hot springs to heat the streets to melt the snow.
Overall, it was a great start to the year of celebrating all things me. I would definitely put Japan on your bucket list. It is completely doable and fairly reasonable in cost. It just takes something to get there due to the 15 hour flight. It was totally worth it. Oh…I forgot to mention the Japanese toilets! They are the bomb with heated seats and bottom flushes. I really miss them and need to look at outfitting the house with them.
In other news…Addison won the lead role as Sophie in her school’s production of the musical, Mama Mia. She is constantly singing the music in the house these days. After the show I never want to hear this music again…lol. It is driving me crazy.
Monty is seven months old now and topping 60 pounds. He is the size of Matilda and looks like he is going to be a real bruiser. He’s just a good dog and so gentle. Matilda’s taking him in stride.
Denise is speaking on a panel next week at the Whitby Chamber’s Women’s Connect event on the challenges facing women in business. I am looking forward to seeing her in action. Congratulations.
Now to world news…in particular Trump I guess. I just watched a disturbing exchange between Trump and Vance and the Ukraine President, Zelenskyy. They ganged up on the latter and accused him of being disrespectful, and not thankful enough towards the USA efforts to support Ukraine. They also said Ukraine had to sign the minerals deal or the USA is out for support. No deal was signed. I am surprised Elon Musk wasn’t there to weigh in too.
Why is Elon Musk even involved in anything anyway? He isn’t an elected official and yet he is dismantling the US government on mass. His moral compass is a little askew and his eye seems to be focused on all things that are not Tesla. I can’t differentiate how Musk’s actions are any less damaging and ethically immoral than JNJ’s cancer causing talcum powder for example? I don’t see the difference. Our team tries hard not to invest in such companies and therefore we divested of Tesla this week. It was the right decision and I have had good feedback so far from clients on the divestiture.
Trump’s tariff threats continue to cause global uncertainty politically, economically and for the world stock and bond markets. The back and forth nature of his actions is causing a lot of volatility in the markets. I am not sure which way any of this is going. However, I wonder what is going to drive corporate profitability higher, and therefore stock prices higher, in light of tariff threats. Due to the overwhelming uncertainty, I pulled back on equities and moved to approximately 20% overall in our models. Our portfolios are also overweight USA equities denominated in US dollars, which is most likely the only game in town these days. At this time, I feel we are well positioned to weather any storm.
Global central banks are most likely going to go on hold with any interest rate changes for now until there is more clarity on tariffs, trade policies, and economic developments. Data is showing that consumer confidence has dropped considerably in the USA to a low not seen since 2021. That does not bode well for an economy that is 70% reliant on the US consumer. Of course, Canada could be in a big pickle if we can’t negotiate our way out of the USA tariff issues.
We continue to monitor the situation and will take action in accordance with new developments.
Remember to shop Canadian where you can. Our family has boycotted pretty much everything American. Tim’s coffee works just as well as Starbucks. We have also cancelled a trip to Nashville and Miami as we just can’t support the USA in any manner over the next four years…or is that eight years…or will that be a permanent thing?
We arrived in Collingwood today to two weeks of crusted snow to clear. More to come tonight. Fun stuff. The new electric snowblower held up well albeit the batteries died three quarters into the job. Hopefully the conditions for skiing are good tomorrow. We are going to have to deal with the -25 degree temperatures that are forecast. In Japan, Denise’s heated ski gloves garnered much attention despite it being a balmy -10 degrees. We commented that we were Canadian and had to be prepared for the much colder temperatures here. We both have heated ski boots too. Too funny.
During the many hours in flight, I managed to catch up a little on Apple TV’s Slow Horses and Crave’s White Lotus.
I hope you are managing with all the snow here and that you get a chance to get out and enjoy it and/or catch up on your latest favourite shows. Have a great weekend.
Cheers.
Miles…