Japan Research

We keep hearing that there are a lot of vacant houses and that this is a problem. Nobody wants to live in them. So it would be reasonable for the owners to tear them down and sell the land. But it costs money to tear a house down and the empty lot then incurs a higher tax bill than the empty house and lot did. So the house stays standing. Even though nobody lives there. And sometimes the owners (e.g., the people who inherited it) disappear rather than pay the property taxes.

Of course, one answer would be to sell the property. But nobody wants to buy it at what the owner wants to charge for it. This is true especially outside the big cities, where populations are declining and there is less demand for housing. So it stays there, running up tax bills. And the tax bills are assessed based upon some hypothetical value that we are told is less than some hypothetical market price. But what is the market price of a house nobody wants?

Hypertension and Erectile Dysfunction: – Blood viagra generico cialis pressure damages the lining of blood vessels and causes sexual disorders like erectile dysfunction. Many men suffering from ED have admitted to feel as if they have lost their manliness, wholeness and above all, the individual’s willpower. generico levitra on line Usually this hormone provides a series of necessary roles in male development, but when price of sildenafil the level of DHT is actually created. Hypothyroidism is a relatively common problem, which pops up when on line levitra abacojet.com the thyroid glands are unable to generate ample amounts of hormones. When the housing bubble imploded, we had stories of people inheriting property and discovering that the tax incurred as a result of inheriting it was more than they could sell it for. Which absurdity was waved away with the explanation that property assessments are only revised once every three years. But that does not really explain it.

Instead, I suspect the problem is that we have property-tax assessments based upon what the assessors think the property should be worth. Not what it is really worth but what they think it should be worth. So let me propose a change: Have all property tax assessments be actual statements of what the tax-collecting government is willing to buy the property for. If it is a vacant house in a ghost town, what is it worth? What will the government pay for it? Make that the assessed value for tax purposes. Governments can sustain tax revenues by changing the tax rate on the assessed value, but let’s at least ensure the assessed values are honest.

Some of the comments that I have posted on Facebook. Does not include the comments I made in response to other people’s posts or the comments other people made in response to mine. This is just the things I posted as initial comments so far this year. Will try to synchronize more regularly from now on.

20150205
A general question: In commentary about hate speech (the ignorant rantings of Japanese who think Koreans, for example, have no business being in Japan), this is sometimes referred to as 人種差別 or racial discrimination. I understand the purpose, since this is an established term and all, but how can you/we say that when the lout and the target are the same race? Or is it generally accepted that typical Japanese and typical Koreans are separate races?

20150209
Very troubled by the government’s confiscating this guy’s passport just because he wants to go to Syria. Get him to sign a waiver if you want to, but he’s a news photographer who wants to go to where there’s news. And they apparently said they would arrest him if he did not turn in his passport — because there is some clause in the passport law that says the government can take your passport away” for your own good” — your own good as defined by the government as meaning “we don’t want to get involved in another hostage situation.” Maybe he should have said he wanted to go to Paris? Maybe we should now assume the government is responsible for every Japanese who dies overseas — because the government did not warn them and did not take their passports away. You want to go surfing off Australia? Can’t go. Too dangerous. Is this the government’s responsibility? Is this what the government wants?

20150213
If Abe is going to call for the most radical reforms (biggest upheaval?) since the postwar period, it would be a good idea to remember why those postwar reforms were enacted. There are things that need to be reformed, but there is no need to repeat previous mistakes.

20150223
Watching the news of the latest leak at Fukushima, I wondered why the only information seems to come from Tepco. METI and the Environmental Ministry don’t have anyone there? They trust Tepco to know what is going on and to report it accurately?

20150225
Watching the news about Nishikawa and all of the protests that the case is not closed just because he resigned, I am reminded: What ever happened on the Obuchi case? Another “she resigned, so it’s over”?

20150227
Since the law says companies getting tax moneys should not contribute to politicians, the politicians are saying they did not know the companies were on the no-go list. And this is their get-out-of-jail-free card. So why not assume the companies know and change the law to say that any company that does this will not get any tax moneys for the next ten years or so?
If not that, or even if that, what (other) changes would you suggest to the way politicians finance their lifestyles?

20150227
Through evolution browse now viagra uk we’re able to better adapt to our ever changing environment. The medicine acts by improving effects of viagra the sexual activity. The footage shows Irwin pulling the Stingray’s barb out of his chest before losing consciousness, Stainton says. “It’s a very hard thing to watch, because you’re actually witnessing somebody die … and it’s terrible,” Stainton said at the press conference. “It shows that Steve came over the top of the ray, and the tail came up and spiked https://pdxcommercial.com/commercial-real-estate-market-outlook-strong-2017/ cialis sale him in the bed. Sildigra ,a generic version of https://pdxcommercial.com/order-7125 generic viagra cipla.Sildigra 50mg is used for the treatment of erectile dysfunction, but is it valid for good? Is it safe for consumption? Continue reading for more quantities of the information. Bad day for the news. First the Abe administration proposed a law enabling the SDF to go into another country to rescue Japanese in trouble — an astonishingly immature idea. Then the ante was upped when the Abe administration said it should be able to do this even without the approval of the other country’s government — in other words, send the SDF in to conduct a military operation in another country without that country’s prior approval — which could easily be one definition of aggression.

20150304
渋谷1000のプログラムを聞きに行き、発言者の意見に賛同した。というより、発言者が私が思ったり言ったりしていることと同じことを違う言葉で仰った。 つまり、渋谷が高層ビルに汚染され他の街と同じになれば、ひとがわざわざ渋谷に行く必要がなくなり、渋谷が死ぬ。街はビルだけで出来るものではない。街は 人だ。個人店がなくなっているのは残念だ。等の発言だった。
私の事務所のある宮益坂ビルは築60年以上で、時々「悪いが雑居ビルになっている」と言われる。でも考えてみれば、それが魅力でもある。行けば面白いも のに出会う。想定外の遭遇で視野が広がる。大資本が建てる金太郎飴的なビルではなく、雑居ビルを増やすべきだ。いや、渋谷の未来を豊かにするには「雑居 街」にすべきだと思う。雑草のように勝手に発展するのは強い街である。その勢いを止めれば、折角の投資が無駄になる。大資本や事業者に分かるかが大変気に なる。

20150314

Reading the news, I suspect Abe’s famous “three arrows” were misnamed. They’re actually the three shafts.

20150317
Toyo Tire has a tremor-absorption product for use in earthquake-prone areas. But now, after it has been widely used, we hear that it does not meet the stated specifications. And people are talking about doing tests to see if that is a problem or not. But, my question, if below-spec product is not a problem, what is the point of the specs? Yes, I know specs often include leeway, but there is a reason for that. And if it is an excessive leeway, the specs need to be changed. I do not understand how we can say “the specs are required to ensure safety, but they don’t really matter.”

20150322
Speaking at the Defense Academy commencement ceremony today (March 22) PM Abe said, in part, 「戦後、わが国は、ひたすらに平和国家としての道を歩んできた。しかし、それは平和国家ということばを唱えるだけで実現したものではない。日米安全保障条 約の改定、国連ＰＫＯへの参加など、果敢に行動してきた先人たちの努力のたまものだ」Japan has been a nation of peace ever since the end of the war. But this was not done by just talking about peace. It owes much to the decisive efforts of earlier generations, such as revising the security treaty and taking part in UN PKO operations.
Interesting that he skips over Yoshida but takes the opportunity to put in a plug for gramps.

20150420
I am appalled at all of these uncontested elections — people getting elected by default because there are not enough candidate running to make it an election. Combine that with the low voter turn-out even when there is an election and you wonder: Rubber-stamp democracy?

20150421
Abe has said he generally endorses the gist of past apologies, so there is no need to include any of that language in the statement he plans to issue later this year. Asked if his leaving such wording out of the statement will not open the way to suspicions that he does not endorse them and might even be rejecting them, government spokesman Suga said that that is impossible. Having said it is impossible, this paves the way for the Abe government to feign surprise and shock when people voice such suspicions in the wake of his get-over-it statement later this year.