Need a Leader? Try Kishida! (w/Motoko Rich)

NYT Tokyo Bureau Chief Motoko Rich gets onboard to talk about Kishida's first month in office. What has he done so far? What does his administration mean for Japan? And the most important test of a Japanese government official: how well can the man mull?

Ollie recommends a river cruise that succeeds, but at what cost? No cost.

Bobby makes a point about the secularization of Christmas that no one has ever made before. 

Topics discussed on this episode range from:

How the time has never been better for the Conbini Boys to make the leap to the mainstreamWhy Motoko turned down our first invitation to appear on the showWhat her experience covering the Olympics was like When the Japanese media covers the western media coverage of JapanHow all the Japan Olympic scandals stack up to other countries turnsThe Japanese media's interest in the NYT coverage of the royal marriageWhat Kishida's first month (and a half or so) has been like, and what he's been up toWhy Motoko sees the LDPs victory in the general election as coming IN SPITE OF the party being on snooze, and IN SPITE of choosing Kishida as their leaderWhy the LDP chose KishidaWhy the country's voters continue to choose the LDPIs Kishida starting to step into more power and control than he was generally expected to have?What are Kishida's policies, and what does he want to do for Japan?Kishida's incomprehensible attempts to ease travel restrictions into JapanJapan's silence on environmental reformsThe lack of gender representation in Kishida's cabinetA big problematic trend with minority group political figures in Japan

Topics discussed on the extras include:

Crimes against Japanese foodAn initiative to recycle adult diapers as an alternative fuel sourceThe TV announcer who measures "youthfulness" by the ability to impregnate idols

Get access to the extras for standard episodes by supporting the podcast for less than $1 an episode by becoming a member at http://buymeacoffee.com. 

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Social Media Links:

Motoko Rich: Twitter | NYTimes Coverage

Ollie Horn: Twitter | Instagram

Bobby Judo: Twitter | Instagram | YouTube

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We record remotely using Squadcast and the podcast is hosted on Transistor. Bobby uses the Samson Go Mic and Ollie uses the AT2005USB mic

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