The McDonald’s union is asking for $32 (4,640 yen) per hour. Even at our Los Angeles gallery, no one will come unless we pay them $30 (4,350 yen) an hour for a part-time job.

This difference between Japan and the U.S. is still widening.

Japan as a tourist destination is a dramatically inexpensive country in the eyes of Americans. A bowl of ramen costs $7 (1,000 yen), 1/4 of the hourly wage.

In other words, if a Japanese worker’s wage is 1,000 yen, the equivalent is 250 yen

I am thankful that tomorrow the isolation policy will be lifted and tourists from abroad will come to Ginza to die, but…

On the other hand, for migrant workers from Vietnam and the Philippines, the country will become a country where they can’t make much money, and the labor force will fall more and more.

And yet the Japanese government has weak policies for population growth, no discussion of immigration, etc.!

I hope they take a cue from the robots that Elon Musk is developing and at least try their hand at robotics…

◆ Notes

Elon Musk unveils prototype of the Optimus humanoid robot, aiming to sell for less than about 2.9 million yen.

◆ Notes

Examples of successful birthrate reduction measures in the world -Sweden