A magnitude 8.8 earthquake, the same level as Great Eastern Japan Earthquake, occurred near the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia, around 8:25 AM on July 30 (Wednesday). As a result, tsunami warnings were issued for various coastal areas of Japan, about 1,500 km away from the epicenter. There are three levels of tsunami information, namely, “major tsunami warning”, “tsunami warning” and “tsunami advisory”. The information issued this time was the second one, but each municipality issued evacuation orders to a total of two million people. Fortunately, there were no significant human casualties, but it has left many challenges in preparation for the Nankai Trough Earthquake and Tokyo Metropolitan Earthquake, which are said to be approaching, causing regional confusion in transportation and logistics.
Well, the intense heat continues day after day, and heatstroke alerts have been issued. On July 30, in Tamba, Hyogo prefecture, about 80 km from where I live, a temperature of 41.2 degrees was recorded, the highest in Japan’s domestic observation history. But just six days later, a temperature of 41.8 degrees was recorded in Isesaki, Gunma prefecture, setting a new record.
Next, one recent “Well done!”. In AIG Women’s Open, the final major of the women’s golf season held at Royal Porthcawl GC, Southwest of the United Kingdom, on August 3, Miyu Yamashita aged 24 achieved her first victory with a total of 11 under par. She is the sixth Japanese female professional to win a major tournament. Her driver average distance is 236 yards, which is nearly the average of female professionals, but her height is 150cm, which is short. In this year’s Open Championship. her driver average distance was 217 yards. It seems that a playing style that prioritizes accuracy over distance, matched with the strong wind characteristic of links courses, along with skill in the short game, was the key to victory. Incidentally, the only major victory in men’s professional golf was Hideki Matsuyama’s win at the 2021 Masters Tournament. I feel that women seem to have an edge in adapting to changes in the environments, such as time differences, climate and natural environment, getting along with people from other countries, and adapting to different cultures such as food, housing, and so on.

■■What I have recently thought and focused on:
■The U.S. tariff issues and the differences in interpretation between Japan and the United States:
Regarding the pending reciprocal tariffs between Japan and the United States, it was reported that “the U.S. side had proposed a 25% tariff on Japanese products, but they agreed to reduce it to 15%”. This was the result of Minister Akazawa, in charge of economic and financial revitalization, making 8 trips to the United States and negotiating persistently, but after that, there are discrepancies regarding the contents of the agreement (special measures) between Japan and the United States. And in the Diet, the opposition side strictly pursued the fact that there was no agreement document. However, considering the current situation where everything decided solely by President Trump, I think that it was impossible for both Japan and the United States to create a formal agreement document at the administrative level.
By the way, in addition to the new tariffs, Japan side has agreed to invest 550 billion dollars (about 80 trillion yen) in the United States. There remains vagueness between Japan and the United States regarding the interpretation of this point.
To begin with, laissez-faire (nonintervention) is the fundamental principle of a liberal market economy. In other words, investment and associated risks are entrusted to private companies based on personal responsibility. Otherwise, the dynamism of capital is lost, and the vitality of companies weakens. When political ambitions and arbitrary, unilateral thinking are imposed like President Trump, what kind of ending is waiting for us? It is in an extremely unclear situation. What I feel through this tariff negotiation is that the U.S. administrative organization is not functioning due to President Trump’s abuse of power. The reality is that only the president makes the decision. Therefore, in the end, there is no option but a summit meeting. In that case, whether there is good chemistry will be a major factor in maintaining a principle. After the passing of former Prime Minister Abe, is there truly a suitable candidate among the current Japanese politicians?
■The reasons for rice shortage and the recurring consumer panic:
In the past one year, the rice shortage has become apparent and prices have risen nearly twice as much. The reasons are as follows. 1)The failure of rice reduction policy has led to a shortage of production. 2)The yield of the rice milling has decreased. 3)The forecast for per capita consumption was too optimistic. 4)The number of inbound visitors (foreign visitors to Japan) has increased. Among them, regarding the increase of consumption (reason 3), the government estimates that the household consumption volume of households with two or more people from July 2024 to June 2025 has increased by 110,000 tons compared to the same period previous year. This is a situation that consumers fall into a state of anxiety about the staple food rice becoming unavailable, in other words, a kind of panic, and a speculative demand occurred above the actual demand.
Looking back at the past, panic has repeated itself many times. 1)Recently, the stockpiling of rice increased due to the emergency information related to last summer’s Nankai Trough Earthquake. 2)The mask shortage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic that began in early 2020, and what remains strongly in my memory is that 3) the gasoline shortage and toilet paper hoarding incident triggered by the first oil shock that began with the Middle East War in October 1973. In the end, most cars’ gas tanks were always full, and many households were overflowing with several years’ worth of toilet paper in their closets. And after the bubble burst, there was also a run on the banks. All of these are driven by the anxiety of not having essential goods or savings. In this way, we have failed to learn from history and have repeated new panics as generations change.
In this rice incident, the following things raised feelings of anxiety. 1)The parties involved underestimated the situation. 2)Lack of sense of speed due to outdated distribution methods 3) The release of stored rice was done in small increments. In order to solve or relieve anxiety, it is important to quickly convey accurate information and provide people with a sense of reassurance so they are not swayed by rumors.
■The government issued a notice to correct the lines of women’s toilet:
Following up on the blog I mentioned the time before last (on July 11), this is the topic of toilet conditions.
The government has just issued an emergency notice to domestic event organizers, and when installing portable toilets, “a balanced number” is requested to prevent congestion differences between genders. Indeed, long lines for women’s toilet can be seen at event venues and movie theaters. It is believed that there is a gender difference in the number of toilets behind that. One person conducted a survey of over 900 toilets (including toilet basins and urinals) nationwide, and in total, the number of male toilets exceeded that of female toilets by 1.7 times, and in 95% of the toilets, the number of men facilities exceeded that of women facilities.
Incidentally, in places like trains, airplanes, and restaurants, there are both “men’s” and “unisex” facilities mixed together. This is due to the limited installation space, and I don’t think there is any discomfort towards “unisex”. But it is customary to distinguish in other public places. In other words, where the installation space is not so limited, there may be concerns regarding the physical differences between genders, security, and resistance to sharing. In this regard, I think it is the same in the West. This government’s announcement is part of efforts to correct gender “inequality”, but it may not necessarily be said that toilet conditions arise from “discrimination”.
By the way, in English, the toilet is referred to as “restroom, bathroom, washroom, and lavatory (on planes and a formal way of addressing)”. On the other hand, in Japan, especially elderly women have habitually referred to the toilet as “impurity”. It seems that this originates from Buddhist precepts and the aesthetic sense of the Japanese people. Nowadays, in Japan, it is referred to as “toilet”, “washroom” or “powder room”.