I hope that this letter will find you well.
2010 was an eventful year for me. I continue to teach at Waseda University (about, ahem, the "meaning of our times") and to receive meager salary at Tokyo Foundation. But my most important job is to write for my own blog (www.japan-world-trends.com) in Japanese, Chinese, English and Russian. The number of potential viewers is estimated at around 700 million, but so far the real number remains rather modest.

In 2010 , I (and sometimes with my wife Anne) travelled to Moscow, Brussels, Sarayevo, Nara, Tianjin, Vladivostok, Estonia, Lithuania and Kyoto; sometimes for teaching, giving lectures and attending symposia and sometimes for sightseeing. Every time I go to China, I notice with great pleasure that my Chinese is increasingly usable. Perhaps, I am the only Japanese in the history who practiced Chinese in Moscow subway.
In August I did the biggest investment in my life: purchase of a house. It was a hedge against possible hyper-inflation, but the house is now squatted by our daughter and her family without any dividend. So in the New Year I will revamp my blog for easier access-----to viewers' purse.

Japan's diplomacy, if any, is in a miserable state. Sure, the policy makers do have strategies and tactics somewhere very deep in their brain, but their hands are tied by the people's voice which demands distribution of wealth first, and by the socialists who newly came to power in August 2009.
But Japan should not be overly dismissed, and Chinese prospects should not be overly exalted. True, about fifty percent of the Japanese will be above 65 years-old by 2050, but it will mean that one child can monopolize inheritance of all assets of his or her parents and grand-parents. Therefore, the total sum of the wealth in Japan will not easily contract.

However, companies are starting far more serious and profound "internationalization" than up to now (this time it may well be called as Diaspora) with possibility to move their headquarters abroad and filling their managerial staff by non-Japanese. But such change will not rapidly and drastically take place. In general Japan will keep building a society in which individuals' liberty and well-being are realized with balance.
The year of 2011 is the year of hare. Instead of making reckless leaps Japan should be intent on making steady reforms one by one. I will keep writing for my blog with a view to maintain balance in various matters, domestic and international. I would appreciate your comments in my blog.
Wishing you all the best in the New Year, I remain
Yours sincerely

2011 January 2nd
Akio KAWATO
www.japan-world-trends.com
office@akiokawato.com