I'd call it a rebuttal, as I wouldn't consider one guy's blog post the definitive word for the opposing viewpoint.

Would certainly agree that the real-estate market in Tokyo....and laterally the ROJ would take a bold approach. When I was whiling away time wandering the hallowed streets I began to notice that many of the smaller/and often times just completed buildings were empty, or had at least a few floors empty. This might just be in places like Omoetaesando/Shibuya/Aoyama/Daikanyama etc. that have a lot of space for retail.(this brought back memories of my former burg...and the spread to Fukuoka). I guess it would mean that the landlords and their prospective clients can not meet on a price. That said, they still keep on building....with Tokyu bringing online new buildings in Shibuya/Harajuku. I really had to wonder what percentage of Hikarie will be rented from the outset? And what effect this will have on the buildings around it ? Will you see more vacancies than there were 3 months ago, when I last stopped by?

That is for naturalization. The situation is different for kids born into dual nationality.

Oh, apologies.

It still depends on your other nationality, though. At the very least you have to tell the Japanese government that you hereby renounce the other nationality, which may or may not be a valid renunciation from the other country's perspective. The US won't recognize such a statement, but other countries may (I believe that most East Asian countries will).

In Japan I think it's pretty complex. For one, in most places, child care is quite difficult to obtain. Then there's the work conditions - most places just don't have the kind of work arrangements necessary for a family with two working parents.

Every day in Umeda I walk past a fairly new building (2 or 3 years old) that sits empty. I don't remember when it was built but it's always been empty.

If you took another look(I am sure you have far better things to do).....in many of the buildings you will find a floor or two empty, and just as you say, entire "new" buildings empty! Retail buildings have many empty spaces, and how many more shopping places do you need targeted at 20 something women:p ?

I certainly have noticed that.

At the same time, a lot of first and second floor spaces are filled quickly - it's just those spaces on higher floors that tend to linger. A lot of spaces in newer malls are occupied and, if a store goes out of business, a new store moves in fairly quickly.

Getting back to the original topic...the real question isn't whether or not Japan is doomed, but whether or not Japan is doomed any faster than the rest of the world. Because the nation that is doomed last is the winner.

x 2 on the Fingleton piece. I haven't seen that quality of hallucination since Samuel Coleridge quit using opium.

That's a point that the Spike author prefaces with the disclaimer that it's a wholly subjective preference. It serves to highlight the subjectivity of Fingleton's comment about JFK and IAD being "potent symbols of American infrastructural decay".

The fact that Eamonn suffers from a strange form of feverish paranoia doesn't mean that JFK and IAD aren't potent symbols of American infrastructural decay. They certainly are.

On the other hand, equating a strong yen with a strong country (among other beauts in that article) is just arrant nonsense.

Yes. That is true. That said, JFK is the biggest embarrassment in the US as far as major gateways. IAD is not terrific, but I nominate LAX for a close second.

Fingleton is the author of this timeless classic:

http://www.amazon.com/Blindside-Japa.../dp/0395633168

Anything he writes re: Japan should feature a disclaimer and a link to his book.

On the other hand he also wrote http://www.amazon.com/Praise-Hard-In...022692&sr=8-1] which is reasonably insightful.

But he does suffer from strange paranoid delusions.

I saw this, but what surprised me was how much this topic was discussed in the British Media (it helped that the British Chancellor George Osborne was visiting Tokyo at the time). With the BBC giving the topic so much air time it was a surprising shift in attitude and a sign to me that the caricaturised version of recent history offered by Fingleton was a jolt to many armchair economists with similarly warped notions, but of Japan as a failure.
Perhaps this exaggerated tug will go somewhere to helping folks arrive at a more realistic perception of the country.