We had a short day in Tokyo and so we couldn't get too much detail on the economy. We met a friend who is a expat living in Roponggi and works for a big tech company. He said the economy is good and the people adapt to changing conditions as he saw it. The outside media seems to make a big deal of Abenomics. It's working one month and not in the next. He has seen better confidence since it began.
The duty free stores at Narita were busy. Even I contributed to the economy by purchasing some nice earrings for the wife. That was a nice surprise for her.
We landed in Seattle and over the past few days have noticed some positive changes. It is obvious that many of the stores that closed during the Great Recession will not reopen. They remain vacant as we transition away from the bricks and mortar economy. Prices have increased quite a bit since our last visit in Sept. Groceries are much more expensive. But there is no inflation as we are told. Also higher are utilities and city services. The roads are still a mess though.
My access to wireless is limited so I will check in periodically.
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