Archive

Earthquakes are especially disconcerting when you’re sitting on the toilet. Perhaps that’s why they make them so comfortable here in Japan. Before I’d emerged from the bathroom, the various family members across the country had already checked in with each…

POITOU, FRANCE – On Thursday came word that the European Central Bank followed through, just like the Fed. After $2.7 trillion in “stimulus,” it has officially taken its foot off the pedal. No more bond purchases by the end of…

The World Cup has begun. You’ll find yourself utterly mystified by my coverage over the next few weeks. As a German by birth, Brit by citizenship, Australian by choice and Japanese by something called a “family register”, I have decent…

POITOU, FRANCE – Well, it looks like we were wrong about everything. Everything. The Fed. Donald J. Trump. The stock market. The economy. Even the weather. Yesterday, we looked at the sky and forecast rain. Instead, the sun came out….

I’m having a tough time trying to persuade the Japanese future in-laws to let their first-born move to London. Relations between Japan and our capital city have been strained since former mayor Boris Johnson flattened a ten-year-old Japanese child trying…

POITOU, FRANCE – What a rollicking good time we’ve had these past few days. The G7… the North Korean summit… Canada’s “backstabber” chief… trade wars… U.S. midterm elections… Did any generation before us enjoy so much cheap entertainment? Place in…

Can you imagine if Barack Obama had delivered the Korean peace talks that Donald Trump just did? The world would be swamped with a flood of praise from around the globe. But Trump only gets derision. For his methods and…

POITOU, FRANCE – You can divide the world’s people – all its bumblers, fumblers, fools, and saints – into two categories. There are the decent people who go about their business trying to improve their lives by honest toil, invention,…

“… there’s this massive dead cockroach right under this chair.” “[nodding] There are nights sometimes when you hear the rats scurrying around in the ceiling too.” Where do you reckon this conversation took place? The answer may surprise you. And…

PARIS – Last week, it was war with Europe. This week, it’s bombs over Toronto. Plans are being drawn up for two walls. One across the southern border to keep Mexicans out. And one across the 49th parallel to keep…