NYT Tokyo Bureau Chief Motoko Rich gets onboard to talk about Kishida's first month in office. What has he done so far? What does his administration mean for Japan? And the most important test of a Japanese government official: how well can the man mull?

Ollie recommends a river cruise that succeeds, but at what cost? No cost.

Bobby makes a point about the secularization of Christmas that no one has ever made before. 

Topics discussed on this episode range from:

• How the time has never been better for the Conbini Boys to make the leap to the mainstream
• Why Motoko turned down our first invitation to appear on the show
• What her experience covering the Olympics was like 
• When the Japanese media covers the western media coverage of Japan
• How all the Japan Olympic scandals stack up to other countries turns
• The Japanese media's interest in the NYT coverage of the royal marriage
• What Kishida's first month (and a half or so) has been like, and what he's been up to
• Why Motoko sees the LDPs victory in the general election as coming IN SPITE OF the party being on snooze, and IN SPITE of choosing Kishida as their leader
• Why the LDP chose Kishida
• Why the country's voters continue to choose the LDP
• Is Kishida starting to step into more power and control than he was generally expected to have?
• What are Kishida's policies, and what does he want to do for Japan?
• Kishida's incomprehensible attempts to ease travel restrictions into Japan
• Japan's silence on environmental reforms
• The lack of gender representation in Kishida's cabinet
• A big problematic trend with minority group political figures in Japan

Topics discussed on the extras include:

• Crimes against Japanese food
• An initiative to recycle adult diapers as an alternative fuel source
• The TV announcer who measures "youthfulness" by the ability to impregnate idols

Get access to the extras for standard episodes by supporting the podcast for less than $1 an episode by becoming a member at http://buymeacoffee.com. 

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Social Media Links:

Motoko Rich: Twitter | NYTimes Coverage

Ollie Horn: Twitter | Instagram

Bobby Judo: Twitter | Instagram | YouTube

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• Bobby uses the Samson Go Mic and Ollie uses the AT2005USB mic

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