Author: Jacques Quass de Vos The third wave of coffee washed over Japan like a rich, aromatic tsunami. Along with it came a new kind of cultural space. Not the kind of place where you would merely buy a cup of coffee to flip open your Mac and ask for the Wi-Fi password; no, Japanese…
Author: Jacques Quass de Vos It is no secret that Japan has the highest debt-to-GDP ratio globally, clocking in at 258.2% according to the April 2023 World Economic Outlook[1]. Sources: Data from International Monetary Fund (World Economic Outlook, 2023). Japan’s General Government Gross Debt (% of GDP). Graph by Jacques Quass de Vos. Since the…
Author: Inge Odendaal The COVID-19 pandemic had a profound impact on the global travel industry, leading to the implementation of stringent border controls and travel restrictions worldwide. Japan, like many other countries, took measures to contain the virus, resulting in significant disruptions to its tourism sector. These measures had far-reaching consequences, including a sharp decline…
Author: Inge Odendaal Japan is bidding farewell to its COVID-19 policies and restrictions. Since early 2020, the country has implemented various measures to control the spread of the virus, including border closures, population movement restrictions, mask mandates, and a shift to online education and teleworking.[1]Japanese residents restructured their lives to avoid closed and crowded places…
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The G7’s 49th Summit in Japan
Author: Gerhard van Niekerk The Group of 7 (G7) will commence their 49th annual summit in Hiroshima, Japan, on the 19th of May 2023. The G7 is a multilateral forum established in 1975 with member states including some of the world’s most influential powers, namely France, the United States (US), the United Kingdom (UK), Germany,…
Author: Scarlett Cornelissen Japanese popular cultural goods and content have gained global prominence and influence over the past decades. Japanese animation films (anime) and video games were the first to develop an international following in the 1980s. Since then, the popularity of manga has also grown and it is now consumed on a significant scale…
Author: Maggie Coetzee The cosplay community in South Africa has existed for well over fifteen years, and may have started small, but saw a drastic climb during recent years as marked by South Africa becoming the first African country to participate in the World Cosplay Summit back in 2018, and then shortly thereafter in The…
Author: Emma Ruiters In recent years, Japanese Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has been rising in African countries. A new development has been that Japanese FDI has been flowing to information and communications technology (ICT) & Digital Technologies. African countries are growing rapidly which is likely underpinning rising investment, but African economic development is already demonstrating…
Author: Daniel Bugan Stellenbosch University Japan Centre on Wednesday (7 December 2022) hosted a seminar that shed more light on Japan’s Science and Technology (S&T) ecosystem and policy, and its efforts to expand its international S&T footprint and deepen collaborative networks among scientists and researchers. The seminar, in collaboration with the Embassy of South Africa…