I found a pair of black leather short boots while I was decluttering my shoe cupboard. I bought them when I was in my twenties and working in Tokyo. They brought back bittersweet memories from 40 years ago.
1. New retail formats enter the market by offering lower prices than existing retailers through innovative low-cost management, such as limiting the services they provide and simplifying facilities. These innovative retailers grow by stealing customers from existing retailers through price competition, and establish their position in the market.
2. Before long, other companies using similar systems to achieve such lower prices appear one after another, and competition intensifies. Since each company’s prices are low, price is not a competitive weapon, and competition unfolds through improvements in product lineup, service, and facilities. As a result, the low-cost, low-margin management that was in place when innovative retailers first appeared shifts to high-cost, high-margin management. This is called trading up.
In response to the increasing trend of traffic accidents caused by using mobile phones while riding a bicycle, and the high rate of traffic accidents resulting in death or serious injury when riding a bicycle while under the influence of alcohol, the Road Traffic Act has been revised and new penal provisions have been established to prevent traffic accidents.
The act of talking on a smartphone or other device while riding a bicycle, or staring at the screen, has now been newly prohibited and is subject to penalties. However, operating the device while the bicycle is stopped is not subject to penalties. Violators will be sentenced to up to six months in prison or fined up to 100,000 yen. Furthermore, if the act causes a traffic hazard, they will be sentenced to up to one year in prison or fined up to 300,000 yen.
New penalties have also been established for drunk driving, providing alcohol, riding a bicycle as a passenger, and providing a bicycle. Violators will be subject to imprisonment of up to three years or a fine of up to 500,000 yen. In addition, those who provide bicycles will be subject to imprisonment of up to three years or a fine of up to 500,000 yen, and those who provide alcohol or bicycle passengers will be subject to imprisonment of up to two years or a fine of up to 300,000 yen.
Following the recent House of Representatives election in which the LDP-Komeito coalition government fell short of the 233 seats required for a majority, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (President of the LDP) is exploring the possibility of forming a coalition or partial cooperation with the Democratic Party for the People (DPFP) and the Japan Innovation Party (JIP).
Yuichiro Tamaki, leader of the DPFP, was asked at a press conference on October 29 whether he would join the LDP-Komeito coalition government and said, "We will not join the coalition government." He also rejected the idea of a government framework centered on the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ), and declined an offer to meet with the CDPJ’s leader for the purpose of cooperation in the prime ministerial nomination election.
According to the constitution, a special Diet session to elect the prime minister must be convened within 30 days of the voting date. The person who receives a majority in the election is designated as prime minister, but since the LDP-Komeito coalition government does not have a majority of seats, the prime minister is likely to fail to receive a majority in the first round of voting and a runoff election will be held.