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AllAfrica
17 hours ago
- Politics
- AllAfrica
Anti-immigration backlash finally comes to Japan
We often talk about ways in which Japan is ahead of other developed nations; in the old days, people said this about technology, while more recently it's usually about social trends like sexless youth. But when I lived there, I often noted ways in which Japan was behind the US. Trends in fashion, music, and culture seemed to get popular in Japan about five to ten years after their heyday in America.1 For a long time, mainstream Japanese politics was essentially devoid of the type of xenophobic, conspiratorial, nativist populism that has defined the MAGA movement in America and parties like AfD in Europe. The late Abe Shinzo, Japan's prime minister from 2012 to 2020, had the reputation of being a rightist. But in fact, he governed as much more of a Reaganite conservative, or sometimes even a liberal; he opened the country to immigration and supported women in the workplace. When an anti-Korean hate group arose in the early 2010s, Abe passed Japan's first law against hate speech and put the hate group on a watch list, ultimately demolishing it as a political force. But like raves and backwards baseball caps, Trumpian politics has finally made it to Japan's shores. A new political party called Sanseito2 has won a surprising number of seats in Japan's recent Upper House election, running on a platform that mostly looks like it was copied directly from MAGA: Its leader is a former supermarket manager who…campaigned on the Trumpian message 'Japanese First.'…Now Japan's burgeoning right-wing populist party Sanseito has…bagged 14 seats [out of 248] in Japan's upper house… Party leader Sohei Kamiya founded the group in 2020 by 'gathering people on the Internet,' then gradually began winning seats in local assemblies…It gained traction during the Covid pandemic, during which it spread conspiracy theories about vaccinations and a cabal of global elites… [I]n the run-up to the upper house elections, it became better known for its 'Japanese First' campaign – which focused on complaints of overtourism and the influx of foreign residents…Sanseito tapped into these frustrations on its 'Japanese First' platform, along with other complaints about stagnant wages, high inflation and costs of living… The party supports caps on the number of foreign residents in each town or city, more restrictions on immigration and benefits available to foreigners, and making it harder to naturalize as citizens…Sanseito is also pushing for stronger security measures and anti-espionage laws, greater tax cuts, renewable energy, and a health system that leans away from vaccines. Some of this — for example, the antivax stuff and the ranting about globalist elites — is clearly just the spread of memes from the U.S. and Europe to Japan. Kamiya Sohei, the party's leader, even said some stuff about 'Jewish capital' in a speech; Japan's banks have essentially zero Jews in them, so you know this is just something he read on the internet. But the party's main issue — restrictions on immigration and tourism — isn't just mimicry of Trump or AfD. Instead, it's a response to a real and important trend that has affected the entire world, and happened to hit Japan a little later than other countries. There are three main reasons for the global migration boom. The first is the internet; as people in the developing world get more information about how to move to rich countries, and learn what life in rich countries is like, a lot more of them get the idea to move. The second reason is global development; as each country first starts to escape poverty, its people get enough money to move out.3 The third reason is low fertility rates. All rich countries now have fertility rates that will cause them to dwindle and shrink in the long term. This causes labor shortages in many industries. Rather than accept large-scale economic and social disruption from labor shortages, essentially every rich country eventually chooses to turn to immigration to plug those gaps. Japan took a little longer to reach this decision, but ultimately it ended up doing much the same thing everyone else did. If you want the detailed story of how and why Japan opened itself up to immigration, read this post. But the basic story is that Japan has, in fact, opened itself up to immigration: Source: MrThe1And0nly via Wikimedia Commons The 'Korean' people on this chart are almost all 'zainichi' people, whose ancestors immigrated from Korea and who have South or North Korean passports and citizenship (Japan does not have birthright citizenship), but who are functionally Japanese. The real influx of foreigners only started in the 1990s, and it was only around 2013 that true permanent mass immigration began. That immigration is mostly from Vietnam, the Philippines, and Nepal, though some other Southeast Asian countries, as well as the US and Taiwan, are starting to figure into the mix as well. I travel to Japan quite frequently, and this immigration is very noticeable. Plenty of convenience stores have Nepalese and Chinese clerks; many restaurants have Vietnamese cooks. Also keep in mind that the numbers above count only the foreign-born, not the children of the foreign-born; Japan's youth are diversifying more rapidly than the population as a whole. In fact, it's an open question whether this immigration will degrade some of the special characteristics that make Japan such a great place to live in the first place. Japan is not the US — it's not a nation of immigrants, and it has traditionally defined its national identity in terms of a unique culture that newcomers don't share. Other than making it slightly harder to talk to convenience store clerks, mass immigration hasn't yet really changed the face of Tokyo, Osaka, or other big Japanese cities. But in specific areas, immigration is forcing big local changes to Japan's way of life. There are now over 200,000 Muslims in Japan; mosques, Muslim schools, and Muslim graveyards4 have radically reshaped some neighborhoods. Then there's the possibility of crime. Unlike the United States, Japan's society functions on the assumption of almost zero violent crime. Its famously safe streets give women and children the freedom to walk around at night alone without worrying — a freedom that's totally alien to Americans, and a constant source of wonder for people who visit Japan. The assumption of total public safety also allows cities to be built with a level of walkability and density that the crime-ridden US shies away from. Immigrants in Japan are generally surprisingly well-behaved. Unlike in the US, the average immigrant in Japan is going to tend to be a little more rowdy and unruly than the locals, just because Japan is one of the most peaceful countries on Earth to begin with. But acculturation is real and powerful; people tend to follow the social norms of the people around them, so when you drop a random American or Australian in the middle of urban Japan, even if he was a gangster back home, he'll probably follow the rules like everyone else does. (In fact, I knew two such former gangsters in Osaka.) On average, it looks like foreigners get arrested at a bit less than twice the rate of native-born Japanese people. Given the very low baseline, this isn't a very significant amount of crime. Japan has a murder rate of about 0.23; even doubling that would still leave them safer than Korea or China, so increasing it by a far smaller percent via immigration isn't going to change the nation's fundamental character. Immigrant crime isn't a big deal in Japan…yet. But if the foreign-born population of Japan keeps growing, will this still hold true? If Japan's population goes from 3% foreign born to 16% — the level of the UK — there will be large enclaves where foreigners and their descendants live out their lives mostly surrounded by each other instead of by Japanese people. At that point, will acculturation to low crime rates break down? That's probably what happened in France, where 'banlieue' immigrant neighborhoods are high in crime and have seen frequent rioting, despite the overall peacefulness of the country. It would be a shame to see Japan forced to become like France, with guards armed with machine guns standing on street corners. The loss of the ability of women and children to walk safely alone at night in urban areas would be a tragedy. The scary thing here is that we don't really know if this will happen, or how much immigration it would take to bring it about…and we won't ever know, unless and until we wake up and find that it's already too late. So it's reasonable for Japanese people to be uneasy about the possibility of continued mass immigration. In fact, although I'm personally an advocate of continued large-scale immigration in America, I'm pretty apprehensive about the prospect when it comes to Japan. And I can understand why some Japanese people are apprehensive as well. In fact, I think there's another reason for the rise of nativist politics in Japan: the overtourism problem. In recent years, thanks in part to a concerted decades-long campaign by the national government, the entire world has learned that Japan is an easy place to visit and get around in. Translation apps, Google Maps, cheap international roaming, and Apple Pay have made it even easier. Japan is an incredibly unique, pleasant, and fun place, and it's also now a cheap place for foreigners, thanks to the recent weakening of the yen. Everyone who recommends travel destinations says the same thing: Go to Japan. As a result, Japan has become absolutely flooded with tourists. In 2024, the country probably received about 37 million travelers: Source: JITTI If this boom were dispersed evenly throughout time and space, it wouldn't be very onerous. If every tourist came for only one week, and they were spread out evenly throughout the year, 37 million annual visitors would represent only 0.6% of the Japanese population. That's tiny. The problem is that the tourists are not spread out evenly through time and space. They crowd into a few places — the west side of Tokyo, the older neighborhoods of Kyoto — at a few times during the year. During the cherry blossom season in late March and early April, west Tokyo feels as international as NYC. The coffee shops and restaurants and parks are crammed with foreigners, few of whom can speak Japanese. Train stations are jammed up with tourists fumbling with their payment cards at the ticket gate. It's almost impossible to get a dinner reservation. In some neighborhoods, the crush goes away during off-season, but some of Japan's most beautiful and vibrant spots have been hollowed out into tourist traps. Golden Gai, a small drinking district which houses some of Tokyo's coolest little bars, is now almost entirely tourists. Shibuya, once the beating heart of Japan's youth culture, is now a museum of itself. Akihabara is no longer the haunt of anime nerds and social outcasts, but a place where tourists go to shop at a shrinking number of increasingly generic stores. Nowhere has it worse than Kyoto. Reeves Wiedeman had a great travel report in the Intelligencer the other day, illustrating how everything that made Kyoto interesting and distinctive has been either chased away by a constant choking throng of tourists, or crassly commercialized to sell to foreigners. This is what economists call a 'congestion externality.' If only one tourist goes to Shibuya, she can get lost in a neon wonderland; if a million tourists go to Shibuya, the neon wonderland gets replaced by something empty and tawdry, and no one gets to enjoy it. Congestion externalities also strain the efficient public transit systems and well-designed streets for which Japan is famous. Cities are best when they're built for continuous occupancy, but tourism is seasonal. That means if you build a train system to handle peak tourism season, it'll be underused for much of the year. But if you build a train system to handle the average number of riders in order to maintain profitability, it'll be unusable when the tourists come. There's no fully satisfactory solution to this problem. And all that is before we take tourist behavior into account. In Chicago or Philadelphia, a tourist is probably going to be less rowdy and more law-abiding than the locals; in Japan, it's just the opposite. Tourists don't acculturate as much as immigrants do; they haven't been in a country long enough to know how to follow the local rules and norms. As a result, you now see huge numbers of videos of tourists acting up in Japan. I'll post just a few: And, of course, there are all the high-profile cases of streamers going to Japan and behaving badly in order to get attention online. This isn't as bad as murder or theft, obviously, but it does degrade the character of a nation like Japan. The anti-foreigner anger fueling the rise of Sanseito isn't just because of immigrants; it's partly because of tourists. And the real crux of the tourism problem is this: When does it end? If this were a temporary issue, it would be bearable. But Japanese people can look at places like Venice and realize that tourism isn't a temporary phenomenon; if nothing ever gets done, the country's Tier 1 cities are going to be theme parks for all eternity. Cutting down on overtourism would probably go a long way toward defusing Japan's rising anti-foreign backlash. One simple policy would be for each city to levy a surcharge on hotel reservations made to foreign bank accounts. This would allow Tokyo and Kyoto to selectively raise the price of tourism to those hot destinations, pushing international travelers out to cheaper smaller cities and rural areas where their dollars are more needed. (It would also raise revenue for the government.) I think it would also help to arrest and punish of tourists who engage in criminally disruptive behavior. All Singapore had to do in order to get a reputation as a country that brooks no nonsense from tourists was to cane one guy for vandalism. But cutting down on overtourism won't solve the whole problem. Japan is simply not traditionally a nation of immigrants, and so learning how to deal with mass immigration is going to be a bumpier road than it was for the US. (And note that even for the US, it was often bumpy indeed…like now.) Fortunately, Japan has some time. Anger at immigration has not yet come to dominate the national mood. Polls still show very favorable sentiment toward immigration. Here's one from 2024, showing that pro-immigration sentiment has actually increased in recent years: Source: Asahi So the Sanseito backlash is still among a minority of Japanese people. But as we've seen with MAGA in the US, a minority of very dedicated, angry people can create a lot of trouble for a country. Japan's ruling LDP is going to have to act. Traditionally, the LDP wins by being ideologically flexible and addressing the concerns of the electorate as they arise. It needs to do so again, so that the immigration problem doesn't end up causing the rise of a Trump-like figure. The first thing Japan's leaders should do is to improve immigrant selectivity. The country has struggled to attract skilled immigrants en masse, due to low entry-level salaries and the language barrier. But the government should redouble its efforts — as the US becomes a less attractive destination, Japan may emerge as an attractive alternative. In fact, this is one of the main topics of my recent book, 'Weeb Economy.' (Sadly, the book is only available in Japanese.) But skills aren't the only kind of selectivity. Japan can selectively target immigration from countries that are culturally and religiously similar to itself — places like Vietnam and Thailand. It can try to attract political dissidents from China, and refugees from the Hong Kong crackdown. The second thing Japan should do is to improve assimilation policy. Japan's system for dealing with immigrants was built on the assumption that they were temporary expats or guest workers who would eventually go back to their home countries. The children of foreigners often attend their own schools, and some of them end up with limited Japanese ability. This has to end. Kids born to foreigners in Japan should be sent to Japanese schools, so that they learn the language, and — even more importantly — so they acculturate to the norms of the Japanese kids around them. The only kids who go to international school should be those whose parents intend to leave soon. It's also worth looking at the idea of residential dispersal, in order to prevent the formation of ethnic enclaves that resist Japanese culture. Singapore does this by enforcing racial diversity within each apartment block. Japan probably doesn't have the ability or the will to go that far, but Sanseito's idea of capping the foreign percentage in each municipality could actually be on to something. Such a cap is unworkable, of course. But the government could certainly offer vouchers for foreigners to live in neighborhoods where they're scarce, thus helping to speed up assimilation. Japan could also act to break up poor immigrant enclaves, like Denmark does. One other idea I had was for the Japanese government to provide free intensive Japanese language classes for all immigrants who intend to settle in Japan. These classes would also function as networking events; Japanese speakers and conversation partners could be invited to the classes. This could be matched by industry — Japanese engineers could come meet immigrant engineers, and so on. This would help immigrants build up their native connections in Japan, and to more quickly become embedded into Japanese society. Anyway, unless Japan decides to reverse course and shut out immigrants — which would have negative consequences for its economy — it's going to have to learn to assimilate the ones who do come and settle down. European countries are already trending strongly in this direction; Japan doesn't have to copy their policies, but it can certainly learn some lessons from observing the Europeans' efforts. In any case, I don't expect Trump-style policies to prevail in Japan. Sanseito is unlikely to become Japan's main opposition party, much less take over the country. But Japan's leaders should display their traditional nimbleness, and act to defuse the main source of anger behind Sanseito's rise, before the issues get even harder to handle. 1 In fact, there's a long and storied history of cultural transmission and retransmission back and forth between the US and Japan. The best book about this subject is W. David Marx's 'Ametora', which deals with men's fashion. 2 The name technically means the Political Participation Party, though I think 'Populist Party' might be a better translation. It's also a pun on the word 'agree', so when you hear it, it sounds like 'the party you agree with.' Clever! 3 Eventually, when the country gets rich enough that moving out is a bad economic proposition, emigration trails off. 4 Traditionally, Japanese graveyards are very compact because Japan cremates everyone. Religious Muslims refuse to cremate bodies, requiring much more land for graves; in a country as space-constrained as Japan, this can become a major problem very quickly! This article was first published on Noah Smith's Noahpinion Substack and is republished with kind permission. Become a Noahopinion subscriber here.
Saudi Gazette
2 days ago
- Politics
- Saudi Gazette
Japan's PM vows to stay on despite bruising election loss
TOKYO — Japan's ruling coalition has lost its majority in the country's upper house, but Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has said he has no plans to quit. Voters went to the polls on Sunday for the tightly-contested election, being held at a time of frustration at the coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its junior partner Komeito over rising prices and the threat of US tariffs. Speaking after polls closed on Sunday, the prime minister said he "solemnly" accepts the "harsh result" but that his focus was on trade negotiations. Having already lost its majority in Japan's more powerful lower house last year, the defeat will undermine the coalition's influence. The ruling coalition needed 50 seats to retain control of the 248-seat upper chamber. It ended up with 47. The Constitutional Democratic Party, the main opposition, came in second with 22 seats. Half of the seats in the upper chamber were being voted on in Sunday's election, with members elected for six-year terms. Jeffrey Hall, a lecturer in Japanese Studies at Kanda University of International Studies, told BBC News support for more right wing parties had cut into the LDP's conservative support base. "Prime Minister Ishiba is considered not conservative enough by many supporters of the former Prime Minister [Shinzo] Abe," he said. "They think that he just doesn't have the nationalistic views on history, he doesn't have the strong views against China that Abe had." Shinzo Abe was formerly the leader of the LDP and was Japan's longest-serving prime minister, in office twice between 2006 and 2007, and 2012 and 2020. Mr Hall said some of the party's support had gone towards the Sanseito party - who would now be saying things which "haven't been said in public before by members of the upper house," - noting the party's pull towards "conspiracy theories, anti-foreign statements, [and] very strong revisionist views about history". Ishiba's centre-right party has governed Japan almost continuously since 1955, albeit with frequent changes of leader. The result underscores voters' frustration with Ishiba, who has struggled to inspire confidence as Japan struggles against economic headwinds, a cost-of-living crisis and trade negotiations with the United States. Many are also unhappy about inflation - particularly the price of rice - and a string of political scandals that have beleaguered the LDP in recent years. The last three LDP premiers who lost a majority in the upper house stepped down within two months, and analysts had predicted that a significant loss in this election would yield a similar outcome. This would open the field for a potential run at the leadership by other notable LDP members, including Sanae Takaichi, who finished second to Ishiba in last year's leadership election; Takayuki Kobayashi, a former economic security minister; and Shinjiro Koizumi, the son of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. In any case, a change of leadership within the ruling party would almost certainly unleash political drama and destabilise Japan's government at a pivotal moment in US-Japan trade negotiations. On Monday, the Tokyo Stock Exchange was closed for a public holiday, but the yen strengthened on global markets against other major currencies as the results appeared to have been expected by investors. Support for the ruling coalition appears to have been eroded by candidates from the small, right-leaning Sanseito party, led by Sohei Kamiya, who has been compared to Trump by some media outlets. The party, which is known for its "Japanese First" policy, drew conservative votes with its anti-immigration rhetoric. On Sunday, it won 14 seats - a big addition to the single seat the party won in the last election. Sanseito rose to prominence during the pandemic, as it peddled conspiracy theories on YouTube such as the "deep state" and warned people not to wear masks or vaccinate themselves. The fringe party's nativist rhetoric widened its appeal ahead of Sunday's vote, as policies regarding foreign residents and immigration became a focal point of many parties' campaigns. Famous for its isolationist culture and strict immigration policies, the island nation has experienced a record surge in both tourists and foreign residents in recent years. The influx has further driven up prices for Japanese people and fuelled a sentiment among some that foreigners are taking advantage of the country, aggravating discontent. Against that same backdrop, Ishiba last week launched a task force aimed at tackling "crimes or nuisance behaviours committed by some foreign nationals", including those relating to immigration, land acquisitions and unpaid social insurance. — BBC
Business Insider
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Business Insider
'Real Housewives' star Erin Lichy and her husband Abe are building a mezcal empire between diaper changes
Erin and Abe Lichy launched Mezcalum, a mezcal brand inspired by their love of Tulum, Mexico. The Lichys say their mezcal is a smooth, versatile product that will convert tequila drinkers. Their mezcal brand emphasizes sustainability and female empowerment in the spirits industry. It's a sunny Tuesday afternoon, and Erin Lichy is multitasking in the New York office she shares with her husband, Abe, in true modern-mom fashion. While simultaneously fielding interview questions, she's feeding her newborn, the couple's fourth child. "I'm pumping as we speak," the 37-year-old told Business Insider with a laugh, a candid glimpse into the chaos and joy of life as a new family of six after the addition of her baby boy in March. Erin, a real-estate agent and interior designer, and Abe, a lawyer, aren't just a professional New York power couple. As of two years ago, when Erin joined the rebooted cast of Bravo's "The Real Housewives of New York City," they're also reality TV personalities. But being on TV hasn't stopped them from continuing to multitask. Shortly after joining "RHONY," the Lichys launched another venture: their mezcal brand, Mezcalum. That hangover-free feeling The genesis of Mezcalum is rooted in their love affair with Tulum, the beachy Mexican travel destination they describe as their "happy place." "We had mezcal for the first time there and fell in love," Erin said. Unlike the smoky mezcals that dominate the US market, what they tasted in Tulum was smooth, versatile, and surprisingly easy to mix or drink straight. Erin was so enamored by the spirit that she was determined to spread the word. "Somebody needs to bring this to America," Erin quipped of mezcal on a "Real Housewives of New York City" cast trip to Mexico. Though the moment drew social media backlash given mezcal's centuries-long presence and growing popularity in the U.S., the couple said they are genuinely invested in the culture and craft behind their brand. Pure mezcal, by Mexican law, must be 100% agave — unlike tequila, which can be just 51% agave, leaving room for additives that often lead to hangovers. It was a lightbulb moment for Erin, who realized that the spirit's pure-agave requirement was a major selling point. "There's an agave spirit that has to be natural, has to be organic," Erin said. For her, drinking mezcal has been a smoother experience than drinking wine or other liquors — especially the morning after. "We had a wild night drinking it with friends, and the next day I took a yoga class on the beach, had a green juice, and felt great," she said. "Especially as a mom waking up early, it's really hard for me to drink anything else," she added. A sustainable sip The Lichys saw an opportunity to disrupt a category they felt was "masculine-dominated" in both marketing and flavor profile. They reached out to their longtime friend, Chris Roth, as a partner; their partnership with their distiller, Carlos Mendez Blas, came through Abe's legal work in Mexico. "I'd been working with the largest tequila and mezcal law firm, Malacara Corporativo, in Mexico for years," Abe explained. That network helped them bypass the usual trial and error of finding a scalable, reliable partner. "When we were introduced to Carlos, it was really clear — this is our guy," Abe said. Carlos even became a part investor, a testament to his belief in the Lichys' vision. Their mezcal is crafted from a blend of agave species — espadín, the most commonly used agave variety for making mezcal, particularly in Oaxaca, Mexico. This diversity, Abe noted, is what sets mezcal apart from tequila, which can only be made from blue weber agave. "With mezcal, you can create ensembles — these blends that are impossible with tequila." Erin's platform as a real estate mogul and Real Housewife with a strong female following inspired a brand that was "beachy, light, and smooth" — a mezcal that could replace high-quality tequila in any cocktail. "We're on a mission to convert all tequila drinkers," Erin said. For Erin, it's also about creating space for women in an industry where they're often sidelined. "I'm actually in this brand," she said, adding that she's proud of the example she's setting for her children and for the next generation of entrepreneurs. Erin's commitment to sustainability runs deep — she studied sustainable development at NYU, and it shows in every aspect of the business. "I won't even send out plastic cups to our vendors," she said. Mezcalum's partner distillery in Oaxaca re-plants two agave plants for every one harvested, and employs a workforce that is more than 50% women. "There are very few women in the spirits industry who are actually in the brand, not just putting their name on it," Erin said. Running a business across borders can present unique challenges, especially with the recent landscape of tariffs and trade policy. Even before the threat of U.S. tariffs on Mexican spirits loomed, Abe used his legal acumen to plan ahead. "We entered into forward purchasing contracts and worked with our importer to capture FPT relief," he explained. Their proactive approach meant that even if tariffs had been imposed, their margins would have been protected. Ultimately, mezcal was exempted from the tariffs, but the possibility underscored the importance of planning and adaptability. It's a lot to manage, especially when Mezcalum isn't the Lichys' only baby — they have multiple other businesses, not to mention four children, one being an actual baby. So how do they do it? "We've become very good at compartmentalizing," Abe said. Both he and Erin have worked for themselves for years, and they "live and die by the calendar." They've also learned the hard way that they can't be hands-on with absolutely everything. "We made that mistake with our first business, a handbag line, where we never learned how to delegate," Abe admitted. Now, they're quick to ask for help and trust their teams. As the interview winds down, Erin and Abe reflect on their new chapter. "It hasn't really set in yet," Erin admitted of life as a family of six. But with a supportive partnership and businesses that reflect their values, the Lichys are enjoying every moment. Their mezcal isn't just a drink — it's a celebration of culture, sustainability, and the power of partnership.
Time of India
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Shaan reacts to the viral meme of him abusing in a live video; blames his poor eyesight: "I had no idea that... "
On the one hand, social media has turned the world smaller and made it easier for the audience to reach out to their beloved stars. On the other hand, it has also made the stars an easy target for trolls. There are ample examples to support the statement, one of the common ones is when people in the shadow of the internet use abusive language in the comment section. Singer Shaan also faced this issue once when he was doing a live session, and his experience of facing such trolls soon became a meme Shaan's viral meme For the unversed, this happened during the lockdown period when Shaan came live through his social media handle. During his live session, he was going through the fan comments. He didn't have his spectacles on, and unknowingly, he read out some abusive comments. The clip was screen-recorded and turned into a viral meme in no time. Shaan reacts to the viral meme Beyond his singing career, the meme gave him another viral status. In his interaction with Mashabale India, Shaan said the new generation doesn't know about his songs, but certainly is aware of the viral meme. Explaining the entire fiasco, Shaan said, 'I was just reading comments, actually. Even today, I wear spectacles, but for style, I have taken them off and kept them aside. So, while reading the comments, I had no idea that people were abusing there. I was reading them leisurely and suddenly saw it said, 'Abe…' ' 'Yes, beep beep beep. Someone must have screen-recorded it, and it became a meme. My whole identity got attached to that meme. These young Gen-Z and millennials don't even know the kind of songs I've sung — they only remember that 'beep' moment. When my children's friends meet me, they say, 'Oh, is he your dad?'' he laughed at the whole incident. Shaan's work front Shaan's evergreen classics are hard to forget. Be it 'Hey Shona', 'Main Aisa Kyun Hoon', 'Tanha Dil,' or 'Chand Sifarish,' he made a place in every music lover's heart with his soothing voice, and he continues to do so with his work.
Indian Express
10-07-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
Quad evolving framework, like-minded nations may be added: Japan diplomat
Ahead of the Quad leaders' summit in New Delhi this year, a senior Japanese diplomat on Thursday indicated that more 'like-minded' nations may be included in the Quad grouping in future, calling it an 'evolving framework'. This also comes barely a week after the Quad Foreign Ministers meeting in Washington DC, which was attended by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. During an event in New Delhi, Noriaki Abe, Minister for Political Affairs, Embassy of Japan in India, responding to a question whether South Korea or the Philippines can be added as new members to Quad, said, 'I don't exclude the possibility of adding other like-minded countries to this framework.' An interactive session was organised by the Embassy in collaboration with Centre for Integrated and Holistic Studies, a New Delhi-based foreign policy think tank. Terming Quad 'an evolving framework', Abe said they were looking to expand cooperation with regional partners. 'But this possibility has not been discussed in the Quad context,' he said. For the Quad Leaders' summit, US President Donald Trump, Australian PM Anthony Albanese and Japanese PM Shigeru Ishiba are slated to travel to the national capital later this year, even as specific dates are still being worked out. Abe also spoke on the disagreements related to tariff that the other Quad partners, including India and Japan, may be having with the US at the moment, and how they plan to overcome those divergences and work on cooperation towards 'a free and open Indo-Pacific'. 'We have many divergences. Like it or not, we need the US's engagement to promote peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region. We should not create any power vacuum in this region,' he said. 'We need US's engagement and we need to multiply and multi-facet our cooperation with like-minded partners, including the US, of course. But we may expand our cooperation with other regional partners,' Abe said. Even as Quad partners have often expressed concern about China's unilateral actions in the South China Sea and East China Sea, Abe insisted that 'the framework is not intended to do something with any specific country'. He also spoke about the Quad Foreign Ministers condemning the Pahalgam terror attack, even as there was no mention of Pakistan in the joint statement. 'In order to develop the international partnership against terrorism, particularly cross-border terrorism, Japan is second to no country, to support concerted efforts that should be taken by all the relevant parties,' he said. Abe said that Japan was one of the few countries that first contacted, consulted with the Indian government at the level of National Security Advisor and Foreign Minister (after the terror attack). 'India also sent their all-party delegation to Japan as a first leg in this Asia-Pacific region,' he said, adding, 'They had a substantive session at the higher leadership in Japan. That delegation provided us with a very timely opportunity to deepen our understanding about the nature of this heinous crime of terrorism and India's position.'
