 Rojak is a colloquial Malay word for “eclectic mix,” and is the name for a Javanese dish that typically combines sliced fruit and vegetables with a spicy dressing. Town criers China’s ancient towns are on the verge of bankruptcy. Over the last decade, the government and private companies have invested in the cities to attract tourists, showcasing their historic architectural styles and scenic roads and waterways to promote China’s cultural heritage. Some efforts have been successful, leading to huge crowds. But now the country’s tourism sector is grappling with oversupply, the China business newsletter Baiguan wrote. Many of the towns are essentially “‘copy and paste’ versions of each other, with the same architecture, same street food, and same souvenirs,” Baiguan wrote, and several have turned into “ghost towns.” The problem stems from a lack of “authentic, living culture” in some of them, which disappeared as development pushed local residents out, and were replaced by “fake” attractions that present as historic, but don’t feel genuine. When you’re (on) a jet… Flying in a private jet is “the single most seductive experience in the world” — and the most corrupting force a person can encounter — a veteran British journalist declared. Tina Brown, the former editor-in-chief of Tatler, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and The Daily Beast, has flown private a few times with her “gilded friends,” leading to the realization that a taste of luxury aviation changes a person forever. “You realize there is no one you wouldn’t kill, betray, or sleep with to ensure a lifetime of luxe relief from the armpit of mass transit,” Brown wrote in a tongue-in-cheek piece for her Substack, Fresh Hell. The addiction to private planes has infected the world of politics and business, with the movement of bigwigs largely dictated by whether they have access to a jet. For example, many merger and acquisition deals unravel over disagreements surrounding executives’ use of company planes: “No plane, no deal.” Betting on a casino Japan’s “paradoxical” relationship with gambling will be on display when the country’s first casino opens at the end of the decade. Built on an artificial island off the coast of Osaka, the resort is part of a plan to turn the city into a global business and tourism hub, but critics have questioned whether it will exacerbate gambling addiction issues that persist in Japan. As the Secrets from Japan and Beyond newsletter wrote, gambling is largely prohibited in the East Asian country — though there are notable exceptions for horse racing, boat racing, lotteries, and Pachinko, a mechanical game similar to a slot machine in which players try to win balls that they can exchange for prizes. Online gambling is strictly outlawed, though free casino-style games exist in a legal gray area, and millions are addicted. Despite the curbs, gambling in Japan is “unlikely to disappear anytime soon.” |
