Japan has high hopes in the year 2010. First they hope to do well in the Winter Olympic Games coming up. They have a huge presence there and expect a lot out of their athletes. They have many top athletes in several events like women’s figure skating. It will be a tough go for them as teams from all over the world send their best to compete in the games at Vancouver. These athletes from Japan can sometimes have more pressure put on them by their country due to the celebrity like status they receive from the residents there. These pressures can often fuel athletes and at other times can cause them to choke during an event.

Like many countries, another hot topic will be the economy. Japan’s economy has struggled greatly the last few years. Sometimes these events can be tied to other countries and their struggling economies like the US. A top trade official in Japan just recently said that he expects the economy there to recover fully in 2010, yet things like unemployment and deflation may still be big problems.

So expect to see some big changes in Japan for the year 2010. Will they shine or will it be a lack luster year for this great nation.

Ice skating in Japan, like many other countries including the US, is a really important Olympic sport to the country. Japan prides itself on their performance at the Olympic Games in all sports. But in ice skating the pressure can even be larger. The little girls that perform have pressure put on them that even many adults could never imagine. For the 2010 Winter Olympics, the country of Japan will be sending three ladies to compete in the Olympics. The United Sates this year will be only sending two. But the girl to beat this year will be the reigning world champ Kim Yu-na from Korea. Kim is an amazing skater; many countries will be trying to compete with her. The problem is that she can do many things that the rest of the competitors cannot. Japan feels they are ready to try for the gold though. With three solid skaters there this year, they have a chance to bring home a couple of medals in the ice skating event for sure. So if you are tuning into the Olympics this year, Kim Yu-na may be the girl to beat, but watch out for Japan. These young ladies have been training and are by far considered the world’s best at what they do.

When many people think electronic gadgets they think the US, and rightfully so. We in this country love our cell phones and video games. But in Japan things are no different. In fact there is a growing concern there about people that become totally obsessed with new technologies, especially video games. Video gaming has become very popular in Japan. Kids are even becoming addicted to the games that they play. In one instance a Japanese man died from heart failure after playing video games for 20 plus hours straight. Another man there married his PC game bride.

Also, for example with the I-phone, when it first came out, the Japanese were not that impressed. Well a couple of years and later and they are totally obsessed with it. Its increase in popularity there is the highest in the world. It rose almost 350% in the last year alone. The US was not second either, we were ranked 10th.

So you see we are not the only country that loves to play video games and that love to play on our phones. In some ways we are very similar to the Japanese people and their culture.

So what is your first thought when you hear someone say Japan or Japanese. What comes into your head as the first representative thought on this country when someone mentions it? For many people they may simply think cars. Japan has been a world leader in automobile technologies. Toyota started there and they have been getting stronger every year they have been around.

Others, maybe from older generations, may think Pearl Harbor and World War II. Not so much as a negative thought towards the Japanese any longer, but the events of that time may have been burned into their memories forever. If you have ever been to war or lived through one, then you will probably be able to relate with these thoughts.

Baseball fans may think of some of the amazing players that come out of Japan. Baseball in Japan is huge and is only getting bigger. Japan is full of sports fans. Martial arts and sumo wrestling are not the most popular sports there any more. Golf, soccer and once again baseball round out the top 3 it seems now.

So what thoughts come to your head? Do any of these ring a bell or not?

Certainly unless you were there and you were involved in the attacks, how would you know? It most certainly would be very difficult. To many it seems that no doubt the Japanese attacked the US and thrust us into World War II. To many historians and many average Americans, this is what basically happened. But like some historic events there are others out there that tend to believe differently. These people spend tons of time collecting data and information to conclude other things. Are they right or wrong? Well, who really knows? This post is not about that at all; just basically it shows there are certainly other points of view. One is that the president knew the attack was coming and did nothing so that it would force us into the War. Wow, could you imagine that? Well some people do, sometimes they claim to base their theories on evidence, and others just speculate these things. No matter what, what history does show is that we were not allies with Japan, there was an attack and we went to war that cost the lives of thousands of people. This much we do know.

The Japanese government and their new Prime Minister will have some very tough times ahead of them. Like our economy theirs is struggling also. The newly elected Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama made some pretty steep promises during his election bid. This is no shock to us nor is it to their people that the people wanting to be elected would make big time promises. But can he really keep all of these promises. He basically is saying that he wants to put more money into the people’s hands rather than into the hands of businesses. Another promise was to do away with a surcharge on each gallon of gasoline. A promise like this would cost the government trillions of dollars. Yikes…

There were other promises as well, like helping people monetarily with kids and cutting our certain toll charges on some of their busy roads. Most of the promises made would really hurt the government financially. So can he do it? Or will he do it? If you are in Japan I am sure the economy is a big news maker.

Even here in the US we hear all about the money woes there.

The Japanese people do not live on a vast huge chunk of land similar to the US or China as an example. They live on an island chain, most of them on the main island. Being on a much smaller piece of land and having a large population means that they more than likely are going to be a lot more concerned with energy usage. Japan is by far a world leader when it comes to energy efficiency. Many of their huge factories and businesses try and conserve energy. They do not waste nor do they have the resources to do so. With energy costs really high all over the world, countries are now trying to do as much as possible when it comes to conserving energy.

Business leaders in different business sectors even travel to Japan to see how they do business using lower amounts of energy than many businesses or factories similar to what their companies do. By saving energy, businesses are also able to try and save money to help to keep the costs of goods as low as possible.

So the next time you are in Japan, you never know if you may see some of this energy saving technology in action.