Takamatsu

"One-off income tax cuts would have a very limited boost effect," said Chiyuki Takamatsu, chief economist at Fukoku Mutual Life Insurance.

Takamatsu Oku has been coordinating the Ugandan national team’s welcome in Japan and speaks warmly about the special bond that was formed with when marathon runner Stephen Kiprotich, an Olympic gold medalist, came to host town Tateshina in 2017 and ran with elementary schoolchildren.

Yasuo Takamatsu, 64, lost his wife, Yuko, when the tsunami hit Onagawa, in Miyagi prefecture.

Takamatsu said the city’s scars have largely healed, “but the recovery of people’s hearts … will take time.”

In a quiet bar in the small Japanese city of Takamatsu you might find yourself the only customer, going on a deep dive into salsa and New Orleans jazz with a cat-loving bartender who you would have never known if you hadn’t smiled and said “hello.”