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【特別回】英語でニュース深掘り2026年2月23日(月) · 英語で国内ニュース

• 0:13
  I. All right, Chris, let's start
• 0:42
  with our first topic. It is about Sorokatsu or
• 0:46
  enjoying activities all by yourself.
• 0:50
  Recently, the business for single customers is growing
• 0:53
  rapidly. In Japan, they call it the solo
• 0:57
  economy. Have you noticed this trend?
• 1:00
  I definitely have. You see more single seat tables
• 1:04
  at restaurants, solo camping gear at stores, and even solo
• 1:08
  travel packages. But Chris, why is Solokatsu
• 1:12
  growing so much? Well, there are a few reasons.
• 1:16
  First, it is actually a massive demographic shift.
• 1:20
  According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, the
• 1:23
  number of single person households is increasing
• 1:26
  dramatically. Really.
• 1:28
  Do we have any specific numbers on that?
• 1:31
  Yes, in 19, 1990, single person households made-up 23% of all
• 1:36
  households in Japan, but by the year 2020 that number grew to
• 1:41
  38% and it is projected to reach an amazing 44% by the year 2050.
• 1:49
  Wow, 44% by 2050. That means nearly half of all
• 1:55
  households in Japan will be people living alone.
• 1:58
  That completely explains why the solo economy is booming.
• 2:03
  Businesses have to adapt to this new reality.
• 2:06
  Exactly. Now when we hear about single
• 2:09
  person households increasing, many people assume it is mostly
• 2:12
  due to the elderly population. But that is not the whole story.
• 2:17
  Oh it isn't? I thought the aging society was
• 2:20
  the main reason Solokatsu is for elderly people, no?
• 2:24
  That is a big part of it of course.
• 2:26
  However, doing solokatsu is not just for the elderly.
• 2:31
  Actually, a recent study shows that younger generations like
• 2:34
  Gen. Z and millennials are the most
• 2:37
  proactive about enjoying activities alone.
• 2:40
  That is very interesting. Young people actively choose to
• 2:45
  be alone. I guess they don't see being
• 2:47
  alone as a negative thing for them.
• 2:50
  It's a precious me time to recharge their energy away from
• 2:54
  social media and daily pressure. That makes perfect sense,
• 2:58
  doesn't it? We're always connected through
• 3:00
  smartphones, so sometimes we just need to disconnect.
• 3:04
  By the way, Sarah, do you have any favorite solo katsu?
• 3:08
  Actually, I love solo karaoke. I go there by myself and sing
• 3:14
  for two solid hours. Solo karaoke.
• 3:18
  Wow, don't you feel a little lonely in a big room all by
• 3:22
  yourself? They have smaller rooms for solo
• 3:25
  karaoke. It's totally stress free, I
• 3:28
  don't have to wait for my turn, and the best part is I can sing
• 3:32
  my absolute favorite song five times in a row if I want to.
• 3:38
  Singing the exact same song five times?
• 3:42
  You definitely cannot do that if you go with your friends.
• 3:45
  It really is the ultimate me time.
• 3:48
  Yes, nobody judges my singing recently.
• 3:51
  There are even solo wedding photo plans and solo yakiniku.
• 3:56
  It's all about treating yourself well.
• 3:58
  Treating yourself well. I love that concept.
• 4:02
  I might actually try solo yakiniku next weekend.
• 4:05
  I can eat all the expensive meat at my own pace.
• 4:10
  Hi, Soro Katsunova, Daedesta. Thank you.
• 4:53
  Chris, our next topic is about food, specifically the recent
• 4:58
  global boom of Japanese onigiri or rice balls.
• 5:02
  Have you seen the news about specialty onigiri shops opening
• 5:06
  up in major cities like Paris and New York?
• 5:09
  Yes I have. It's incredible to see.
• 5:13
  I read an article saying that in Paris, a single onigiri can cost
• 5:17
  around 4 to 6 euros. That's about 600 to ¥900.
• 5:22
  And yet people are still lining up outside the stores every
• 5:26
  single day. 600 to ¥900 for one onigiri.
• 5:32
  When you think about the convenience store prices in
• 5:34
  Japan, that's incredibly expensive.
• 5:38
  Why do you think people overseas are so willing to pay that much?
• 5:42
  I think there are a few reasons. First, it is considered a very
• 5:47
  healthy fast food. Compared to burgers or pizza,
• 5:51
  rice is naturally low in fat. Also, it fits perfectly with
• 5:55
  modern dietary needs because it has many gluten free and vegan
• 5:59
  options. I see, so it's a healthy
• 6:02
  alternative to traditional fast food.
• 6:05
  Also, we can't ignore the power of Japanese pop culture.
• 6:09
  Oh, you mean anime culture? Yes, people all over the world
• 6:14
  see their favorite anime characters eating Onihiti on
• 6:17
  screen. Chris, have you watched Spirited
• 6:20
  Away? Sinto Chihiro no Kami Kakshi.
• 6:23
  That scene where Haku gave Chihito an onigiri.
• 6:27
  Oh, I sort of remember that, the girl, Chihito cried, eating an
• 6:31
  onigiri. Right.
• 6:32
  Yes, after watching anime, people want to experience
• 6:36
  onigiri themselves. The word onigiri is actually
• 6:40
  becoming a universal word. Some foreign dictionaries,
• 6:44
  including Oxford Dictionary, are starting to list it as onigiri
• 6:49
  instead of translating it as rice balls.
• 6:52
  That's a huge cultural milestone, but what's really
• 6:55
  fascinating to me is the ingredients they use inside.
• 6:59
  They don't just stick to traditional Japanese flavors
• 7:02
  like salmon or pickled plum. The shops overseas have created
• 7:06
  some heavily localized flavors. Localized flavors?
• 7:10
  You mean they adapt the ingredients to match the local
• 7:13
  taste? Can you give me an example?
• 7:16
  Sure, For example in France they have the Paris Onihiti.
• 7:21
  They put cream cheese and olives inside the rice and the crazy
• 7:25
  part is instead of wrapping it with black seaweed, they
• 7:29
  sometimes rabbit with raw ham. Raw ham?
• 7:33
  You mean prosciutto wrapping rice with raw ham and putting
• 7:37
  cream cheese and olives inside? That doesn't even sound like
• 7:41
  Japanese food anymore. It sounds like an Italian or
• 7:45
  French appetizer. Exactly.
• 7:47
  But that's how food culture evolves.
• 7:50
  It crosses borders, mixes with local traditions and becomes
• 7:54
  something entirely new. Onigiri is not just a Japanese
• 7:58
  dish anymore, it's becoming a global platform for creativity.
• 8:02
  That is a wonderful way to look at it.
• 8:05
  I would actually love to try that raw ham and cream cheese
• 8:14
  onigiri. Hi Saishi News Nanto, Tokyo.
• 8:32
  For our final topic, let's talk about something futuristic that
• 8:36
  is becoming a reality. Flying cars.
• 8:40
  They're like giant drones that can carry people.
• 8:43
  Right, they were a massive topic at the Osaka Expo last year.
• 8:47
  Did you go to the Expo Sada? Yes I did, I went there with my
• 8:51
  family. Seeing the actual flying car
• 8:54
  exhibition up close was definitely the absolute
• 8:58
  highlight of the Expo for me. Did you go to?
• 9:01
  I did. I went with a group of friends,
• 9:04
  but back then it still felt like a dream.
• 9:07
  Well, we have some breaking news.
• 9:09
  Just a few days ago, on February 18th, the CEO of SkyDrive held a
• 9:14
  major press conference. SkyDrive, they're one of the
• 9:18
  leading Japanese developers of flying cars, right?
• 9:22
  What was the announcement about? They announced their concrete
• 9:26
  progress. SkyDrive is officially aiming to
• 9:29
  start commercial operations of their flying cars in the year
• 9:33
  2028. 2028 That's only two years from now.
• 9:39
  That means anyone will be able to buy a ticket and ride one in
• 9:42
  just a couple of years. That's incredibly fast.
• 9:46
  I know. And there's even more exciting
• 9:49
  news. They're going to conduct actual
• 9:52
  demo flights in Tokyo from tomorrow, February 24th to the
• 9:57
  28th. Wow, demo flights right here in
• 10:01
  Tokyo starting tomorrow. That's amazing.
• 10:05
  If you live nearby, you might actually be able to look up and
• 10:08
  see a flying car in the sky. Yes.
• 10:11
  Imagine looking out your office window and seeing an air taxi
• 10:15
  flying by. It takes off vertically so it
• 10:18
  doesn't need a long runway. But wait to make this a daily
• 10:23
  reality though, we still need to build specific places for them
• 10:27
  to take off and land, right? That is correct.
• 10:31
  They're called vertiports. Building vertiports in cities
• 10:35
  and creating strict air traffic rules are the next big
• 10:38
  challenges, but once those are cleared, we can say goodbye to
• 10:42
  traffic jams forever. I cannot wait for that day.
• 10:46
  Imagine this, Chris. In the future we could be
• 10:50
  recording this very podcast from inside a flying car high above
• 10:55
  Tokyo. English news in the sky.
• 10:58
  That sounds like a fantastic idea.
• 11:15
  I.