Japanese antiques follow the pattern of their mother China, in that as peoples poured out of Africa some million years ago, they took on various characteristics, whether the golden peoples of the east who also poured over into the America's and became brown, or the Indo European groups that spread west into Europe, becoming lighter skin and blue eyes as their more northern lives now required more sun absorbtion. In original humanity Africa, equitorial peoples retained their dark skins to lessen skin cancer from heat of direct year round sun.



In Japan, the code of protection from foreign attack was intensified after two ferocious attempts by Mongol China to land immense fleets to enslave the people of Japan. Short landings inflicted terror and death to local Japanese, but armies of Samurai forced them back. The next, much greater fleet to arrive in a few years would surely have won, but a mighty typhoon stopped their landing and increased in force to sink most of the Chinese fleet, and cause their retreat forever. This during the time of Marco Polo.

To this day, and with each arrival of a ship, including those of Admiral Perry in 1854, few sailors taried long ashore, or only a few returned to their ships. Japan became very inward, sword by sword. And this control by the leader Shogun evolved into one over lord Shogun, many deaths, and an Emperor evolved, in time to meet the west. After Admiral Perry, Japan modernized, beat Russia in an early 20th century sea battle, and began it's expansion through the 1930's and 1940's until the USS Missouri pulled into Tokyo Bay in 1945 and all agreed that western democratic capitalism had arrived.

That front page newspaper photo of the immense and powerful 6 ft 5 inch General Douglas MacArthur standing next to a rather disshevelled puny Emperor dressed hastily in western clothes with his head and tie askew told the people of Japan a new era had begun. And as we know now, they learned our lessons better than us. So while a new Japanese auto will be a good purchase, a Japanese antiques would do you far better. They will make millions more fine autos: but the samurai sword, or historic precious artifact keep going off the shelf, and your only choice one day will be a very nice replica.

If you sense a pattern of wealth to this, it is not to the Neds with lead heads in those huge buggy lines with their modern oriental replicas. Be wise, go back to the future, where an investment in time, will return much more by far. I bought my first rental house in 1961 for $11,500 and worked my way up to selling my antique seaside inn in 2004 for $2,100,000. When you look at what is available, and what richer Chinese will delight in buying up Japanese antiques to show off when Tokyo is in town.

Be inscrutable though, when they ask how much. Bow lower than them, this is the trick that Marco Polo learned. The lower kowtow, the bow to the emperor, implies such power to him or her that they are obliged to cut off your hear or grant your request. Marco left the Forbidden Palace with riches, and his head. You could too. Buy now, kowtow later, be rich ever after. Deep kow, holy tow, count your cash. Bless your long vision in this day by day survivial world. If you don't plan your retirement investments, who will?