Japan-boom still going strong in Australia

BigFamJapan wrote a really interesting blog about how the Japan boom in Ireland seems to be fizzling out a bit (you can read it here: https://www.city-cost.com/blogs/BigfamJapan/zKp3N-living_tokyo_osaka_outside_of_japan). It got me thinking about the Japan-Australia connection, and I think it's still going strong.

Part of it is tourism-related, and since Australia has the budget carrier Jetstar which operates flights between the two countries, it's super easy for people to come and visit. They often have some real wallet-friendly sale fares, and with the yen still being pretty weak in comparison to a lot of currencies I can understand the appeal of a visit.

Another part is cultural. I think there's just a lot of interest in Japanese food, Japanese art, and the like. For instance, there was a big exhibition featuring Yayoi Kusama's artwork in Melbourne earlier this year (pictures are used with permission from my sister!)

Also, there's quite a bit happening in terms of defence between Australia and Japan. Maybe some of you saw it, but Japan secured a contract to supply Australia with Mogami-class frigates fairly recently (it was all over a lot of news outlets), and there just seems to be a pretty big push to build on those inter-country security/defence ties.