There is a limited universe of listed preferred shares in Japan today. Upon listing, our preferred would be only the seventh in the market, and the first perpetual preferred. We view this as a meaningful contribution to the development of Japan's capital markets, but it is also why the path to listing is necessarily deliberate. In the Japanese market, dividends on preferred shares are expected to be supported by sustainable cash flows generated from underlying operations. The listing review accordingly assesses dividend-paying capacity based on projected financial performance over a multi-year period, including scenarios across different market environments. Metaplanet already has a six-quarter track record in its Bitcoin Income Generation Business, and we believe it is important to continue demonstrating that the business can generate stable, recurring cash flows across both strong and weak Bitcoin market conditions. We are also continuing to articulate the scalability and long-term viability of our related operating businesses that support this cash flow profile. A second consideration is dividend operations. Listed companies in Japan have historically paid dividends once or twice per year. The structure we are designing contemplates more frequent distributions, including monthly dividends. Implementing this requires careful work on record-date procedures, shareholder identification, dividend calculation, and recurring shareholder notice operations. We are working closely with our partners to build and modernize this infrastructure in a manner consistent with Japanese regulatory and market practice. The process has taken longer than we initially anticipated, and we appreciate that this has created uncertainty. We are deliberate about this work because Japan today is one of the most yield-starved major capital markets in the world, and we believe a preferred equity product supported by credible operating cash flows, robust operational infrastructure, and a long-term growth strategy can meaningfully address that need. We are deeply committed to bringing this product to market, and to doing so in a form that earns the long-term trust of investors and market participants.

As someone who loves trading technicals I think learning about markets via technicals (like I did) is one of the worst ways to start It’s a rigid framework where grown men argue with each other about the exact Japanese name for a specific candlestick or a box they’ve drawn on an arbitrary time frame It doesn’t teach you the foundations - why markets move, different types of participants, microstructure, order types and their impact, perps vs spot, and all that stuff - market ‘plumbing’ as a category One of the biggest issues with being hyperfocused on technicals is that they don’t teach you principles and market effects Most technical setups can be decomposed into broad buckets which are well-established (trend, mean reversion, momentum, order flow / price impact, vol clustering etc.) A lot of technical analysis is an often unknowing attempt to map those broad market effects into a recognisable pattern But even a technical-first view is better served by understanding the underlying market effect first and then decomposing it, as opposed to focusing on the specific pattern without ever looking at what’s happening under the hood “This type of triangle tends to go up” is a lot less useful than “this type of flow tends to resolve higher over N time frame”, even if you use the same triangle to identify it Another example: if you’re drawing a support level and buying it, you’re assuming some version of buyers being more aggressive than sellers in that area over a given time frame and predicting a higher price as a result - but what does that mean? Shorts closing / taking profit, allowing for mean reversion? Aggressive sellers being absorbed by passive buyers? Some price insensitive buyer predictably stepping in at a value area? Sellers getting margin called and forcibly trading at bad prices/causing a dislocation? Clustering of orders creating some sort of imbalance? And so on. There’s definitely a risk of overthinking this stuff, and you can make money from charts alone But if you haven’t thought about the underlying market effects and ‘plumbing’ for your setups you’ll likely be stuck in rigid pattern matching that doesn’t generalise and isn’t subject to deeper investigation and more nuanced application Even if your main lens remains TA-focused, there is no harm in understanding the stuff you’re trading on a product level (eg perp contract specs, OI, funding, mark/last/index etc) and on a foundational level (why and how markets move) Especially now that you can jam this stuff into an LLM and keep saying “dumb it down” until you get it, no excuse not to do your homework This is something I really wish I did much earlier in my trading life, so hopefully it resonates with a fellow trader stuck in TA psychosis spending his mum’s credit card on a fourth Udemy candlestick course Anyway GM

Today we're announcing new offices in Singapore and Tokyo. Combined with Sydney, @WeAreLegora now covers the full breadth of Asia-Pacific. Here's why: Japan is one of the largest legal services markets in the world by revenue – and it's in the middle of a structural M&A boom that connects directly to the US corridor we already cover. We already have customers there. The Tokyo office puts us at the center of that flow, serving both the international firms advising on outbound Japanese transactions and the domestic firms handling the inbound. Singapore is where the Magic Circle and leading US firms base their APAC headquarters. For global firms doing cross-border legal work across the region, it's the natural entry point – and we already have several of those firms as customers. The APAC legal services fee pool rivals the EU in scale. We've been building here since opening in Sydney in 2025. @minterellison, @AllensLegal, @hsfkramer, and others are already on the platform. Now we're taking the next step. If you want to be part of what we're building –

Be honest, did this make you hungry? 🍲 Dropping the full AI video prompt below—what dish should I try next? prompt：Create a 30-second fast-paced, photorealistic live-action Japanese cooking film that fully demonstrates the preparation of authentic Japanese sukiyaki. The entire video should have the visual quality and realism of a premium Japanese food commercial. Overall Visual Style Photorealistic live-action cinematic food cinematography. Absolutely no anime, illustration, cartoon, CGI-rendered, or video-game visual style. Set inside a warm Japanese home kitchen during late afternoon. Amber sunlight passes through traditional wooden lattice windows and reflects naturally across a heavy black cast-iron sukiyaki pot. Show extremely realistic food textures throughout: intricate fine marbling and fat structure in premium wagyu beef, visible vegetable fibers, porous tofu surfaces, realistic egg viscosity, and glossy sukiyaki sauce. Follow physically believable cooking behavior at all times. Beef fat naturally melts when exposed to heat. Wagyu slices gradually change color as they cook and gently curl around the edges. The sauce produces fine simmering bubbles. Steam naturally rises and moves according to heat and airflow. Sauce slowly runs and drips along the surfaces of the ingredients. Use shallow depth of field, macro close-ups, soft natural light, delicate highlights, and restrained cinematic color grading. Maintain premium food-commercial image quality with realistic textures and subtle photographic imperfections. Camera movement should remain smooth, stable, and controlled. Editing should be fast-paced, energetic, and visually clear. Use natural match cuts based on chopstick movements, ingredient shapes, sauce flow, steam movement, and visual composition. Maintain strict continuity throughout the entire video: the exact same pair of realistic human hands, the same utensils, the same chopsticks, the same cast-iron sukiyaki pot, the same ceramic bowl, the same kitchen environment, and the same lighting direction. Timeline 0–3 seconds — Ingredient Preparation Rapid macro shots of thinly sliced marbled wagyu beef, green onions, shiitake mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, grilled tofu, shirataki noodles, napa cabbage, and shungiku arranged neatly. Realistic human hands hold a chef's knife and cut the green onions into evenly sized diagonal segments. The knife then creates a precise decorative flower-like pattern on the surface of the shiitake mushrooms. All ingredients should look fresh and naturally moist. Clearly show their cut surfaces, natural fibers, pores, moisture, and fine texture. Use rapid but controlled editorial cuts to establish the ingredients within the first three seconds. 3–6 seconds — Heating the Pot and Melting Beef Fat The heavy black cast-iron sukiyaki pot sits on the stove and gradually heats. Wooden chopsticks pick up a small piece of beef fat and place it directly into the hot pot. The beef fat slowly melts from a solid piece into transparent rendered fat. The chopsticks push the melting fat across the bottom of the pot, spreading it evenly across the cooking surface and creating a thin glossy layer of rendered fat. Subtle heat vapor naturally rises from the hot surface. Show realistic melting behavior, surface tension, heat distortion, and tiny sizzling sounds. 6–9 seconds — Searing Green Onion and Wagyu Diagonal green onion segments fall into the hot cast-iron pot. As they contact the hot surface, they produce a crisp, immediate sizzling reaction. The cut surfaces gradually develop a lightly browned, caramelized appearance. Thinly sliced marbled wagyu is then placed directly into the pot. The intricate fat marbling begins to melt under the heat. The edges of the thin meat slices gently curl and contract naturally. The beef gradually changes from fresh red to a tender light-brown cooked surface while retaining a moist, glossy texture. Capture extreme macro details of melting fat, searing meat, tiny bubbles, and the interaction between the beef and the hot cast-iron surface. 9–12 seconds — Preparing the Sukiyaki Sauce Fine crystalline sugar is evenly sprinkled over the partially cooked wagyu. The sugar begins melting immediately when it contacts the hot cooking surface and rendered beef fat. Soy sauce, mirin, and sake are poured sequentially around the edge of the pot. The liquids combine into a deep amber-brown sukiyaki sauce. The sauce rapidly bubbles as it contacts the hot pan and begins flowing around the wagyu and seared green onion. The sauce gradually coats the surface of the beef and vegetables, creating a rich transparent gloss. Show realistic liquid physics, bubbling, evaporation, surface tension, reflections, and sauce movement. 12–15 seconds — Adding the Ingredients Wooden chopsticks sequentially place grilled tofu, decorative shiitake mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, shirataki noodles, and napa cabbage into the pot. Arrange the ingredients naturally so their different shapes, textures, and colors create a visually balanced composition. The sauce flows naturally between the ingredients. The porous grilled tofu gradually absorbs the amber-brown sauce around its edges. Show realistic moisture absorption and sauce penetration without making the tofu appear artificial or overly saturated. 15–18 seconds — Simmering and Infusing Extreme close-up of the sukiyaki gently simmering. Fine bubbles continuously form around the edges of the tofu, shiitake mushrooms, napa cabbage, and other ingredients. The napa cabbage gradually softens and becomes partially translucent. The enoki mushrooms become coated with glossy sukiyaki sauce. Natural steam continuously rises from the pot. The warm amber sunlight catches the steam, creating a subtle atmospheric haze. The camera moves slowly sideways at extremely close range, following the surface of the simmering ingredients. Maintain shallow depth of field, with individual bubbles and ingredient textures sharply resolved while the background remains softly blurred. 18–21 seconds — Adding Fresh Wagyu and Shungiku A new layer of thinly sliced marbled wagyu is gently placed over the simmering vegetables. The meat is slowly cooked by the surrounding heat and hot sauce. The beef naturally changes color as it cooks, transitioning into a tender pinkish-brown cooked state while retaining visible marbling, moisture, and soft texture. Fresh bright-green shungiku is placed along the edge of the pot. The fresh green leaves create a strong but natural contrast against the darker ingredients and deep amber-brown sauce. Maintain realistic ingredient scale, natural placement, and believable cooking behavior. 21–24 seconds — Preparing the Dipping Egg A fresh chicken egg is gently cracked against the rim of a small white ceramic bowl. The shell breaks naturally. The yolk and egg white fall completely into the bowl. Wooden chopsticks rapidly whisk the egg. The yolk and white combine into a smooth golden mixture with realistic viscosity. The chopsticks create a visible swirling vortex in the egg. Steam from the sukiyaki naturally passes through the background. Perform a smooth rack focus from the beaten egg in the foreground to the continuously bubbling sukiyaki behind it. 24–27 seconds — Picking Up and Dipping the Wagyu Wooden chopsticks reach into the sukiyaki and pick up a tender slice of wagyu. The meat hangs naturally from the chopsticks under its own weight. A small amount of green onion and several thin strands of enoki mushrooms remain attached to the meat. Glossy amber-brown sauce clings naturally to the surface of the beef. Several realistic droplets slowly gather along the lower edge of the meat before falling back into the pot. The wagyu is then gently lowered into the golden beaten egg. The egg smoothly coats the surface of the beef with realistic viscosity and adhesion. Capture the interaction between the glossy sauce, tender meat, and flowing egg mixture in an extreme macro close-up. 27–30 seconds — Final Hero Shot The completed sukiyaki pot sits in the center of a warm solid-wood dining table. The pot contains marbled wagyu, seared green onion, decorative shiitake mushrooms, grilled tofu, napa cabbage, enoki mushrooms, shirataki noodles, and fresh green shungiku, all naturally distributed throughout the simmering pot. The deep amber-brown sauce continues gently bubbling around the ingredients. The sauce catches delicate realistic highlights across the surface. Steam continuously rises from the finished dish and drifts naturally through the warm atmosphere. The camera moves slowly around the edge of the cast-iron pot in a controlled cinematic arc. The camera gradually settles on the chopsticks holding a tender slice of wagyu above the beaten egg in the foreground. The wagyu remains soft and naturally folded, with visible marbling and glossy sauce coating. The sauce and egg mixture form small natural droplets that slowly fall from the beef. The background gradually becomes softer and more defocused. End on a luxurious, warm, appetizing, premium Japanese food-commercial hero shot. Cinematography Premium Japanese food advertising photography. Photorealistic live-action cinematography. Natural macro food photography. Shallow depth of field. Selective focus. Smooth controlled camera movement. Macro close-ups mixed with medium food shots. Natural rack focus. Controlled lateral camera movement. Slow cinematic orbit around the final dish. Fast editorial pacing during ingredient preparation. Rapid match cuts synchronized with hand movements, chopstick movements, ingredient placement, sauce movement, and steam. Realistic lens characteristics. Natural optical depth. Subtle photographic imperfections. High micro-detail. Realistic surface reflections. Natural motion blur. No artificial camera shake. No excessive slow motion. No hyper-stylized VFX. Lighting and Color Warm Japanese domestic atmosphere. Late-afternoon sunlight entering through traditional wooden lattice windows. Soft directional sunlight. Natural amber illumination. Warm highlights across the cast-iron pot and ingredients. Soft shadows with realistic falloff. Subtle reflections on rendered beef fat and sukiyaki sauce. Deep blacks on the cast-iron cookware. Natural skin tones. Rich food colors. Deep amber-brown sukiyaki sauce. Fresh green shungiku. Natural red and pink tones in the wagyu before and during cooking. Golden-yellow egg yolk. Warm wooden tones from the dining table and kitchen. Restrained cinematic color grading. Premium Japanese food-commercial color palette. Avoid excessive saturation, artificial neon colors, generic blue cinematic grading, or exaggerated HDR. Audio Bright, warm 1980s Japanese city-pop instrumental music. Tempo approximately 110–120 BPM. Delicate electric piano. Soft bass. Crisp drum-machine rhythm. Subtle bell percussion. The music should remain energetic enough to support the fast editing while never overpowering the cooking sounds. Synchronize detailed, close-recorded ASMR cooking sounds with the visuals: Chef's knife cutting vegetables Knife contacting the cutting board Beef fat touching the hot cast-iron pot Beef fat sizzling and melting Green onion sizzling Wagyu fat rendering Meat gently searing Sugar falling onto the beef Sugar melting Soy sauce being poured Mirin being poured Sake being poured Sukiyaki sauce rapidly bubbling Wooden chopsticks touching the cast-iron pot Chopsticks touching the ceramic bowl Egg cracking Egg falling into the bowl Egg being whisked Natural simmering sounds Steam and subtle cooking sounds During the final hero shot, the music naturally becomes quieter and resolves with a single delicate Japanese wind-chime sound. Negative Requirements Absolutely no Japanese anime, 2D animation, cartoon, illustration, manga, clay animation, 3D animation, or obvious CGI-rendered appearance. No plastic-looking food. No artificial food textures. No excessive skin smoothing. No fake glossy food surfaces. No excessive or physically impossible highlights. No physically impossible liquid behavior. No unnatural steam. No reverse-flowing liquids. No floating ingredients. No food clipping or intersections. No unnatural deformation. No storyboard panels. No reference images visible in the final video. No sketches. No borders. No numbers. No arrows. No annotations. No subtitles. No captions. No interface elements. No logos. No watermarks. No text overlays of any kind. Do not show tonkatsu. Do not show rice bowls or donburi. Do not show seafood. Do not show Western ingredients. Do not show unrelated Japanese dishes. Only show authentic Japanese sukiyaki and its traditional accompanying ingredients. The final wagyu must not appear completely raw. The final wagyu must not be excessively cooked, dry, tough, burnt, or charred. Avoid completely raw-looking beef in the final presentation. Avoid overcooked gray meat. Avoid malformed hands. Avoid extra fingers. Avoid missing fingers. Avoid distorted wrists. Avoid unnatural hand anatomy. Avoid twisted or deformed chopsticks. Avoid duplicated utensils. Avoid duplicated ingredients. Avoid food clipping. Avoid inconsistent ingredient shapes. Avoid inconsistent pot geometry. Avoid liquid flowing backward. Avoid physically impossible steam movement. Maintain exact continuity of the same human hands, same utensils, same wooden chopsticks, same cast-iron sukiyaki pot, same ceramic bowl, same kitchen, same dining table, same ingredient set, same lighting direction, and same spatial environment throughout the entire video. The entire 30-second sequence must feel like one continuous premium Japanese food commercial filmed in a real kitchen, with physically accurate cooking, realistic human interaction, consistent food appearance, natural camera movement, and authentic live-action photography.

Most people think Harry Potter is the best selling book series in history at ~615M books. That will likely change this year. It will be overtaken by One Piece, by Eiichiro Oda, regarded as the greatest Japanese manga / graphic novel of all time, which just crossed 600M in March and is projected to surpass HP this year and hit 725M+ when it ends in ~2030-32 (there’s 10-15% left). The story follows Monkey D Luffy, a young boy who has rubber man powers, who assembles a pirate crew and goes on an epic journey to find the legendary “One Piece” treasure. As a voracious reader, I struggled to take manga seriously for most of my life. I’m a hardcore Harry Potter fan, and even thinking of manga in the same breath once disgusted me. I relegated manga to a “niche comic book for nerds” and anime to a “kids cartoon”. “These aren’t real books, it’s just for people who can’t read longform”, I thought. But the past few years have completely changed my mind. I’ve been personally reading and watching (YouTube/Crunchyroll) many manga / anime including One Piece. Aside from the appreciation for the artistry of the characters, the stories strike me as immensely powerful with deep lessons about loyalty, sacrifice, friendship, ambition, justice, power, grief and kindness. Once you get in the flow, it’s far more enjoyable than most non-fiction and rivals anything on my shelf. The storytelling is beautiful. It awakens the child inside you without being juvenile. I highly recommend it to anyone who has previously had reservations like I once did, and doubly so if you want to enjoy something with your kids.

My hyper-bull case is that 30% of global rides will be driven by AVs in 10 years. This will require ~120M+ cars doing ~25 rides a day ~360 days a year. It will cost ~$5T to build these cars at ~$40,000 each. 12M cars are built a year on average, but there will be a slow and steady ramp; perhaps 250k in 2027, 500k in 2028, 1m, 3m, etc (build your own model). Predict Tesla will be #1# in this space with 40% market share -- which would mean building ~50M cars in a decade. Zero to 40% market share and 5M cars a year on average is an insane ramp up -- but Tesla is the company best positioned to do this. Uber will be in second place with 35% market share, with two dozen partners putting absurdly cheap Chinese, Japanese, and purpose-built robotaxis into their fleet -- as no car maker wants to go head-to-head with Tesla building cars AND building a network. Waymo will buy a car maker in the next 12 months, creating a hybrid of Tesla and Uber: full-stack cars built in its factory, deployed on its network, and also added to Grab, Lyft, Uber, and other networks to increase utilization. The big story? Someone will need to fund FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS WORTH OF CARS 120M+ cars @ $40,000 each on average; some will be 15-20k two-seaters, some will be premium SUVS at $80,000. $7-10T+ in annual revenue is at stake for AVs alone. At a 20-40%+ gross margin, $1-2T+ in EBIDA/cash flow, we will be talking about ~20-30T in market cap. Waymo and Uber are worth ~$120B and $150B; Tesla is worth $1.4T at the moment. There's 18-28T in market cap about to be created. Please run this through your own LLMs and models... move the variables around however you like. $5 average ride, $10 average ride, $50k average vehicle cost, etc. 10% of total rides... 50% of total rides... ... however you slice it, this will be the largest market in the world for AI over the next decade. After that, human robotics will be the TAM/biggest market cap opportunity in the world... but we can do that model next.

# Practical and Useful Patterns with ADK ⚡ Turn Python functions into tools, wrap agents as tools, and run long tasks without blocking — ADK's Function Tools maximize flexibility in tool definitions. 📌 Title: Function Tools — Functions, Agents, and Async Tasks as Tools 🔗 URL: 🧩 Overview ADK's Function Tools let you use Python/TypeScript functions directly as agent tools. AgentTool wraps an entire agent as a tool accessible to other agents. Long Running Function Tools handle time-consuming tasks like video encoding and batch jobs without blocking the agent's execution flow. 🛠 Usage Basic function tool definitions and AgentTool usage. Import `Agent` and `AgentTool` from `google.adk`. Define a simple function tool `calculate_price` that takes `base_price` (float), `quantity` (int), and `discount_percent` (float, default 0), computes the total with the discount applied, and returns a dict with `total` and `currency`. For wrapping an agent as a tool, create an `analysis_agent` with `name="data_analyst"` and `tools=[query_database]`. Then define `main_agent` with `tools=[calculate_price, AgentTool(agent=analysis_agent)]`, allowing the main agent to call both the pricing function and the data analysis agent as tools. Using Long Running Function Tools. Import `LongRunningFunctionTool` from `google.adk`. Define an async function `encode_video` that takes `video_url` (str) and `format` (str, default "mp4"), starts an encoding job via `start_encoding_job`, and returns the job ID with a processing status. Wrap it with `LongRunningFunctionTool(func=encode_video)` to create `video_tool`, then pass it to an `Agent`'s `tools` list so the agent can trigger long-running tasks without blocking. 🏗 Practical Patterns **Modularization with AgentTool**: Encapsulate complex logic as specialized agents and expose them via AgentTool. This keeps the main agent's instructions simple while each specialist agent maintains its own tools and prompts -- achieving clean separation of concerns. Define a `summarizer` agent (for 3-line summaries) and a `translator` agent (for Japanese translation) as separate `Agent` instances. Then create a `content_manager` agent with `tools=[AgentTool(agent=summarizer), AgentTool(agent=translator)]`, allowing the main agent to invoke these specialists as tools for content management tasks. **When to Use Long Running Tools**: Ideal for batch processing, external API polling, file conversion — anything taking seconds to minutes. The agent receives a job ID and can proceed with other tasks in parallel. **Type Annotations Matter**: Clear parameter types and return types help the LLM call tools accurately. Docstrings serve as tool descriptions, so keep them concise and clear. 💡 Use Cases 🧮 Calculation and conversion functions as tools (pricing, unit conversion) 🤖 Reusable specialist agents via AgentTool 🎬 Async video encoding and image processing 📊 Non-blocking batch data processing ⚠️ Caveats - Function docstrings become tool descriptions. Write LLM-friendly descriptions — missing docstrings make tool purposes unclear. - Agents called via AgentTool run in a separate session from the parent. Be careful about state sharing. - Long Running Function Tools require a separate completion notification mechanism. Consider polling or webhook-based notifications. ✨ Function Tools let you integrate existing code assets directly into agents, and AgentTool enables seamless agent reuse. A massive boost to development productivity! #ADK# #AIAgent#

Rebuttal to Misconceptions About China’s Economy: Superficial Analysis Easily Leads to Misjudgments of Facts and Future Trends Recent commentary draws forced parallels between China and Japan prior to its economic stagnation, advances the one-sided claim that “China invests in the state while the United States and Japan invest in its people”, denies China’s livelihood safeguards, distorts debt logic, smears its development model, and even misrepresents the underlying rationale behind real estate, urbanization and people-centered policies. Such arguments ignore objective facts of China’s development, confuse disparities in national development stages and institutional systems, and misjudge the trajectory of China’s economy and society. This article systematically refutes these fallacies from five core dimensions — debt logic, livelihood security, the essence of development, real estate and urbanization trends, and policy orientation — to restore the fundamental logic of China’s development and its primary future pathways. I. Rebuttal on Debt Structure: The Fallacy That “China Shifts Debt Burdens Downward to the Public, While the U.S. and Japan Provide State Backstops Upward” — A Conceptual Sleight of Hand Ignoring Institutional Differences Core flawed claim: Individuals in the United States and Japan can file for bankruptcy with state-backed debt relief, while China lacks personal bankruptcy mechanisms and imposes lifelong debt obligations. This purportedly leaves China’s central government balance sheet robust while local governments and households bear heavy burdens, amounting to “downward debt transfer”. 1. Personal bankruptcy and debt restructuring are not entirely absent in China; pilots are underway with nationwide rollout accelerating The assertion that “China offers almost no access to debt restructuring or personal bankruptcy” directly contradicts reality. Pioneering local pilots: Shenzhen launched China’s first personal bankruptcy ordinance in 2021. In March 2026, the first personal bankruptcy liquidation case completed its four-year observation period, granting the debtor legal discharge of remaining liabilities and enabling a fresh start for “honest yet unfortunate debtors”, as confirmed by the Supreme People’s Court of China. Xiamen introduced personal bankruptcy protection regulations in November 2025 and has accepted 11 related cases. Jiangsu and Zhejiang have carried out pilot schemes for centralized personal debt resolution, with authorities in Nanjing, Wujiang and other regions helping hundreds of debtors resolve liabilities and repair credit records, per the Supreme People’s Court. Clear top-level design: The Chinese government has explicitly stated its intent to “explore the establishment of a personal bankruptcy system”. The Supreme People’s Court is summarizing pilot experience, expanding trial scope and advancing nationwide institutional implementation. Mortgage debt is not a lifelong obligation: To address unfinished housing projects and mortgage defaults, multiple regions have introduced policies supporting mortgage payment extensions and negotiated repayment arrangements. Judicial practice offers debt restructuring and interest relief for creditworthy debtors facing insolvency, rejecting the absolutist narrative that debtors remain liable for loans even after abandoning properties. 2. Differences in debt structures stem from development stages and governance choices, rather than insufficient prioritization of citizens Framing differing debt structures simply as “investing in the state versus investing in people” confuses development stages, governance models and risk prevention logic. High public debt in the U.S. and Japan represents mortgaging the future, rather than proactive citizen support: Japan’s government debt-to-GDP ratio reached 249.7% in 2023, versus 118.7% for the United States. Both figures far exceed international warning thresholds, stemming from prolonged fiscal deficits, welfare overcommitment and monetary easing. The so-called “citizen backstop” amounts to consuming tomorrow’s resources, with costs ultimately passed to households via inflation and taxation, according to the Ministry of Finance of China. China’s moderate central government debt preserves room for long-term development without neglecting livelihood safeguards: China’s full-caliber government debt ratio stood at 67.5% in 2023, well below the U.S., Japan and the G7 average of 123.4%, data from the Ministry of Finance shows. Maintaining a sound central balance sheet aims to fend off systemic risks and sustain long-term growth capacity. As a large developing country, emulating the U.S. and Japan by drastically expanding government debt would likely trigger inflation, exchange rate volatility and sovereign credit risks, ultimately harming public interests. Local government debt challenges are transitional growing pains being addressed via comprehensive debt management initiatives: In 2024, the central government rolled out a CNY 6 trillion program to replace implicit local government debt, facilitating debt restructuring and interest burden reduction. This represents coordinated national risk-sharing to protect public welfare, rather than allowing local authorities to shift liabilities to residents, as documented on the National People’s Congress website. 3. Total debt volume and structure cannot be compared in isolation from national conditions Claims that China’s overall debt volume is comparable to that of the U.S. and Japan overlook stark differences in debt usage, asset quality and repayment capacity. China’s debt primarily funds productive assets: Most local government debt finances transport, water conservancy, energy, affordable housing and other infrastructure, generating substantial tangible assets with ongoing cash flow to support repayment, per official sources. U.S. and Japanese government debt largely finances consumption expenditure: Their public liabilities mostly cover welfare spending, military outlays and interest payments, creating few productive assets. Repayment relies on taxation and monetary expansion, rendering such debt far less sustainable. II. Rebuttal on Underlying Values: The Fallacy That “China Invests in the State and Distrusts Its Citizens, While the U.S. and Japan Invest in People and Trust Markets” — A Distortion of Fundamentals Contradicting Facts Core flawed claim: China distrusts its people and treats citizens merely as “cogs in a machine”; its policies rely on state leadership and investment-driven growth. By contrast, the U.S. and Japan uphold individual freedom and market forces, directing resources toward residents. 1. China explicitly advocates “investing in people” with steadily rising livelihood spending, contrary to the “state-only investment” narrative Critics disregard that the 2025 Government Work Report incorporated “investing in people” into national policy for the first time, committing to “channel more funds and resources toward investing in people and livelihood services” (State Council of China). China operates the world’s largest social security system with rising protection standards: As of the end of 2024, basic pension insurance covered 1.07 billion people and basic medical insurance 1.33 billion people, with coverage rates exceeding 95%. Cumulative surpluses for pension, unemployment and work injury insurance funds reached CNY 10.2 trillion. Universal basic medical and pension coverage has been achieved, with benefit standards continuously improving. The share of fiscal spending on livelihoods keeps rising: Expenditure on education, healthcare, elderly care and housing security accounts for over 70% of total fiscal outlays. The per capita fiscal subsidy for urban and rural resident medical insurance reached CNY 670 in 2024, a 21.8% increase from 2020. Construction of affordable housing continues, and the 15th Five-Year Plan pledges greater supply to resolve housing difficulties for new residents and young people. Policy priorities are shifting “from investing in physical assets toward investing in people”: Central authorities stress integrating investment in tangible assets with investment in human capital, boosting funding for education, healthcare and childcare to upgrade citizen capabilities, protect people’s rights and advance all-round human development. This directly repudiates slander claiming China distrusts its population. 2. State guidance does not equate to distrust of markets; China pursues the optimal combination of an effective market and a capable government Pitting state intervention against market confidence misrepresents the core logic of China’s socialist market economy. Markets play a decisive role in resource allocation: Private enterprise contributes over 50% of China’s GDP, more than 60% of tax revenue and over 80% of urban employment. Market vitality flourishes across e-commerce, new energy and advanced manufacturing, granting ample room for innovators including enterprises and individuals. Government intervention remedies market failures, safeguards fairness and prevents systemic risks: As an enormous developing economy with immature market mechanisms, unfettered markets would inevitably widen wealth gaps, create regional imbalances and leave public services undersupplied. State investment in infrastructure, public welfare and breakthrough technologies builds a sound environment for market activity and provides a safety net for residents — not to control citizens. 3. The “Screw Spirit” embodies dedication rather than instrumentalization, and is fully compatible with individual freedom and advancement Attempts to twist the Lei Feng spirit and the “Screw Spirit” into evidence that citizens are treated as tools of state machinery misrepresent their essence. The Screw Spirit centers on dedication to work, selfless contribution and accountability, representing traditional Chinese virtues and core socialist values. It aligns fully with individuals pursuing personal aspirations and realizing self-worth. Countless ordinary people strive in ordinary posts, contributing to national advancement while achieving personal growth and well-being. China constitutionally and legally guarantees citizens’ personal liberty, property rights, freedom to start businesses and lawful mobility. Citizens enjoy freedom of occupation, entrepreneurship, investment and cross-border travel under legal frameworks. Allegations restricting individual autonomy and mobility are baseless. III. Rebuttal on Policy Orientation: The Fallacy That “The 15th Five-Year Plan Continues to Prioritize Investment, While Domestic Demand Expansion and Social Security Remain Rhetoric” — Ignoring Planning Blueprints and Misinterpreting Policies Core flawed claim: Chinese policies favor government investment over domestic consumption and social security. The 15th Five-Year Plan perpetuates the old development model, and China’s social security system lags far behind Japan’s pre-stagnation framework. 1. The 15th Five-Year Plan centers on expanding domestic demand, prioritizing livelihoods and high-quality development, rather than overreliance on investment Critics overlook the plan’s core guideline: putting people first, boosting domestic demand and advancing common prosperity. Domestic demand stands as a primary growth engine: The plan identifies expanding domestic demand as a priority, unlocking consumption potential by lifting household incomes, improving social security and optimizing income distribution, transitioning the economy from investment-led growth to dual drivers of consumption and investment. Livelihood security constitutes a key focus: The plan launches four major livelihood programs covering housing, elderly care, healthcare and education. Initiatives include scaling up affordable housing, national coordination of pension insurance, deepening medical reform and promoting equitable education. It targets markedly improved living environments and significantly more equal public services by 2030. Government investment targets livelihood priorities and development bottlenecks: Public investment no longer focuses on extensive infrastructure construction. Instead, it supports affordable housing, urban renewal, public transit, medical and educational facilities alongside breakthrough technologies and new productive forces — essentially investing in people’s wellbeing and long-term prospects (People’s Daily). 2. While gaps persist, China’s social security system has achieved remarkable progress and universal coverage; it is not empty rhetoric Claims that China’s social security falls far short of Japan’s pre-bubble standards ignore the leapfrog development of China’s social safety net from scratch. Coverage scale: China delivers universal medical and pension insurance covering 1.4 billion people, forming the world’s largest social security system. Though Japan boasted mature social security before its economic slowdown, it served only 120 million residents and already faced long-term pressures from low fertility, aging populations and social fund deficits. Differences in development stages must be acknowledged: Japan is a developed economy with per capita GDP exceeding USD 30,000, while China remains a developing nation with per capita GDP above USD 12,000. Social security standards naturally align with economic development levels, and cross-country comparisons cannot be decoupled from national conditions. China built its social security architecture within decades, a process that took developed nations over a century, earning worldwide recognition. Continuous improvement is underway: Social security benefits rise year by year. In 2025, the minimum basic pension standard for rural and urban residents increased by CNY 20, the largest hike since the system’s founding. The personal pension system has rolled out nationwide, accelerating formation of a multi-tier social security framework (Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security). IV. Rebuttal on Real Estate and Urbanization: The Fallacy That “Young People Are Trapped, Unfinished Housing Projects Stem from Government Profit-Seeking, and Secondary Urbanization Has No Prospects in China” — Distorted Facts and Misjudged Trends Core flawed claim: Unfinished residential projects exist because governments profit from real estate, trapping young people as low-wage workers. China lacks secondary urbanization; large-city agglomeration holds no promise, and housing prices in first-tier cities will not recover. 1. Unfinished housing projects are transitional challenges; authorities fully prioritize project delivery to protect residents, contradicting claims of state profiteering Attributing stalled housing projects to government pursuit of real estate revenue misidentifies root causes — reckless high-leverage expansion by property developers — and overlooks massive official efforts to guarantee completed housing. Primary drivers of unfinished projects: Some developers pursued blind expansion, diverted funds and defaulted on debt. Cases such as Evergrande’s capital diversion into non-real estate ventures and overseas spending reflect corporate operational failures, not government fault. Comprehensive official action to ensure home delivery: Since 2022, the central government has set up special funds for unfinished housing, while local governments established dedicated working groups to restart suspended projects. By the end of 2025, over 95% of overdue residential developments had resumed construction to safeguard homebuyers’ rights (People’s Daily). Land finance is a transitional phenomenon undergoing transformation: Land transfer revenue accounted for 40% of local fiscal revenue in 2018, falling to 25% by 2024. Local governments are gradually shifting toward sustainable revenue sources including industrial taxation and property tax, rather than permanently relying on real estate-related proceeds. 2. Secondary urbanization toward larger cities represents an inevitable trend; housing prices in first-tier cities are expected to stabilize and recover next year Dismissing secondary urbanization and bearish forecasts for first-tier housing prices contradict urban development laws, population mobility patterns and policy directions. Secondary urbanization centered on metropolitan agglomeration is an objective trend: China’s permanent resident urbanization rate stands at 66.2%, yet household registration urbanization reaches merely 48.3%. Over 200 million migrant residents lack full urban integration. Going forward, populations will continue flowing toward first-tier, new first-tier cities and urban clusters. Major cities concentrate industries, employment opportunities and high-quality public services, attracting inbound residents inevitably. Secondary urbanization chiefly entails population migration from small and medium-sized cities to metropolitan clusters, and from rural areas to counties and cities. Rationale for projected stabilization and recovery of first-tier housing prices next year: • Supply-demand rebalancing: First-tier cities face constrained land supply, sustained population inflows and robust demand for upgraded housing, sustaining long-term supply shortages. • Continued policy easing: Universal lifting of purchase restrictions, minimum down payments lowered to 15%, record-low mortgage rates and tax reductions for housing swaps boost market confidence. • Economic recovery support: China achieved 5.2% GDP growth in 2025, with growth projected to rise above 5.5% in 2026. Improved employment and household incomes will underpin mild housing price recovery. • Activated stock housing market: Second-hand properties make up over 70% of housing transactions in first-tier cities. Urban renewal and renovation of older communities unlock demand for upgraded housing and drive moderate price growth. 3. Housing pressure on young generations constitutes a transitional growing pain, with targeted policy relief underway Claims that youth are trapped and reduced to low-wage laborers ignore tailored support policies covering housing, employment and consumption. Housing support: First-tier and new first-tier cities expand supply of affordable rental housing and shared ownership housing with rents 30%–50% below market rates to accommodate new residents and young people. Employment support: Graduate employment subsidies, startup incentives and expanded public sector recruitment delivered 12.44 million new urban jobs in 2024, exceeding annual targets. Consumption burden relief: Special individual income tax deductions for housing rent, children’s education and eldercare, alongside consumer vouchers and interest rate cuts, reduce financial pressure on young people and lift consumption willingness. V. Rebuttal Against Other Slanderous Claims: “A-Share Market Merely Serves Financing Goals”, “Restrictions on Cross-Border Investment” and “Passport Controls” — Malicious and Groundless Rumors 1. China’s stock market balances financing and investor returns, with strengthened protections for retail investors The allegation that the A-share market exists solely to raise capital, forcing retail investors to bear losses to fund corporate financing disregards market-oriented reforms and strengthened investor safeguards. The A-share market fulfills dual functions of corporate financing and value investment: Following registration-based reform, high-quality firms gain access to public capital, while dividend payouts and share buybacks become regular practices. Total dividends distributed on the A-share market exceeded CNY 1.5 trillion in 2024, returning profits to investors (People’s Daily). Investor protection frameworks keep improving: Updated delisting rules, class-action litigation and stricter information disclosure standards crack down on financial fraud and insider trading to safeguard retail investors’ legitimate interests, rejecting the narrative of systematic exploitation of individual traders. 2. Cross-border investment regulations prioritize risk prevention; passport control allegations are false rumors Overseas investment oversight aims to curb capital flight, stabilize exchange rates and protect household assets. China does not ban cross-border investment; it promotes orderly opening under compliance frameworks. Channels including QDII, Stock Connect and U.S. Stock Connect remain operational, and the annual USD 50,000 individual foreign exchange quota stays unchanged. Restrictions target illegal asset transfers, money laundering and speculative arbitrage, serving to protect citizens’ legitimate wealth. Rumors of passport confiscation and outbound travel controls are malicious fabrications. Chinese citizens holding valid passports may travel overseas freely barring statutory restrictions. Passport application and renewal procedures have been simplified. Authorities issued 20 million passports in 2024, and outbound tourism recovered to 80% of pre-pandemic levels. Claims of passport controls lack any factual basis. VI. Conclusion: Grasp the Essence of China’s Development and Maintain Long-Term Confidence In summary, analogies between China and pre-stagnation Japan and the “investing in the state versus investing in people” narrative stem from biased perception detached from objective realities: • Debt logic: China’s debt structure represents a risk-controllable and sustainable development choice. Personal bankruptcy mechanisms are accelerating nationwide rollout, and livelihood safeguards remain a priority. • Essence of development: China consistently adheres to a people-centered approach and prioritizes investing in human capital. State guidance improves citizen welfare and fosters healthy market development, rather than reflecting distrust of its population. • Future priorities: Expanding domestic demand, livelihood-centered governance, metropolitan-driven secondary urbanization and new productive forces form China’s core development agenda. Housing prices in first-tier cities are expected to stabilize and recover next year, and the long-term positive fundamentals of China’s economy remain intact. Objective analysis of China’s economy must be rooted in national conditions, respect economic laws and reject prejudice and slander to accurately grasp its underlying development logic and long-term potential. China neither mechanically copies U.S. and Japanese models nor pursues rigid isolation. Instead, it blazes a uniquely Chinese development path balancing efficiency and equity, development and security, and aligning national and public interests. This explains the robust resilience, huge potential and enduring vitality of China’s economy.