Not just rain falling

Fantastic pic on a number of levels! Love the colour, although I wouldn't be caught dead with an umbrella like that.

That guy has guts to carry that umbrella.

Another day, another person walking in front of something. ....

papigiulio: "Another day, another person walking in front of something. ...."

Yeah, but in this case it's a somewhat subtle way of pointing out how the stocks are falling on fears over Abenomics, while also playing on the weather, and all with a nice capture of the colours.

"stocks are falling on fears over Abenomics"

Not quite. Stocks fell sharply throughout Asia today, mainly over the latest Brexit polls and other uncertainties like a downward revision on the global growth outlook, plus in anticipation of central bank meetings.

In Tokyo, a big factor was the strength of the yen, which is what global investors buy when they get jittery. Why would they do that, one wonders.

Can't tell without more scale references. Perhaps he is in fact a very tiny man using an actual flower as an umbrella walking under a 40" TFT television.

That guy has guts to carry that umbrella.

..if he was not wearing a mask, yes.

I think the sun-flower umbrella is cool!

a big factor was the strength of the yen, which is what global investors buy when they get jittery. Why would they do that, one wonders.

Yes, because they speculate that in the short-term the yen will see some relative strength due to factors you cite, but also because they want to buy back yen they previously sold to hedge their investments in Japanese stocks, as they give up on those investments now. (They are not, I believe, buying yen in order to make new investments.)

Reuters has a story today on factors working against Japanese stocks, and "no structural reforms being delivered" was given as one reason. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-stocks-idUSKCN0YY0MQ

That was a big part of the reason I gave up myself last November (with 30,000 yen "fruits of Abenomics" handouts for pensioners being the final straw).

When in doubt, buy yen.

I'm still confused as to why the yen is in such demand when the economy is supposedly doing badly, stocks are falling and the economic future is apparently bleak. I know the yen is seen as a safe currency but I don't understand that either.

Looks like a sunflower to me! Optimistic dude he is!

"I'm still confused as to why the yen is in such demand when the economy is supposedly doing badly,"

You're not alone. Japan's economy is not doing great, but it's still better than many others, like Russia, Brazil, and much of Europe. US is one of the best, largely because in the wake of the financial crisis, Obama-Bernanke didn't backpedal or dither like the Japanese have done.