恭喜發財! Wishing everyone good health, peace and prosperity for the Year of the Fire Horse. I have been spending more time with family and on other personal projects, so the frequency of writing has slowed quite a bit in recent months. I do hope to pick it up again in time and also undertake a more comprehensive refresh of the blog. Off-Piste Investing began pre-Substack, at a time when there were relatively few independent blogs focused on Asian markets, and I realise it now looks very tired!

In the meanwhile, readers who are looking for more regular content curation might find some helpful links in the ‘Recommended Websites’ section of this blog; my friend Michael Fritzell, for example, likely does a better job than I in finding and sharing interesting content related to Asian markets. I still very much enjoy connecting with like-minded readers/investors, so please feel free to drop me a email if your travels ever bring you to Singapore and you find yourself with a spare afternoon. 

Moving on, this week’s content links include an interview with Jonathan Tepper of Prevatt Capital, Joe Tsai on his journey helping to build and lead Alibaba, Palliser Capital’s value enhancement proposal for TOTO, Niall Ferguson on markets, mistakes and making big calls, Timee’s Ryo Ogawa on the forces shaping Japan’s labour market, and Sprott’s 2026 uranium market outlook.

• Behind The Balance Sheet: His missionary parents rehabilitated addicts. Now he manages money for endowments.
• Business Wire: Palliser Capital publishes value enhancement plan for TOTO.
• Stanford GSB: Conversation with Joe Tsai, co-founder and chairman, Alibaba.
• T. Rowe Price Investment Institute: Niall Ferguson on markets, mistakes, and making big calls.
• Bristlemoon Capital: A deep dive into labour market transformation in Japan (conversation with Ryo Ogawa, founder & president of Timee).
• Hibiki Path Advisors: Perspectives on the structural transformation of Japan’s capital markets.
• Sprott: Uranium enters 2026 with renewed strength and strategic tailwinds.
• The New Yorker: What is Claude? Anthropic doesn’t know, either.

I also enjoyed this short (~12 minutes) PBS Eons video on the Isthmus of Panama, the formation of which proved to be one of the planet’s most significant geological events. Enjoy!