WB is running around Japan meeting his “Big 5” Japanese investments and raising nearly free capital to fund it, which is another neat way of eliminating currency risk, the historical bane of “oh, Japanese stocks are so cheap.”

Here are some fun tidbits we culled from his interview with – hold drumroll – Becky Quick from CNBC:

Life does Not Imitate Art: There are no “Greglets.” Buffett on Greg Abel – his named successor: “it isn’t like I had ten people I could choose from. There may be ten people out there, but I don’t, I know Greg, and I and that but there aren’t ten Gregs out there. That I can guarantee you.”

Stop Asking ME This Question: “Greg is not looking to retire at 65, or 70, or 75, and we don’t want anybody at Berkshire that’s thinking about, you know, what their package will be when they get to be 65.”

You RARELY and I mean RARELY See This: “how many managers in the United States have put $100 million of their own money, not getting a share of the discount, not getting any special deal on it or any of the sort or having an incentive to come, expert to come around and do as instructed, which is to arrange it so that the CEO gets the upside but doesn’t share the downside? Now I can hardly think of a case where anybody’s put anything like $100 million of their own money in and gotten the exact same deal as the shareholder gets. If they make money, they make money. If they lose money, they lose money. And that’s just the way we play it at Berkshire. You don’t find it anyplace else.”

Is Anything Ever New? “A banker told me one time, he says, “I don’t know why we keep looking for new ways to lose money when the old ones are working so well.”

On Investing in Hollywood: “It’s a great way to meet girls for all I know.”

The Beauty of Buying Something Cheaply(Paramount): “Well, we’ll see what happens.”

He sold billions of dollars of US Bank, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, PNC Bank and JP Morgan and bought billions of Occidental Petroleum. Questions?