inshikoku comments

220,000 yen! About enough to buy a new pedigree chihuahua.

More than what the Vatican did before - and I cannot for the life of me think of what it was that they did before.

Showers and a shave, fairly simple yet so significant. Local Roman people volunteering too. And God seems to have nothing to do with it, which is the way it should be.

With almost all sento gone round here, I wish I could have sent some of my students to Rome for a free shower over the last winter too.

Yes, no clarity about when Japan 'started'.

But the Commonwealth of Australia was founded on New Years Day 1901. Maybe 10% of Australians know that. They celebrate 26 January, 'Australia Day', when the British flag was first raised in 1788, just across from where Sydney Opera House is.

It is a National holiday there. Some people call it Invasion Day. I call it my birthday (and on that day after 30 years here off and on, I always wonder why I am here freezing at work in winter when I could be there having the day off in the warm sun at the beach, with a beer and people I know all being nice to me without having to remember a secret language).

Many/Most (?) Japanese liquor stores have no idea about wines. It is quite opportune to look through sale bins and on bottom shelves and fine some relatively aged, good French, Italian or German wines, even organic ones from 'New World'-type regions the same prices as cheaper whites from this year and reds from last year from Chile/Australia/NZ/South Africa. Convenience stores here and there too.

Go around the corner and find a wall of Japanese wines, most in box-containers like the shochu or sake round the next corner, some bottles and occasionally one has a date on it.

I think while people here maintain the separation of food and beverages such as 洋 and 和 ('you' & 'wa'), wines from here will never make it here. While people here have little idea about wine, marketing Japanese wines the same as shochu and sake only makes the situation worse. Putting them in bottles with the vintage year written and then there is a chance.

Even so, I have been to wine tasting events where some koshu varieties have been slipped in with overseas wines and everyone's surprise when it is announced the wine is Japanese. But you need to get lucky or trust someone who knows what they are serving. And they are often from farther north than Yamanashi.

The irony is that this Hitachi have probably produced a nice little earner: creating a demand which hitherto had not been.

No details about the sensor's operating system, or what it is, for instance a camera.

I doubt the technology is new - it seems just like an espionage bugging device from the last century. If so, then Hitachi truly have created a demand which hitherto had not been.

Our old neighbour had new barbed wire all over the balcony border panel when I moved in. Later I found out they replaced it each time a new person moved into my apartment at the time, so it wasn't just me. There was also a complaint about me smoking on the balcony causing their son to be expelled from school for smoking. The problem was I didn't smoke and had been away for a month at the time of the complaint (and showed passport to landlord's rep to prove it!)

But, lucky me, I didn't get the worst of it: the neighbour below the barbed wire apartment told me that every month the dragon mother above them took the husband and the son out onto the barbed wired balcony, cut their hair while seated on sheets, then when finished flapped out the sheets showering all the hair cuttings down on the neighbour below.

It is just impossible to talk with some people, just talk about them.

The best advice to any parties in Japan interested in making subs for Australia is to become quite familiar with chaos theory if dealing with the incumbent Australian government, and to understand fully the principle that the strength of assurances from the Australian Prime Minister is proportional to the probability of insincerity.

Between a rock and a hard place.

What happened to Haruna and Goto was monstrous, but the flow-on effects to lots of people round them (eg. Goto's wife had all those emails from ISIS) were not something that Goto had planned for.

Yes, the effects of the actions and decisions of stupid people on others around them - even if nothing happens, people are going to be worried. Then if something does happen, it does not matter what videos were made by Goto or agreements signed by anyone taking full responsibility, people are going to be adversely affected.

As far as Sugimoto losing his passport and then criticizing the government for

violation of his freedom of speech (!!!) with human rights like that, it would be a perfect world, but with idiots using this as an excuse it is far from perfect.

Also, what use is a passport to the braindead anyway?

if I saw a shark near me out surfing I'd probably die of shock

That is why the scuba diving instructor didn't tell me about the shark coming up behind me on my first longish dive, but he told me later.

It was a white-tipped reef shark, not big, plenty on the Great Barrier Reef, not a 4m monster like down in southern waters (or northern in Northern Hemisphere). Anyway, in Northern Australia it is not the sharks - its the box jellies and Irukandji jellies, not to mention the 4-5-6 meter crocs out in the ocean in the dry season on land

Bull sharks scare me - 3 meters or so, often in murky water and with very high tolerance of fresh water.

Still, about 20 to 50 times more people die from drowning. But drowning is not the stuff to make scary movies about.

Oh well, I suppose Brad and Ange will be making a few more trips to Japan.

At the G-20 Heads meeting in Brisbane, Abbott complained about a list of domestic policy problems, like people not wanting to pay an extra $7 for doctor visits, boasted about blocking boat people and increasing education costs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_epjAMuS8Wo. But he still claimed great government. Nothing much about the rest of the world, or even a welcome to 19 other bosses of their countries who did not know or care about the $7. His speech also showed almost zero acumen for talking to group of people culturally different to him.

A head-kicker par excellence, enough to draw a withering response from the last but one prime minister , highly divisive, riddled Abbott is also very vindictive. Woe betide his party if he gets dumped. Watch this space!

Like an immature teenage bully not quite the full quid and totally out of his depth. Best for him, his party and all Australians is his sudden ill-health, scandal or something to cause his resignation - anything to take him out of the game so adults can take over.

Each group running 10 kilometers!!! Hmmm!

Timing and spacing are problems which come to my mind, especially among spread out runners later in the races.

Also, do police guys run in the girls' marathon?

Then two knackered cops with whistle, baton and webcam have to face off the evil might of ISIS and Boko Haram? Maybe dealing with drunken oyajis, or weird psychos attacking with knives, which are a calculable threat in public places in Japan sufficiently high a goal for this policy.

Congratulations, or something.

Kyoto is the best city to visit, but living there was claustrophobic for me.

Sydney is THE BEST, despite western suburbs' neglected transport infrastructure. Specifically, MANLY (10 miles form the city, 1000 miles from care' their slogan is sort-of true): without the crime of Bondi, and traffic worries, none! - just a 20 -30 minute ferry ride across and down the harbour, one of the few in the world without factories on foreshores to Sydney city, Opera House, Harbour Bridge, shopping, cultural stuff etc. ANd Manly has the long sandy surf beach and also the harbour beach 150 meters down the Corso, sun, shopping, weather, see-before-you-die scenery Just need the income to support for the 200,000 yen/月 rents.

When's the last time a head-of-state visits another nation without consenting with that nation's head-of-state?

Nettanyahu is not Israeli head-of-state. Their President, Reuven Rivlin, is.

Netanyahu is interesting, probably less belicose now than he was a decade ago. He was in Israeli special forces and took part n one of those Israeli hijack rescues.

But now it is international politics with domestic agenda also in play, and it seems that Netanyahu and Boehner are just using one another. Netanyahu politically has more to lose and less to gain by snubbing Obama though, I'd say. On the other hand, you'd just expect it with many Republicans these days, leopards who do not change spots.

“They took all my documents and asked me if I want to be a fighter or a suicide bomber,” ... He chose to fight

This says it all. Then there is the deprivation:

where walls were optional and meals were little more than bread and cheese or oil

And probably much worse if you are female.

Seems like a ripe, fertile environment for hard-core political gamesmanship and base human nature.

Then the lucky ones who get out lose whatever right they ever had, including the right to a passport.

A few thoughts:

One aspect of ISIS is that the movement transcends the phenomenon of the nation-state. In some senses, it is not possible to deal with them on the same basis as, say, bi-lateral negotiations between countries. Their rules are different; their assumptions are different.

ISIS also resembles crusades from western Europe from the 11th to the 14th or 15th centuries. Frequently they were quite, what we could call nowadays, multinational, though the French were pretty numerous among them. ISIS would have certain ethnicities and nationalities prevailing. That 'Jihadi John', who sounds like he comes from SE England, may be of non-British ethnicity, but he may have less in common with, say, some more local guys traumatized by what the Syrian government did to their family. I would say that 'Jihadi John' is kept on as long as he is useful, as people like him get knocked on the head regularly enough by their erstwhile comrades, and internal ethnicity-based tribalism can be a contributing cause.

However, this does not mean that nationality and ethnology are irrelevant - fractures along those lines materialise easily enough. Yet, lots of people in an organization like ISIS will never hesitate to use the trump card which is 'the will of God'. Adherence to divine entity transcends ideology.

A further aspect is the extent to which ISIS targets Shia Islam - for instance lots of the suicide bombings are in Shia centers. The Sunni-Shia divide in Islam may be the strongest point on which to focus in dealing with ISIS, especially if one was interested in driving a wedge in there.

Unfortunately though, harmlessly grovelling before people who are in the nasty attention-seeking behaviour of cutting non-ISIS people's heads off slowly on the internet, is next to useless. Regardless of the strong emotive stresses produced, that is one way NOT to deal with ISIS.

One posting above mentioned education of females, which is one good way to affect cutlural change. However, I fear that quite a few females being educated are going to be massacred before such a longer-term strategy has desired effects.

In a Japanese historical perspective, does anyone know how Sengoku-era warlords dealt with militant Buddhist institutions? I am not advocating that, rather just noting that that pathway is there.

Not entirely relevant, but listing prices inclusive of the consumption tax in stores would assist people being less apprehensive about spending money there (and online too). This is how it had been when tax was just 5%, and there had been a law to ensure that all-inclusive price listing practice.

Nowadays, say, in a supermarket where base price is listed in large and the nett price is listed in small print if at all if at all, just makes people subconsciously wary.

Then not to mention also the rorting or just plain naive stupidity of lots of businesses, especially smaller ones, of just increasing their prices by 8%, when actually prices should have risen was an increase by just 2.8% or something like that (eg. 100 yen + 5% = 105 yen; 100yen + 8% = 108yen; NOT 105 + 8% = 113yen).

By the way, the article is wrong on this point :

the impact of a 2 percentage point increase in the sales tax in April is excluded

These are small adjustments but they do affect peoples attitudes and willingness to purchasing something dearer or cheaper or to purchase at all. Can't all these 'clever' people (not necessarily referring to politicians here) factor things like this in? Apparently not.

Maybe one or both of them might be able to be second-time-happy in a new relationship or marriage, having learned something from the present one which seems doomed. At least she seems to be reflecting on it.

My fruity smart phone (which I got because at work in lessons and seminars, the wi-fi login was really bad, but now is good) - I am being patient until the contract expires and then get something uncomplicated and cheap, probably away from the big three companies. But actually I depend on it a lot each day - easier communication with wife who is 370 kilometers away.

People here ask why I don't get any new apps. All I can say is that if I get them, then I would have to use them. For instance, I can check my pulse with my finger - having a phone give you a health-check! Time for a reality check.

I prefer not to be a person who takes a big risk going to a place he knows from experience to be extremely dangerous a step which damages the lives of people around him. The saddest aspect for me is that probably he was aware of that at the start.

Trying to save Haruna, friend or not, was a noble intention but not worth the wreckage or attention on all the other people.

As well, people actually saying 'I am Kenji' may not understand truly what it means: currently it means that you are someone possibly about to have their head cut off by people who view life as something far cheaper than people here.

I am sorry, but I am not Kenji, nor Charlie for that matter.

Those two got together during 'The Rum Diaries', a couple of years ago.

Considering the shades and the downcast expression, maybe Johnno just had a repeat of the opening scene (See http://cdn.collider.com/wp-content/uploads/the-rum-diary-movie-poster-03.jpg)

At nights sometimes school kids in black uniforms ride with no lights on, except their phones texting or doing some online game.

It makes me wonder if some of the school uniform rules here are actually intended to cause accidents or deaths on the roads, especially in winter.

Also, some of the old people here on bicycles !! - it surely is an achievement of balance to ride a bike more slowly than they can walk and still stay upright.

'To what extent do toilets in Japan reflect the national psyche? Discuss with reference to squats and washlets.' This could be a good test or essay question.

Quite seriously I have read this discussed. Just now I was trying to find the passage very early in Erica Jong's 'Fear of Flying', win which the narrators describes different nation's toilets as reflections of their national psyches, but couldn't. can anybody help expand the literature relevant to this topic beyond just this article in JT?

It would be interesting to see how it plays out if they let overseas casino operators start up here.

I wonder if it would be anything like when News Corp raided Asahi TV in the early 1990s, Asahi was shut out of various existing local cosy relationships and Rupert Murdoch and his mob were gone in about 6 months. Soon after it was back to business as usual at Asahi.

Or the prising-open of the Japanese cell phone market to include non-Japanese models from the mid-2000s, which only happened because Google tied up with a South Korean operating system (Android) which the rest of the world was getting into anyway.

Hmm - what about existing local vested interests - the pachinko parlour operators, horse, boat and cycle racing, mahjong and so on.

If casinos come, I think that they are always going to have a, let's say, a Japanese flavour.

And anyway, to what extent is casino-type gambling traditional anymore? So much is online now.

Finally, does Japan really want to have a bigger generation of problem gamblers and destitute families than it has now?

Hmm - can't see it happening in the short term!

The first time, just arrived in Japan, at a university hospital with a fever, after 6 hours I spoke to a doctor who then looked at urine test (?!) results, decided I had diabetes and should be dead. My friend inquired (she knew someone high up in the hospital and it turned out it was not my urine.

Later, the only times I have been in ambulances, 5 times for asthma attacks the last of which my heart stopped for a few minutes, hospital staff got me through for which I am grateful.

However I remember one doctor who ended up prescribing 17 drugs at the one time for my asthma (including the usual stomach medicine and treatment for side-effects and side-effects of side-effect drugs. That was when I learned that doctors could get 500 yen each time they prescribe something (maybe different now).

I have to go to a local national hospital for a small procedure on my abdomen, and I am not worried at all.

In Australia there is the GP system, where as here people see practitioners in specific fields (naika、geka, etc.), and both have advantages and disadvantages. However, in Japanese hospitals, any literacy with kanji that I have gained goes straight out the window - I spend my waiting time searching for hiragana in signs filled up with super difficult specialised kanji. They could do something about that.

These days not just security threats but the threat of security measures can drive people away from the Olympics.

At least the quality of TV coverage is better now than in 1964.

Oh well - it could have been a big EMP. Now, that would have made things interesting!

It is learn to deal with it or not survive.

For Nishikori, the greater challenge lies here, with all the presumed responsibility for meeting expectations. Anybody recall Midori ITO, the skater years ago, who had to bow deeply and tearfully for pulling only the silver medal at a Winter Olympics. She was the first or one of the first to be able to turn a triple axel which made her a bit special. Nishikori, at No 5 at the end of last year has that albatross too.

Would not be surprised if he quietly becomes based or resident in another country, if he is not already.

Planes actually operate under the same regulatory principles as ships at sea. Four principles there:

international law (in aviation's case the ICAO rules), otherwise laws of the flag-nation on or inside the ship

until leaving the departure country's waters (or airspace), laws of that place apply

the captain traditionally has been master of all life and death under God

common sense

In the Korean nut-rage case, the plane was still at the airport, so normal Korean law would apply.

Otherwise there are rules in place already. Then it is back to the captain, to decide whether to apply them or not.

I want a standing desk.

I've started doing exercises for back and posture for being a proctor/invigilator for the SENTA test in two weekends' time. We are not allowed to move except to deal with students' problems - it is about 14 hours. No reading, chewing gum, drinking, etc. Sitting is suicidal because it causes sleep. Sleeping is OK, but I snore, which is not OK. Standing keeps me awake. It is actually a kind of exercise (Alexander technique, etc.)

Last year I could last a day and a bit standing. The last 4 hours saw me sitting in a nearby bar for 6 afterwards - didn't want to get up but couldn't anyway.

So, I really wish I could have one of those desks.