InspectorGadget comments

No. Not until the Taliban adheres to basic human rights. Every dollar they don't spend on infrastructure and develepment is anothe dollar the Taliban can divert to other repressive projects.

Good. Yes its a blunt tool which impacts domestic tourism as well, but this is largely being driven by international tourists.

Maybe this will be another thing to disuade the inbound tourism obsession with Tokyo/Osaka/Kyoto/Hiroshima and get out to visit other areas.

I can think of worse places to get stuck.

It took the intervention of a foreign investment form (owning 7% of Fuji TV) to pressure them into acting. The absolutly scathing letter is available on the Dalton Investments website here:

https://www.daltoninvestments.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/FMH-Special-Independent-Committee-English-PffD-version.pdf

Brand new spade with no dirt on it. Brand new boots all round. Only he has dirt on his gloves.

Here, have a spade and hold the takenoko we dug up earlier for the photo.

There are a number of factors at play here.

1) An aging population and a decreasing birthrate means that Japan is not replacing drivers who are 'aging out'. Additonally, the ability to drive is seen as less of a necessity with the continued drift to the urban centres where public transport rules and parking is at a premium.

2) Japan's stats for driving statistics artifically reduced by the way in which the stats are collated. Deaths which occur as a result of an injury sustained in a traffic accident which occure more than 24 hours after are not counted in the statistics.

3) Most drivers travel less than 8000Km per year which is very low by international standards. Even than, the majority of that driving is low speed, further reducing the liklihood of serious injury.

4) A true test would be to compare the number of fatalities/injures, regardless of how long after the accident they occurred, per 100,000km traveled.

Can you imaging the logistics involves with creating a dohyo for this tournament and the number of people they will need to fly over to support it and all the traditional crafts required for a sumo tournament.

If ever there was a case for a Gondola, this is it. Far lower environmental impact, electric, lower maint costs and spectacular for tourists.

Thats one van/truck a week. They have been busy.

I wonder if were going to hear the old "I got confused and hit the accelerator instead f the brake" line again.

Makes sense. With the Chinese and Russians having demonstrated that they are capable of bringing down satelites with missiles, why would Australia want to put all of its proverbial 'eggs in one basket'

This is a prime example of doing something, just for the sake of being seen to do something.

They are 'issuing' two special umbrellas per train. Its highly unlikely they will ever be used for anything apart for staying in a secure box/PR function, especially when the trains are up to 16 car long.

Weilding a full sized umbrellla in the confines of a train as a defensive mechanism seem like a poor defensive strategy. Especially if you cant see the assailant.

A collapsible riot shield would seem like a far better fit for this purpose. They are already commercially available, are tied and tested, and would probably work a lot better than an umbrella.

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Call me cynical, but whats the bet that MoJ string out law suit until he passes away. With his mental decline and being aged 88 the poor guy is unlikely to receive compensation in his lifetime.

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Heres a bunch of flowers I spontaneously got someone to buy for you.

I see no problem with this as long as it is really non-locals.

Japan has a tendency just to say all foreigners are non-locals and anyone looking Japanese is local.

By the time you've spent thousands on airfares, transport and accomodation, NZD$100 is just pocket change, and wont make a difference to tourist numbers.

Apart from the rum, reggae and culture, most of those attributes mentioned in the article can be foound at destinations far closer to Japan than Jamaica.

Plus. Who would choose Jamaica as a destination to learn English?

Surely he could have bought this stuff on the internet?

So in summary, 23 Chinese swimmers (not one or two) tested positive for the same drug ahead of the Tokyo Olympics. One would assume these positive tests were administered by a body other than CHINADA.

The CHINADA themselves then investigate and say its a non-issue, and present the results to WADA and World Aquatics, who having nothing else to go on, accept the results.

At least one Chinese swimmer has been caught and punnished for using this performance enhancing drug previously.

Which means one of three things:

1) The tests that CHINADA does are ineffective

2) The tests that CHINADA does are positive and there is indeed a cover-up.

3) 23 Chinese atheles all were contaminated by the *same drug* at the *same time* inbetween the tests that CHINADA administrered and those which caught these cheats out. That would be one hell of a coincidence.

Nothing says staged photoshoot like having a group of kids standing on masking tape X's .

So lets say 5pm to sunrise at 5am. 12 hours to travel 270km, which is about 23Km/h.

Something doesn't add up here. Either they stopped, and/or went via an indirect route. I don't think we're getting the full story,

And unlike being a taxi driver, he'll never get complaints from the passengers.

They should have raised prices, but in exchange allow you to use the JR Pass on non-consecutive days over a limited time period (eg 3 days travel over 7 days). This would encourage tourists to venture away from the 'golden triangle" of Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and into places less seldom visited.

Doing so would assist with relieving over tourism in some areas, and spread the tourist dollar/yen around a bit more.

Cut up the Chinese vessel and send that for recycling.

I wonder if the US, Japan and Soth Korea would have the capabilities to jam communications with the rocket as it ascends, or even cause it's failure . . . .

"undermines regional peace and stability"

Ok China. So claiming all of the South China Sea, building heavily armed reclaimed islands in the area. Ignoring UNCLOS and the Permenant Court of Arbritration telling China they had no right to it. Commanding a fleet of 'fishing vessels' to harass anyone in their claimed waters etc etc etc None of that "undermines regional peace and stability"?

Hypocrisy

So in practical terms, what was he supposed to do? Stop eating his lunch and do what?

He gets a call to say that someone had thrown a smoke bomb at the Prime Minister. No one as injured. The PM is fine and is carrying on with his day, The 'suspect' is in custody.

OK. Two thoughts on this:

Financially there is little pressure for JR to do this. Unlike most other coutries, inflation has been practically zero for decades. The costs involved with providing the service haven't been going up so they don't need to increase costs because of inflationary pressures. It would also seem unlikely that the shareholders would see increasing the cost of the RailPass as a way to an instant windfall, without requiring increases to the costs of other services across the board as well.

Secondly. This is probably part of a bigger tourism reset plan. Tourism numbers 2015+ years were starting to swell out of control (32M in 2019 from 8.5M in 2012). The key destinations were highly centralised (Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto/Nara, Hiroshima) witb some seasonal overflow to skiing destination. The benefits/spending were also highly centralised, with little getting to more remote areas which need it most. Locals have long been complaining of overcrowding on transport and at local facilities and atrractions caused by tourist numbers.

I believe that the Japanese government is planning to focus more on quality, and loger stays/spend, than explosive short stay trips. The government still holds considerable sway with JR East/West and other railways so it wouldn't surprise me at all if this was part of the process.

If the Kyoto authorities had any braincells to rub together, they'd run a tourist bus service on a loop around the top 10-15 attractions and sell one day passes to that.

It immediately removes the bulk of tourists from the normal commuter busses, and the tourists know they can just get on/off right next to their temple of choice.

Looks like the cockpit of a B-29