Joey Zen comments

I don't need anything so fancy. I'd be happy if they made an electric Hiace, Alphard or Serena. Or even an Estima. It already has an aerodynamic shape. You can tell I'm a soccer mom can't you? I can't live without the minivan. The kids need that extra row of seats otherwise they will be fighting and annoying me all the time.

Since moving to Japan, I love it, but there are a couple things that annoy me. One of those things is when someone is sitting (or sleeping) in their parked car with the engine running. In a country where people are so conscious of not causing 迷惑 (trouble or inconvenience) to others it is unbelievable that some people find it acceptable to spew out toxic fumes that others have to breathe in, not to mention the noise of the engine.

I understand they want to have their air conditioner running, but that means everyone else is breathing in your exhaust. EVs solve this problem. You can have the air conditioner on in an EV without any noise or exhaust fumes. I think the politeness and consciensciousness of an EV suits the Japanese culture better than a dirty, noisy ICE vehicle.

Its about time. Australia wasted a decade under the COALition government.

Japan is superb at baseball. I sometimes wonder whether they would be good at cricket too. If there was the interest and desire (and cricket grounds), I think Japan could be one of the world's best at cricket.

This is interesting timing. Just the other day on the news they were saying that the price of eggs was at an all time high, up 80% or something crazy like that. So I'm not sure this will be a profitable venture for MOS burger. It will most likely be very short-lived.

Sure, a bowl of ramen cost AUD$20 in Australia. People still buy it, but people also get paid a bit more here. For example, the average person in my office gets around AUD$75 or $80 per hour. But in Japan it is still common for people to be getting paid 800 yen an hour. If the price of ramen is raised, so should the wages.

The other thing is, ramen is like a delicacy here. A special occasion. Because it is so expensive. Ramen shouldn't be like that. It should be a cheap meal.

I want a robot that cleans my house, including putting all the dishes in the dishwasher and knowing what things need to go where. It seems like a simple thing, but it would take extraordinary AI programming.

Interesting. Is it just a coincidence that most of these are near military bases? I haven't tried the Sasebo burger but it reminds me of Australian burgers with the lot. Any takeaway shop in Australia will do a Burger With the Lot and it always comes with bacon and a fried egg and usually beetroot as well.

Personally, I am craving a MOS burger right now.

Why do you think it's okay to put a spoiler in the headline just like that? Please have some consideration for people who haven't had time to watch the game yet.

It's hard to blame the government for taking this course of action. They are in between a rock and hard place. They need to phase out fossil fuel power stations but they don't have enough renewables to meet supply at the moment. They also know they don't want a situation similar to Europe where they have a cold winter with energy shortages. They should view nuclear as a temporary solution, using the revenue from nuclear power to help pay for more renewable energy storage such as batteries and pumped-hydro. They also should consider thermal energy. People have the wrong idea about it, saying it will destroy their onsens, but I don't think this is true. You can have both onsens and thermal power, it's not a matter of one or the other. Although Japan is an island nation without oil and gas, it can be a leader in other forms of energy. Japan has some of the best scientists and smartest inventors in the world, they should be able to come up with better solutions to utilise the various forms of renewable energy available to them. Thermal, tidal, hydro, wind, solar. There are plenty of options.

This is more than just a problem with this cult. It highlights the bigger problem of low voter turnout in Japan. The reason the churches have so much political power is because their followers can have significant influence on the election due to their voting power. Not only that, but they provide free support during election time. They are almost guaranteed to use their vote, while many Japanese people don't bother to vote at all. 600,000 votes can mean the difference between winning and losing an election.

So Kishida is in a tough situation because he needs the support and votes from the church followers, but at the same time needs to distance himself from the church due to the negative publicity around it. Hence, the headache, and all because of the assassination.