Jonathan Wilder comments

The grill works perfectly for Escargots à la Bourguignonne. Just pop the grill into the oven instead of using the heating element.

How to prevent scandal? Hide the corruption better.

Two points: recency and severity. First 25 years here, I rarely got stopped. I chalked that up to being white, blonde, and blue-eyed, ergo privileged. However, in the last 3 years, I've been stopped about a dozen times on foot or on two wheels for a variety of reasons: looking like I was loitering (playing a location-based game on the smartphone), and random ID checks. In most cases, it was racial profiling with a thin excuse for a stop. The point is the number of stops has dramatically increased in the last several years. When the police cite the new law, I always remind them that the law doesn't say that they have to check gaijin cards, a driver's license should suffice as a gaijin card is needed to get the license. I point out that it's discretionary-- the law doesn't say they have to do it. They agree and apologize to which I say they wouldn't have to apologize if they chose not to racially profile.

In terms of the difference between stops of Japanese and foreigners, the latter are always lengthier. They involve careful inspections of ids and vehicle insurance, calls into HQ, lots of questions many of which sound like they are just making conversation, testing my Japanese ability etc. As for the stops of people who look Japanese, just yesterday, for example, I witnessed a stop over a two-wheeled vehicle moving violation. The person was able to drive away in thirty seconds after a cursory look was given to their driver's license by the sole officer. If it had been me stopped, it would have taken at least twenty minutes and would have ended up with at least four if not a half dozen officers surrounding me. True that being blonde has shielded me in the past, but no longer. Yeah, it's racist, and they are increasingly racially profiling with more severe procedures for foreigners -- the new law has emboldened them.

In line with the baseless conclusion, it would have to be said that many are missing their commute, too.

Here is a link to an article on farming in Japan from a more informed source:

https://hackerfarm.jp/2019/04/the-food-chain-japanese-agriculture-from-farm-to-supermarket/

Points left unmentioned in this article that contribute to higher prices to consumers are the higher costs of food inputs and the layers of middlemen in Japan.

3 billion?!? That's more than the number of active users, 2.38 billion. They are going to save on server costs, for sure.

Does double duty: no sex and no cellphone use.

Someone who holds their thumb in their fist will bust their thumb if they land a punch with that hand.

Sanwa regrettably did not get the news that there are a myriad of free or cheaper apps on the iphone that do the same thing. Why get a separate device?