SapperJon comments

Here in the UK we have lots of different canned seafood, from smoked oysters to sardines which are available in several different sauces, oil, tomato and spicy tomato or plain salt water. My favourite is mackerel in curry sauce although there are many different flavours of sauce available. Of course pink or red salmon and tuna plain are the main staples. Portugal is well known for many different seafoods in cans.

Bird flu news in the UK has gone quite recently and eggs are plentiful in the shops, although for some unknown reason a lot of eggs are now white whereas traditionally in the UK people prefer their eggs to be any shade of brown and free range or barn eggs. The days of caged birds are numbered.

I'm not a great lover of Starbucks anywhere in the world, I don't know about the branches in Japan but they are usually top of the list for sugar content and their coffee always seems overly bitter due to to higher roast. I stick to artisan coffee shops. Doutor and Tully's make better coffee.

If you don't put it in you don't put it on. Just stop eating to many of the wrong food, cut carbs especially pure carbs like sugar, white rice, pasta and white bread and not forgetting potatoes. There's no way I'd inject some drug just because I can't control my greed.

Only 17 trillion yen! more debt added to the nation. So 17 trillion yen on top off 1.30 quadrillion yen. One day you'll have to pay this back or sell your souls.

I don't like overly sweet ice cream full of bits like cookie dough and crunchy bits. I like ice cream made with proper cream maybe with an added smooth flavour like vanilla or strawberry without using chemical flavours or artificial sweetener or unnatural additives like glucose or corn syrup

It would take me 17 years to recoup the initial cost of fitting a heat pump, larger circulating pipework and larger radiators not to mention a new hot water storage tank and the plinth to mount the unit outside. This time scale doesn't include any maintenance cost or the potential renewal of component's That would make 83 before I could expect any repayment on my investment.

I think I'll give it a miss.

When the country is the second highest indebted country in the world after Venezuela per head of population maybe not a good idea to cut your income stream just to make you look better for a minuet.

I was surprised to see that there are only 48 women elected to the Japanese parliament compared to 225 in the UK. The weakness of our parliament is the number who have no real business experience having been to university and the worked as researchers and aids for ministers.

What I do know it was a massive mistake in the UK to print money to subsidise big institutions with quantitative easing and furlough payments at the start of the pandemic. And last year domestic fuel payments.

It would appear Japan has made similar mistakes, spending what they don't have.

On our last holiday in Japan we got 148 Yen to the pound I recently locked in a rate of 186.5 Yen on my Global money account. Even if I could've got more by waiting I'm still happy with the rate I locked in.

Being a pensioner all my pensions including the state old age pension went up by 10.1% in April and it's likely to go up by 7.8 to 8.5% next April. Prices have gone a bit mad especially fuel I'm paying 274 Yen per litre and electricity is 60.5 Yen a Kwh.

I do feel that Japan's politician's should take their collective heads out of the sand and be brave.

One of the best castles that is quiet with an award winning garden is in Kishiwada, walking along the Gardenia hedges by the moat with the castle in the background attacks the senses with beauty, history and a beautiful scent.

A visit to Mt Koya gives you time for quiet contemplation and it's easy to avoid crowds.

Whichever seat I've got it will always be a middle seat as my wife who must be obeyed doesn't like to sit next to anybody!

My wife is from Ulster ( Northern Ireland) and used to eat Dulse as a child normally after having gone to collect mussels both of which were eaten for Sunday teatime.

"Dulse is one of the most protein-rich seaweeds out there, second to nori" quoted from a supplier in the UK

Having a small bowl of seaweed with a meal is a particular favourite of mine when visiting Japan.

French wine has had it's day 30 years ago, other countries around the world produce better wine. In blind tastings across the world English sparkling wine has been winning top awards beating Champagne for the top spot. I'm not sure if climate change has anything to do with it.

Here in the UK Beaujolais has always been viewed as quite a rough wine that hasn't made the grade to be matured into good wines. I suspect the French producers have targeted new markets to dump their wine as markets in Europe have over the years reduced their consumption preferring other countries cheaper offerings.

"???? Maybe it has something to with Geography? 80% of Japan is mountainous. Hard to have a farm on a mountain."

'High on a hill a lonely goat herder' Switzerland and the alpine regions of Europe seem to manage to farm, along with Welsh sheep on the welsh mountains and Aberdeen Angus cows in Scotland. Me thinks commenter's are making excuses to avoid change.

Here in the UK the general public expect all animals to be respected and their 5 freedoms are provided for.

Also there are very strict controls in place, no animal is given growth hormones or routine antibiotics, chicken is not washed in chlorine and eggs are unwashed. It is quite common to have a feather in a box. When a chicken lays an egg a protective layer is applied by the chicken naturally, this allows the egg to breath but blocks bacteria. Eggs are not refrigerated in shops as there is no need to.

It's simple really make the Six nations Eight nations and get the potential additional european nations play off against each other for one of the available two places. Also Japan, Samoa, Fiji ect should start a similar contest to improve their games.

I do hope that Starbucks products are not as sweet as they are in the UK and USA. They are mostly at the top of the lists when it comes to sugar content. I personally would only buy unsweetened coffee in Starbucks, but that's rare as I find their coffee over roasted and bitter with a slightly burnt aftertaste. But each to their own.

My wife and I have got ours on the 7th of October at our local medical centre. It's walk in jab walk out.

Here in the UK all Japanese beers are brewed here so I'm not sure they taste the same as original Japanese ones. My preference is Sapporo, followed by Kirin Ichiban and lastly Asahi which to me reminds me of weak tasteless American beers like Budweiser and Coors.

Next time I'm on holiday in Japan I will try some craft beers especially as they aren't available in UK.

For me being English I find England's recent form of kicking all the time boring in the extreme. I was a little disappointed with the amount of foreign second rate players in the Blossoms, I would much prefer to see the style from the 2019 Blossoms who don't forget beat South Africa. I actually attended that game and brought a Blossoms shirt, the atmosphere was amazing and the majority of crowd were routing for the Blossoms.

I hope to see the Brave Blossoms get through to the next round!

That's an unusual looking chair, it doesn't look very comfortable and a little to big.

Why are Japanese ministers all so old, some younger blood might have appealed to the general voter. Politian's should be forced to retire at the same age as everyone else. Parliament should not be old peoples day care.

That's a lot of money I think I'll stick to my disposable razor blades.

England's games are so boring, kicking the ball away so the opposing team can charge back with the ball using numerous set piece moves. Meanwhile England's indiscipline gives penalties and scrums away time and time again. I don't hold out much hope for advancement out of the pool games. Borthwick needs to pick young blood, at least they'd get experience of playing on the world stage to advance their career's.

I would never knowingly eat beef from the USA as it's full of growth hormones and anti-biotics. It is totally banned within Europe including the UK. Now if it says meat reared in Japan I would find that safe to eat!

Here in England we're so glad he lives in the USA as he's not wanted here, what with his constant whinging and whining about the British way of life and history.

An political science graduate and an Argentinian that has no nuclear industry of merit and yet he's raised to the top of the IAEA because he's a diplomat. I hope he's got a good team of scientists working below him.

Over the years because the amount of people smoking has declined the smell becomes an irritant, I always hold my breath as I pass a smoker.

UK minimum wage for over 23 years of age is £10.42 an hour , that's 1823 yen an hour but I suspect the cost of living is higher in the UK. It's quality of life that really maters and happiness. The average working week is around 40 hours with a government minimum paid holiday entitlement of 5.6 weeks.