divinda comments

from Tuesday people will no longer have to wear a face mask in health care facilities

Being required to wear face masks at health care facilities in Japan is still the norm.

And yet, somehow the rank and file of the Democrat Party has decided without doubt this is the most capable human being in the entirety of US who should continue to lead the country.

The male smoking rate dropped 3.4 percentage points from the previous survey in 2019 to 25.4 percent, while the female smoking rate was down 1.1 points to 7.7 percent.

So overall thats a decrease among about 2..3% of the population.

Makes me wonder, how much of this is people actually quitting...

...and how much of this is from people dying off?

Chinese gov't: "Don't buy that well inspected Japanese confectionary, and instead buy our unregulated domestic stuff make with cooking oil sourced from street sewers."

So "summit" is a new term for "lecture"?

I agree with all the above commentators, but a couple other economic considerations should be noted.

For one, the building and/or the continuous re-building industry is a major component in Japan's economy which would be different if homes lasted longer. In a way, shoddy homes and/or the societal preference for a new home is a form of planned obsolescence. Like light-bulb makers, car companies, and cell-phone producers, if their products did not wear out or go out of style soon enough, they would go out of business.

Also, home ownership is not just the single largest investment and store of wealth for a person (usually), but it is also one on the biggest components in a country's GDP. When homes lose their re-sale value, the volume of capital is so huge in the overall economy, it is probably the largest single driving factor for low inflation (or even deflation). Yes, some may argue that inflation is necessary theoretically, (especially banks who in turn get more profits, and the government who can perpetually increase spending while their previous debts vanish through inflation), but in reality, nobody with savings actually likes inflation, and the Japanese populace saves more than probably any other country.

You are the only one saying that, 

Its being said through omission and willful ignorance.

You honestly think such toxins have no effect on a fetus?

Because they're not delusional morons like RFK of course.

What I consider delusional would be to say its perfectly OK for a pregnant woman to eat mercury tainted halibut fried in Roundup-ready corn oil upon a scratched-up Teflon frying pan, with a side of arsenic laced rice and a big glass or PFA tap water.

when the medical professionals that know about the topic contradict something he says

Correction: "when some medical professionals that know about the topic..."

He backs up what he says with scientific studies. Yes, they can be interpreted in different ways, but not all "medical professionals" agree on every possible thing.

But this article about birth issues states things like "Some people are more predisposed to preterm birth based on individual risk factors" which may be true, but are these the reasons why preterm births and maternal deaths have been increasing?

This article makes no mention of a wealth of external factors, such as all the toxins in the environment. MIcro-plastics, PTFEs and other "forever chemicals", air pollution, heavy metals in every form of seafood, widespread use of flame retardants, heaps of pesticides in foods like glyphosate.... the list of toxins being ingested and exposed to mothers is massive and is definitely affecting maternal and fetal health, yet once again, people here just blow him off as a conspiracy nut for simply questioning the knock-on effects of vaccines, when the overwhelming work and concerns he has is with how more attention need to be put on how we are literally poisoning ourselves in a huge variety of ways.

Seriously, why does nobody in power ever speak of environmental toxins affecting health except RFK, and instead put all the blame for bad health on "individual choices", like how this article puts the whole onus on mothers when there is negative outcome "because you didn't go to the doctor or you drank too much coffee, or smoked, or have too much stress". Ridiculous.

Wouldn't be surprised if the numbers around China spike at the end of the month or early September when the Fukushima release happens, since it would be a convenient cover story and blame-game for allowing China to dump their own radioactive waste.

Yet when RFK Jr speaks about all the possible causes for this, he's shut down as a conspiracy kook.

Alcohol is a drug. So is nicotine.

Which means most of the Japanese salary-men and gov't bureaucrats can't be trusted then.

This "new" album is available on Spotify, just like all his stuff... once again.

Good to see Neil stay committed to his beliefs... the belief in making money, that is.

This note's for you!

When I first came to Japan in 2005, a beer in an izakaya cost 500 yen.

It still costs 500 yen now in 2023.

Ditto for me too, but I first came in 1995.

The year before I came the movie Pulp Fiction was released. There was a part in it where a "five dollar milkshake" seemed so outrageously expensive at the time, it was worthy of evolving the whole scene around it.

Then I came to Japan, and a five dollar milkshake was the norm... just the same as now. But in LA, where Pulp Fiction was based, nowadays 5 bucks could barely get you a glass of ice water.

A trial would expose a lot of very inconvenient and/or damaging details about the Moonies and their corrupt involvement with the LDP.

So it may be years till any trial comes up, if ever, since they are probably hoping to Epstein the guy.

I am currently in the US.

First visit from my home in Japan in over 5 years.

Japan is an absolute bargain. Prices everywhere are high, add the exchange rate and it becomes crazy!

I went to a local place for lunch today. Nothing fancy. Burgers, sandwiches, fries, salads, burritos, etc.

Most meal sets (burger+fries) were 16 to 19 bucks. With drink ($3.50 cokes with refill) plus tax and tip, and it was 25 bucks minimum per person.

There were 3 of us. Bill with tip was $75 for lunch. In yen, thats 10.800 !!!!! For a regular lunch !!

Heard the super rich like submarine rides too.

Your 2021 compensation was eye-popping: The company valued it — with all the stock awards and options — at $296 million if the company does well.

So in the middle year of the pandemic, when Delta was infecting people everywhere, Omicon wasn't even formed yet, vaccinations were just starting, everyone was stuck at home, and the travel industry was in shambles....

...somehow this dude was paid nearly 300 million bucks.

Oh, right, its probably because he was able to appropriate the pay of the 3,000 people Expedia laid off:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/expedia-lays-off-3-000-092331625.html

So to summarize, the main complaint is: "Japan is too foreign and not enough like my home country."

Despite the overload, I bet the huts on the mountain still haven't increased staff wages.

A government-backed added value scheme that provides funding for works such as renovating rooms was cited as one way to increase sales.

So tourist numbers are booming, prices are increasing, occupancy is nearly at capacity, the lack of staff make the existing workers all the more valuable...

...and yet somehow these privately -owned hotels need tax-payer funds to renovate their rooms so they can someday maybe give a pay increase?

With ChatGPT set for use in government work, does this mean they have successfully taught this AI perfom with an operational method based on shogunai?

Ditto Yubaru.

If anything, they have been doing such bloated gov spending even before the bubble popped, it just wasn't yet called a "crisis"

But good luck reducing this inflated spending. Now there are so many people, industries, municipalities, and zombie companies that are fully dependent on this public spending, (where for many it is their main if not only source of revenue) that any reduction would mean job cuts, pay cuts, site closures, and/or bankruptcy.

So many of these entities have no idea how to actually earn income within the private sector anymore, and the only thing they are good at is submitting bids to for government-backed projects which produce little or no revenue, and more often than not, these entities specifically influence the government to create these unnecessary projects just so that they can continue to get more "work" in order to keep their otherwise unnecessary staff paid and employed. I see this all play out first hand on a daily basis.

More likely the reason is not to let them "join" but to make them fully eligible if there is a draft.

For most Japanese wines, the first ingredient would be sugar, then water...

At first, I thought that was the Toyota Hilux from Top Gear

Nagoya court rules not recognizing same-sex marriage unconstitutional

Nothing like a good ol' double negative first thing in the morning

@Moonraker

Second (or third) generation politicos who get elected is not truly nepotism.

Yes, legacy and family heritage is an advantage for getting elected by the public, but nepotism is the advantage when receiving appointments or other favors, etc outside of (assumingly fair) elections.

Few people realize the long-standing dirty secrets of the shipping industry:

When pulling into and out of ports, when a ship is within the maritime border of a country (usually about 20km out) it usually has to follow that country's emissions regulations and rules for waste discharge and other pollutants. Special fuel is usually used along with exhaust filters.

Once back out at sea and outside any maritime border (which is usually the vast majority of the trip) all the waste (like septic, trash, etc) is dumped since there are no more regulations, the exhaust filters are turned off, and then the fuel is switched to "bunker" oil, which is the cheapest and most polluting fuel sold on earth.

And this is not just the case with container shipping, but also for cruise ships and military. All these ships are designed and built to operate in this dual-manner way.

Bravo!