browny1 comments

As others mentioned - drinking commercials are still the daily norm here.

Young people - mostly - enjoying life having fun, while drinking.

The one kind of CM that actually disturbs me is the young beautiful woman, alone (maybe after a hard day's work) chugging on an alcoholic drink with a smiling face of contention.

Weird stuff.

Great News.

It will take considerable time, but an International Body with international competitions guided by Hakuho would be a positive break from the cloistered going ons of Sumo Inc.

Hope to see it bear fruit.

Farm minister Shinjiro Koizumi has pledged to cut prices quicker by selling stockpiled rice directly to retailers -- attracting long queues to some shops.

It appears to be working: the average retail price has edged down for a second week to 4,223 yen for five kilograms, down from a high of 4,285 yen in May.

Working? A massive ￥62 decrease!!!

Not Working.

China's close to the edge gaming begins to wear thin.

They are obviously intending to bully neighbouring countries whether they be Japan, Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan etc.

A simple mistake could / will result in death and an ensuing political storm.

Don't know why they think persistence in htis method will get them a positive result - it won't.

And a btw -  

Japan's southernmost Okinotori Island within Japan's exclusive economic zone.

Okinotori Island is not an island. It is a small reef with a natural land area of a few squ mtrs.

According to the UN convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), of which Japan is a signatory, it doesn't allow such a rock to command an EEZ of it's own.

 UNCLOS states: “In the exclusive economic zone, the coastal State shall have the exclusive right to construct and to authorize and regulate the construction, operation and use of: (a) artificial islands . . . .” UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON THE LAW OF THE SEA 927 artificial islands emphatically do not possess a territorial sea. They do, however, possess what is called a “safety zone.” Safety zones allow a controlling state to establish a 500-meter radius in which a state can exert exclusive sovereign control. Moreover, the plain language of UNCLOS indicates that states do not have the right to construct artificial islands in areas outside of its EEZ.

Japan claims an EEZ of 400,000squ kms - larger than all of Japan - because of 9 squ mtrs of rock.

Just doing the same as China's Spratly claims in the South China Sea - build an artificial concrete platform and claim exclusivity.

Only the 2 vested countries recognize their own claims.

The article alluded to red light runners.

But the problem is far greater than just an occasional nuisance.

In my city it is rampant to the point of being normal.

The most dangerous intersection in the city with the most accidents is also the Red Light Runners playground.

A friend turning on green at this intersection was hit by a R.L. Runner.

To the police it was He said, She said - game over.

Can't you check the traffic flow monitoring cameras?

No we don't do that!

Install red light cameras?

No we don't do that!

Mystery.

 to “liberate” the West Coast city.

“We will not allow an American city to be invaded and conquered by a foreign enemy. That’s what they are,"

 “restoring the warrior ethos” 

Big Govt just couldn't get any bigger - well the next step is unthinkable.

Authoritarianism backed by a sledge of lies under the guise of freedom.

And here I thought the neo-cons stood for individualism, but looking more and more Soviet every day.

Channeling Don McLean -

“And as the flames climbed high into the night, To light the sacrificial rite, I saw Satan laughing with delight, The day the music died.”

Bye, Bye Mis American Pie

Posted a coupla days ago a lean on Neil Young's words

"Tin soldiers and Trump coming, We're finally on our own..."

It's come to pass.

Not Funnier and Funnier.

Crazier and Crazier - heading to killing Mockingbirds.

As others have said, pure distraction from public fallouts, failing tariff solutions, failing war negotiations etc etc.

Punch and Judy for the masses.

to quote in part - Neil Young -

Tin soldiers and Trump's coming we're finally on our own

Matsue is a wonderful small city with many highlights and interesting places in the nearby regions.

Visiting Hearn's home and small but interesting museum is an interesting insight into the man and the times.

Similar in some respects to Shrines (& Temples) practice of charging for Omamori - good luck talismans.

Paying up to a few thousand yen for a piece of paper -Omikuji with your years fortune outlined or Ema - small board to write your wishes. And other such for sale amulets for good luck in exams to road safety to marriage prospects etc.

I partake in such activities with my family buying yearly trinkets. Some people fork out tons of money for these or give huge donations to secure protection / prosperity for the coming year.

For the Big popular shrines it's huge financial windfalls collecting billions.

Never imagined it might be illegal - preying on the weak or ignorant.

The row then went nuclear, with Musk slinging insults at Trump and accusing him without evidence of being in government files on disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

In the public domain there is already tons of evidence connecting Trump to Epstein including photos, videos, phone logs, flight logs, personal accounts, dropped court case, property purchases etc etc.

Epstein died under Trump's watch. Many irregularities in his time in jail, not the least being he was on suicide watch ( and not watched) and his cellmate was transferred and not replaced as required, conveniently leaving him alone. Coroners report was not absolute - circumstantial in many aspects.

But not going down any conspiracy rabbit hole - there is plenty of stuff aligning Trump and Epstein.

Why the files not released? Maybe also some incriminating evidence against others like Clinton etc.

Trump's proven sexual deviant history makes him the perfect buddy for Epstein. Pretty sure as Musk blurted - there's a bomb out there waiting to be dropped.

Funnier and Funnier.

Look, Elon and I had a great relationship. I don't know if we will anymore," Trump said.

As Trump spoke, Musk responded in real time with increasingly acerbic posts on X.

*"Without me, Trump would have lost the election," wrote Musk, who spent nearly $300 million backing Trump and other Republicans in last year's election. "Such ingratitude."*

Only six days before Thursday's blowup, Trump and Musk held a joint appearance in the Oval Office, where Trump praised Musk's government service and both men promised to continue working together.

I've truly enjoyed the Circus of the past months. Haven't chuckled so much over ineptness masquerading as power since..........well ....well.............I don't know since when.

The follies of the mega-rich.

Funnier and Funnier - again with apologies to those suffering from the debacle.

Agree njca4.

And who'd think she is still 18???

And regardless of ones thinking of royalty, Emperor Naruhito appears to be genuine in his anti-war sentiments.

Rather than covering up, he appears to be trying to bring close attention to the evils of war and close the huge divisions created by the War Machinations of the Showa era, including his grandfather.

"This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination,"

"Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong."

House Speaker Mike Johnson called Musk's comments "disappointing," adding that he had talked his "good friend" through the bill during a 20-minute phone call on Monday, and that he "seemed to understand."

Funnier and Funnier.

Maybe he touched a raw nerve for some and probably could have been more delicate.

But - the fact is there is an annual turnover of old stockpiled rice to become animal feed while the stock is replenished with new rice.

This system has been in place for ages.

Did vested interests speak out about this before, when the procedure occurs every year?

Tamaki shouldn't be silenced on this as it is only a distraction by the govt to detract from their failure to initiate a realistic rice distribution program earlier.

Dolly - an effervescent brightness in the music/entertainment industry.

Humanitarian at heart who never was afraid to voice opinions that often mystified the conservative crowd, especially some of the die-hard country music fans.

Collaborated with and was friends with people from all walks, never pigeon-holing, never derogatory.

And she is an accomplished multi-instrumental musician as well as writing/ composing many of hit songs.

All round super nice woman.

Umami was not "discovered" in the past 50 years.

Over 100 years ago glutamic acid was isolated as a "taste" and Ajinomoto proceeded to produce and sell msg as their product.

And to be clear umami wasn't discovered, just the mechanism behind the flavour was .

In the same way that nobody discovered "Savoury" flavour - it's been known for ever, just the mechanism / science behind the flavour was unknown.

Seems that a premise of the Right was for small Govt - getting the Govt out of every day life. Freedom!

The last 4 months has seen Trump Inc impinge on the rights of ordinary folks/institutions ie Harvard - in a manner that can only indicate Big Govt.

Wool over Eyes.

Funnier and Funnier.

Been following Sarah off and on for quite some time now.

As a nerd of all things motorbike, her acts of daring do and skill, are amazing.

No one is in her class.

My younger days of riding I thought were "out there" - but barely kindergarten next to Sarah.

How best to describe Billy Eillish’s music? Beige? Conservative? Underwhelming?

Of course the subjectivity of art incl music is one of it's endearing attractions - everyone likes what they want to like.

For me Billie E's and brother Finneas's compositions, his musicianship and her voice are a breath of fresh air in the highly saturated pop market. Eclectic!

Hard to pigeon hole altho terms like alt-pop, goth-pop, indie pop etc are bandied around.

I first heard her song Ocean Eyes 8 odd years ago when she was about 15 or 16 and thought what a break it was from the Big norm and was equally impressed by "When we all fall asleep where do we go" a year later.

Putting out songs from movie themes like James Bond - Time to die - and Barbie - What was I made for, to staccato bits like Bury a friend.

For me she's a kind of Joni Mitchell lilting - Lana del Ray luscious voices crossover.

Sadly it looks like warfare will not be going away anytime soon.

However any future global military attack escalation will only be partially represented by missiles of any sort.

Systems including the likes of Energy weapons ie Laser, Shockwave, MAVs - micro air vehicles ie bugs, Cyber / Hacking infiltration, independent AI weapons, Bio-weapons and other dastardly technologies.

A Golden Dome will not prevent attacks from such technologies.

Cyber weapons potentially crippling an area / country's critical infrastructure with not a shot fired, no doubt will be the biggie.

Unfortunately so.

The move comes as the government seeks to quell criticism it has been ineffective in preventing rice prices from skyrocketing

In suspending the approach, Koizumi has said the highest-bidder-wins auction system was pushing up rice costs.

Thank god - Admission by the govt that the govt was at fault.

Good.

So the LDP and BOJ's plan to stick with Abenomics to increase inflation, dragging the country out of the mire of deflation, has paid off and the good citizens of Japan are now enjoying the social / economic benefits.

Everyone's rolling.

Just not sure what they're rolling in?

I repeat - a failure of the government to supervise the distribution adequately, to ensure a continuing supply.

Some posters - icognito - can't accept the fact that buck stops with the govt.

That's classic humor.

The farm system in general is broken and needs major overhaul.

The onus is on Koizumi to work like a dog over the next months/years for the people to prove he's worthy of his position - by revitalizing the industry with drastic measures.

Japan's new agriculture minister pledged on Friday to quickly move rice from government stockpiles to store shelves where they would be offered at prices significantly lower than current levels, seeking to stem a consumer shift to cheaper, foreign brands.

So that would be an admission that the govt's rice distribution policy of the past months has been a failure.

An admission of foot-dragging ineptness while bowing to greater forces.

But many will probably praise him as the Rice Saviour - hallowed be thy name.

As MarkX indicated - crude prices have been steadily dropping since last year.

There was a jump up again for short term in January ( Trumps presidency) to around $80/barrel but it's been in the low to mid $60 for a while back to prices of 4 years ago.

If oil companies play fair then there should be quite a natural decrease in prices for the coming months.

But I won't be holding my breath.

@wasabi

trump is against education, sciences, journalist....

I think this at the core of Trump's forays into anything he perceives to be opposing him.

He hates intellectualism as he tries to create a mirrored image of himself as genius.

Harvard challenged him publicly and he just cannot accept any opinion contradictory to his.

Witness the expulsion of AP for daring to use the name Gulf of Mexico.

The president in 2020 spoke of his purported grasp of science:

‘I like this stuff. I really get it.*

‘People are surprised that I understand it.

'Every one of these doctors said: "How do you know so much about this?"

Maybe I have a natural ability. Maybe I should have done that instead of running for president.'

And also he bragged that he had a predisposition toward science because of his ‘super genius’ uncle.

‘You know my Uncle was a great — he was at MIT,’

‘He taught at MIT for a record number of years. He was a great super genius, Dr. John Trump.’

By attacking the heart of advanced education he sees himself as a winner in the eyes of the majority of his bread and butter supporters.

By places himself upon a power pedestal he is fulfilling his self-anointment as leader above all. including his greatest internal fear - the nous of intelligentsia.

"I will say: apartheid, terrible," Trump noted. "This is sort of the opposite of apartheid."

The opposite would mean togetherness - an embrace of all.

Trump thinks he knows a lot, but when I heard him utter these words on the video and his use of genocide - well then I knew for sure he doesn't know.

Full of little sound bites he thinks are deep and revealing.

And what an ambush of a country's leader.

Trump's puffed up gotcha moment no doubt put together by the puppet masters that surround him.

Bruce Springsteen has written, composed and performed about political / social issues his whole life.

His life's work in a large part is a commentary on the conditions of the ordinary folks of the US.

He is no different from any other artist that represents their ideas, opinions and beliefs whether they be writers, film makers, journalists, cartoonists or whatever.

Maybe Picasso shouldn't have painted Guernica and kept his nose out of politics.

How restricted and confined a narrow society it would be if only those in politics made political discourse (or were allowed to). Of course such places do exist and are the antithesis of freedom.

Jay -

the playing field here is far more balanced. Inheritance taxes are intentionally steep - precisely to stop generational wealth from compounding unchecked and entrenching inequality. That’s a built-in mechanism to keep meritocracy alive.

One could cynically argue that while the historical notion of inheritance tax is a nod to meritocracy, the reality is it's just a huge tax grab by the govt. and by huge I mean huge! Taxes paid on things that taxes have already been paid on things that taxes have already been paid ad nauseum.

The majority of citizens are not wealthy and often inheritance duties owed are stressful - mentally, physically and financially - for lower income people to work through. Wealthier people can manage their way much more readily.

That's why throw-away comments like the one uttered by Eto usually come from the mouths of politicians who don't have to worry too much about cost of living incl taxes.

If Eto had to deal with counting the small change every time he went to buy food (rice), pay utilities etc he'd have a different outlook on basic survival living. But no doubt he doesn't do any of this.

Again - what Eto thinks in private is one thing, but to blab it out in such a flippant manner in public deserves scorn.

And to some who believe this is minor, I think people are just getting a bit sick and tired of the political scandal / gaffes of recent times - and there have been tons of them.

All starts to wear very thin.

And not to say that this act by Ishiba, is not an attempt to get Koizumi back on the front page with the added bonus of "hero saving Japan from the rice crisis" !!!