🆕 blog! “Book Review: If there were no Shinkansen - Shuichiro Yamanouchi” ★★★★☆ This is a gloriously nerdy book. Shuichiro Yamanouchi - considered to be one of the founding forces behind Japan's "Bullet Train" system - takes us behind the scenes of its development. It's a mixture of […]

Three Chinese astronauts who have been living on China's Tiangong space station since April 24 were set to return to Earth Wednesday when a piece of suspected “space junk” struck their return capsule — just hours ahead of departure. Looks like they’re going to be there for a while. Read more […]

Aside from being an excellent channel, also fascinating to see @sendaiben.org go on his naturalization journey Why I'm Giving Up My Passport to Become a Japanese Citizen youtu.be/prTGhI-2FGk?...

ooooo From: @slims https://famichiki.jp/@slims/115505795317872661

Seven & i Holdings announces the sale of subsidiaries to US private equity firm Bain Capital has been completed. The stores involved include Denny's, Loft, Akachan Honpo, and Ito Yokado supermarket brands. www.47news.jp/13092571.html

Rie Onishi, 4th generation proprietress of a Kyoto fan shop, has passed away at 35. The family have shared no further details. She came to national attention a couple of years ago, after appearing in a campaign poking fun at Kyoto's double-edged politeness. www.sankei.com/article/2025...

Crazy graphs here Japan’s Population Falls Again in 2024 www.nippon.com/en/japan-dat...

Century-old Grand Canyon Lodge destroyed in wildfire. Arizona’s governor demands an inquiry. https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-breaking/2025/07/13/hobbs-inquiry-north-rim-fire/85145940007/

From the people who brought you the term ATM machine we pring you PR request

This move poses a serious threat to the industry of fake priests and karaoke parlor style wedding chappels in Japan... South Korean-style photo-only weddings gain popularity in Japan mainichi.jp/english/arti...

Across the road from Takadanobaba Station, next to the Seibu Shinjuku line running overhead, a row of shops, bars and restaurants has been demolished. They have been there illegally since after the war. takadanobaba.keizai.biz/headline/1478/

From a friend, and tangentially (barely) related, this gave me a helluva laugh: https://www.threepanelsoul.com/comic/prompt-injection

AI Rap from the Agricultural Minister #koizumi #rice #japan #japanesenews https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wCpu5JSvIA

Supply and Demand still not working in the job market Japan's real wages fall 0.5% in FY 2024, down for 3rd straight year mainichi.jp/english/arti...

[English version below] Du nutzt Android? Ich verschenke den Messenger Threema, denn ich hab Lizenzen gewonnen und gespendet bekommen. Einfach mich hier direkt kontaktieren oder über https://Moin.JanTietje.de. (@threemaapp ist #europäisch, aus der […] [Original post on digitalcourage.social]

Japan to subsidize private high schools as public system creaks https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Policy-Asia/Japan-to-subsidize-private-high-schools-as-public-system-creaks

Check out the fault move back right during Myanmar earthquake. https://youtu.be/77ubC4bcgRM

How it feels to be American these days.

US Visa Applications from Japan Now Require Disclosing 5 Years of Social Media History https://www.tokyoweekender.com/japan-life/news-and-opinion/us-visa-applications-from-japan-require-disclosing-social-media-history/

Tokyo train pickpocketing cases on rise www.tokyoreporter.com/crime/tokyo-...

Microsoft can now see you Edging. Microsoft Copilot can now ‘see’ what’s on your screen in Edge www.theverge.com/news/650259/...

All these Au Starlink commercials on Japanese TV please let us not send Elon more money.

This morning, Mount Sakurajima, located in Kagoshima Prefecture on Japan’s Kyushu Island, erupted for the 54th time this year. The volcanic plume reached a height of 2,600 meters, but no volcanic rocks were ejected. The Japan Meteorological Agency has issued a […] [Original post on mstdn.social]

Shortwave listeners noting China already taking over some frequencies used by VOA and RFA as USAGM has silenced its own transmitters. Especially critical with thousands of casualties in the Myanmar M7.7 quake where survivors would normally be receiving vital info from our Burmese language services.

Amiga 3000 https://youtu.be/hzA5AhH1mbw I have one and an A500 should sell my old fansub gear. nostalgic

#startrek Voyager had three actors named Robert, does that mean Star Trek was evolving into the bobiverse?

The 1A program on ‘The Voice of America goes silent’ now online: https://the1a.org/segments/the-voice-of-america-goes-silent/

This is great news not in the least for our American friends where the weather service is being sabotaged. Weather models are oddly enough always global - you can't predict the weather in Berlin a week ahead without also predicting the weather in Austin, Texas. ECMWF has excellent hurricane […]

U.S. could lose democracy status, says global watchdog https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/trump-democracy-report-1.7486317

RFE/RL - EU looking into possible support of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty after the US government moved to cut the broadcaster's funding, sparking concern over the silencing of pro-democracy media. https://www.rferl.org/a/trump-executive-order-cuts-agencies-rfe-rl-usagm-voa/33348998.html

Ha 2020 Tokyo olympics caused Japan to push for the early release of 5G when it was claimed two more years were needed. https://youtu.be/bP66ZPXIFP4?si=bEWmK2nQ1idTEgWa&t=911

I don't know why the #Trump administration has decided that #mRNA research is suddenly "bad" when it has proven so very useful and effective in prevention and treatment of #disease. As Kevin Collins says: "Scientists have just cured pancreatic #cancer in some […] [Original post on newsie.social]

My colleagues and our broadcasts, devoted to telling America’s story to the world — honestly, fairly and with an unwavering commitment to the truth​, are being silenced this weekend […] [Original post on journa.host]

Did not see this coming: 1. Elect economist as PM 2. His first act is to cancel most economists’ favourite way to help the market solve climate change?!

[Ghastly old Dad joke] What’s Irish and never comes inside? Patio furniture! On my mind because I’ve been assembling a large flat-packed item and I hurt all over.

More than 300 measles cases, according to the CDC, collectively in: Alaska, California, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York City, New York State, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont, and Washington State. https://www.cdc.gov/measles/data-research/index.html

BlueSky running ads about being “billionaire-proof”, but a so understand it, it’s still not actually billionaire-proof. I’ve read over the last year articles discussing several issues — anyone know if these are still true? - all DMs go through BlueSky the company - […] [Original post on mstdn.ca]

How #america keeps its citizens uneducated. https://youtu.be/QcYPll2sbD4 #education

It is like no one remembers the agreement with #ukraine when they gave up nukes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction#%3A%7E%3Atext%3DIn_1994%2C_Ukraine_agreed_to%2Cindependence_and_sovereignty_in_the?wprov=sfla1

All probationary federal employees at NOAA’s EMC that’s responsible for keeping all US weather model systems running have been fired with 1 hours notice. And that includes me and colleagues. We will not go quietly because we care about the NOAA mission to protect the public.

"GitVenom." Because why wouldn't you bite people's hands while pretending to be open-source https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/26/infosec_bytes/

This is cool! Japan Moon rover sets out for world's 1st private lunar exploration english.kyodonews.net/news/2025/02...

If you set aside ethics for a moment, the best time for a first responder to demand someone hand over their wallet is while they are still in the middle of being attacked. Ukraine official says minerals deal agreed with US www.bbc.com/news/article...

Oh great Joann going out of business yet another understandable reason she is looking forward to returning to Japan.

Bummer a guy I know in Tokyo is coming back to Colirado after more than 35 years in Japan as he was diagnosed with Parkinsons and newer treatments are available in US than Japan. I gathered he saved a lot of yen. I will see him again in the coming months. Hope the best for him!

Spoiler: The glue is failing in freezing weather. Because they used glue on the Cybertruck.