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  A few days ago, a Japanese TV show introduced amongst its selection of "exotic creatures" the Warai-kawasemi (ワライカワセミ: "laughing kingfisher") which was an eye-opener as it hadn't occurred to me that the kookaburra was a kingfisher! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kookaburra #kookaburra #kingfisher

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  Skies over this part of Tokyo yesterday looked ominous with roiling grey clouds rendered as in a sumi-e (墨絵) painting. However, woke up this morning to find that the rains seem to have passed us by and left the sun to grill us again.

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  "Japan’s food self-sufficiency ratio falls to 37%, well below 2030 goal of 45%" "To achieve its 45% goal, Japan plans to expand farmland for wheat and soybeans" 🔸OTOH: "Australia, Canada, ​France and the U.S. have self-sufficiency ratios ​above 100%" https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/08/07/japan/japan-food-self-sufficiency-ratio-falls/ 🔸Seems Japan's leaders think Japan can just keep importing the shortfall in food despite globa...

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  "Japanese health authorities have reported an unusually early start to the country's influenza season" "The health ministry is advising people to follow basic precautions, such as wearing masks and washing their hands" https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20260828_14/ #Japan #influenza

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  We passed by the Meirin Shopping District (明倫商店街) last year whilst heading back from Ise Shrine Naiku (内宮) to Ise-shi Station by city bus, but wife & I had eyes only for the historical Kintetsu Ujiyamada Station on the other side of the road. https://www.tokyoreporter.com/japan-news/hundreds-evacuated-as-massive-fire-guts-historic-post-war-shopping-street-near-ise-grand-shrine/

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  "This is a weird moment in fusion. Investors are pouring billions into the field to build power plants, and some companies are even signing huge agreements to purchase power from those still-nonexistent plants. All this comes before companies have actually completed a working reactor that can produce electricity." https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/09/25/1124050/fusion-future-funding/ 🔸Weird, since there already is a fully functioning fusion reactor 1 AU away and the technol...

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  "A 150-metre-long island appeared from nowhere on Williston Lake, British Columbia; vanished, then reappeared 20 miles away" "BC Hydro believes the island is the result of years of trees and plants growing largely undisturbed on the woody debris" https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/sep/01/tiny-island-canada-appeared-vanished-reappeared #BritishColumbia #FloatingIsland #ひょこりひょうたん島

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  "Nuclear power plants are essentially billion-dollar kettles" https://sciencehumor.io/physics-memes/its-all-just-boiling-water-tr0k 🔸Ditto putative nuclear fusion power plants: "A commercial fusion power station will use the energy carried by the neutrons to generate electricity. A blanket of denser material surrounding the machine will slow the neutrons. The heat this provides will be converted into steam to drive turbines and put power on the grid." https://...

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  News show "morsel" claimed Japanese high-schoolers ranked no.1 amongst OECD nations in PISA scores. PISA report[2] showed "morsel" had been "selective" in its choice of words. Kyodo News[1] gave a better summary on Japan; DW[3] a better overall view. 1. "[Academic Achievement Among First-Year High Schoolers: Domestic Disparities Widen; High International Standards, but Reading Comprehension Remains a Challenge]" https://ww...

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  "NEC Corp. has withdrawn from developing a quantum computer after determining that the project would require over a decade of further investment before it could be put to practical use and that it would be difficult to monetize" "NEC would continue quantum research, a company official said" https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20260910/p2g/00m/0bu/002000c 🔸Meanwhile IBM et al looks at combining CPUs, GPUs and QPUs🤔 https://research.ibm.com/blog/accelerating-qp...

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  "Hokkaido's Mt. Tokachi volcanic alert level raised to 3" "Officials are urging people to be on alert for large volcanic rocks in areas within around 3 kilometers of the 62-2 crater. They are also warning that volcanic ash and small rocks could be blown far by winds and fall over areas on the downwind side." https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/news/20260912de49906/ #MountTokachi #Hokkaido #VolcanoAlert

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  "Natto exports tripled from 1,752 tonnes in 2017 to 5,248 tonnes in 2025, according to Japan’s finance ministry, with people in China the biggest consumers, followed by those in the US, Thailand and Hong Kong" https://www.theguardian.com/food/2026/sep/15/natto-superfood-japan 🔸5,248t is about 131 million 40g servings or slightly more than 1 pack per person living in Japan, so probably not a major factor in creeping price rises of local supermarket natto. (Crosses fingers, rubs...

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  "After a four-year renovation, the updated Edo-Tokyo Museum has reopened [on 31 March 2026] in the capital's Sumida Ward, offering visitors the chance to explore the capital's history spanning the Edo Period (1603-1867) to the modern era" https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/16474005 Edo-Tokyo Museum: https://www.edo-tokyo-museum.or.jp/en/ #EdoTokyoMuseum #Tokyo

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  "Factors that drove the [bison] kill-off included the completion of the transcontinental railroad, improvements in European tanning technology that made bison hides more desirable and...U.S. Army...efforts to force Indigenous peoples onto reservations." https://news.emory.edu/stories/2023/08/esc_bison_impact_24-08-2023/story.html #bison #slaughter

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  "J. Craig Venter, who mapped the first draft of the human genome and helped scientists understand how genes shape our lives, died Wednesday. He was 79" https://apnews.com/article/venter-human-genome-dna-synthetic-biology-5cb52ba1598044c1767b58a21f519810 #Venter #genome

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  Went to the "猫のすゝめ"[Neko no susume ("An Encouragement of Cats")] at Tokyo University of Agriculture's Food and Agriculture Museum (東京農業大学 「食と農」の博物館) on Saturday. https://www.nodai.ac.jp/campus/facilities/syokutonou/museum-eng/ Lots of info, a number of life-size models of big cats, a reproduction in felt(?) of Takeshi, the calico cat which accompanied the first Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition, and a bunch of life-like plushies packed into a smal...

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  "Storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel from power plants are approaching full capacity across Japan" "...the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan in February showed that the overall occupancy rate for storage facilities... rose to 78% by the end of 2025" https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/16486369 "Japan’s nuclear energy policy has been compared to an “apartment without a toilet” " https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14953919

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  Walking off lunch on Sunday in Nanasawa Forest Park, Kanagawa Pref, we stumbled upon a puppetry performance by Sagami-ningyō-shibai Hayashi-za(相模人形芝居 林座) in the Mori-no-Minwa-kan. After the show, the puppeteers demonstrated how the puppets were operated and invited the audience to try their hand.🙂 https://www.kanagawa-park.or.jp/nanasawa/pdf/nanasawa_EN.pdf https://www.hayashiza.org/

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  "...the friends were standing together in the passenger cabin of the Hindenburg airship as it prepared to land May 6, 1937, at Lakehurst, New Jersey. They were moments away from...“one of the worst catastrophes of the world” " https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/05/06/landmarks-hindenburg-chicago-passengers/ #OTD #Hindenburg #airship

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  "Figuring out how to make wild birds think decoys are real is the work of Sue Schubel, also known as “Seabird Sue.” For the past decade, she’s made the decoys at the core of a global seabird restoration program..." https://www.biographic.com/the-artist-showing-seabirds-home/ #Audubon #SeabirdInstitute #decoys

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  "3 of the United Kingdom's 4 nations are set for the first time to be governed by pro-independence parties after elections on Friday..." "With the electorate angry over a stagnant economy, a prolonged cost-of-living crisis and a widespread perception that Britain's best days are behind it..." " ”There is a real risk that we end up sleepwalking into the end of the United Kingdom,” said George Foulkes, a former minister ​for Scotland.....

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  RE: https://toad.social/@tend2wobble/116558843428700893 "If you were running Japan’s central bank, and your country was suddenly staring down an energy crisis... what would you sell first? You would sell the most liquid dollar asset you owned. You would sell U.S. Treasuries."

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  "‘Whether Starmer stays or goes...’: Larry the Cat’s viral post steals spotlight..." https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/uk/whether-starmer-stays-or-goes-larry-the-cats-viral-post-steals-spotlight-amid-uk-political-drama/articleshow/131066321.cms #ukpol #LarryTheCat

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  Saw a couple of Taro Okamoto designs (like the ones shown in Taro Okamoto Memorial Museum's "Art in Daily Life" Exhibition) mingling with tradition carp streamers flying from a local apartment balcony🙂 #TaroOkamoto #koinobori #ChildrensDay https://taro-okamoto.or.jp/en/exhibition/art-in-daily-life/