Notices by Minoru Saba (minorusaba@toad.social)

Current rice kerfuffle may bring Japan's increasing food security problem to the fore of people's attention (albeit briefly with lots of "squirrels" vying for the spotlight).
Interesting FT article of 8 Sept 2022 "Can Japan Feed Itself?"
https://www.ft.com/content/af52f367-90d2-41dd-9a0f-a2a7b1b9624a
Answer is "no" unless Japan takes tough decisions for major agricultural/societal reforms.
(Short version: We're doomed)
#Japan #FoodSecurity

"In the wake of a tragic plane crash in India, Google's AI search results are spreading misinformation claiming the incident involved an Airbus plane—it was actually a Boeing 787"
https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/06/google-ai-mistakenly-says-fatal-air-india-crash-involved-airbus-instead-of-boeing/
🔸Wondering if Airbus will sue for defamation🤔

I know it's Friday afternoon, and there's a lot going on, but I just shared a gift link of a NYT article about people having delusions while using ChatGPT, and I think everyone should read that article.

I read it to Pat, and he was certain these had to be flukes. He uses ChatGPT as a search engine all the time and gets great results (yes, he checks everything).

He decided to see if he could make it go off the rails, and after 20 minutes, it was telling him he's a demigod. He's shocked. #AI

"Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology [#JAMSTEC]... showed the press its newest autonomous underwater vehicle, the Urashima 8000, in #Yokosuka"
"The submarine is about 10 m long and capable of diving to 8,000 m under the sea"
" “We will be able to search for seafloor deposits and check for deformation of the sea floor caused by earthquakes more efficiently,” said Takeshi Nakatani, acting group leader of the agency’s Engineering Dept"
https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/science-nature/technology/20250514-254153/
#submersible

"Daichi Sanshou" (大地讃頌=A Paean to Earth) from the Cantata "Tsuchi no Uta" (土の歌=Sons of the Land)
Composer: Shin Sato (佐藤 眞)
Lyrics: Atsuo Ooki (大木 惇夫)
Performed by Senzoku Gakuen College of Music Chorus
Conductor: Hideyuki Tsuji (辻 秀幸)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kp_hLkTLM38

As usual, Talking Points Memo understands what's happening earlier than Big Journalism -- in this case the Trump regime's actual goal in its attack on LA.

What's happening is a coup, an extreme right-wing overthrow of the elected state and local governments.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/where-things-stand/noem-says-national-guard-occupation-is-meant-to-liberate-la-from-its-mayor-and-governor

@mattblaze Have flown before air terminals had passenger boarding bridges, but have never seen a "mobile lounge".
Not sure what the vertical fins are for (apart from displaying identifiers), but am reminded of crested dinosaurs.

Returned from errands to find door-phone video a few days ago. Door-phone doesn't record audio so thought it could be "missionaries", but wife pointed out it might be a candidate for the Tokyo elections as "missionaries" rarely bow before departing.
So hard to tell as most local politicians (and hopefuls) only crawl out of the woodwork at election time... like cicadas (or worse).
https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/editorial/yomiuri-editorial/20250614-263784/
#Tokyo #elections #cicadas

"Japan's transport ministry said Friday it has instructed Japanese airlines operating Boeing 787s to inspect them following the fatal crash of an Air India 787-8"
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20250613/p2g/00m/0na/033000c
#Japan #Boeing787

Infection status
Released Jun 13, 2025.
- As of period from Jun 2 - Jun 8, 2025 -

No. of patients per medical facility (nationwide) 0.92
Change from prev. week +0.08
[Source: Health-Labor-Welfare Ministry weekly report]
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/001503028.pdf
🔸Slight increase
Saga at 0.75, Tokyo at 0.94, Akita at 0.96, Hokkaido at 0.74, #Okinawa at 3.91

🔸#Influenza monitoring paused until Sept 2025
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/001488357.pdf
#CovidIsNotOver #Japan

Rains seem to be holding off in #Tokyo today, but the weekend may be a wash out followed by temperatures rising into the mid-30°C's for most of next week.
Can remember June in Tokyo being wet, but not needing to turn on the A/C until July at the earliest.
JMA's 2-week temperature forecast paints most of #Japan an angry red for "Very High".
https://www.data.jma.go.jp/cpd/twoweek/
#ClimateChange #HeatStroke

😬

Path of Air India 171, which crashed this morning in India

Ahmedabad (AMD)
TO
London (LGW)

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/ai171#3ac3097f

#aviation #crash #death #accident

Small thing in this terrible timeline, but I over roasted my coffee for the week. Really kills the flavor. Won't do that again. #coffee

Vaughan Williams - Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
Performed by Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Tabita Berglund
Concertmaster: Adam Grüchot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcFZ-Fwj6lI
#VaughanWilliams #Tallis

@fgbjr A few years ago when Japanese media was reporting on "anti-Japanese sentiment" in Seoul, one enterprising TV crew did a wide shot to show that most people were going about their daily business and there was only a small, vociferous group chanting for the cameras... thus revealing the short video clips for the evening news which focused only on the protesters didn't show the full story.

"[US Pres said] he instructed Secretary of Homeland Security... Defense Secretary [et al] to take ”all such action necessary to liberate Los Angeles from the Migrant Invasion” " (NHK: 9 Jun 2025)
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20250609_04/
🔸TV news in #Japan re events abroad have been quite hopeless, so was surprised to see summary on Courrier Jpn article re LA...but it turned out to be a translation of an Atlantic piece by David Frum; i.e. Japan's media only doing armchair "journalism"😡
https://toot.blue/@tsysoba/114661638617312858

"[Retired Gen. Andrei] Kemenici says he still resents the last Romanian communist leader using the military to bring their countrymen to heel.
”I, like the rest of the army, was sick of him,” Kemenici explains. ”He was always taking from the Romanian people and wouldn't offer anything in return. ... That's why we had it so bad.” " (NPR: 24 Dec 2014)
https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2014/12/24/369593135/25-years-after-death-a-dictator-still-casts-a-shadow-in-romania
🔸Mind being buzzed by "collapse of dry sand slopes", "#CatastropheTheory", and "#Ceaucescu". Indigestion?

"Caravan" by Duke Ellington
Performed by New York-based "GROOVE MERCHANT" band:
Yasushi Gonjo [権上康志](bass)
David Yee (tenor sax)
Adam Hutcheson(alto sax)
Takaaki Otomo [大友孝彰] (piano)
Yosuke Drums [永山洋輔](drums)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWO-EqJgLe8

"...the “two-earner [family] myth”... holds that 2 workers... are now needed to make the same income that one worker... attained in the 1950s and ‘60s"
"Everyone wonders how Mom and Dad could have done it all while Mom stayed at home. One reason is that Mom and Dad didn’t live so well, materially at least. Another reason is that Mom didn’t have much choice..."
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-01-24-me-21504-story.html
#GoldenAgeMyth

Infection status
Released Jun 6, 2025.
- As of period from May 26 - Jun 1, 2025 -

No. of patients per medical facility (nationwide) 0.84
Change from prev. week 0.00
[Source: Health-Labor-Welfare Ministry weekly report]
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/001499567.pdf
🔸No change. Start of next wave?
Saga at 1.25, Tokyo at 0.84, Akita at 0.88, Hokkaido at 0.79, Okinawa at 2.76

🔸#Influenza monitoring paused until Sept 2025
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/001488357.pdf
#CovidIsNotOver #Japan