Notices by Minoru Saba (minorusaba@toad.social), page 10

Staying in Matsuzaki, a small port on the Izu peninsula, we asked about tsunami evacuation plans and were directed to the only tsunami tower in town. It was about the height of a 4-storey building with a couple of exposed flights of stairs leading up to the evacuation deck. Matsuzaki hazard map predicted tsunami would arrive 6 minutes after a big quake. Not sure if any one but the quick and able could get up there in time. Also, the gates were locked and notices were available in Japanese only.

"Sanada Maru (2016)" theme
Composer: Takayuki Hattori (服部隆之)
Performed by NHK Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Kimbo Ishii (キンボー・イシイ )
Violin: Fumiaki Miura (三浦 文彰)
Shakuhachi: Akihisa Kominato (小湊昭尚)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLdGEHK5Wlk

Sanada Maru (TV drama series)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanada_Maru_(TV_series)

After *heavy* consideration, I've decided to leave Fosstodon and move to Hachyderm.

Short version:
Given public sentiment I think it will be easier for me (personally) in the long run if I make a change.

Long version:
https://coreysnipes.com/thoughts-on-fosstodon.html

In the times before "AI" hype there were washing machines with "fuzzy logic" and "neuro" whatever.

Found reddit comment:
"Fuzzy logic was an overhyped 90s phenomenon that was largely based on the belief that one could design a control system without an understanding of control theory and somehow it would magically turn out better. That reality never materialized."
https://www.reddit.com/r/engineering/comments/pwht4f/comment/heha0c2/

...leading to Bob Pease articles[1][2]:
1. https://www.electronicdesign.com/technologies/embedded/digital-ics/article/21757343/whats-all-this-fuzzy-logic-stuff-anyhow
2. https://www.electronicdesign.com/technologies/embedded/article/21757031/whats-all-this-ball-on-beam-balancing-stuff-anyhow
#FuzzyLogic

Would expect Japan's leaders to have listened very politely to US secretary of the navy, who "posted the wrong date of the attack on Pearl Harbor twice" on his social media account[2], proposing building "commercial ships with Japanese support that would also be suitable for military use in an emergency"[1] and to have drawn appropriate conclusions re expertise in current US administration.
1. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/04/28/japan/politics/japan-us-shipbuilding/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=mastodon

2. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/navy-secretary-john-phelan-pearl-harbor_n_680fb59be4b0694adc18c581
#Japan #defence

A slow clap for this dingus, a Chinese student living in Japan, who got stuck on Mount Fuji last week and was airlifted to safety, then had to be re-rescued four days later when he went back to retrieve his phone. Here's more from @CBSNews.

https://flip.it/-Zlf_7

#Climbing #Lifestyle #Travel #AdventureTravel #Japan #MountFuji

A weird phrase is plaguing scientific papers – and we traced it back to a glitch in AI training data
Earlier this year, scientists discovered a peculiar term appearing in published papers: “vegetative electron microscopy”.
https://theconversation.com/a-weird-phrase-is-plaguing-scientific-papers-and-

Stopping for lunch at Michi-no-eki Hana-no-Sanseien-Izu-Matsuzaki (道の駅 花の三聖苑伊豆松崎), we came across "Nan-nan-sei no Kaze" (南南西の風) a sculpture in black stone by Katsuhiro Umeda, who we met by chance later that day as he was setting up a 2-person exhibition with Shōji Inaba at Casa Estrelita next door to the Izu Chōhachi Art Museum.
Life is full of surprises!
https://toad.social/@minorusaba/114403809410591020
#KatsuhiroUmeda #Matsuzaki #Izu #Japan

"...78 measles cases have been confirmed in Japan so far this year, already exceeding the number for all of last year, which was 45"
"...this appears to be chiefly attributable to visitors who brought #measles into #Japan"
"In addition to Asian countries, the disease has also been rampant recently in some areas of the United States"
"In severe cases, measles can cause pneumonia or encephalitis, which can be life-threatening"
https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/editorial/yomiuri-editorial/20250427-251406/

It seems that "Nacimiento"[1] together with "El viejo y la niña" placed in front of the Izu Chōhachi Art Museum were the result of a meeting by Osamu Ishiyama, the architect of the museum and Casa Estrelita, with Etsuro Sotoo, Chief Sculptor of Sagrada Familia, when Ishiyama was travelling in Spain.

1. https://www.town.matsuzaki.shizuoka.jp/docs/2024032500022/

Katsuhiro Umeda told us that the population of Matsuzaki was dwindling. Also the local fishing industry had suffered reduced catches due to climate change and whatever was caught was now being unloaded at Numazu rather than at Matsuzaki.
Trying to stimulate local activity Umeda had proposed the 2-person exhibition in the defunct restaurant and local authorities had helped by renovating the venue.
Umeda then pointed out the sculpture "Nacimiento" by Etsuro Sotoo which stood in front of the venue.

After visiting the Izu Chōhachi Art Museum[1], we luckily caught a 2-person exhibition by Katsuhiro Umeda and Shōji Inaba, both of whom had grown up in Matsuzaki, which was running from 26 Apr to 6 May in the Casa Estrelita[2] (formerly a restaurant) next door. Umeda's work centred on terracotta sculptures, whilst Inaba's works included paintings of plants and figures fashioned from driftwood.

1. https://www.izu-matsuzaki.com/en/pages/69/
2. http://setagaya-mura.net/ishiyama.arch.waseda/projectfile/estrelita.html

Infection status
Released Apr 25, 2025.
- As of period from Apr 14 - Apr 17, 2025 -

No. of patients per medical facility (nationwide) 1.77
Change from prev. week -0.33
[Source: Health-Labor-Welfare Ministry weekly report]
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/001480816.pdf
🔸Continuing decrease
Saga at 1.04, Tokyo at 1.03, Akita at 1.72, Hokkaido at 1.8, Okinawa at 1.09
#Niigata at 4.98

#Influenza (nationwide) 1.2
Change from prev. week +0.01
#Akita at 4.76
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/001480968.pdf
#CovidIsNotOver #Japan

Modeling Fraction Multiplication Using Paper Folding
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2TCv4wf-ug
#maths

Canon in D by Johann Pachelbel,
arranged and performed by
Brooklyn Duo (Marnie Laird, piano
Patrick Laird, cello)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ptk_1Dc2iPY

🔸Pachelbel's Canon in D forever reminds me of the British Wool TV commercials of the 1980s.🐏
#Pachelbel #Canon

Showing the inefficiency of ChatGPT, Sam Altman admitted that users adding “please” and “thank you” to requests incurs tens of millions of dollars in extra computational costs.

So now I conclude all my requests to ChatGPT with “pretty please with a cherry on top”

Re "sakoku", Tokugawa shogunate's isolationist foreign policy:
"One element of [the Tokugawa bakufu] agenda was to acquire sufficient control over #Japan's foreign policy so as to not only guarantee social peace, but also to maintain #Tokugawa supremacy over the other powerful lords in the country"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakoku
🔸Wondering if current US admin is trying to emulate Tokugawa bakufu's foreign policy?🤔
#sakoku

Former Assistant Secretary of Defense Chas #Freeman criticized the Trump administration for unclear trade negotiation goals, particularly with #Japan, where officials couldn't specify #tariff objectives. He noted broken agreements, like the #NAFTA replacement, harmed US credibility and discouraged countries from engaging with #Trump. Freeman argued China preferred to "wait [America] out" due to unclear objectives and poor compliance, undermining Trump's dealmaking reputation.

"Economists at [Hawaii] state’s research arm, UHERO, now predict that visitor arrivals from Japan may not return to pre-pandemic levels at any point this decade"
"Reasons cited for the slower-than-expected return include a weak yen, inflation, and shifts in travel behavior"
(15 Jan 2025)
https://beatofhawaii.com/hawaii-visitor-whiplash-from-japans-decline-to-bright-opportunities/

🔸Also penny beginning to drop in #Japan that visiting USA might involve horror movie scenarios.
https://www.jiji.com/jc/article?k=2025041100720
#DoNotVisitUSA

"In 1869, a sweet maker named Joseph Wiper was reportedly creating a batch of clear mints when he boiled the mixture for too long. The result was a cloudy substance that, upon cooling, solidified into the distinctive white bars we have today"
https://sectionhiker.com/the-worlds-first-energy-bar-kendals-mint-cake/
🔸First (and last) time Kendal Mint Cake was packed for a hill walk was about half a century ago. It was so sweet that biting into it felt like getting an instant toothache; which meant it would be kept intact until all else failed.