Notices by Minoru Saba (minorusaba@toad.social), page 11

Adverts for "Black Friday" popping up in Japan seems odd as Thanksgiving Day is not part of the package here.
Seems that Toys R Us Japan imported it in 2014 and it gradually spread to signal the start of the end-of-year sales (almost typed "end of times"😬 ).
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%96%E3%83%A9%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF%E3%83%95%E3%83%A9%E3%82%A4%E3%83%87%E3%83%BC_(%E8%B2%B7%E3%81%84%E7%89%A9)
#Japan #BlackFriday

@FlockOfCats Recently saw a news show covering papayas being grown in Saitama. The headline was that they were easy to grow, thrived in hot weather, and fitted well with the ageing and growing shortage of farm workers.
https://news.tv-asahi.co.jp/news_economy/articles/900176140.html
Was wondering if they could be pickled and found MAFF had a recipe from Kagoshima for papaya-zuke!
https://www.maff.go.jp/j/keikaku/syokubunka/k_ryouri/search_menu/menu/papaiyazuke_kagoshima.html

“Tank!” from the live ‘SOUVENIR OF TOKYO’ held on August 10, 2001.
Performed by SEATBELTS
with composer Yoko Kanno (菅野よう子)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKhGWOI1qNI

I have a growing desire to someday buy a car with no GPS and drive across the country with no phone or credit cards.

"Health ministry warns not to use AI to identify wild mushrooms"
https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/16157927

"...the man used the AI function on his electronic device to identify his haul [of mountain fungi], grilling and eating it after the AI incorrectly told him they were shiitake and "hiratake" oyster mushrooms"
After hospitalization, it was found "that they were poisonous "tsukiyotake"..."

🔸Should have listened to @SmudgeTheInsultCat
https://mas.to/@SmudgeTheInsultCat/115488637836703752
#Japan #PoisonousMushrooms #DontTrustAI

"Sakurajima volcano erupts in southwest Japan, creating 4,400 m-high plume"

"An explosive eruption around 12:57 a.m. on Sunday"
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20251116/p2g/00m/0na/003000c
#Sakurajima #volcano #Kagoshima #Japan

Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini, Opus 43: Variation 18
Performed by Vladimir Ashkenazy and the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by André Previn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoVtrC5iyuo
(This is the variation in which the theme is inverted.)

Infection status
Released Nov 14, 2025.
- As of period from Nov 3 - Nov 9, 2025 -

No. of patients per medical facility (nationwide) 1.95
Change from prev. week -0.33
[Source: Health-Labor-Welfare Ministry weekly report]
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/001595102.pdf
🔸Week 21 of 13th wave
Saga at 1.46, Tokyo at 1.04, Akita at 4.0, Hokkaido at 3.38, Okinawa at 0.87, #Niigata at 5.33

#Influenza (nationwide) at 21.82
Change from prev. week +6.92
#Miyagi at 47.11
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/001594948.pdf

#CovidIsNotOver #Japan

Japan's former PM Kishida's "New Form of Capitalism" [2] felt much like shuffling deckchairs on the Titanic and his successors haven't shown new thinking to tackle a gloomy future holistically.
Looking for analysis, found a Nature Sustainability article of 22 May[1] and was reminded of the Prisoner's Dilemma [3], human nature being what it is.

1 .https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-025-01562-4

2. https://japan.kantei.go.jp/ongoingtopics/policies_kishida/newcapitalism.html

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner's_dilemma

"U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. 4th Fleet is advancing the Navy’s Hybrid Fleet Campaign through Operation Southern Spear, which will start later this month" (US Navy: 28 Jan 2025)
https://www.navy.mil/Press-Office/Press-Releases/display-pressreleases/Article/4044322/operation-southern-spear-latest-development-in-operationalizing-robotic-and-aut/
🔸Seems USN announced Operation Southern Spear in January. Perhaps for the more recent announcement they misspelled "Squirrel"?🤔

"Mr. Blue Sky" - Electric Light Orchestra Covered by Pomplamoose
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyUNDr0EcAk

The famed novelist Kawabata Yasunari (川端康成 1899-1972) wrote the book 'Sound of the Mountain' (山の音 'Yama-no-oto' 1949-54) at Yūsai-tei (祐斎亭). It's not difficult to see why he was inspired to write whilst staying here.

#Yūsaitei #祐斎亭 #Arashiyama #嵐山 #Kyoto #京都

"The [self-driving] bus hit the tree at around 11:30 a.m. on Aug. 29... inflicting minor injuries on three of the 15 people aboard" as a result of "positioning error [stemming] from a design flaw"
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20251111/p2a/00m/0na/016000c

"運行システムはソフトバンクの子会社である「BOLDLY」が開発したもの"( the self-drive system was developed by "BOLDLY" a Softbank subsidiary)
https://newsdig.tbs.co.jp/articles/-/2280466
#JohnnyCab #DesignFlaw #Hachioji #Japan

"The team estimates that an adult female has 28 trillion cells and a child 17 trillion cells, with adult males sitting at 36 trillion."
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2392685-we-now-know-how-many-cells-there-are-in-the-human-body/
🔸Compared with a car:
"...estimates suggest that a typical car can have anywhere from 10,000 to over 30,000 individual parts"
https://autocarshub.com/how-many-parts-are-usually-in-a-car/

🔸With a billion times more parts, it's staggering how humans somehow manage to keep it all together for so long.

https://www.aurorasaurus.org/ shows aurora sightings as far south as southern Texas.

Lot of aurora pics on Bluesky at https://bsky.app/search?q=aurora

#auroraBorealis #aurora
5/n

🔸TV news in Japan reported that Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu had been indicted, but omitted the context.
" “... it is entirely political. Its aim is to stop the Republican People’s Party, which came first in the last elections, and to block its presidential candidate,” the party’s chairman, Ozgur Ozel, said "
https://apnews.com/article/turkey-indictment-jailed-istanbul-mayor-imamoglu-7508394656c1f1de15a03bedaac368a5
🔸Omitting context from foreign news poses doubts about news reports and journalistic standards in general.

Sad news. It was announced today that Ken-chan, the black cat which persisted daily in trying to enter the Onomichi City Museum of Art, passed away on 20 Sept[1]
https://thesmartlocal.jp/onomichi-city-museum-of-art/

The museum is issuing a memorial calendar capturing Ken-chan's numerous attempts being foiled by the security guard.
1. https://www.onomichi-museum.jp/shop/shopinfo/2026_1.html
#Onomichi #museum #Kenchan #cat

"Love Love Love" (DREAMS COME TRUE)
Songwriters: Miwa Yoshida & Masato Nakamura
Performed by Duo Ayumi (Ayumi Takahashi & Ayumi Oono)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7tAsS8mQRw

"...if there is sufficient interaction with foreign residents, exclusionism tends to decline"
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20251107/p2a/00m/0na/043000c
🔸Fear of the "unknown" with "unknown" probably encompassing anyone beyond nodding acquaintances would fit the murahachibu (村八分), frog-in-well mentality.

@Aviation_Librarian Thanks for posting this.
Brought back memories as a kid of the long haul flight from Tokyo Haneda to London Heathrow via Anchorage and Copenhagen in the early '60s.
Can remember the boiled sweets being handed out before take off and making sure where the sick-bag was. Not sure about the cruising altitude, but flights could get bumpy at times.