Notices by Minoru Saba (minorusaba@toad.social), page 3

"...there is compelling evidence that the #sakoku phenomenon has been exaggerated historically [and can be] ascribed to a form of Eurocentrism... in which... non-Western societies are viewed primarily from a Western perspective"
"Focusing on the religious dimension... implies that Europeans were the most important aspect of #Japan’s external world at this time [but] relations with neighbouring Korea and China were of far more concern to the Tokugawa shogunate"
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14767724.2024.2361028#d1e197
#history

Have seen an increase of posts by relatively new accounts of the [Country or City name]@[server name] variety with a flag or city logo as profile picture and non-existent profile details.
The posts are mainly news items associated with the country/city in the account name without comment.
Not sure if they're simply trying to establish an automated Fediverse presence, but in preparation for...what?
So, have been muting, but it's beginning to look like "whac-a-mole" time.
#bots #WhacAMole

Ella Fitzgerald performing Mack The Knife (Live)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhg2VlayHTI

Attack is cheap, defense is expensive.

Attack is easy, defense is hard.

You can always overwhelm the system with more missiles, decoys, and countermeasures.

Shooting down regular missiles is hard enough as it is. Patriot had a 5% success rate and Israeli propaganda aside, analysis suggests its Iron Dome is little better even over a tiny area.

Shooting down ICBMs and hypersonic missiles is orders of magnitude more difficult and requires global coverage.

We know this won't work. We know this can't work.

"Trump rolls out Golden Dome missile defense project and appoints leader"

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/20/trump-appoints-michael-guetlin-golden-dome

"Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has decided to appoint former environment minister Shinjiro Koizumi to replace Eto as agriculture minister, according to a government source"
https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2025/05/9792b3a6ed3c-urgent-japan-farm-minister-resigns-over-controversial-gifted-rice-comments.html

🔸Not sure that recycling former ministers will be any better than performatively recycling waste plastic (which largely ends up "thermally recycled". Oh, hang on...burning potential rival PM candidates?🤔)

"[#Japan's] Farm minister Taku Eto resigned on Wednesday after [saying] that he does not buy rice because he receives so much of it from supporters"
https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2025/05/9792b3a6ed3c-urgent-japan-farm-minister-resigns-over-controversial-gifted-rice-comments.html

"[Eto] entered a cabinet for the first time in 2019 as [PM Shinzo Abe's] farm minster. The veteran is known [to be] well-versed in agriculture and forestry policies"
https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/politics/politics-government/20241104-220534/

🔸But seemingly didn't understand rice distribution, consumer concerns...and fresh thinking.
Just another ossified politician🙁

@David It seems to have started as manga which was turned into an anime and then live-action TV drama series plus movie.

"Tropical Race 4 (TR4), a disease that affects #bananas. Also known as Panama Disease, it is a fungus that has been rampaging through #banana farms for the past 30 years. But within the last decade the epidemic has suddenly accelerated..."
"...bananas are grown on a vast #monoculture, meaning not just #TR4 but all diseases spread fast..."
https://www.bbc.com/future/bespoke/follow-the-food/the-pandemic-threatening-bananas.html

🔸After the banana disappears the Minions end up running after an apple...😓
https://archive.org/details/banana_202404

@David Was there in 2023 en route to Takamatsu after visiting Naoshima.
It also appeared in the 2024 film "Eiga Karakai Jōzu no Takagi-san" (映画 からかい上手の高木さん), but it was a night scene and cut to show not much more than the railings😢
(The English title of the film includes an awkward translation of "からかい上手")

Robben Ford Band - Ocean Blue Jazz Festival 1999

#music #guitar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xw2XapW4c6Y

I don't think most people fully understand just how much ice was sitting atop the continents during the last glacial maximum. A good chunk of Eurasia and North America are still rebounding from the removed load.

Link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264370718301443

Went down a rabbit hole re whether "aubergine" was related to "auberge". Remembered school French teacher saying it was slang for "traffic warden" due to their purple uniforms, but found actual origins far more fascinating:
"All the aubergine-type names have the same origin, in the Dravidian languages..."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggplant

Which reminds me. Early onset of summer calls for nasu nibitashi (ナス煮びたし) chilled overnight in the fridge🙂
https://www.japanesecooking101.com/nasu-nibitashi/

Arcangelo Corelli - Suite for Strings Coninuo in D Minor - II. Gigue
Kurt Redel (Conductor) and The Chamber Orchestra Labacensis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkWMELYkhnE&t=193s

"[#Japan's] agriculture ministry said... average retail price of a 5-kilogram bag of #rice sold at supermarkets nationwide [dropped for the first time] in 18 weeks [, but] prices remain roughly double those of the same period last year"
"...the govt believes that wholesalers, who purchase rice from collection agents, are adding markups when selling to retailers..."
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20250515/p2a/00m/0bu/012000c
🔸...which reminds me of the Laurel & Hardy theme "Dance of the Cuckoos":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzvp1o6tCIo

Not bad. It was a very sticky, slack dough so made a slightly flat loaf. You can see how slack the dough was by the huge bulge in the middle where the score cut gaped widest.

I really noticed the buckwheat smell when I took this out of the oven. Much more distinct than the loaves yesterday.

#Bread

Infection status
Released May 16, 2025.
- As of period from May 5 - May 11, 2025 -

No. of patients per medical facility (nationwide) 0.94
Change from prev. week -0.16
[Source: Health-Labor-Welfare Ministry weekly report]
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/001488315.pdf
🔸Small decrease
Saga at 1.04, Tokyo at 0.48, Akita at 1.32, Hokkaido at 1.39, Okinawa at 1.16
#Gifu at 2.29

#Influenza (nationwide) 0.67
Change from prev. week -0.12
🔸Flu monitoring paused until Sept
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/001488357.pdf
#CovidIsNotOver #Japan

"To keep prices high and support domestic farmers, Japan limits rice production. The farmers sell to collecting agents who sell to wholesalers"
Also:
" “Some businesses and individuals have started to deal in rice as a money game,” Masayuki Ogawa, an assistant professor of agricultural economics at Utsunomiya University"
https://www.firstpost.com/explainers/japan-rice-shortage-auction-emergency-reserves-13877857.html
🔸Of course Agri Minister Taku Eto "blamed the price hike on a supply chain issue" indicating a lack of systems thinking🙄

"...chairperson [Toru Yamano] of the Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives (JA-Zenchu) said he thinks ”current rice prices in Japan aren't high” "
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20250514/p2a/00m/0na/015000c
🔸which is particularly galling since JA Zen-Noh bought 94% of auctioned govt rice stockpile, but had delivered only 32% to wholesalers by 8 May
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20250513/p2a/00m/0bu/002000c
🔸thus delaying supplies to consumers & keeping prices high (seemingly without farmers benefiting from the windfall) #rice #Japan

We all know that #TaiwanisnotChina. Still the #CCP continues to bully athletes into giving up #Taiwan as their nationality and go for the #IOC-sanctioned nonsense known as "Chinese Taipei".
The latest example for this bullying is Taiwanese pro cyclist #SergioTu who has been racing for Taiwan all his life only to see his Bahrain Victorious Team change his nationality now due to pressure from #China.
Do NOT give in to Beijing's demands. Stand with free and democratic countries! #fucktheCCP