Rice Price

The price of rice in Japan has remained stubbornly high in recent months despite government countermeasures. Crop yields have dropped owing to climate change (yes, USA, a real thing with a name), and inbound tourism may be a contributing factor. Japanese consumers are not having it.

Dump- 2 Days Later

This video (1 min., particularly) shows that the dangers posed by heavy snowfall in mountainous regions in Japan are by no means over when the snow stops falling.

Historic Dump

A recent winter storm caused record snowfall throughout Japan, with Niigata City receiving 40 cm overnight last Friday. Obihiro, Hokkaido, got a record 1.3 meters in 24 hours.

Next Generation: 1/17/25

A Tale of Two Japans

Articles like this appear online almost daily. Two Japans: the one the vast majority of residents know- weak yen, wages that lag far behind cost-of- living increases, general obi-tightening- and the other Japan, where the weak yen favors inbound tourists who think nothing of 15,000¥ seafood- bowls or ski-park lift tickets far beyond the means of locals who live in the area- and whose taxes pay for tourism infrastructure, including the rescue of morons-on-planks who venture off-piste and come to grief, requiring dangerous and expensive rescue.