In Japan the town of Kamikatsu people there create zero-waste while living a modern life. The community has taken the idea of a plastic bag ban to the next level and have banned garbage outright. The crazy part? Most locals actually seem to like the extreme recycling process. Kikue Nii,
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CuriosityCat: Chinese state newspaper: Japan has been wolfishly pushing its luck on the islands
China Daily, the Hong Kong based English language newspaper owned by the Chinese state, and regarded as the window into China, has a few choice words to describe the conflict between China and Japan over the two disputed islands in an article headed Time for Tough Measures: China should forget
Continue readingCuriosityCat: China & Japan: Just where are those islands in the sun?
Turmoil still bubbling up in China with the USA voicing concern and trying to avoid taking sides: Islands in the Rising Sun On Sunday, hundreds of Chinese protesters again faced off against riot police at the Japanese embassy in Beijing. In Shenzhen, police fired tear gas to disperse a demonstration,
Continue readingCuriosityCat: China & Japan: Keep your eyes on these islands – there are more than goats at stake
There is a good chance that we will see violence erupt between a bellicose China and equally bellicose Japan over two small islands – known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China – that could lead to very strained relations between these two countries. Chinese ships at the islands
Continue readingCanadian Progressive: Breasts squeezed for charity in Tokyo (VIDEO)
Oh, the things we progressives do in the name of charity! A charity “breast squeeze” orgy took place during the August 27-27 weekend in Tokyo as part of the “Erotica will Save the World“ event. The event, hosted by Japan’s Paradise TV encouraged people to donate money to STOP! AIDS, a charity that
Continue readingFukushima—Japan’s remarkable mea culpa
There are mea culpas and there are mea culpas. The report by an independent commission on the nuclear disaster at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant is a dandy. In the preface to the report the commission chairman, Kiyoshi Kurokawa, a medical doctor and professor emeritus at Tokyo University, laid it on
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Now Will You Stop Killing Whales, You Bastards?
The Japanese supposedly go whaling for “scientific research” purposes. Hard to tell what they’re looking for. Maybe they’re exploring new ways to kill whales or the process by which they die when you explode stuff inside them. But they were probably killing them for the same purpose they slaughter dolphins
Continue readingThings Are Good: Japan’s Largest Solar Power Plant: 70MW
Japan is about to build a new solar power plant and it’ll their largest one to date. The country is trying to improve their power grid and make it more sustainable after the nuclear disaster last year. Great to see progress! The new plant, which will be called the Kagoshima
Continue reading350 or bust: Take Time To Renew Your Spirit
“We can sum it up in one sentence: Our technical civilization has just reached its greatest level of savagery. We will have to choose, in the more or less near future, between collective suicide and the intelligent use of our scientific conquests…….Before the terrifying prospects now available to humanity, we
Continue reading350 or bust: Saturday At The Movies
This ad is for a newly launched cell phone of NTT Docomo, the largest cell phone service provider in Japan. The shell of the new phone is wood from domestic woods that are produced in a sustainable way. Apparently this was made without CG or cuts, and it took four
Continue readingThings Are Good: Japan Develops Wind Turbine That Doubles Output
A simple addition to the standard wind turbine setup called a wind lens can double, or even triple, the power output. Professor Prof. Yuji Ohya of the Kyushu University research institute for applied mechanics (RIAM) has been working with a team to improve the efficiency of wind turbines. Combining an
Continue readingThe Skwib: How Anne of Green Gables Destroyed the World
“Like most of you I was inclined to say the war was caused by fish.” However, after a close examination of the evidence, Cadman Michaels — who held doctorates in theoretical physics and history, but who called himself an Alternate Historian — could say now with some confidence that the
Continue readingWill global civilization avoid collapse?
I consider myself a lucky man. I was born in the right place at the right time to enjoy what may well be the peak period of civilization. Never has human society offered so much to those in a position to take advantage of it—physical luxury not even kings and
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: Krugman and Summers: A Reading of the Munk Debate
What happens to the U.S. economy, as we all know, will affect Canada profoundly – which is no doubt why this Munk debate garnered so much attention here. The debate is repeated several times on BNN.
Krugman has the edge for me since he has always reco…
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The Japanese Live Longest. Why?
A girl born in Japan today can expect to live to age 86. Japanese life expectancy has increased 30-years since 1947. A series of papers in the British medical journal, The Lancet, finds the Japanese success has cultural, social …
Continue readingFukushima—radiation damage that just won’t quit
I admit to a love-hate relationship with nuclear power. One day I am all for it because of the large amounts of relatively green power it can provide. I wonder if we can seriously reduce our dependence on fossil fuels without it. And then an incident l…
Continue readingThe Skwib: The Evils of Commerce
In Sohunglo, Chugoku Prefecture, (just down the road from Hiroshima) the geisha house of Okiya Yumyum made the best of a bad situation by introducing the art of contortion to their young shikomi trainees. No longer would wealthy men have to wait while their geisha tiptoed their way to the gig in their ridiculously restrictive […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Japanizing the World Economy
This guest post is from PEF members Marc Lavoie and Mario Seccareccia, both of whom are full professors of economics at the University of Ottawa. The “Japanization” of the World Economy Over the last twenty years, the Japanese economy underwent a long period of economic stagnation that some economists have characterized as a protracted “balance-sheet […]
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Typhoon Heading for Fukushima?
A major typhoon is barreling toward Japan. Typhoon Ma-on is expected to make landfall around noon Sunday. It’s path, shown above, indicates it will hit Tokyo and, just past that along that path, lies Fukushima Prefecture.According to …
Continue readinggay persons of color: Masters of Japanese Gay Art Make Their European Debut
For the first time, the work of gay Japanese artists will be the subject matter of an exhibition in Europe. This new show, to be held at the Galerie Brugier-Rigail in Paris from October 21 to 26, brings together over 100 artworks created by leading gay…
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