At Tokyo station if there are 30 people in front of you waiting for a taxi, the expected waiting time is five minutes. Wonder what it is at Sydney Airport.

Early morning in Nozawa, Japan.

The attack on Helen Haines was terrible but before we construct policy based on the assumption it was a politically motivated attack, can we collect all the relevant facts? Might have some bearing on how we should respond.

We should engage in more respectful debate, both in and outside Parliament. At this stage, however, we know next to nothing about the motives, beliefs, and mental health of Helen Haines’ attacker or about what triggered the attack.

Taihei at the Cerrad coffee shop in Nozawa Japan serves the best coffee. Do not miss it! Nozawa is a beautiful mountain town.

The trouble with social media is that like guns and bombs they allow people to inflict pain without seeing he pain and harm they are doing

Great cycling trip this morning. Japan is very kind to cyclists.

What a bunch of creeps ON are, mocking a person’s health problems.

Economists don’t seem very fond of matching to create control groups but (a) sometimes it’s the only option and (b) all econometric methods involve assumptions. Their plausibility depends on the setting and the supporting argument.

Haguromachi Toge after rain.

Eating lunch in Japan and suddenly every mobile phone in the cafe starts screeching. It was an earthquake warning. No one stopped eating. No sign of any earthquake yet.

The Greens don’t like violence. Not many people do. Ukrainians especially. Somehow I don’t think a polite request or reasoned argument would stop Putin’s aggression.

Most Australian ‘think tanks’ seem to me to be overtly political. Are there any that could fairly be described as non-partisan?

In Japan you leave your street shoes at the door. Then you wear uwabaki until you hit the tatami mat, at which point you put on a pair of tabi. Then if you go to the toilet you put on your toire surippa slippers. Which is why Japan has never been colonised.

So Lady Laura Norder is back!. For the record, some categories of crime in Aus (eg break and enter, car theft) are up over the last few years in some states (eg. Vic, QLD) but the risks are nothing like they were 25 yrs ago. Except for identity theft.

I asked my wife if she would devise an itinerary in Japan that kept me away from tourists like me. Today we visited a salmon drying shop. Interesting.

Apparently leading economists used to publish in sociology journals but the frequency of these interdisciplinary excursions has dropped dramatically. Some wonder why. Here’s the answer. infiltec.com/j-postmd.htm

Waiting for the North Koreans to arrive across the Sea of Japan

Smoking prevalence in Japan has halved since 2000. They say you shouldn’t stigmatise drug users but if you want to smoke on a railway platform in Japan, you have to do it in an closed glass room with a huge extraction device.

If you’re planning to do a walk in Japan, the Kumado Kodo is better than the Nakasendo. But both are good.