Man made meteor showers? 人工の隕石？When you wish upon a falling star, and it's artifical, does it really count?

 

このリンクで 日本語の記事が読めます。 

I bet you didn't see this coming. Not the meteor of course, that's a bright glowing ball of light. I mean the whole concept of making a meteor. Maybe if it was cloudy.... Nevermind.

Anyhow, a company in Japan has designed a system for making meteors. 

That's right. Bruce Willis et al. have been trying to destroy them for years, and a company is making one.

Fear not. These won't be dangerous. They will be about two foot across. The company, ALE, shoot them up into the sky and then they rain down in meteoric glory. They are going to be made of special stuff which is extra-sparkly.

The first shower is planned in 2019, and will take place over Hiroshima. You'll be able to see these glowing bundles of joy from about 100 kms away.

A little something else I learnt whilst researching this article:

Meteroid = big piece of rock that is still in outer space (a small asteroid)

Meteor =  the flaming ball of mass shooting through the sky (and still in the sky)

Meteorite = what is left of the meteor, on the ground, after it lands.

MakeSenseは英語編集作業、翻訳をする会社で北海道札幌を中心に活動しています。私たちは様々なタイプの翻訳（個人、医療、工業、ホテル観光産業、レストランのメニュー等あらゆるものに対応できます。１語7円または、最低コスト500円で素早く、正確です。
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Kathleen Drew-Baker - the saviour of のり, and therefore 寿司 and おにぎり.

The Wikipedia article on Kathleen Drew-Baker in Japanese.

Everyone loves sushi. Well not my mum, but almost everyone else. Today I learned (from www.arstechnica.com) that nori was saved by an Englishwoman who got fired as a lecturer at a university in England for the heinous crime of getting married. No married woman lecturers they said. Read the story. It's very interesting. For those who want a breakdown, read on.

Nori was once called 'lucky grass', as the harvest depended entirely on luck.

Then the luck ran out full stop, the nori plants stubbornly refusing to develop past the initial stages of cultivation.

Enter pollution, industrialisation, and a string of bad typhoons and nori was no more. By 1951 it was all over. 

But wait, enter Kathleen Drew-Baker. She was studying a type of seaweed called laver (I've heard of it, but only vaguely), that the Welsh would grind up and eat, and still do.

She resided in a seaside lab, studying the laver during the winter when it grew, but also noticed in the summer a different species. 

The winter stuff is leafy green seaweed (nori), while the summer pink sludgy stuff is a different species called Conchocelis. They work together, as below

• In the summer the nori sends out spores that collect and grow as pink sludge (conchocelis) in shells on the sea floor. 
• In the winter, the conchocelis send out spores that collect and grow as seaweed (nori) on debris (and bamboo poles)

That's right. One needs the other. The chicken or the egg story all over again. But if there isn't one, there isn't the other.

Anyhow, she got published in 1949 and got noticed by one Segawa Sokichi, who worked at the Shimoda Marine Biological Station. He had a read of what she had written and thought (rightly as it turned out) that if it was true for Welsh seaweed, it may be true for Japanese seaweed.

Everyone was looking for nori seeds, but there are no such things. Nori comes from the conchocelis, which had been wiped out by destruction of the shellbeds in which it lived

They got the shellbeds back in place, and people were happy munching on sushi and onigiri soon after.

The story continues with a very, very interesting and detailed breakdown of how nori is grown.

Information from arstechica.com, Picture from Wikipedia.

Get yourself a pooch. It'll keep you alive longer. 犬が一緒にいれば人も長生き出来る。

This is Mooloo. He is my dog, named after the mighty Mooloo rugby team from the Waikato.

Here he is getting back to his rugby roots.

Mooloo will help me live longer, or so the Swedish scientists tell me. The heart in particular enjoys having a four-legged friend around. 

It goes like this. People living alone have an increased risk of heart disease.

With a dog, the risk of death goes down by 33%, and heart disease in particular by 11%

ピカチュは英語を話したら、ファンがビックリしてがっかり..... Pikachu busts out the English, and it goes over like a lead balloon.

What is happening with Pikachu speaking English in his latest movie?

The fans aren't happy. Some of them even threw the F-bomb out there.

Houses losing value? Blasphemy. But it happens in Japan. ニュージーランドでは価格が上昇する一方です。

A story from The Guardian about the age of houses in Japan.

A very interesting read into why houses lose value in Japan. There are various reasons, with the falling population of course being right up there. 
There is also a lack of immigration, and that the houses are built with a limited lifespan in mind.
Up in our neck of the woods, the harsh winters of course exact their toll on the housing stock.
There is talk of more refurbishing,or 'renewal' as they say here. I can speak for that. In my neighborhood, which typifies all the reasons outlined in the article, a lot of houses are being refurbished. Young families who can't afford Sapporo, or who don't want to live in a shoebox, are refurbishing and settling round me. Which is nice, as I could take you for a five minute walk from my house and point to at least ten abandoned houses. 
I found this story interesting as I see what it is about every day here.

わけーあり...a.k.a 'There is a reason'...ak.a....Ethical consumerism

Ethical consumerism is starting in Japan.

Go and have a look at what the Japan Times has to say about the birth of 'wake-ari', or 'there is a reason', or ethical consumerism in Japan. 
I love to see this. It's a great step. A very small step, but getting it out in to the consciousness is the way forward. 
Let's talk about the three Rs for a bit - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
First up, let me say that beyond any doubt for me, Japan does the best job recycling in the world. I get in trouble at home if I even put plastic in the recycling bin without washing it.
Recycling is sorted here. Other countries could take a leaf out of (a used) book.
But, and a big but, recycling is the final step of a three pronged attack (Shinzo Abe styles, three arrows.)
The first is Reduce, and I am afraid that it is not a pretty scene here guys.
The three areas I see for improvement in reduction is:

• Chopsticks - Yes, with bento on the road, the disposable wooden chopsticks are very convenient. One use and wasteful, but convenient. I am as guilty as the next guy when it comes to this. One use disposable chopsticks in restaurants though? Come on. We have to stamp this out and start insisting on proper chopsticks. Why the disposable chopsticks in a restaurant? I've never seen disposable knives and forks in any restaurant worth its salt.
• Bakery - Not the bread, it's all good, as long as it's all eaten, which I'm sure it is. It is the plastic-o-rama that is associated with a visit to any bakery. Each baked good has its own plastic bag, and they are grouped into a bigger plastic bag, until they are all finally put in a bigger plastic bag. They are eaten the same day, and those plastic bags are the evil, dirty, filthy, non-recyclable, straight into the landfill or incinerated variety.
• お土産 - I know I'm throwing a spanner in the works by bringing up the souvenir tradition, but surely we can realize that there is a power of plastic used in the individual wrapping of things. And it again is the nasty, non-recyclable stuff. This is a tough one, as it is such a foundation of workplace culture. I don't know. Does anyone?

Around India. A website dealing only in the best English, courtesy of Make Sense.

Make Sense is very proud to be involved with the Around India website.
Around India is an organization based in Yokohama, dedicated to spreading the word of India to the people of Japan. They frequently visit India in search of knowledge to share, and are passionate about their campaign to introduce many of the good things India has to offer, including the food, the culture, and the use of Ayurveda to benefit health and wellness.
Make Sense will be involved with proofreading all the English Around India shares, to ensure that their subscribers only ever receive information in the highest quality English.
Why? Because it makes sense.

MakeSenseは英語編集作業、翻訳をする会社で北海道札幌を中心に活動しています。私たちは様々なタイプの翻訳（個人、医療、工業、ホテル観光産業、レストランのメニュー等あらゆるものに対応できます。１語7円または、最低コスト500円で素早く、正確です。
info@make-sense.net