Friday October 31
 
19:01
 
Up To 1 In 20 Is SAD

From the BEEB:

Because days get shorter the further north you go, SAD is more common in northern countries.

It really should be “Winter affective disorder” but WAD wouldn’t make anyone smile.

Friday October 31
 
16:16
 
The Double Insult

We’re sitting on a bench in a bar in Tokyo.
She reaches over and prods my belly.
“Too fat?” I ask.
“No,” she says, “it’s normal for a man your age.”

Fat and old. Every man’s dream.

She might just be getting her own back: an hour before I had taken her to a chemist and told her she needed to buy deodourant. Well, how else do you say it?

Tuesday October 28
 
18:37
 
Korea Takes Over The World

From the BBC:

The campaign to promote Korean cuisine - launched by the agriculture ministry and the Agro-Fisheries Trade Corporation - aims to quadruple the number of Korean restaurants around the world to 40,000 by 2017.

It will include spending $40m over the next two years to try to make Korean food as famous as French, Italian, Chinese, Japanese and Thai food.

There are plans to create Korean culinary schools abroad, develop and distribute standard recipes and introduce an official ratings system for overseas restaurants.

The ratings in Tokyo will be: everything-tastes-the-same, cant-cook-for-toffee, and tonjang. Tonjang being the only decent Korean restaurant in Tokyo - everywhere else is crap.

I can only imagine the Korean Restaurant Missionary Ajummas the government will send overseas to “quadruple the number of Korean restaurants around the world”.

Monday October 27
 
17:00
 
Why The Yen Is Strong

From the BBC:

Earlier on Monday the Group of Seven (G7) industrialised nations issued a statement warning that the strength of the yen was a threat to economic stability, which was taken as a threat of co-ordinated action to reduce the value of the currency.

While the yen briefly weakened, it soon climbed back towards Friday’s 13-year high against the dollar.

The yen has been strengthening as a result of the end of the carry trade, in which traders borrowed the Japanese currency and used it to buy currencies with higher interest rates.

As the difference between Japanese rates and those elsewhere in the world has fallen, traders have been unwinding the carry trade, which means they have been using other currencies to buy yen, which has boosted the Japanese currency.

This makes sense. Interest rates in Japan are almost 0%. I always send my money back to the UK to take advantage of better interest rates. The difference between me and Japanese, however, is that I am in no hurry to transfer it back since money in the UK is useful to me. The Japanese seem to be transferring it back even though the rate is terrible.

One of the few exchanges rising was the Seoul market, which reversed early losses to close up 0.8% after South Korea’s central bank cut its key interest rate from 5% to 4.25% at a rare, unscheduled meeting.

There are some real amazing bargains to be had at the moment with the difference between the Yen and GBP, Korean Won. A Nikon D700, for example, at 40%+ cheaper in Korea than Japan - it is usually 40% more expensive.

Monday October 27
 
12:58
 
Woman In Jail Over Virtual Murder

From the BBC:

A woman has been arrested in Japan after she allegedly killed her virtual husband in a popular video game.

The 43-year-old was reportedly furious at finding herself suddenly divorced in the online game Maplestory.

Police say she illegally accessed log-in details of the man playing her husband, and killed off his character.

The woman, a piano teacher, is in jail in Sapporo waiting to learn if she faces charges of illegally accessing a computer and manipulating data.

She was arrested on Wednesday and taken 620 miles (1,000 km) from her home in southern Miyazaki to Sapporo - where her “husband”, a 33-year-old office worker lives.

If charged with the offences, and convicted, she faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000.

‘So angry’

A Sapporo police official, according to the Associated Press news agency, said the woman had used the man’s ID and password to log in to the game last May to carry out the virtual murder.

“I was suddenly divorced, without a word of warning. That made me so angry,” she was quoted by the official as telling investigators.

Maplestory is a Korean-made game, which has grown in popularity around the world but has a strong fan base in the Far East.

The game centres on defeating monsters, but players can also engage in social activities and relationships - including marriages - through their digital characters, called avatars.