This makes sense, and a another good argument against monoculture farming.

Anecdotally, we have friends in a inner suburb of Tokyo who say there’s been a surge in Tanuki hanging around the neighborhood. Apparently they’ve been attracted by people land-banking - growing small quantities of permission trees on vacant land so it counts as a ‘farm’ to avoid vacant land taxes, then not harvesting the fruit because it’s not economically sensible… the fruit then attracts wildlife.

I’m not afraid of death, I’m in love with life.

Yeah,we did Vancouver BC to Tijuana and I think about half the drive time was going into and out of LA.

I’m retired and my income from investments is enough for me to survive but not enough to qualify for a credit card. Thankfully I changed my steam region to Malaysia years ago to benefit from the lower prices so this change doesn’t affect my account.

This implementation reeks of ‘this would be reasonable in the US so it should be fine for Australia’. Next they’ll be asking us to take out our cheque books.

Rare to see Sakura Taisen pop up on these forums… I must dust off the Saturn and revisit those games!

Bikkuri Donki is a “steak” family restaurant similar to Gusto. The decor is always old wood and wild west knickknacks. Probably my #4 family restaurant.

I’ve never eaten at the Don Quixote cafe; I’ve never actually seen one in Japan, only Singapore, and there’s better food to prioritise there 😅.

Over the last few years I’ve done occasional grocery shopping at Don Quixote in Japan though which still feels weird because they used to sell only sweets and drinks - it’s just odd buying fresh spinach from the blue penguin store that sells PlayStations and vibrators.

You’re spot on - ~ga is with bun, ~gu is without. I’m a fan on the Bikkuri Donki Cheese-in Hamburg (hamburger patty with cheese in the middle, covered with cheese for the 2x cheese version).

In a way, Kanji is more complicated than Chinese, not simpler unfortunately. In chinese languages, each character has one pronunciation, but kanji change pronunciation from word to word.

Mainland Chinese is quicker to write, too, due to simplification of many radicals in modern times.

Aisu. Just aisu.

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That was my first thought, too… momoiro isn’t exactly common but everyone understands it. often see it on fancier products that don’t want to cheapen themselves with katakana

From that list I’ve only been to Condom. When I saw the name I thought it sounded like the perfect place for a break on our trip from Bordeaux to Toulouse. Actually a very pretty small town. The spire of the cathedral was under repair and wrapped in plastic, which amused tourists and locals alike, it seemed.

Thanks for the concise explanation! Sounds like quite the hassle indeed.

My home country is Australia and it’s basically the polar opposite. A direct deposit (what we call a wire transfer) is always less than 24 hours and never costs anything to the account holders. Even for hundreds of thousands of dollars (such as when purchasing property).

There’s also a secondary system called Osko and if both banks support it the transfer is instant (and still free). Salaries must be paid using direct deposit (to ensure an electronic ‘paper trail’). No one with a job or government benefits is unbanked. For at least the last 35 years everyone opens their first bank account at elementary school, where the (former) government bank attends and sets up a fee free account for each child. There are no account fees. Only 15% of transactions in Australia involve cash money, and almost all others are direct deposit or direct debit with about 0.1% being cheques.

If for some reason an individual doesn’t have an app with their account info on it they will carry it in their wallet. Many people have an email address attached to their account anyway and you can use the email address instead for sending a direct deposit. Most businesses still require the Bank/Account number instead though.

The number of people with a cheque book is statistically insignificant. The government will cease using cheques by 2028, and they will be completely abolished by 2030. I haven’t seen a cheque in the last 20 years in Europe, Asia or Oceania. The last time I saw one was in 2023 in Las Vegas.

having to deal with a wire transfer

What’s the process and why is it so arduous? Here it’s just account name, bank number, account number and you can expect it next day (or instant using modern methods). Sure beats going to the bank…

I don’t get this ‘drinking tears’ metaphor. Tears are bad, your ‘enemies’ are bad.

I get that you want to see your enemies cry. But if they pooped their pants from fear, you wouldn’t want to eat it.

LG’s founder’s (Koo In-hwoi) nickname “Yonam” is a portmanteau of Buddhist temple and pond. LG was founded in front of the temple of reference. Not surprising to see Buddhist imagery in their products.

You see them all of Korea where LG is headquartered, too. And all over Japan, and all over India, and all over Thailand, etc, etc. Any country with a historically large Buddhist or Hindu following, basically.

I heard you fight like a dairy farmer.

I can hold my breath for ten minutes!