Kurashi - News From Japan

If you have ever been to Tokyo, you must have taken the Yamanote Line around town. Here are the melodies for the different stations. Sometimes, when I have an hour to spare, I take the Yamanote Line one way around, but I do hate the recent all-video trains. Let's keep the stress level down, shall we. Please, less ads, more train pleasure. Still, the JR East Yamanote Line has to be the best service around.

With water privatization, Japan faces crossroads in battling its aging pipes Japan Times -- Dec 18 2018 Japanese water is clean and readily available, as evidenced by drinkable tap water and a nearly 100 percent penetration rate. But perhaps less known is the dire decay that has slowly chipped away at its infrastructure, casting doubt on its sustainability. To address this, the Diet passed an amendment earlier this month to the Water Supply Act, paving the way for effective privatization. But critics say this flies in the face of a global trend toward “re-municipalizing” — or reinstating public control over — water management after years of soaring bills and compromised service quality, which they say underscore the profit maximization ethos of the private sector. So what’s the status quo of Japan’s water system and what does the revised law do? Here is our look into those questions: What’s the situation that prompted changes to the law? Water pipes nationwide, ...

The wonderful things that happen. Or not. In 1991, Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu was invited by American director Jim Jarmusch to write the original music for his film "Night on Earth", but his finished work was subsequently rejected by the director. The supposedly lost music by Takemitsu was aptly titled “L.A., New York, Paris, Rome, Helsinki” - five cities featured in Jarmusch’s film.