Spoken Japanese isn’t too bad. It is more logical and sensible than English. The problem is the writing system they use. Kanji makes learning to read very difficult, even for people who grow up in Japan. Many adults can’t read at a high school reading level because of kanji. Having a simpler writing system like Koreans do would make learning Japanese a lot easier.

Not all of us gaijin are tourists. I have permanent residency and I would love to find a cheap house far from the noise and smoke. Do you know where I can look up houses like this?

I’m an atheist, ghosts scare me about as much as gods do. I would use the money I spend on rent now to build a geodesic dome house. They are easy to build. Put some solar panels on it and get grid electricity for backup. If there’s a house, there is probably a well on the property already. I have permanent residency in Japan. I don’t care if the neighbors are racist assholes. I don’t interact with my neighbors in Tokyo; I wouldn’t interact with the neighbors there either. Where can I find more houses like this? I want one.

“To fool a person is easy; you just need to overcome their intelligence. To convince a person they have been fooled is difficult; you have to overcome their pride.” I forget where I read that.

The embassy isn’t the problem. The US military bases in Greenland are the problem.

They are both cool, but I’m originally from Michigan, so I gotta go with Eminem.

Was there a coyote or a roadrunner anywhere nearby?

FreeTube is a good replacement for YouTube on PC and NewPipe is good on Android phones.

I use F-Droid and Aurora Store on my phone and replaced the Google apps, that came preloaded on the phone, with FOSS apps. NewPipe on my phone and FreeTube on my PC to replace YouTube. I don’t use Gmail. My Google account is on a Proton account. After I am sure I have all my desired apps switched over to email sign in, I will delete the Google account. I am also switching my Proton mail for Tuta mail. Proton is on the wrong side. I also dumped Microsoft over a year ago. I have been on Linux since then. I have avoided FaceBook for over a decade and never maintained a Twitter account.

Install Linux on them and give them to school children so they can go to school online and not have to worry about being shot. I also see a lot of lithium in that pile.

No, I point that out because I also lived in Hawaii for 6 years and when they finally built their light rail system on Oahu, they built hundreds of parking spaces around the station. They provided no bicycle parking and no commercial storefront space. Convenience stores, super markets, doctor’s offices, dental clinics, and maybe a small police outpost are all handy things to have next to the station. Last time I checked an online map, the parking spaces are hardly ever used. Who takes a car to a train station and leaves it so they can ride the train?

Better yet, don’t allow corporations to own residential properties at all. Only allow individuals to own two residential properties. Make renting residential property a crime like human trafficking, because that’s what it is. Let hedge funds speculate on commercial and industrial real estate. #RentIsTheft

So, like every train station I have ever seen in Japan?

Someone should tell The Guardian that their participle is dangling.

Frozen to death at a mountain resort after being haunted by ghosts who wanted me to murder my family. (The Shining)