Into the World:
The Random Thoughts in My Mind

I thought the assassination of General Qassem Suleimani was the pinnacle of how a superpower can display its unhindered political power. Here it is a sovereign country A murdering a top military official of sovereign country B, entirely within the territory of sovereign country C without any sort of explicit agreement from elected officials of said country C before the event taking place. Complaints from C's officials are almost entirely ignored by their counterparts from A on the ground of national security taking precedence over respecting sovereign rights.

Global media outlets and government institutions are going into overdrive to spread information about a new strain of coronavirus originating in a seafood market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan. With more than 800 people infested, dozens dead, and cases already spreading to eight countries, there is clear urgency for significant measures to be taken globally to ensure that necessary precautions and medical resources are in place to prevent it from becoming a global-scale epidemic in the coming weeks and months. The Chinese government, for one, has taken dramatic measures to lock down entire cities to prevent the disease from spreading.

The sudden escape of former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn from house arrest in Tokyo has captured the attention of the world, however briefly, of how the Japanese justice system works. Unfortunately, the attention has been a largely negative one, seen from the Japanese perspective. In so many words, the international news outlet has expressed mild sympathy for Ghosn, who they see as destined for a lengthy legal battle that he cannot possibly win fair and square, given Japan's 99% conviction rate and a prosecution system that can repeatedly arrest released suspects whenever new charges emerge.

For frequent viewers of Japanese TV shows, the widespread use of blurring people and whole neighborhoods out can be quite noticeable. When shows take to the streets, interviewing people or following them to their homes and workplaces, everyone and everything that are not the subjects of the shows is pixelated to mask identities. The widespread use of visual disguise is a result of strict Japanese laws on privacy protection, which require that individuals only be displayed after receiving explicit consent from them to do so. For a crowded street, asking the passerby one by one is impracticable, so better blur the whole thing out.

The announcement from the police department is as idiosyncratically Japanese as any announcement can be. In a short message relayed by multiple TV stations and across social media, Japanese authorities warn the country's seniors to be careful when eating the traditional rice cakes for new years, as the sticky substance has led to more than one instance of the elderly choking and then die from suffocation as the stuff gets stuck in the throat. In all seriousness, the police advised that seniors ought to make sure they cut their rice cakes into small pieces and chew many times before attempting to swallow.