Sequels in January 2018

Sunday, January 28, 2018
Trump is willing to back to TPP

According to a Japanese journalist, the main reason of the US joining TPP is to control China. China has been violating the international business laws. If TPP is established, China has to adhere the rule of TPP. And the US will be able to modify China's act by setting the regulation of TPP, if it is a member. I am not sure this hypothesis is true.


Saturday, January 27, 2018
CoinCheck cracked

It was surprising that CoinCheck declared to be prepared for compensating all stolen coins. It means CC has much surplus money. It is good news not only for customers but also other investors to avoid further confusion regarding this incident.


Tuesday, January 23, 2018
Extreme snow

Fortunately, I had no critical cases due to the snow disaster. On the other hand, it will snow again tomorrow. Good grief.


Wednesday, January 17, 2018
Doomsday for Bitcoin

The price of Bitcoin is still falling after the day. Now its value has been halved compared to the highest.

Nobody knows what the proper price for Bitcoin is. Some people say that this January is the beginning of the end of Bitcoin, others disagree. In my opinion, it will take several years for Bitcoin to become trusted by many people with its stabilized price. But, I believe the day will come at last.

Three golden rules for good sleep

Sleep is indispensable for maintaining our lives. However. there are lots of people suffering from insomnia. Nearly a half of people are said to have some kinds of sleep disturbance, according to new statistics.

Pubmed: Epidemiology of sleep and sleep disorders in The Netherlands.

In Japan, almost all patients with mental disorders complain problems regarding sleep. And psychiatrists are also eager to deal with this issue. As a result, however, shamefully massive sleeping pills are prescribed. In recent years, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare started to regulate the excessive use of benzodiazepines. But there are still many patients with benzodiazepine dependence.

There are three golden rules for good sleep applicable to all people. I was surprised to know many patients do not understand them when I have a series of the sessions with patients for clinical research.

1. Do not take a sleeping pill unless you cannot sleep
Many patients take pills regardless of their feeling. Regular use of benzodiazepine cause dependency quite easily.
Patients say they are anxious to have a difficulty to fall asleep. As a result, some patients take pills much before they go to bed. It is the worst usage of sleeping drugs.
You should not decide to take sleeping pills unless it is truly difficult to sleep. If you really have insomnia this night, you can take a pill, definitely.

2. Do not go to bed unless you feel sleepy
Many patients have a difficulty to fall asleep. For example, a patient goes to bed at 23, but he falls asleep at 25 at last. Then, he thinks that he should go to bed early. He goes to bed at 21, to fall asleep at 23.
It is a bad solution. Because he is not sleepy at 21, he stays on the bed without going to sleep. He often watches a smartphone or listens to loud music. These behaviors make his insomnia worse.
When you do not feel sleepy, you need not go to bed. It is a quite natural act as a human. You can spend time on the sofa with reading a book or writing diary. When you become bored, it is the time to go to bed.

3. Do not lay in daytime
Many patients with insomnia feel tired in the daytime. They often consider the sleeping time is too short to restore their health. Then, they sleep at noon.
But, it leads to worsened night sleep, undoubtedly. Our circadian rhythm is easily disguised by the nap. Although there is a hypothesis that taking siesta is good for life, I do not recommend patients with insomnia to take a nap in the daytime.
It should be noted that only laying down is harmful. Even if you are not aware, your brain takes sleep when you lay on the bed. When you feel exhausted, take a rest with sitting on a chair for less than fifteen minutes. It will not inhibit your night sleep, I ensure.

AI can humiliate you

Whether the community with sophisticated AI is a utopia or dystopia is often discussed. Some people expect AI to replace any tasks they can hardly address, while others feel fearful about the future in which AI programs will rob their job completely.

Marc Benioff, the founder of Salesforce, suggested the third possibility in a business conference recently.

International Business Times: 'Einstein' AI won't take your job, but it will humiliate you in front of your boss

He denied the future in which AI takes over your jobs. Instead, he warned that you would be humiliated by AI on the job. He told an anecdote that an AI listener disagrees with his statement with entirely logical counter argument immediately after his presentation.

We feel shameful when being criticized, even if we are actually wrong. Admitting this fact, most bosses hesitate to deny an idea of an employee directly in front of many listeners. But AI will show no mercy to us in executing a silly idea we presented.

Then, what will happen? Our patience and open-mindedness will be tried in the AI era. Accepting any criticism as far as they are appropriate is necessary to improve the future not only in the business but also in ourselves. Confronting the AI, we should be good people as a human. And it is the humanity not replaced by AI.

Trump is willing to back to TPP

Donald Trump, the US President, declared that the US would renegotiate with the members of TransPacific Partnership (TPP).

The US has withdrawn the membership of TPP as soon as Trump won the Presidential vote. He promised to take the executive order to drop out from TPP, deeming it as unworthy for the US.

Straitstimes.com: US open to new talks on TPP, says Trump

However, he seems to have changed the opinion. Or, he may recognize the situation has been changed.

If the US join the TPP, the whole fruit of this alliance will be increased. On the other hand, member nations will take more time to prepare for tough negotiation with the US.

Anyway, it is certain that Trump considers TPP is beneficial to the US. I hope his decision will also benefit the world as he says.

CoinCheck cracked

CoinCheck, a famous cryptocurrency exchange, was attacked by an unknown cracker. It got stolen almost the whole stocked XEM. The amount of lost XEM reached 400 million USD.

Bloomberg.com: Coincheck Says It Lost Crypto Coins Valued at About $400 Million

The president of CoinCheck accepted an interview at midnight yesterday in Japan. He said someone transferred XEM stored in the exchange all at sudden. When he noticed the abnormal movement, the transaction seemed to have been completed. Therefore he stopped the function of the exchange, to investigate what had happened. It is quite likely a cracker illicitly conducted a transfer via compromising the system.

According to the report, CoinCheck had not adopted the reservation with cold wallets. The multi-signature technology was not working either. Thus, the security level of CoinCheck has not matched the standard. The president denied the issue of inadequate security. But his claim will not be accepted.

Whether the assets of the users will be compensated is uncertain. But it cannot be expectable, I am afraid. CoinCheck will not be able to avoid bankruptcy.

(1/28/2018) CoinCheck announced that it would compensate all of the lost currency with its own stock.

This incident is not due to the problem in XEM itself, or other cryptocurrencies. Instead, the security risk of exchange became apparent again after the case of Mt. Gox happened in 2014. In Japan, there had been rare cracking cases occurred in recent years.

It is not surprising that the price of XEM and other cryptocurrencies is falling. The confusion of the market will be continuous for a while.

Also, this kind of scandals is unavoidable in the process of spreading of newly developed technology. We have to be calm and observe the situation.

Bitcoin is C+ while Ehterium B, according to Weiss

Weiss Ratings, an independent rating organization in the US, released the grades of dominant cryptocurrencies.

Weiss Ratings adopts five-leveled grade system from A to E, different from ordinary agencies using AAA to C. According to Weiss, Bitcoin was ranked as C+. It means Bitcoin deserves to be a subject of investment.

Surprisingly, Etherum (B) and Steem (B-) was graded superior to Bitcoin. Novacoin and SluS were graded as D.

It says that any cryptocurrencies are not safe and there is always a possibility of disgrace. Volatility seems to be the highest issue, as well as risk for cracking.

Bitcoin Magazine: Op-Ed: The Weiss Cryptocurrency Ratings Are Laughably Bad

It is interesting that Bitcoin as the basic cryptocurrency was inferior to Etherium. Etherium was developed to resolve some technical problem around Bitcoin. Weiss Ratings admitted the speed of updating and swiftness of transaction of Etherium.

It is amazing that cryptocurrencies were subjected to grading. It means that financial industry has officially identified cryptocurrency as a subject of investment. Some of them will perish, and others will survive the next age.

Nasal spray of naloxone save you from gambling

A nasal spray might be helpful to let you resist the temptation of gambling.

A Finland research group launched a clinical trial to investigate the effect of a nasal spray containing naloxone. Naloxone is generally used as a counter against opiates overdose. As it inhibits dopamine production in the brain, it is also admitted as a treatment for gambling disorder.

The Guardian: Nasal spray aimed at tackling gambling addiction to be trialled in Finland

The effect of the medicine nasally absorbed emerges much quicker than oral medication. The researchers expect this spray is available as a rescue when the patient is attacked by a craving for gambling.

The researchers' hypothesis seems theoretically right. However, I am doubtful this project will be successful as they expected. The impulse of gambling may be so strong that the patients cannot wait for the effect of naloxone spray. Also, the effect of naloxone for eliminating the gambling motivation may be limited. In this kind of study, placebo effect will strongly emerge. Participants may be satisfied to absorb the placebo via nasal airway. It will lead to a decreased effect size of naloxone.

Gambling disorder is a complicated illness composed of biological factors and a vicious circle of the behavioral chain. It is good if a spray will cease the illness. But I think it is not feasible.

Pirate films

Pirate services, now spread in many regions, are violating the copyright. They make the value of newly developed contents decreased. As users of pirate service increase, creators are suffering from various disadvantages. They are not limited to reduced reward but include the risk of fabrication and the possibility of misunderstanding of the users who have not seen the original.

Therefore, pirate services should be eliminated. Pirate is not "crime without victims."

In recent years, as digital copy becomes easier, pirate services rapidly rocketed. Newest films are not exceptions to the subjects. The digital data of "Thor: Ragnarok," a Marvel movie I have fun, was leaked accidentally, just recently.

International Business Times: Thor: Ragnarok leak: Unreleased Marvel film 'furiously' spreading on piracy websites

Interestingly, pirate sites are shrinking at least in the cinema movies. It may be due to the spread of video streaming services such as Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon Prime. People consider downloading an illegal movie file is bothersome while several video streaming services are available at low cost.

In this sense, censoring and punishment for eliminating illegal services are inferior to creating a new competitive service.

In Japan, manga download services are focused recently. Many of such materials offered to users are illegally uploaded, unfortunately. But, Japanese publishers are hesitating to establish manga download or streaming services.

Extreme snow

Yesterday, Tokyo was struck by severe snowy weather.

As it was predictable, the authority called for strict caution. Citizens were encouraged not to go out unless necessary. Most of the public transportations were crippled.

Some people say that staying at home is not feasible since many companies force employees to go to work regardless of the weather status. They claim the necessity of official legislation for prohibiting work in such a situation.

I disagree with this opinion. People obeying company's order without any doubt are unlikely to examine official orders. They may be satisfied to the public announcement by the government. But later, they will make a complaint to the subject of the law. The issue is how to do, not whose order we should obey.

France is considering to revive compulsory military service

Emmanuel Macron, the President of France, mentioned the necessity for the enhancement of military force. He considered raising the rate of defense budget up from 1.8% to 2% of the whole GDP.

Jew Jersey Herald:  France's Macron pledges big increase in defense budget


The level of budget for the military is various among nations necessarily. The US spends 611 billion USD every year for the army, followed by China, (215M) and Russia (69M). But, calculated to the rate for the fiscal budget, Saudi Arabia (10.4%), Israel (5.8%), and UAE (5.7%) are enthusiastic. Japan spends only 1% of the national budget to the military.

France faces much fear of terrorism in recent years. I understand the citizens' concern.

On the other hand, Macron seems to revive the compulsory military service. It was abandoned in the early 2000s.

Latin American Herald Tribune: Macron Confirms France Will Have Again Compulsory Military Service


It is a little strange, or invalid strategy, I believe. Compulsory military service looks like a cheap policy at a glance. But it takes much money and labor to train rookies. Many economists claim that the forced military system is inferior to the mercenary system as forming cost-effective troops.

One of the advantages of the compulsory military is the possibility to raise fanaticism to youth. But this effect has not been proven. In my opinion, the forced army is nothing more than a superficial solution to strengthen the defense force.

Of course, I hate all kind of hostile action against others. The war is the last way to choose for solving any international problem. Indeed, an adequate quality and quantity of the national army are required to maintain the public safety and justice in every nation. Nonetheless, forced military service is outdated.

Trump won the reform of corporation tax

Yesterday, I attended a conference whose themes were business and finance. Some famous economists and analysts spoke about the perspective of the economic situation this year.

In a session, one speaker analyzed the economic policy of the Trump administration. Donald Trump, the President of the US is broadly criticized on his lude and discriminative speech. But the assessment of what he has achieved for the US economy is split among critics.

Some people blame him for he has done nothing valuable in the first year of presidency. Actually, the contents of his manifesto in which he promised before the presidential vote have almost not realized yet.

On the other hand, the speaker admired him to some extent. According to him, Trump conducted many relaxations of the business regulation. They accelerated business development in the US.

And, the most impressive thing is the reform of taxation. The US diet passed the bill for reducing corporation tax rate. So far, the US has the highest corporation tax rate in developed nations. It had made difficult for international companies to continue business in the US. After the enforcement of the tax bill, the rate will be decreased from 40% to 25%. The new rate is lower than those of almost every nation.

The ex-President Obama also promised to reduce the corporation tax rate. But he had failed to set the legislation. Democratic Party Obama belongs to is eager to enrich the level of social security. Thus, the party is not willing to reduce the tax income. In contrast, Republic Party is indifferent to social welfare. Trump was successful to persuade the government and diet for reducing the amount of national budget.

In this meaning, Trump had done a great job, while it is uncertain his decision will make the US great again.

By the way, the US diet failed to agree on this year's budget. Now, the public function is crippled for the money short. It frequently occurs in the US recent years. I am concerned about the citizens' life.

You should choose sushi restaurant because salmon have tapeworms

In California, a man came to a general physician to complain an abnormal phenomenon with showing its astonishing cause. He was suffering from bloody diarrhea.

And he said to have found a 5-feet tall tapeworm emerged from his anus.

International Business Times: Sushi lover finds 5ft tapeworm dangling from his rectum and yanks it out himself

The doctor brought him to an emergency room immediately. He was treated with medication to eliminate parasites in his intestine. Fortunately, he seems to have got recovered.

Tapeworm is a kind of parasites which is sometimes detected with a regular examination, or accidentally, even in citizens living in an urban area. Typically, tapeworms cause no harm to the human body. But in rare cases, they can be fatal.

The man introduced in this article above was fond of eating sushi. He ate raw salmon every day.

Actually, salmons have parasites frequently. We Japanese like salmon sashimi. Ordinary Japanese sushi restaurants in Japan serve only properly examined or processed fish. Fishmongers suggest some raw pieces which should be heated before eating.

Transgender sex robots?

What defines us as a human? To answer this question is not easy. We can move, consider, speak, and create various things. But, are not we humans if we cannot do them? Definitely, yes. We were born as a human and will die as a human.

There are some ways to clarify the abilities unique in human. One famous method is Turing test. It was developed by Alan Turning in 1950 for distinguishing intelligent machines from those without intelligence. The evaluator listens to a series of conversation between a human and an AI program. Then, when the evaluator cannot detect which is the human, the AI is deemed as intelligent.

In 2014, a Russian supercomputer passed the Turing test. Thus, over 30% of the human evaluators had failed to identify the machine as it is. It is an amazing result. The AI might mimic a human completely.

By the way, can robots acquire consciousness? It is more difficult question than Turing test. Intelligence is measurable, at least to some extent. There are many examination packages for evaluating the intelligence of the examinees. It is said that some kind of monkeys gets a score as well as a human toddler in these tests.

On the other hand, consciousness cannot be measurable. In an emergent situation, patients often lose their consciousness due to some physical trouble. But the disturbance of consciousness is not limited to the status of deep coma. Drowsiness, drunken state, and also dissociative state can be considered as crippled consciousness. Examining the level of consciousness precisely is often difficult for trained physicians.

Furthermore, an identity of each person is a more complex concept of mind. It is almost impossible for an AI to acquire an identity of itself.

Gender identity is one of the examples suggesting the difficulty of understanding the concept of identity. There are some people whose gender identity does not match their biological sex. Some of them are diagnosed with gender identity disorder. And others are proud of their own identity in spite of its inconsistency.

Recently, sex robots are sometimes focused, both on the light side and the dark side. There are some people loving robots. Also, some people need a robot partner.

However, is it possible to create a sex robot with transgender? The author says definitely not because gender is a concept of mentality.

International Business Times: Sex robots can't be transgender - this is why

Superficially, I agree with this idea. But, some researchers believe robots will acquire their own consciousness. If it is realized, there may be some robots with transgender identity. I cannot imagine how they look like, if possible. The future may be beyond our imagination.

Same-sex marriage is going to be accepted in the EU

European Court of Justice stated that all couples of the same sex should be accepted in every EU nation.

Independent: Definition of marriage has now ‘evolved’ to include same-sex couples, EU court says

In general, European countries are tolerated against same-sex couples. But whether the same-sex marriage is legalized differs from each other. The statement of the European Court mentions the necessity of freedom of forming a couple in EU countries according to the free movement basis.

The court decision seems cool and feasible. It is an advantage for the EU that each member should obey the human right standard strictly protected by the European court.

On the other hand, the scheme of marriage itself is going to die, I think. In the UK, divorce is very stressful because there are many conditions. This legislation was established by conservative politicians who are not willing to accept the liberty of divorce. However, this ruling led to a decreased rate of marriage instead of hesitated divorce.

Doomsday for Bitcoin

Just recently, Bitcoin met the hardest landslide ever before. The chart looks absurdly fluctuating.

There is news against Bitcoin in recent days. China is going to censor transaction of cryptocurrency more strictly than ever before.

CCN: China Looks to Ban & Censor Centralized Cryptocurrency Trading: Reports

Also, the director of Germany's central bank said that cryptocurrencies have to be regulated not in each nation but with a world standard.

Coindesk: German Central Banker: Cryptocurrencies Must Be Regulated On a Global Scale

Germany has won a great reputation in Eurozone with its good fiscal status. The stability of currency is the priority for Germany. In this sense, it is natural the bankers feel threatened by cryptocurrency.

However, it is quite doubtful that a global regulation against cryptocurrency will be made. It is the same as restricting entire P2P transaction.

The Korean government is also eager to regulate cryptocurrency. The authority mentioned the possibility to make a new legislation to regulate Bitcoin trading.

Quartz: South Korea is walking back threats to ban cryptocurrency trading

South Korea has a bitter memory of financial crisis a couple of decades ago. It is also not surprising that Korea is sensitive to the current situation.

I think these comments are not enough to explain recent depression of the cryptocurrency market. But, there may be many people having sold coins due to a panic attack. Also, some people say some funds managed with an algorithm decided together to sell Bitcoin followed by a recent sign of depression.

I believe that the flow of cryptocurrency is unstoppable. And the technology of Blockchain will be still a key to the new era. In this sense, nations focusing on restricting cryptocurrency will become outdated, I think.

Also, the rise of cryptocurrency may pull the trigger of the end of nations themselves. They who are willing to regulate cryptocurrency may feel an instinctive fear.

On the other hand, as I mentioned repeatedly, Bitcoin and other alternatives have still not to be a currency. Nobody can trust such unstable values as money, I am sorry.

Coffee cup banning in the UK is no good

The British politicians are considering the entire banning of disposable coffee cups.

International Business Times: Latte levy: Coffee cups could be banned by 2023

According to the article below, approximately 50o,000 coffee cups are thrown away every day in the UK, and most of them cannot be recycled. The situation is similar in other countries, I guess.

The government is willing to ban the paper cup entirely by 2023 unless recycling process is dramatically improved.

The issue of waste is serious. Improving the process of recycling and reducing litters themselves are essential for maintaining the sustainability of our society.

However, I am doubtful of the effectiveness of the campaign of banning coffee cups.

First of all, the effect of recycling paper cups is very limited. The cost of making cups may be extremely low. Also, recycling requires additional cost such as salvaging the cups from garbage and delivering the materials to the factory. If customers use own cups instead of a paper cup, providers should be concerned about the issue of hygiene.

After all, there is no absolute justice, and the environmental issue is not an exception. The government should focus on more crucial matters instead of reducing a couple of paper cups.

World richest man and cryptocurrency

According to the latest report, the wealthiest person in the world is Jeff Bezos. He is the founder of Amazon, a global e-commerce company.

International Business Times: World's richest man Jeff Bezos earned more than the combined GDP of 28 countries last year

Amazon was developed in 1994 as Cadabra.com. It was originally a book delivering service. As it broadened the range of business gradually, we can purchase almost everything, from vegetable to furniture at Amazon.com. In Japan, you can order even a funeral ceremony with a Buddhist priest through Amazon.co.jp.

Bezos is counted as a modern giant as well as Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg. They won great success in addressing the internet era. They have changed the world to the better direction. I truly respect them.

On the other hand, there are some people who have earned much money with cryptocurrency recently. Chris Larsen, co-founder of Ripple, was named as the world eighth richest person. He is considered to possess approximately five billions of Ripple, equal to 15 billion USD. With stocks calculated, his property reaches 50 billion USD.

Cryptocurrency is one of the most innovations in these some decades. It is not surprising that those have committed it earn much money.

However, it seems a little strange that their property is calculated using the conventional money. In the future, the measure of income itself will become nonsense as a value-calculator, I prospect.

Dogs are wiser than cats, theoretically

Which are wiser, dogs or cats? This is an argument igniting issue among pet lovers.

There is an international research team to answer this challenging question. According to their newest report, dogs are superior.

While cats have only 250 million cortical neurons, dogs have 350 million. They concluded that dogs could do more complex and flexible behaviors compared to cats.

In general, meat-eating animals have more brain cells than glass-eating animals because hunting requires intelligent behaviors.

Independent: Dogs are much smarter than cats, international team of researchers conclude

The number of cortical neurons is deemed to be closely connected to the potential ability of rational thought. Chimpanzees have 800 million, and humans have 1.4 billion neurons in the brain.

However, the number of neurons is not associated with the level of intelligence directly, I believe.

Intelligence is determined according to each context they live. There are many measurements of intelligence, and how much do we feel the subject is wise is influenced by many factors.

Dogs may be better at hunting than cats. But, some cats are better at getting along with humans. The difference between the two species cannot easily be determined by the number of neurons, while dogs have more capacity indeed than cats.

Huawei beats Apple?

In recent years, Huawei attracts public attention as a mobile phone maker. Huawei is a Chinese company which has won the top share domestically in this industry. Its products are popular not only in China but also Japan. Many users admire Huawei's tablets for its cost-performance.

In the US, on the contrary, Apple and Samsung are monopolizing the market of smartphone even now. Huawei has to consider a strategy to match them, according to the article below.

Bloomberg: How to Break Apple and Samsung's Smartphone Grip

Only a decade ago, tablets produced by a Chinese company were subjects of mocking for its low quality and appearance mimicking iPad. Nowadays, they are alternatives to current flagship hardware.

I believe Huawei will be a strong competitor of Apple soon. However, it is not easy for it to defeat Apple. It has been adopting the "follower strategy." Producing new values, not copying an original one, is needed to be the summit of an industry.

Bullying as an abuse

Bullying is a severe sequence of interaction between people, especially in children. The victims of bullying suffer from mental disturbance and occasionally physical dysfunction for a long time.

In recent studies, it is hypothesized that bullying has potentially adverse influence on victims' health as same as child abuse. It is well recognized that survivors of domestic violence in childhood often have several mental disorders such as bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder.

Governments of several nations are eager to reduce tragedies originated from bullying, such as suicidal cases. However, there are no decisive solutions found to prevent bullying entirely.

The Guardian: Bullying as damaging as child abuse – and needs same resources, expert says

Also in Japan, bullying has been focused for several decades. "Ijime," was used at least since the 1980s, as far as I memorize. Recently, some people dislike the word ijime because it can underestimate its halm, and suggest to use "violence," "abuse," or "crime," directly.

And, to be honest, I was bullied in my childhood. Some students made fun of my appearance and behaviors. I felt angry and lonely, then.

As I reckon now, my classmates had no intention to harm me. Lack of menace does not justify bad behavior. But, I needed not be worried about their interrupting, as I believe now. Simply, they were not wiser than me, then teasing a person they could not understand. And I was also not wise to understand the situation exactly. As it proves, after I entered a junior high school in which students were all gifted, I was never bullied again.

In reality, most subjects of bullying have something inferior to others. Some have disabilities; others are financially troubled. They need help but are in a position hardly to call for help. Therefore, an official intervention is required to aid them. I affirm the activity of Headspace in Australia.

The NHS crisis

Recently, it is frequently reported that National Health Service (NHS) in the UK is in a crisis.

International Business Times: NHS Crisis: Doctors and nurses are 'leaving on their knees'

According to the article above, there is a serious shortage of medical staffs and rooms for acute patients. In some areas, patients have to wait 12 hours until they get consulted to a physician at the A&E (Accident and Emergency).

In general, 12 hours delay of treatment can be critical for patients with a serious injury. To begin with, nobody can be patients for half of the day waiting for any reasons.

Also, some elective surgeries and outpatient appointments were canceled due to lack of the adequate number of staffs. This winter, many people get influenza, which raises demand for emergent care.

The authority dare not to accept the deficiency of the NHS resource, according to the media. Indeed, NHS is approved as one of the most sophisticated systems of regional medical care. However, the current situation seems to be far more distant from residents' satisfaction. One survey suggests three fourth of citizens consider NHS is getting worse.

International Business Times: We are all to blame for the slow painful death of the NHS

The seed of this issue is originated from the initial policy of ruling Conservative Party. Austerity has been burdening the NHS management for several years. It has led to reduced staffs and decreased beds. In recent years, some physicians participate in a strike repeatedly. There is a similar situation in prison.

Of course, Tory has its opinion. In 2012, Democratic Party gorgeously advertised NHS at the opening ceremony of the London Olympic. But it resulted in a serious fiscal crisis. Tory would claim it had to compensate it.

Anyway, medical service in the UK faces a tough challenge. I guess that Brexit is also influential on this issue.

South Korea abandon to renegotiate the 2015 deal

South Korea published a new policy regarding the treatment of comfort woman deemed to have been abused by Japanese soldiers in the WWII.

Kang Kyung-wha, the foreign minister of South Korea, said that the 2015 settlement was a valid bilateral agreement and she would not try to renegotiate a contentious deal with Japan.

Financial Times: South Korea will not renegotiate ‘comfort women’ deal with Japan

The 2015 settlement was dealt between South Korea and Japan. The two nations approved the declaration which this issue is finally and irreversibly resolved with one billion JPY (8.9m USD) compensation from Japan to a South Korean foundation.

This deal was established by Park, the ex-president. But some Koreans have insisted this deal is invalid. The current president Moon was also willing to reconsider the deal.

Kang said that this deal is agreed by the two nations through an official procedure. Thus, she considered it is difficult to negate the deal based on Korean consideration.

On the other hand, she is planning to prepare a whole amount of compensation money from the government instead of using Japanese money. She did not say whether to return the money to Japan.

Korean government seems to avoid that comfort women will owe Japan for receiving money. Indeed, it is said that 36 of 47 women has already received the money given from Japan.

I think Korean policy replacing Japanese money with Korean is makeshift. But, I will never say Korean women are mean because of receiving money. More or less, they were the victim of the war.

On the other hand, renegotiation is nonsense, I believe. In this point of view, I am on the side of Japan. There is no perfect solution. Each leader has his or her own ideology. If negotiation is arranged after every amendment of administration, the international relationship would never become stable.

In such a meaning, Kang is right. And her statement will ignite hatred of Korean people who are right-wing, I am afraid. I respect her decision.

Fusion power plant will be realized in 20 years?

Atomic power is one of the desirable energy sources in the world. However, the potential risk of pollution in the accidental cases refrains it from the spread in developed countries. Since Fukushima Daiichi power plant case, Japan is hesitating to build new atomic power plants.On the other hand, some developing countries are willing to develop new power plants because of lack of alternative energy sources.

If an innovation enables to create energy without producing nuclear waste, atomic power plants will promise a better life in the future society. One of the candidates of the post-atomic power plant is fusion power plant.

Fusion power can provide massive energy extracted from the proton. Proton is easily collectible from the air. Also, fusion process does not provide radioactive wastes. Furthermore, different from nuclear fission, fusion reaction cannot be chained. Thus, accidental burst hardly occurs in the fusion process.

However, developing a fusion plant is very expensive. There are many challenges which should technically be resolved.

Some scientists belonging to ITER, a group of fusion energy experiments, predict that fusion plants will start to come as early as 2040. It is rather a feasible prospection, I believe.

Independent: Fusion power plants could provide energy for homes in just 20 years

If the issue of energy source is solved, the world will completely change. I am afraid that oil-producing nations would not wish so. Nonetheless, technological innovation has a power of world reconstruction.

Visiting Hawaii island (2)

Hawaii island has a total of five volcanos. Among them, Kilauea and Mauna Loa are famous. The latter has 4,169m height. It is taller than Mt. Fuji in Japan.

I visited Halemaumau crator of Kilauea Volcano. It is located in the summit of Kilauea caldera. 

I saw rising smoke overthere in the crator. It was fantastic landscape.

Also, I visited Akaka falls. It is the largest falls in Hawaii. Looks gigantic.

I walles across the fixed lava. I felt the heat from the ground.

On the other hand, the summit of Mauna Loa is the highest place in Hawaii island. I visited there by car.

I could see the crowds below.

There are some astronomical observationaries in Mauna Loa because the sky is very clear.

This plant is silverthorne. It lives at only this area.

I tried to see the stars. But that day the moon was so bright that I could almost no stars, unfortunately.

There are fewer entertainments there compared to Oahu. But the nature and landscape are splendid.

Visiting Hawaii island (1)

I visited Hawaii island for the first time.

Hawaii island is the biggest island in the state of Hawaii. It is also called as "Big Island." But it is less popular than Oahu island. Japan Airline developed a direct flight just recently.

The appearance of Hawai island is similar to Oahu's. But there are some differences between them.

Although Hawaii island is bigger than any other islands there, its population is less than 200 thousand. It is as many as that in a single big city in Japan. Thus, the density of population is quite small. Once you leave an area of a city, there is no building as far as you can see.

The main industry of Hawaii island is sightseeing business. But in Hawaii island, farming is also established. And I was told Parker family, the descendants of Samuel Parker, owned 50 thousand of cows.

Therefore, I planned to join some tours to enjoy the natural landscapes of Hawaii island.

(To be continued.)

Kingsman: The Golden Circle, an incredible but poor-tasted sequel

I watched "Kingsman: The Golden Circle" in an airplane. This movie is just now seeable on cinema in Japan. So, I was interested in it whereas I had not seen the previous story, "Kingsman: The Secret Service."

The hero of this film, Eggsy, is a member of Kingsman, an independent secret agency. He is stubbed by Charlie, an ex-colleague of him and a betrayer. He counters Charlie's attack, but Charlie's mechanical hand hacks the computer of Kingsman. Then, Kingsman's all branches are suddenly attacked by an international organization dealing with illegal drugs.

Kingsman is destroyed and most of the members are killed. Eggsy and his teacher, Merlin, move to the US, to visit an office of Stateman, a different spy agency, to collaborate with their members to fight "Poppy," the deadly organization.

Thus, the prestructured settings are abandoned at the beginning of this film. Even Roxy, a heroine of the previous film is eliminated. This destructive way enables watchers to have a fresh entertainment. And people who do not know preceding stories can enjoy this film.

On the other hand, Harry Hart, a talented member of Kingsman deceased in the previous mission, revives in the middle of the story. I hardly understood this plot because of no information of the past events. Hart remains disabilities in his body due to life-threatening injury. And his behavior brings confusion to the Kingsman team. This plot is well-calculated and amazing.

The villain of this film is "Poppy," a genius lady with ambition and mercilessness who established a large drug organization. She contaminates a lethal virus into drugs created in her plants. A massive amount of people, including members of Stateman and talented officers are going to die. She requests legalization of all drugs and lifetime permission of her acts to the US government for providing the antidote. The US president decides to abandon the patients because he deems drug users' life as useless. This deal is symbolistic. I feel this story satirizes strict policies active in some countries such as the US and Philippine.

There are some violent, and even poor tasted scenes in this film. I dislike them. Although the atmosphere of this movie is totally comical, I do not recommend children to see this film.

Personal Rating: 3 (fair)

The association between hot tea and glaucoma

Glaucoma is an eye condition potentially damaging the eyesight. People with glaucoma lose the field of vision gradually to result in the blindness finally. The cause of glaucoma is still unclear.

A recent study suggests that hot tea drinking might prevent you from glaucoma. According to this article below, regular consumption of hot tea was associated with lowered risk of glaucoma by 74%.

The Guardian: Could drinking tea really be linked to a lower risk of glaucoma?

As some researchers mentioned in the article above, however, this result is quite doubtful. I am afraid this hypothesis is not trustworthy regardless of the content of the original research report.

First of all, the definition of hot tea is vague. Different from coffee, many types of beverage are called "tea," such as green tea, jasmine tea, and even avocado seed tea. Each ingredient of tea is far different from each other. Some tea shares caffeine. But this study has failed to detect the association between caffeine consumption and the prevalence of glaucoma.

Second, the false positive association is possible. There are many other variables among participants potentially influencing the onset of glaucoma than tea consumption. It is possible that the researchers erroneously detected the association. I believe the authors made a statistical analysis of proper method. Nonetheless, type 1 error cannot avoid entirely.

In recent years, the effect of caffeine on the human health is in the process of clarification. But there is still no fixed conclusion. The outcome of consuming a massive amount of tea is in the mist. I recommend you taking balanced diet regularly.

Oxytocin therapy, hopeful or not?

Oxytocin is one of the hormones existing in the human body and brain. Its effects on the mind have been focused in recent years.

For example, some studies suggest injecting oxytocin enhances sympathetic emotion. It is expected to be a remedy for autistic disorders. This hypothesis was originated from the phenomenon that oxytocin is released when the person feels lovely to others, such as mothers hugging her baby.

However, the results of clinical research using this "love hormone" are controversial. Some studies showed desirable outcome, whereas others resulted in miserable failure.

Indeed, injecting oxytocin into the human body causes several adverse effects, including paradoxical phenomena.

Therefore, researchers are eager to detect a substance which can work similarly to oxytocin. An agonist to stimulate oxytocin receptor selectively would be a solution.

This direction of the research seems hopeful. A study with mice ended successfully, according to the article below.

Independent: Scientists create new ‘love hormone’ that they say could treat mental illness

Oxytocin is a hormone whose secretion has not been modified by medicine ever before. Therefore, this kind of research has a great potential, I believe. Of course, it is unlikely that adding single hormone will solve all the problems. Nonetheless,  we will be able to consider better combinations of several approaches to medical problems.

Star Wars: The last Jedi, betraying in a good sense

Star Wars is a world-famous series of SciFi movie. I saw the Episode 8: The Last Jedi on cinema at the end of the previous year.

To be honest, I do not like the new series so much. So, I did not expect the quality of this one, either.

My past entry: Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens, too respecting E4
My past entry: Rouge One: Episode 3.9 of Star Wars series

However, this work betrayed my prospect in a good sense. It included several surprises.

For people who have not seen this film, I hesitate to tell the whole story. In the beginning, members of resistance led by Princess Leia was chased by First Order. They have to escape from the dreadful tracking. Fin and Poe Dameron consider disabling the tracker equipped in the star destroyer of First Order.

At the same time, Rey visits Luke Skywalker to get Jedi Master's support. But, Luke does not accept her offer to join the resistance. He looks to feel responsible for fallen Kylo Ren into the dark side.

This plot is very similar to the Episode 5: Empire Strikes Back. I felt it a little boring, to be honest at that time.

However, the story changed rapidly with revealing several surprising facts. The relationship between Kylo and Luke was more complicated than I expected. The tactics of Fin resulted in an odd outcome. And Poe Dameron does a reckless act.

Finally, there are more astonishing events. Rey meets the Supreme Leader Snoke with Kylo Ren. This scene resembles the last battle of Luke and Darth Vador. But, the result was far different.

Totally, I was very excited during seeing the film. I never prospected the outcome of the story.

Unfortunately, my expectation regarding Captain Phasma did not realize.

Why Captain Phasma obeyed Fin’s order to unlock the shield?

The expression of this film made me feel as if the galaxy is very narrow. It is disappointing. Supreme Leader Snoke and his righthand Kylo Ren dared to ride on a star destroyer to kill Princess Leia. It is not an act of the national leader. There must be millions of battleships in the galaxy. But Poe Dameron was delighted when he sank only one Dreadnaut battleship. This figure is far from a space opera.

Lightsaber battle was also stupid. Personally, it is regrettable though this story need not the scenes of melee fighting.

Nonetheless, Episode 8 is much more fun than the previous one.

Personal Rating: 3 (fair)

My goal in 2018: Not to forget

A happy new year!

I set my personal principle every year.

2009: Responsible
2010: Deepen, widen, and take care of myself
2011: Carry out
2012: Do well
2013: Take risks
2014: Do immediately and every day
2015: Forecasting
2016: Accept and stare
2017: Temperate

Last year, I met some wonderful events. It was truly fortunate for me.

On the other hand, I had some important things forget. It caused damages to people around me. It was regrettable.

Therefore, my goal is "not to forget" the things I have learned and decided. First of all, I never forget this goal!