I wonder how Japan’s newest attempt at making things for lonely people would respond to a presentation of the Gospel? (Okay, it’s not really for lonely people, but what would you do with it?)

Leave it to Bobo to bring whatever naive dreams of entering a sleek and safe country like Japan crashing to the ground.

Here’s a little snippet (no pun intended) of some recent crime, of a grisly sort, on the upswing in Japan.

UPDATE: and then there’s this….

There’ve been no known kidnappings of foreigners within Japan.  The link provided details from one “K&R (Kidnap and Ransom) Extortion Report,” a dossier that helps insurance carriers figure their costs for those they insure who are traveling overseas.

Cheers to Corey for doing his due diligence on risk-management.  You da man!

(forgive the subtitles’ occasional lack of decorum !)

got those two categories of what Japanese concern themselves with backwards. Honne is the inner self–tatamae, the outward appearance. Anyway, here’s a little more background.

Note also the phenomenon mentioned in the article of Hikikomori .  See any parallels in American culture?