Alone in Tokyo
22nd December 2025
I’m in Tokyo, but not alone - I’m here on holiday with my family. The title of this newsletter is a failed attempt to be clever - it’s a reference to one of my favourite movies, “Lost in Translation”. The soundtrack for the movie is great, and has a really nice song by a band called Air that’s titled Alone in Kyoto. But the movie was mainly filmed in Tokyo, so I merged the two to give me an obscure reference to the movie. As soon as I’d written it I realised it’s way too convoluted to make sense to anyone, hence this lengthy explanation!
I’m leaving Tokyo tomorrow for Kyoto, and then on to Osaka, so if anyone has any travel tips for either of those cities feel free to reply to this email and let me know about them. I’ll be taking a day trip to Hiroshima at some point, as well as celebrating the New Year in Osaka at one of the shrines, but sadly I’m far too late to order my KFC for Christmas lunch - apparently orders need to be made on November the 1st.
As I’m on holiday, I’ve not written an article for this week’s newsletter - but I have been keeping an eye out for nonsense in Tokyo as I travel around the city. Although a lot of it will fly under my radar, as I can’t read Japanese, I have spotted a suspicious-looking advert for a Brain Sleep Pillow that claims that 6 hours of sleep with the pillow gives you the “fatigue recovery” equivalent of over 7 hours with a normal pillow, as well as a loudspeaker-adorned truck on the main road in Akihabara shouting loud messages at the crowd. Presumably the messages would have been something about how the path to Salvation through Christ does not include any detours to Akihabara to purchase large-breasted anime character models or visit Maid Cafes - seemingly two of the main reasons for visiting this particular part of central Tokyo.
Finally, while writing this newlsetter with the TV on in the background, an infomercial for Vitabrid Daily GABA caught my eye. The product web page seems to have the usual weasel words when translated, like “supports” and “promotes” - presumably allowing the company to make claims about its product while also denying that they’re making any claims. A quick Google search for GABA shows that any research that has been completed so far is preliminary, and it’s not yet been shown conclusively that taking GABA orally has any positive effects on the body.
Some awesome volunteers have stepped up to fill the void and supply articles for the next two issues of the newsletter. So this week we have a response from Craig Shearer to Mike Kearsley’s question about CO2 levels. Then we have a Fortnight in Skeptical History article from Bronwyn, looking at the two weeks from today. Following that Hamish Dickson has looked at an old skeptical favourite, Ken Ring, to see if his earthquake predictions for 2025 have passed muster. And finally Bronwyn has written a review of the TV Show “The Manhattan Alien Abduction” - a show we critiqued on the last episode of our podcast, and one that both Bronwyn and I would recommend you don’t take the time to watch.
We also now have Early Bird tickets on sale for our 2026 Conference, featuring the cast of the Skeptics Guide to the Universe podcast and more - if you’re looking for an unusual last-minute gift for someone who’s science-minded, or fancy treating yourself, you can get your tickets here:
