Japanese Story
Mark Honeychurch - 5th January 2026
Okay, so the title of this newsletter issue is another reference to a movie I like - but this reference is much more direct. “Japanese Story” is an Australian movie from 2003, starring Toni Collette, that tugged on my heartstrings when I watched it maybe 20 years ago.
I’m continuing my travels in Japan, and have to say that I’ve quite fallen in love with this country. An article that appeared in one of my social media feeds a few days ago summed it up quite nicely - Japan is a country that is naturally welcoming to introverts, as much of their infrastructure is built around not having to interact with other people. There’s self-checkout at many shops, self-ordering systems in restaurants, robot waiters, vending machines everywhere, “tap and go” gates for most transport nationwide, and much more. And all of these systems work with Japan’s simple contactless payment system, which originally covered train travel but now works on buses, trams, monorails and boats, as well as in shops, restaurants and vending machines. When you do have to interact with others, it’s always polite and deferential, with both sides being very mindful of the other person. I’m sure I’ve made a few embarrassing faux pas, but overall I’ve felt like my general anxiety in unfamiliar social situations has fit in well with how this country operates.
Given how busy my time has been in Japan - I was in Hiroshima a couple of days ago, and I’m off to Ghibli Park tomorrow - I haven’t managed to put together an article of my own. But, as I said a couple of weeks ago, thanks to some great contributions we still have a great collection of pieces for you to read. We start with another Skeptical History piece from Bronwyn, again covering the period from today until a fortnight’s time. Then we have an article from Katrina about people attempting to use AI to help them in court cases - both here in NZ and overseas. Patrick has written a book review of “Nature’s Last Dance”, as well as giving us some of his more general thoughts about climate change and CO2 levels. And finally we have the final part of John Maindonald’s excellent online book, “What Do the Data Say? – Traps to Avoid”, taken from chapter 9 - “Critiquing scientific claims”.