freetime2

While at an outdoor event this year on a very hot day early in the season - before my body had time to adapt to the summer heat - I got a warning from my Apple Watch that my heart was elevated even though I didn’t appear to be moving. My heart was up over 120 BPM just standing around.

I went to my car, turned on the AC, and drank some water. My heart rate went back to normal, but it was pretty unnerving.

The scarier thing was this was a youth sports tournament. These kids are playing all-day tournaments in 33C+ heat (and sometimes 36C+) for a solid two months of the year. While they may cope with the heat better than I do, I worry it’s only a matter of time before tragedy strikes.

That being said, this year I am making an effort to rely less on AC and do some moderate exercise in the heat to increase my tolerance.

Kind of reminds me a bit of the story from Better Call Saul. Someone who has the ability and opportunity to earn an honest living, but is addicted to endorphin rush of taking risks, cheating the system, fame, etc.

I don't really know anybody like that, but there are certainly aspects of that personality that I can understand. I've never had much desire to get into bitcoin, meme stocks, prediction markets, and other forms of gambling - though at times I have felt a bit of FOMO.

Another aspect I liked about the story is that when he goes from being a failure to being a success (at least in his own mind and to his followers) - despite having the same qualities that he has had for the whole story - he goes from being a character that you pity to one that you resent.

Yeah there are two convenience stores that I know of within about an hour of me that are a bit defensive of their toilets.

One is near a popular fishing spot, and probably got tired of people coming in smelling like dead fish, using the toilet, and not buying anything. They have a big sign saying the toilets are for customers only, and a map with directions to nearby public toilets. They don't actually lock the doors, though.

The other one I'm not really sure what their reasoning is, but the owner installed a button behind the counter to remotely unlock the bathroom door, and you have to ask the guy behind the counter to use the toilet. There are a ton of 1-star reviews on Google mentioning the toilet situation.

But other than those two I don't think I've ever had an issue using a toilet at a convenience store.

Also on a side note - it's pretty hilarious reading reviews of convenience stores in Japan. Lots of 1 star reviews because someone was cut in line, the worker didn't say thank you on the way out, the manner in which the worker placed items in the bag, an item was not microwaved enough, etc.

Kind of a loose interpretation of "hotel" - but on Mt. Fuji the huts charge to use toilets unless you're a guest. Not unreasonable, though, given the amount of people coming through and the lack of plumbing. And the last time I was there, most of the huts still worked on the honor system, with a little box at the toilet entrance to leave payment.

Generally the norm is to have a recycling bin for cans and plastic bottles right next to every vending machine (or group of machines). At least that’s the case 99% of the time when I buy a drink at a vending machine. And vendors that sell food/drinks will typically allow you to dispose of any remaining trash when you are finished.

In heavily touristed areas, though, it’s become a topic of much outrage on social media where people are illegally dumping garbage in recycling bins. A lot of times foreigners are blamed - and to be fair there are lots of videos out there of foreigners disposing of trash incorrectly - but of course it’s not just foreigners who are responsible. And this illegal dumping seems to have led to some vendors not putting out recycling bins in heavily touristed areas.

A new law was passed in December 2025, in response to increasing amounts of litter in some areas of Tokyo, which requires vendors who sell food to install trash cans. It also imposed new fines for littering [1]. So possibly the area where you experienced this issue has already seen some improvement in the past year. However, the linked article also says that vending machine operators in those areas were already required by law to put out recycling bins.

I’ve also noticed that a lot of people will just leave a can on the ground next to the vending machine if no bin is provided (or if the bin is full). The expectation is generally that if you sell some food or drink item, you also should accept the trash after it’s consumed, even if it's not legally required. So it seems like vendors are “punished” with a pile of trash for breaking that social contract, or people just otherwise feel entitled.

On a similar note, if you ever buy food from a food truck or stall, the vendor will usually happily dispose of any trash when you’re finished - even if they don’t explicitly put a trash can out.

In my opinion though public trash cans and public toilets aren’t really equivalent. It may be inconvenient, but you can always just hold onto trash until you reach a suitable place to dispose of it. But when it comes to using the toilet - and especially for children or people with certain disabilities - there’s a limit to how long you can hold it in.

[1] https://soranews24.com/2025/12/11/tokyo-considering-law-requ...

Public toilets are one thing that I really appreciate about living in Japan. It seems like you're never too far away from a toilet - whether it be in a neighborhood park, a roadside parking area, train station, convenience store, etc. And they tend to be pretty clean (at least as far as public restooms go), not something that I dread using like I do many public restrooms in the US.

Japan seems to be just about a best-case scenario, due to the ubiquity of convenience stores, the government's seemingly high prioritization of building and maintaining public toilets, and a culture which places a high value on cleanliness.

It seems like it would be hard to replicate in countries that lack clean and plentiful public toilets without changing the culture first. But reading another comment it sounds like China has made great strides in improving the state of their public toilets due to a strong push from leadership. So it is possible, but again it would start with actually wanting to improve things.

I've decided to leave my current company. It's mostly the result of burnout from working many years at an unsatisfying job, but the advent of AI has certainly exacerbated things. I no longer need the income (although it's certainly nice), and recently have begun to dread the start of every work day. It's time for a change.

I may just get out of the tech industry altogether. But I'm also tempted to try my hand at an indie dev project that I have in mind. With AI, it seems like it would be easier than ever to get a new project off the ground. And I don't really mind AI-assisted development personally. It's mainly all the organizational and interpersonal disruption that is giving me a headache at the moment.

What's astonishing to me is how quickly people at my workplace have adopted this habit. Six months ago my manager was vociferously complaining about his boss asking him to review a lengthy document that was clearly AI generated, saying that his boss wasn't even capable of understanding the document the LLM had created. Now the majority of technical communication I get from my manager is just a transcript exported directly from ChatGPT.

Recently on a call with a junior coworker where they asked me to look at some changes they had made, they were completely unable to answer any questions that I asked on their own. The way the conversation went was: I ask a question, they type my question into a ChatGPT prompt, we read the output together and discuss whether it makes sense. This is a person I've had great discussions with in the past, and who has frequently had really good insights, but seems to have completely tapped out.

To be fair, the outputs from ChatGPT tend to be quite good. It's the inputs people give it where problems most often arise - and people seem far too eager to charge ahead with a vibe coded solution built on invalid or incomplete inputs/assumptions. And it's shocking to see how quickly and willingly people have handed over control to LLMs.

> And unlike most closed end leases, it doesn't seem like you have to option to buy it out

Reading through the end-of-lease options, this actually seems like a very buyer-friendly leasing program. There is no additional charge for leasing - the cost to buy out the phone at any point is always just the original purchase price minus any lease payments you've already made. And you don't even have to do anything at the end of the lease, they'll just keep charging you normal monthly payments for up to 6 months after the lease ends (after which point they'll just charge you the remainder of the purchase price less any payments you've made).

> At the end of your initial lease term, you can do one of the following:

> Upgrade and return your current device.

> Leave the program and return your current device.

> Buy the device outright with a one-time payment from your Klarna account.

> If you don’t take any of these actions, your lease will be extended month-to-month for up to six months from the end of your initial lease term to decide which option is right for you. During this time, you’ll be charged your monthly payment until you take action. If a trade-in credit was applied to your lease at the time of enrollment, your payments will also increase during this six-month period because the credit is applied only to your initial lease term. If no action is taken at the end of the six-month period, Klarna will charge you the purchase option fee under your lease to buy the device outright, which equals the full price of the device at lease signing less the sum of lease payments you've already made (plus tax).

I think Apple already makes it pretty easy to trade in an old iPhone when you buy a new phone. And they already offer financing with 0% APR. That seems like a better path to me, with greater optionality if you decide to hold onto the phone for an additional year or two after it is paid off - which I generally do since smartphone tech has matured to the point where there isn't much benefit to upgrading every one or two years.

Although this lease offer does offer lower monthly payments than financing (as you would expect with a lease, since you're only renting rather than buying a phone) if that's more important to you than total cost of ownership. And may be available to customers who wouldn't otherwise qualify for Apple's financing (which requires an Apple credit card, or a carrier agreement). It's also a 0 money factor - the cost to buy out the phone at lease-end is just the purchase price minus the sum of lease payments made - which is pretty generous.

I have no issues with leasing in theory, as long as the customer understands the trade offs. But in practice I think it often results in consumers buying more than they afford, and costing themselves money in the long run.

The title is “Your Key to Success Isn't More Luck or Hard Work”, but I would hardly consider a 20% increase the “key” to anything.

It’s some combination of all the above plus some additional dimensions like decision making, etc.

From the article:

> Duffy added that many current trainees started out as gamers. Only about 25% of controllers hold a traditional college degree, while former controllers note that gaming requires many of the same skills that air traffic controllers use on the job, such as thinking quickly, staying focused and managing multiple sources of information as they guide more than 80,000 flights to their destinations daily.

There is also a rigorous application process to get into the training program that only 10% of applicants pass:

> Among the criteria to become a controller are to hold U.S. citizenship, be under the age of 31 and pass the FAA air traffic pre-employment tests.

> Aspiring controllers must also pass an exam that the FAA says predicts candidates' "aptitude to be an air traffic controller." Within a week, they are notified if they have passed.

> Historically, fewer than 10% of applicants met the FAA's requirements to work as an air traffic controller and gain admission to the agency's training program.

So if gamers on average tend to be younger, and do better on the aptitude test than the general population, I think it makes sense to target them with recruitment campaigns to attempt to increase the number of qualified applicants coming into the funnel. Presumably non-gamers are also still welcome to apply.

And if it doesn’t work out and gamers don’t end up getting accepted at a higher rate than anyone else, then it’s no great loss, either.

Just to keep things in perspective - it's common among people that move to Japan to suffer psychiatric distress similar to Paris syndrome. People build up an idealized view of Japan from watching anime, etc. - and then when they actually move to Japan they find that reality is very different. They find themselves in a foreign country unable to speak the language, with no family to support them, very few career prospects, etc. This can cause depression and other serious mental issues. Reddit is full of stories like this.

Regarding the issue with idols needing to conceal their relationships, you need to keep in mind that the whole "idol" industry basically caters to the Japanese equivalent of "incels" - men who have trouble socializing and who are often emotionally underdeveloped - not the broader Japanese population. I've seen similar unrealistic expectations and coddled behavior from subcultures in the US, such as gamers. (To be clear - I'm not criticizing all gamers here, just certain controversies within the subculture that have gained media attention in recent years).

I think this article is quite overblown. I don't think this is causing as many problems as the article implies. It's basically just quoting a few opinions from social media - where "sunehara" is used as more of a funny, tongue-in-cheek buzzword than to imply actual harassment. There are probably a hundred different usages of "hara" - sometimes for very serious meanings like "sekuhara" (sexual harassment), and sometimes for more lighthearted things like "nuhara" (noodle harassment, or slurping noodles loudly). "Sunehara" is very much toward the lighthearted end of the spectrum.

The survey they quote was conducted by a men's beauty salon that sells hair removal services - not exactly unbiased and there is also no mention of sampling size or methodology:

> A survey conducted in June by Gorilla Clinic, a men's beauty salon, found that 53.5% of respondents – most of whom were women – opposed wearing shorts at work.

Women may find hairy legs unattractive, but so what. You're in the office to work. And wearing a suit in 40c temps is just silly.

But women have long been shaving their legs, and I think a lot of men would also say it's unattractive if women wore shorts with hairy legs. So before men get too outraged, it's worth acknowledging the double standard here.

And recently a lot of young men in Japan are shaving their legs. Even as young as elementary school, boys are removing hair on their legs to emulate their idols in pro soccer, etc. That seems to be the current fashion trend even before the government started encouraging people to wear shorts to work.

Being able to pick light and travel with minimal belongings is a great skill to have. But on the other hand, if your itinerary looks like home -> car -> plane -> car -> hotel, then you can pretty much go nuts bringing big checked suitcases with as much junk as you think you might need. Just keep the essentials in a carry-on in case the airline loses a bag.

I love this. I feel like there’s a business and/or product line here if it doesn’t already exist (hamster habitats with integrated cameras).

I don’t know anything about fashion. I suppose it’s possible that with the right wristband, matching outfit, and on the correct occasion - it could be a fashion statement, I don’t know.

But I’ve just always worn watches anyway for telling time, have an affinity for gadgets, and consider the Apple Watch as just a more capable wrist watch. I’m sure the way I wear it - with an extremely worn out and faded “trail loop” band - is extremely unfashionable. But I still like it.

I just checked and it looks like Cross Country Skiing is an option now.

But yeah I think Garmin and other smart watches are definitely preferred by serious athletes (and people who don't like charging their watch daily). Whereas I mostly just use my Apple Watch as a way to get notifications and as a glorified step tracker.

Also in that thread:

> amazingly I can find no way to turn this behavior off at all, never mind a more fine-grained control like, say, "ignore this event while the app I use to time my runs is in the foreground"

> (there is a global toggle for "device protections" that ostensibly includes this, but it was set to off to begin with so ???)

In a somewhat similar vein, I find that when I use my Apple Watch to track a hike, it will frequently auto pause or ask me if I've finished when I'm climbing slowly up a steep ascent. It annoys the heck out of me because that's often when I'm working hardest. My watch is also tracking my heart rate - and I think it's pretty safe to assume that if my HR is holding steady at 150 BPM then I have not stopped for a break.

Or at least give me the option to turn off Auto Pause/Auto End just for hiking workouts - instead I have to turn off the feature for all workouts. But I suppose that level of customization would be very un-Apple.

The world of appliances is littered with these "smart" features that purport to make life more convenient, but are implemented so crudely that they end up causing more trouble than they solve.

As someone who isn't a type nerd, I think a more apt title would be "The Title Cards in Blade Runner are Thoughtfully Executed."

Yeah I think lawn mowing is not the best way to get people thinking about efficient pathfinding. I was initially more focused on creating clean lines, and I didn't even realize the goal was to minimize the number of moves until I was half way through the task, and started zig-zagging (yes, I skipped the intro text... my bad).

Something like delivering newspapers would be a better problem I think - although I suppose you then you get into optimizations like preferring right-hand turns, etc. I wonder what would be the most simple and intuitive demonstration of the traveling salesman problem.

The change to $750 just took effect July 1st. I suspect we're going to see some big discounts down to $400 or less around Black Friday and periodically at other times of the year.

pCloud, a cloud storage provider who offers lifetime plans, uses a similar strategy.

Basically I think they are putting the $750 price out there a) for anyone who is dumb enough to pay it, and b) as a way to make limited-time discounts and the annual plan seem like better deals by comparison.

According to this Forbes article [1], Plex earns the majority of their revenue from selling ads in their streaming platform:

> Valory said that Plex, which currently does not disclose financial information, generates roughly 20 percent of its revenues from member subscriptions, which unlock premium capabilities of its media platform, compared to 80 percent from the ad business.

So possibly they are just trying to extract as much money as possible from their "legacy" userbase while they can, with the expectation that people hosting their own media libraries are a dwindling market.

Looking at their different features offered in different pricing plans [2], it seems like their strategy is to make money on sharing media libraries with friends and family. $70/year isn't a huge amount to simplify streaming to other (non-technical) people on a variety of different devices. And I suspect some plex users are charging for their access to their media libraries - even if it's something informal like accepting donations or asking for a payment on venmo - in which case the fees would just be a small operating cost.

[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/robsalkowitz/2024/04/17/venerab...

[2] https://www.plex.tv/plans/

Recently Plex increased the cost of a new Lifetime Plex Pass to $750 [1]. It seems like they really want to get most users paying recurring monthly or annual fees. But to me at least that kind of goes against the whole purpose of hosting my own media library.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to Jellyfin for offering an alternative!

[1] https://www.plex.tv/blog/new-lifetime-plex-pass-pricing/

Unfortunately that title is already reserved in the US for Homer Simpson.

¥13/kWh is a very good rate. Does that include fuel adjustment and renewable energy surcharge?

My current overnight rate is about ¥21/kWh after factoring in those adjustments - so yes if I could charge at ¥13/kWh that would be a sigicant difference. I'm not aware of any providers that offer that rate in my region, though (electricity here tends to be more expensive than the national average).

I actually reran my calculations and it looks like running my car on electricity is about 40% less expensive per km than gasoline, which is better than I expected. While that's significant if I'm just looking at fuel costs, it's not that significant when I look at total cost of ownership. And I do expect electricity to have less of an advantage in winter, when waste heat from combustion can be used to heat the car.

First, I'll point out that EV sales in Japan have doubled in the first half of 2026 due to increased government subsidies which took effect in January. [1] This has greatly reduced the cost difference between EVs and gasoline cars, which I think was a major reason people weren't buying EVs. Things may be changing.

Toyota has also finally started to make compelling EVs with the bZ4X and bz4X Touring, which could help drive sales. There has definitely been a lack of good options among Japanese manufacturers.

But charging infrastructure still sucks, at least where I live.

Electricity is also quite expensive. I did the math on my PHEV - and even if I only charge overnight when electricity rates are lowest, I don't save very much over using gasoline.

Kei cars are really popular (about 38% of car sales) [4], and get about 21 km/l (50mpg). Gasoline is subsidized by the government and costs ¥170 per liter ($4 per gallon). The price to fill a 27 liter tank is ¥4,650 ($29). Kei cars are all around pretty affordable, and there isn't much to save in the way of operating costs by driving an EV.

Minivans are also really popular with families. If I look at a list of best-selling car models (excluding kei cars), 5 of the top 10 are Minivans. [3] The only EV minivan currently on sale in Japan is the Volkswagen ID Buzz, which starts at around ¥9M ($55k), and is out of reach of most Japanese families.

Another factor at least where I live is that 4WD models are pretty popular due to snow and mountains (it's a hard requirement for me). 4WD is available on most gasoline cars sold in Japan, and is a pretty inexpensive option. On EVs getting a car with 4WD requires stepping up to an expensive "performance" trim, if it's available at all. On EV kei cars like the Nissan Sakura or the Honda N-One E 4WD isn't even an option.

[1] https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/business/companies/20260707-...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kei_car

[3] https://www.best-selling-cars.com/japan/2025-full-year-japan...

[4] https://www.autonergy.co/blog/kei-cars-japan-explained

EV sales have doubled in Japan in the first half of 2026. [1] This has been spurred by some pretty large subsidies:

> In January this year, the government raised the maximum subsidy for EVs by ¥400,000 to ¥1.3 million. While the maximum subsidy for minicar EVs remained unchanged at ¥580,000, many domestic models are receiving the full subsidy amount.

> One EV model benefiting from this subsidy system is Honda Motor Co.’s compact Super-ONE, launched in late May. Originally priced at about ¥3.39 million, including tax, it can be purchased for ¥2.09 million — on par with minicar EVs — when the subsidy is applied. Demand has been overwhelming, with some dealerships temporarily suspending acceptance of orders.

> The Tokyo metropolitan government raised its subsidy cap in July in response to rising crude oil prices caused by the deteriorating situation in the Middle East. Models from Toyota, Honda and Nissan, in principle, can receive subsidies of ¥900,000 or more per vehicle.

If they keep up with these subsidies, I think we could see some pretty rapid adoption of EVs. Charging infrastructure still needs to improve, though.

PHEVs are also eligible for subsidies, with the price of PHEVs being comparable to the cost of a HEV after subsidies. I think this can also help to get people used to the idea of driving EVs and charging at home.

[1] https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/business/companies/20260707-...