Ideasabound

So Japan has a new prime minister; the 8th since 2000. Many feel that Japan has a high rotation of Prime Ministers which has created uncertainty in the economy, a lack of coherent policies and distrust for government in general. But the real complaint coming from people, especially those who do not understand the system is, "Why does Japan change Prime Ministers more often than most people buy new cell phones?"  But really, how does Japan compare to other parliamentary governments? I decided to crunch the numbers on the number of Prime Ministers since 1945 (end of WWII) and the average number of days per Prime Minister. I compared Japan , The United Kingdom , Canada , Australia , New Zealand , Denmark , India , Thailand and Italy . (data from Wikipedia) Average Days in Office since 1945   Days   Days   Japan  708   Denmark  1322   United Kingdom  1776   India  1296   Canada  2346   Thailand  571   Australia  1530   Italy  615  Ne

This was a spur of the moment thing. I was drinking with members of a local parents group at a snack called "Fuji". I noticed that Fuji, like many the other "snack" in Kashimo, only served beer, whisky, shochu, tea and juices. They have some fruit drinks but no cocktails. I decided to create a drink similar to the Bloody Mary using only what was available in front of me. Kashimo tomato juice is naturally sweet and can only be consumed in small portions. So I wondered how can I take this and change it into something with a little kick. That kick came from Nishi Kata shochu which is also made in Kashimo. The sour touch comes from Yuzu (Japanese Citron). This was created on August 20th at a "snack" called Fuji in Kashimo, a part of Nakatsugawa city. The name refers to Kohide mountain, the highest point in Kashimo. This was a spur of the moment thing. I noticed that Fuji as well as the other "snack" in Kashimo only served beer, whisky, shochu