When reading about a new artist (offline) in a music magazine or newspaper, I often find myself wishing that I could hear a sample of that artist's music as I read the article or interview.

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare is apparently considering a proposal to publicly honor wealthy retirees who decide not to collect their pension. Currently a pensioner who starts collecting their payments cannot opt out of the system, but the new proposal will allow wealthier pensioners to opt in and out depending on their feeling of financial well-being.

Having cancer at any age is a shock, but it is never worse than when found in a child. Among Japan's roughly 20m kids under the age of 15, about 1,600 of them have the most common form of cancer in children -- Leukemia. Of the various types of this blood disease, approximately 80% have Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) and 20% Acute Myelocytic Leukemia (AML).

Informed of the renovation of flophouses in Kotobukicho, a stone's throw from JR's Ishikawacho Station in Yokohama, I visited the Yokohama Hostel Village (YHV), on the second road from the canal. The kind people at YHV fixed me up with a room in Hayashi Kaikan, a renovated flophouse, for 3,000 yen a night...