Holy Holidays Batman! 7-11 closed on shogatsu! "HIGASHI-OSAKA, Japan — Mitoshi Matsumoto, the most famous 7-Eleven convenience store owner in Japan, wants to do something unthinkable in his 24-hour, 7-day-a-week industry: Take a day off. That’s why, he says, 7-Eleven is trying to put him out of business. His decision in February to shorten store hours inspired other franchisees to demand that 7-Eleven allow them to do the same. But the company has been slow to change, he said, so he decided to take New Year’s off in protest. Mr. Matsumoto announced in November his plans to close up shop so he and his two full-time employees could take off New Year’s Day, Japan’s most important holiday, after years of working 14-hour days with few breaks. But on Dec. 20, 7-Eleven’s parent company told him that his store had received more customer complaints than any other in Japan. He had 10 days to address the issues, it said, or the location would be closed. But even as convenience store owners are suffering under increasingly long hours, the country’s three biggest convenience store chains — 7-Eleven, Lawson and FamilyMart — have been reluctant to change the 24-hour schedule that Japanese shoppers have come to expect." https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/30/business/7-eleven-japan-work.html
Neil Peart has passed away. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/neil-peart-rush-obituary-936221/?ICID=ref_fark
Haruppi, Mako, and I are watching the same tv series (although I am a few weeks behind as I get the subbed version on my local channel). H: I recently watched a drama about a chef, so I want to cook. The title is "Grand Maison Tokyo". https://www.instagram.com/p/B7LbqfcB4q_/ and Mako retweeted from the show at the end of last year. https://twitter.com/gurame_tbs/status/1199272753968234496 https://www.tbs.co.jp/grandmaisontokyo/
I really wish this was joke. https://www.tmz.com/2020/01/26/kobe-bryant-killed-dead-helicopter-crash-in-calabasas
I'm feeling with you too. I saw Bryant play at the London 2012 Olympics Basketball Final when the USA beat Spain 107-100, he was wearing the #10 shirt. I've just been sorting through some photos I took that day, I was high up in the arena with a cr*ppy camera, but this selection of pictures does show him reasonably clearly. Here's a full-length video of the game from the official Olympics YT channel: if the video does not show watch the video here