Rob Fahey
@robfahey.net
CTO at VETA (https://veta.co.jp), where we’re building data science tools to tackle social issues. Recovering academic (formerly at Waseda). Occasional journalist. 🇮🇪/🏳️🌈/He/Him
It’s both! Some classic Nihonjinron (“intestines uniquely evolved to digest rice”) kitbashed with national victimhood conspiracy (“foreign powers, knowing about the magical rice-eating intestines, forced the importation of wheat products to weaken Japanese people’s bodies and neuter the nation”).
November 10, 2025 at 11:34 PM
It’s both! Some classic Nihonjinron (“intestines uniquely evolved to digest rice”) kitbashed with national victimhood conspiracy (“foreign powers, knowing about the magical rice-eating intestines, forced the importation of wheat products to weaken Japanese people’s bodies and neuter the nation”).
I propose a meta-review of the field, conducted by phrenological examination of the papers’ authors’ heads. Could their faces reveal why they’re so bad at doing science?
November 6, 2025 at 11:55 PM
I propose a meta-review of the field, conducted by phrenological examination of the papers’ authors’ heads. Could their faces reveal why they’re so bad at doing science?
There’s also no $250bn, but since most AI deals now seem to be pure speculative fiction they may as well get freaky with it; why NOT swap a machine god for imaginary money?
October 28, 2025 at 2:12 PM
There’s also no $250bn, but since most AI deals now seem to be pure speculative fiction they may as well get freaky with it; why NOT swap a machine god for imaginary money?
I've started dabbling in tmux + neovim as a dev environment and I'm halfway down a very deep rabbit hole of creators who insist that never using a mouse is the key to productivity with the only saving grace being the strong instinct to NEVER have facial hair like any of these people.
October 17, 2025 at 4:21 AM
I've started dabbling in tmux + neovim as a dev environment and I'm halfway down a very deep rabbit hole of creators who insist that never using a mouse is the key to productivity with the only saving grace being the strong instinct to NEVER have facial hair like any of these people.
I built the PC purely for gaming, and the second I found a work/dev thing I wanted to use it for, I installed Linux. Still not a consumer-friendly desktop OS but honestly it's not bad, and as long as you're over a fairly low hurdle of technical knowledge it's a MUCH nicer experience than Win11.
October 17, 2025 at 4:10 AM
I built the PC purely for gaming, and the second I found a work/dev thing I wanted to use it for, I installed Linux. Still not a consumer-friendly desktop OS but honestly it's not bad, and as long as you're over a fairly low hurdle of technical knowledge it's a MUCH nicer experience than Win11.
Isn't it awful? I'd been out of the Windows ecosystem for ages and assumed the complaints about Windows 11 were the usual "new thing bad" stuff, but I have a PC running it now and my GOD it's bad. It feels like using one of those cheap phones full of preinstalled intrusive spyware from your network!
October 17, 2025 at 4:06 AM
Isn't it awful? I'd been out of the Windows ecosystem for ages and assumed the complaints about Windows 11 were the usual "new thing bad" stuff, but I have a PC running it now and my GOD it's bad. It feels like using one of those cheap phones full of preinstalled intrusive spyware from your network!
Have your seen their recent marketing stuff? It leans incredibly heavily into hardware manufacture / engineering - renders of phones being assembled etc. In part trying to distract from AI failures ofc, but it also feels like positioning to say "hey, that's not our business" when the bubble pops.
October 17, 2025 at 1:41 AM
Have your seen their recent marketing stuff? It leans incredibly heavily into hardware manufacture / engineering - renders of phones being assembled etc. In part trying to distract from AI failures ofc, but it also feels like positioning to say "hey, that's not our business" when the bubble pops.
I assumed they just sucked at this and couldn't keep their promises for Siri functionality, but lately I'm starting to wonder how much of it is bungling and how much of it is down to a hefty dose of caution about letting GenAI get too intertwined in their core business.
October 17, 2025 at 1:41 AM
I assumed they just sucked at this and couldn't keep their promises for Siri functionality, but lately I'm starting to wonder how much of it is bungling and how much of it is down to a hefty dose of caution about letting GenAI get too intertwined in their core business.
(Normally when politicians go nuts for internal score settling it's due to being stuck in a bubble where that stuff plays very well and failing to see how badly it sits with the broader public... But Aso, I think, just does it for the love of the game.)
October 7, 2025 at 4:40 AM
(Normally when politicians go nuts for internal score settling it's due to being stuck in a bubble where that stuff plays very well and failing to see how badly it sits with the broader public... But Aso, I think, just does it for the love of the game.)
That's really the only kind of politics Aso has ever known, so it's pretty unsurprising. The closer to the levers of power he is, the more likely that the party descends into in-fighting and score-settling - all while being totally mystified that this somehow isn't delighting the electorate.
October 7, 2025 at 4:40 AM
That's really the only kind of politics Aso has ever known, so it's pretty unsurprising. The closer to the levers of power he is, the more likely that the party descends into in-fighting and score-settling - all while being totally mystified that this somehow isn't delighting the electorate.
(I mean that literally - it sounds like local party meetings have been absolutely miserable for a lot of lawmakers in recent years, to the point where even more of them than usual are trying to make excuses to stay in Tokyo and skip constituency events.)
October 5, 2025 at 2:25 AM
(I mean that literally - it sounds like local party meetings have been absolutely miserable for a lot of lawmakers in recent years, to the point where even more of them than usual are trying to make excuses to stay in Tokyo and skip constituency events.)
I'm not sure they were spooked by Takaichi last year, so much as by how mad their base was about the Abe Faction scandals; hence being willing to vote for the only guy in the room who clearly had scrupulously clean hands. Trying to stop their base from yelling at them is the common denominator.
October 5, 2025 at 2:23 AM
I'm not sure they were spooked by Takaichi last year, so much as by how mad their base was about the Abe Faction scandals; hence being willing to vote for the only guy in the room who clearly had scrupulously clean hands. Trying to stop their base from yelling at them is the common denominator.
Given the climate the LDP faces Koizumi may come to see this as a bullet dodged, but I bet this evening there’s a lot of anger at Hayashi in that camp - if he hadn’t split the first-round vote so much the vibes in the run-off would have been very different.
October 4, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Given the climate the LDP faces Koizumi may come to see this as a bullet dodged, but I bet this evening there’s a lot of anger at Hayashi in that camp - if he hadn’t split the first-round vote so much the vibes in the run-off would have been very different.
It strikes me that the instant second vote - no time for analysis, negotiation, or calming jangling nerves - favours knee-jerk responses. Lawmakers who'd spent weeks thinking about their first round choices saw Takaichi outperform polling in local chapter votes and had to make snap decisions.
October 4, 2025 at 1:11 PM
It strikes me that the instant second vote - no time for analysis, negotiation, or calming jangling nerves - favours knee-jerk responses. Lawmakers who'd spent weeks thinking about their first round choices saw Takaichi outperform polling in local chapter votes and had to make snap decisions.
VVD another perfect example of why watching this with any knowledge of European politics has been so tooth-grindingly frustrating - we've seen this exact scenario play out between centre-right parties and far-right challengers in a dozen countries and it never turns out any differently.
October 4, 2025 at 1:03 PM
VVD another perfect example of why watching this with any knowledge of European politics has been so tooth-grindingly frustrating - we've seen this exact scenario play out between centre-right parties and far-right challengers in a dozen countries and it never turns out any differently.
They'd definitely prefer not to, but it really depends what kind of agenda Takaichi decides to pursue. The coalition has been rocky for a while, and if she freezes them out over key issues in favour of trying to find votes from Ishin and Kokumin, it'll be hard to justify sticking with it.
October 4, 2025 at 6:56 AM
They'd definitely prefer not to, but it really depends what kind of agenda Takaichi decides to pursue. The coalition has been rocky for a while, and if she freezes them out over key issues in favour of trying to find votes from Ishin and Kokumin, it'll be hard to justify sticking with it.
I’ve spent too much time down in the weeds with the conspiracists, because I do wonder a little if some lawmakers saw this as a chance to take an awkward, divisive figure off the board by handing her a thoroughly poisoned chalice.
October 4, 2025 at 6:40 AM
I’ve spent too much time down in the weeds with the conspiracists, because I do wonder a little if some lawmakers saw this as a chance to take an awkward, divisive figure off the board by handing her a thoroughly poisoned chalice.
I’m not sure how exactly but I’m pretty sure Taylor Swift’s new album is to blame for this.
October 4, 2025 at 6:30 AM
I’m not sure how exactly but I’m pretty sure Taylor Swift’s new album is to blame for this.
At a guess the next election is going to deliver an absolute mess of a Diet. No opposition party seems to have the capacity to look like a competent government-in-waiting, but the LDP is very likely to lose even more ground nonetheless. It’s a recipe for serious instability.
October 4, 2025 at 6:29 AM
At a guess the next election is going to deliver an absolute mess of a Diet. No opposition party seems to have the capacity to look like a competent government-in-waiting, but the LDP is very likely to lose even more ground nonetheless. It’s a recipe for serious instability.
(The party that does actually lose their raison d'etre from this is Hoshuto, but they're already mid-collapse anyway so it probably doesn't make much difference.)
October 4, 2025 at 6:14 AM
(The party that does actually lose their raison d'etre from this is Hoshuto, but they're already mid-collapse anyway so it probably doesn't make much difference.)
I agree, though I wouldn't underestimate just how bad some of these people are at the kind of strategic thinking required for minority government. I do think they'll try to maintain a cordon around Sanseito, at least at first, but wouldn't be too surprised if they break it quite often.
October 4, 2025 at 6:11 AM
I agree, though I wouldn't underestimate just how bad some of these people are at the kind of strategic thinking required for minority government. I do think they'll try to maintain a cordon around Sanseito, at least at first, but wouldn't be too surprised if they break it quite often.
I don't think she'll try to work with Sanseito - Ishin is more likely. She's a boon to Sanseito though, even if she and her supporters seem to believe, naively, that her being in charge somehow negates Sanseito's raison d'etre.
October 4, 2025 at 6:09 AM
I don't think she'll try to work with Sanseito - Ishin is more likely. She's a boon to Sanseito though, even if she and her supporters seem to believe, naively, that her being in charge somehow negates Sanseito's raison d'etre.