Did you know that ice hockey goalkeepers have no longer worn the iconic mask of Jason in the Friday the 13th series? Last week I went to see an ice hockey match for the first time. I was disappointed by the fact and somehow thought about Japanese Noh masks (please see the above image) during the match. Both of them are creepy, but in two different ways.

Tokyo Haneda airport has won No.1 since 2016 for the World's Cleanest Airports by Skytrax. Haruko Niitsu, she is a legendary cleaner in the airport who is said to play a key role to achieve the great feat.

This theme would be a critical issue especially for the business suit industry. In Japan, the industry is in danger of extinction. As time passed, office clothing became more and more casual, and less and less people wore a business suit. I think the fundamental reason for the decline would be the fact that business suits are uncomfortable.

I know we have received a lot of benefit from innovation mostly made by courageous or reckless decision-makers, but sometimes I can't help feeling that the value of being the first penguin is overestimated because of its high-risk nature. Think about it for a second: Nobody knows if such innovations can make the world richer. I think it may be better to leave it to some weirdos like Elon Musk.

Have you ever eaten mochi? If yes and you're still alive, you're blessed. Do you know how many people have lost their lives by choking on mochi in Japan? It's 300 averagely every year. We probably should prohibit or at least impose a heavy tax on mochi like narcotics and alcohol, but there has been no such momentum in the National Diet of Japan so far.

Why do bees and hornets build hexagons? If we try to fill a plane surface with a single kind of polygons, there are three options: equilateral triangles, squares, and regular hexagons. Bees and hornets go with regular hexagons because regular hexagons are best in space-efficiency and second best in strength. This is the core point of the theory. What do you think?

Do you notice anything peculiar in the above image of the big forest at the bottom of Mt. Fuji? It's moss. You can see a lot of moss on the ground. It grows on the surface of tree roots crawling on the ground. The forest soil is made of lava. The lava soil is so hard and well-drained that trees can't collect and keep water from their roots without moss.

Do you know how big the world's largest planetarium is? It's 35 m in diameter, and is located in Nagoya, Japan. Why don't you come and try one in the Mecca of planetarium? You may think there's no point of going to the planetarium when you come all the way to Japan, but planetarium shows are designed based on stars seen in the local sky. It's also something you can only experience here.

One day, I found an interesting article about a facility to support people with disabilities. The facility staff learned many waste clothes were produced from hemming up pants in UNIQLO, and asked to hand over the waste clothes. Wonderfully enough, UNIQLO kindly agreed.

Have you ever seen a Japanese elementary school bag? It's nationally-standardized in Japan. I'll tell you how Hokkaido kids use the bags to make an ice igloo.