Brazil has cut the 6-day workweek. Workers cannot work 6-day weeks anymore. They must not work more than 5 days a week. Also the workweek is now capped at 40 hours. The Brazilian president wrote: “ending the 6x1 schedule is about more than changing working hours. It means more time to live, rest, be with family, watch your children grow up, look after yourself and enjoy life". Japan should do this too, no?? The change had 70% support of the Brazilian people. There is an ele

Ethiopia has planted 47 billion trees in the last 7 years and aims to plant 3 billion more by 2030. This includes planting 800 million trees in one day in August this year. Over 100 years ago, 35-40% of Ethiopia was forest. By 1989, forests were less than 3% of Ethiopia. In 2023, forests are back up to 23.6%. Fish, birds, gazelles and wild dogs are making a return. It is nice to write about the good things happening in the world. billion: 10億 to plant, to be planted: 植える、植え

Some of the giant Tortoises Some good news, scientists have counted around 180,000 giant tortoises on a small island in Seychelles. In the 1800s the population of tortoises was as low as 1,000. So that is a huge comeback! There are more tortoises now than people! The (human) population of Seychelles is around 120,000. More plans are in place to help the tortoises further. They plan to eradicate feral cats and rats who eat the eggs and tortoise babies. Go the tortoises! Al

The opening of the new police station A debate has been going on for some time. What should Austria do with the apartment where Hitler was born? Hitler was born in a small Austrian town on the border close to Germany. The apartment where he was born was visited by many neo-Nazis. Neo-Nazis want the return of Nazism... After much debate, the building was renovated and opened as a police station. I hope that will stop the neo-Nazis... Read more here: https://www.theguardian.

A chef in South Korea served a dessert with ant powder. Ants are not an approved insect, so it is illegal to serve in South Korea. The chef could go to prison. The restaurant is in Gangnam in Seoul. The restaurant is a two-star Michelin restaurant. Michelin stars are the most prestigious awards given to restaurants. Michelin restaurants have 1, 2 or 3 stars. Three stars are the best. The ants were used to add flavour to a sorbet dessert. Sorbets are a kind

Sam Neill has died. Sam Neill was a famous actor born in Northern Ireland but lived in New Zealand. He was famous for many different roles in movies but perhaps most famously Jurassic Park (1993). A revolutionary film for its special effects. Also, he lived close to Queenstown in New Zealand and came to the supermarket I worked at many times. I never spoke to him directly... I wish I had said "hello" or told him "Jurassic Park was great!". Goodbye Sam... I'l

Nuigurumi Shrine (plush/cuddly toy shrine) In Shintoism, everything has a god. The sea, the sky, the mountains,... there are gods for everything. Today I learned there are gods for cuddly toys! Cuddly toys (or plush toys) are soft toys loved by kids and adults. Most children have a few cuddly toys, but many adults keep and treasure them too. Now there is a shrine for those toys. Nuigurumi Shrine is in Nantan city, Kyoto prefecture. People can have ceremonies for their cudd

Shoko Kawata A mayor in Japan will take maternity leave and it made some people upset. In May, Shoko Kawata announced she will take maternity leave to give birth. She is the mayor of Yawata in Kyoto prefecture. In Japan, women can take maternity leave, but that doesn’t apply to mayors. She plans to take 4 months off and her deputy mayor will take on responsibilities in that time. Her announcement caused headlines across Japan as she will be the first mayor to take maternit

One of the pumps working A company in the Artic is trying to strengthen the sea ice. They pump water up onto the ice on cold days to that the water will freeze then thicken and strengthen the ice at the beginning of summer. This is a test to see if they can do it on a larger scale. The test area was a small patch of sea in the sea near Canada. The test area stayed frozen while the water around melted. It is possible that there will be no sea ice in the summer in the next f

Japan have drawn their first World Cup game 2-2 against the Netherlands. The game was a hard-fought battle with Japan equalising in the 89th minute. The Netherlands got the first goal through a header from Virgil van Dijk. Nakamura scored to make it 1-1 just 6 minutes later. Summerville scored to put the Netherlands back in the lead at 64 minutes. It looked like the Netherlands would keep all the points and take control of Group F. But on the 89th minute, Kamada’s deflecte

Julián Quiñones scoring the opening goal Mexico have beaten South Africa 2-0 in the first game of the World Cup. South Africa had two players sent off. Mexico also had a player red carded...　That's not great for both teams... Mexico weren't great but played much better than South Africa. I hope the World Cup improves later as this game wasn't the best. Read more here: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jun/11/mexico-south-africa-world-cup-2026-group-a-match-report to

Just before the ball bounces off Jo Adell's head. One of the strangest homeruns in baseball happened last week. Jo Adell of the Los Angeles Angels tried to catch a hit, but he missed it and it bounced off his head for a homerun! The single homerun took Colorado to 8-0. They won the game 8-2 in the end. Adell said "[...]it was kind of the icing on the cake because I was (bad) [...] the whole day today.” More comedy homeruns please! I love it! Check the video and read more

Scottsbluff, Nebraska A dog has shot a woman in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. The accident happened at a petrol station. The dog was in the back of a truck and walked over a shotgun in the back seat. The gun went off and hit a woman outside. The woman hit was in car on the road. She had her arm out of the window and a pellet hit her. Her injury was not serious. It is illegal to carry loaded weapons in cars in Nebraska. Read more here: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/

Freedom Gundam ZGMF-X10A Justice Gundam ZGMF-X09A Shirakawa Daruma Sohonpo in Fukushima have just announced Gundam Daruma! Daruma are small carved wooden doll heads. Traditionally when you buy one, you paint a pupil on one of the eyes and make a wish. When your wish comes true, you paint in the other pupil. There are two types: Justice and Freedom. They also come in two sizes, a small at 15cm and a larger one at 18cm. The large ones are 4,950yen and the smaller ones are 3,3

Kids and adults taking part On 17th May at Sagae city in Yamagata, there was a rugby event that was a little unusual. Local kids and adults played rugby in a rice paddy! The field had not yet had rice planted in it. Maybe they did it to get the field ready, I don't know... but around 40 locals of different ages played rugby in the muddy paddy. It looks like a lot of fun! Read more: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20260519/p2a/00m/0na/015000c rice paddy: 水田 unusual: 珍し

Greg the frog A farmer in Australia found a live frog in a salad bag. The frog was completely sealed into the bag. Seemingly it was fine! The flatmates in Australia didn't believe him when he said "Oh Bro, there’s a frog in the lettuce." They named the frog Greg and later released him into a nearby pond. The supermarket said sorry and gave him a new bag of salad! Watch the video and read more here: https://apnews.com/article/australia-frog-lettuce-salad-esperance-4134acf75

Neutral countries - shade shows year The world needs more neutral countries. Neutral countries are all different but generally they will not join overseas wars. Japan should remain neutral. Japan has the self-defense force. The self-defense force has one of the biggest navies in the world. The self-defense force is very strong and should be maintained, perhaps expanded. Japan should defend itself. That is not in debate. But Japan should continue to refuse to deploy ships, s

The bus after it was stopped A 14-year-old boy stole a bus and drove it for more than 300km. He has how stolen a bus three times! The first time he drove it for around 3 hours and then returned the bus. The second time he drove to Sweden (approximately 120km, 1 hour 20 minutes). This time he drove for more than 3 hours past Kristiansand to the south of Oslo. Thankfully the buses he stole were empty and had no passengers. In Norway, you have to be 18 years old to learn to d

I know that guy! - a Neanderthal Neanderthals drilled teeth! 60,000 years ago they did dentist work... Isn't that amazing?? Neanderthals died off around 40,000 years ago. Scientists have found evidence of deep holes in teeth from 60,000 years ago. They were probably made by sharp thin stone tools. The evidence suggests that the person survived and continued to eat food for years after the hole was made. Cutting the hole might have taken 30 to 40 minutes and would have been

2026 Champion Sébastien Bérard (right) Lightsaber dueling is getting more popular in Europe. Lightsabers are the swords used in the Star Wars universe. They are laser swords that can kill instantly. In France it is an official sport. Some people want it to become an olympic sport. There are many tournaments across Europe. What do you think? Do you want to try lightsaber dueling?? Darth Vader with his lightsaber A video from a championship in France 3 years ago:...