#japan stimulus

[thr0wnawayy]

Incidents

Page 197 of 227 <- | ->

Below is the last known picture of Eri (aged 15)

Incident Report

Witnesses: 2A Student [asked to remain anonymous]

Reporter: Chiyo Shuzenji, ID: Recovery Girl

Reporter's note:

Student confessed to sneaking in the dorms on a dare after some prodding. Due to providing evidence, this was not added to their record and it will be kept as such. - R.G

_______________________________________

Description of Events

Former student, at the time intern: Izuku Midoriya (21) was seen following Eri Aizawa (12) from behind throughout the teacher dormitories, seeming to be arguing with her.

Eri maintained an aggressive, brisk walk while Midoriya paced slightly slower behind her. Witness only heard part of the conversation:

"How can you say that Midoriya!?, it's his fault they're dead!"

[note the usage of surname]- Hornet

"E-Eri Chan, look I know things are looking grim-"

"Looking grim!?." (She turns around, Eri is visibly crying) "Midorya, 27 people are dead!. You can't keep doing this. You can't keep covering for him!."

"Eri, I Know-" (dialougue lost as student found hiding spot)

"For fucks sake Midoriya, he blew up a school!. Somebody's kid is dead because of him and you-keep-doing-this-shit! (Her fist bangs against the nearby wall with each '-')"

(Midoriya looks shocked at her reaction, Eri continues to yell. student moves in pursuit, parts of the covo were lost as a result)

"I'm done, I'm fucking done!. You didn't say anything when _ died, you didn't move when Japan lost it's industry or when-"

(Student secures a new position)

[Midoriya replies with something but is temporarily obscured, muffling his response]

"Oh, but now that you can be of use to him, you think he'll suddenly think of you as something other than a "Deku"!?"

(There's a moment of silence as Eri's expression turns somber, she shakes her head and begins to turn. Midoriya wears a blank expression)

"I can't believe I ever believed in you." (Eri begins to walk away)

As Eri walks away, nearly out of the students view, Midoriya speaks. Though it was too quiet for the student to fully hear.

Student then claims that Midoriya then mumbled something about Kacchan and "always be a hero" [Likely alluding to Katsuki Bakugo], loud enough that Eri could hear it fully. [ coincides with camera footage ]

Eri froze in place for approximately 10 seconds, her posture getting even more rigid during this time. Her face twisting into a mixture of shock and rage as her entire frame rattles.

Eri is then described as having "moved in a flash" and proceeded to begin strangling Midoriya, bringing him to his knees. her pupils dilated and teeth bared in rage.

Midoriya is noted to not have fought back, not even once during the entire incident.

Student found me first and the alarm was sounded, 3 teachers arrived in the scene (being Aizawa, Snipe and Cementoss).

End of Description-

_______________________________________

Eri was still strangling Midoriya when we arrived, both were unresponsive to any outside stimulus. Although upon being pried off Eri made no effort to fight back, rather she intensly glared at Midoriya with an icy stare.

Midoriya was unresponsive even when put on a stretcher and as of time of writing [1 hour after the incident] he still appears disassocitive.

Personal Notes:

Honestly Nedzu, I don't think this episode of Midoriya's is from Eri alone, though it definitely played a factor.

This has been a long time coming and the recent incident at Somei was the cherry on top and for the love of God, please keep Ectoplasm away from Eri, she's impossible to work with when she's so on guard.

I understand Aizawa's having a hard time since Mic's Broadcast (X67) but if he keeps neglecting her like this, I'm going to take her in myself. It's becoming a hazard for us and UA and you know it.

That's all for now. - R.G

I can't even make a RH joke about this- Hornet

_______________________________________

Yo Peeps, managed to get a cleared version of the photo through an associate of mine, have fun. -Widow-Maker.

[occasionaltouhou]

Regarding thay Eirinelixir question (I just voted), Shinto Gods have no real need for the Hourai Elixir. Personally, I need no evidence for this, it is true. You'd know if you met one. My closest book-reason is Tsukuyomi largely believing the elixir needing to be forbidden, even for Yagokoro, despite both being Shinto Gods. It seems like less of a rule to prevent them from becoming immortal (especially since they effectively are), and more of a way to prevent the mortal populace to be capable of challenging godhood.

Don't ask me why Chang'e took ot, she's a Chinese God. Not Shinto. Maybe they don't hold as much weight in Gensokyo, I dunno. Iean, some consider Tamamo no Mae as a God in China (referring to her as the vessel of Da Ji), but in Japan she is simply a powerful supernatural being (sorry I almost vomitted writing that sentence she's a real bastard, okay. One rung above Tanuki, okay?)

Eirin is Omoikane probably, and therefore a Shinto God. Unlike local Shinto Gods (Takeminakata, Yasaka Kanako), these are effectively impervious to a lack of faith (and thus lack of power) for quite some time. If their power and effective-immortality were threatened, these Gods would likely take action (ask Eirin to create this elixir). Eirin understands this, and therefore has no pressing need to actually take it at the current moment.

For Eirin, avoiding death is not a challenge. Even if she could entirely prevent it, she'd probably prefer to live under risk of death, which acts as an active stimulus for her immense intelligence. Plotting to perfectly avoid threat is a difficult task, and probably like a puzzle to her.

Honestly, I don't think she wants OR needs to take the elixir, and thus did not. That's how I see it. Even if she hinted that she might've, I'd be more inclined to believe it is both a display of knowledge (as she has near-total knowledge of the workings and effects of the medicine) and to further cement her defenseive strategy game by making others believe she is invincible, even if she isn't. Gensokyo is held together by the power of belief, anyways.

The only think I can personally believe as an alternative reason to this is Eirin taking it to make Kaguya feel better about doing so (as well as sharing the blame), for yuri reasons.

But since Eirin felt she needed to justify her crime in stating that she made it, equal to that who took it (despite both being instrumental in making.it anyways), it implies that she never drank anyways.

Also any evidence not from direct experience is from memory of the books I read some time ago, so forgive me for some inaccuracies.

i gotta be real i'm kinda in awe of the passion demonstrated in this message

[spicykaraage]

Tenipuri Complete Character Profile - Keigo Atobe

[PROFILE]

Birthday: October 4th (Libra)

Blood Type: A

Relatives: Grandfather, Grandmother, Father, Mother (Eiko Atobe)

Father’s Occupation: Company Executive (security company)

Elementary School: King’s Primary School (UK)

Middle School: Hyotei Academy Junior High School

Grade & Class: Third Year | Class 3-A | Seat 1

Club: Tennis Club (Captain)

Committee: Student Council (President)

Strong Subjects: All (especially German and Greek)

Weak Subjects: None

Frequently Visited Spot at School: His personal sofa in the Student Council Room, Principal’s Office

World Cup Team: U-17 World Cup Japanese Representatives (Junior Youth Captain)

Favorite Motto: “Adel sitzt Gemüt, nicht im Geblüt.” (Nobility is in the mind, not in the blood.)

Daily Routines: Drinking (non-alcoholic) champagne after taking a bath

Hobbies: Fly-fishing, reading, playing the piano [23.5]

Favorite Color: Gold, Black

Favorite Music: Classical (Wagner)

Favorite Movie: European films whether new or old

Favorite Book: Shakespeare’s works, books by J.R.R. Tolkien [23.5]

Favorite Food: Roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, Prince of Wales black tea [23.5]

Favorite Anniversary: August 14th

Preferred Type: A strong-willed person, a person who is proud of who they are [23.5]

Ideal Date Spot: Cruising in the southern islands ➜ Viewing the Northern Lights in Northern Europe [23.5]

His Gift for a Special Person: “Time with me.”

Where He Wants to Travel: The entire galaxy

Thing He Wants Most Right Now: A new tennis court ➜ He gets whatever he wants [23.5]

Dislikes: Arthropods ➜ None [23.5]

Skills Outside of Tennis: Fencing, ballroom dancing, runway walking [23.5]

Spends Allowance On: Treating his club members

Routine During the World Cup: Scenario training for his matches

[DATA]

Height: 175cm ➜ 178cm [23.5]

Weight: 62kg ➜ 63kg [23.5]

Shoe Size: 26.5cm

Dominant Arm: Right

Vision: 2.0 Left & Right

Play Style: All-Rounder

Signature Moves: Rondo to Destruction, Insight, Tannhäuser Serve, World of Ice, Fugue to Despair, Gigue to Lamentation, Atobe Kingdom [23.5], Ice Emperor [23.5]

Time He Wakes Up: 6:00am

Time He Goes to Sleep: 11:30pm

Number of Privately Owned Tennis Courts: 11 in Japan, 7 overseas

Favorite Brands:

Racquet: HEAD (PREMIER TOUR 600)

Shoes: HEAD (C.Tech 1000 OM)

Overall Rating: Speed: 4 / Power: 4 / Stamina: 5 / Mental: 4.5 / Technique: 6 / Total: 23.5

Kurobe Memo: “Atobe is the reigning king, and it’s good that he’s not the type that sits on his throne and does nothing. The ambition he has that comes from his great pride acts as the stimulus for his growth. I do not have any major requests. I would just like to see him master his beautiful techniques.” [RB]

[POSSESSIONS]

What’s in His Bag:

Cell phone (Vodafone)

Cell phone (FOMA)

Cell phone

Cell phone

Cell phone (PHS)

Lip balm

Perfume

Foreign books // He’s recently gotten into Goethe’s poems in their original writing

Compact mirror // Gilded with vibrant gold

What’s in His Locker at the U-17 Training Camp:

Smartphone

iPhone

Feature phone

Perfume

Lip balm

Towel

What’s in His Locker [C&S]:

Laptop

Documents

Business administration books // He’s been studying the subject on his own

A sample report of the Hyotei Tennis Club supporters

Stuffed animals made by Kabaji’s younger sister // Given to him as thanks for always playing with Kabaji. He was very happy to receive them and has them displayed with great care

[dixbolik-lovers]

So idk if you're up to just random talking (if not feel free to just delete this), but can we talk about the fact that Kanato is autistic in every way except by name? I remember this translated official tweet where the boys were asked q&a questions, and Kanato specifically said bad textures upset him (to the point of anger if I remember correctly). Kanato has a comfort item that he breaks down over when its destroyed, comfort foods, and is easily set of into meltdowns over negative stimulus. I wonder if this was done on purpose, or if it's just some crazy coincidence.

You have a point. oAo

It's almost definitely a coincidence (Japan is... not great about mental health stuff/neurodivergence), but it sure works out!

Considering how vampire society seems to work, I bet it's been a "ignore it until it goes away" kind of situation for Kanato, too. His needs are accommodated when they can be (both because of his status and because he gets vicious when they aren't), but I doubt the reasons behind them have ever been addressed...

KJshghs imagine an autistic bride getting to the mansion, realizing what's going on with him, and trying to explain what autism is/why he feels and acts the way he does while just so concerned that vampires apparently have no mental health resources.

[mariacallous]

Bank of Japan scraps radical policy, makes first rate hike in 17 years

TOKYO, March 19 (Reuters) - The Bank of Japan (BOJ) ended eight years of negative interest rates and other remnants of its unorthodox policy on Tuesday, making a historic shift away from its focus on reflating growth with decades of massive monetary stimulus.

While the move was Japan's first interest rate hike in 17 years, it still keeps rates stuck around zero as a fragile economic recovery forces the central bank to go slow on further rises in borrowing costs, analysts say.

The shift makes Japan the last central bank to exit negative rates, and ends an era in which policymakers around the world sought to prop up growth through cheap money and unconventional monetary tools.

"We reverted to a normal monetary policy targeting short-term interest rates, as with other central banks," BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda said at a press conference after the decision.

"If trend inflation heightens a bit more, that may lead to an increase in short-term rates," Ueda said, without elaborating on the likely pace and timing of further rate hikes.

In a widely expected decision, the BOJ ditched a policy put in place since 2016 by former Governor Haruhiko Kuroda that applied a 0.1% charge on some excess reserves financial institutions parked with the central bank.

The BOJ set the overnight call rate as its new policy rate and decided to guide it in a range of 0-0.1% partly by paying 0.1% interest to deposits at the central bank.

"The BOJ today took its first, tentative step towards policy normalisation," said Frederic Neumann, chief Asia economist at HSBC in Hong Kong.

"The elimination of negative interest rates in particular signals the BOJ's confidence that Japan has emerged from the grip of deflation."

The central bank also abandoned yield curve control (YCC), a policy in place since 2016 that capped long-term interest rates around zero, and discontinued purchases of risky assets.

But the BOJ said it will keep buying "broadly the same amount" of government bonds as before and ramp up purchases in case yields rise rapidly, underscoring its focus on preventing any damaging spike in borrowing costs.

In a sign future rate hikes will be moderate, the BOJ also said it expects "accommodative financial conditions to be maintained for the time being."

Japanese shares rose after the decision. The yen fell below 150 per dollar, as investors took the BOJ's dovish guidance as a sign the interest rate differential between Japan and the United States likely will not narrow much.

'A NORMAL COUNTRY'

With inflation exceeding the BOJ's 2% target for well over a year, many market players had projected an end to negative interest rates either in March or April.

Expectations for a shift this week heightened significantly after unions' annual wage talks with major firms delivered the biggest pay hikes in 33 years.

The end of the Kuroda era stimulus now swings the focus for markets, analysts and the wider public to when the BOJ will raise rates further.

Already on Tuesday, commercial banks flagged plans to raise some of their deposit rates for the first time since 2007. Nomura and BNP Paribas both expect the BOJ to hike rates again before the end of the year.

"Essentially we're a normal country," said Bart Wakabayashi, State Street Tokyo Branch Manager.

"How does this impact households locally and their spending power? I think that's going to be the next big discussion and with an eye to that I don't think the BOJ can do anything beyond what they've announced."

Under Kuroda, the BOJ deployed a huge asset-buying programme in 2013, originally aimed at firing up inflation to a 2% target within roughly two years.

The central bank introduced negative rates and YCC in 2016 as tepid inflation forced it to tweak its stimulus programme to a more sustainable one.

As the yen's sharp falls pushed up the cost of imports and heightened public criticism over the demerits of Japan's ultra-low interest rates, however, the BOJ last year tweaked YCC to relax its grip on long-term rates.

There are still risks. A spike in bond yields would boost the cost of funding Japan's huge public debt which, at twice the size of its economy, is the largest among advanced economies.

An end to cheap funds could also jolt global financial markets as Japanese investors, who amassed overseas investments in search of yields, shift money back to their home country.

Even as it rolled back stimulus, the BOJ downgraded its assessment on the economy and warned of consumption weakness.

Ueda said inflation expectations have yet to be anchored at 2%, which means the BOJ can raise rates at a slower pace than other central banks did in recent years.

"If our price forecast clearly overshoots or, even if our median forecast is unchanged, we see a clear increase in upside risk to the price outlook, that will lead to a policy change," Ueda said on the likely threshold for further rate increases.

[warningsine]

Japan's nominal gross domestic product will top 600 trillion yen ($4.2 trillion) in fiscal 2024 for the first time, a target set by the government about a decade ago, a Cabinet Office estimate showed Thursday, expecting income growth to outpace inflation.After higher import costs of energy and raw materials boosted prices of everyday goods, inflation will ease to 2.5 percent in fiscal 2024 from 3.0 percent this year. Income growth per capita, meanwhile, will accelerate to 3.8 percent from 2.4 percent, helped by the government's planned temporary tax cut, according to the office.The release of the forecasts came as the government plans to formalize a draft budget for fiscal 2024 from April on Friday.Japan's nominal GDP, at 566 trillion yen in fiscal 2022, is projected to grow to 597 trillion yen in the current fiscal year, with a further increase to 615 trillion yen in fiscal 2024, according to the office.The government has unveiled plans to provide 70,000 yen handouts to low-income families and a 40,000 yen tax cut per person as part of inflation relief measures. It will also offer tax incentives to firms raising wages.Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has been stepping up calls for firms to support the upward trajectory of wages, fearing that Japan will let the chance slip to "completely break with deflation" that has plagued the nation for years.Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda has struck a cautious tone over the prospect of attaining the central bank's 2 percent inflation target "stably and sustainably," saying he wants to see more data to ensure a virtuous cycle of wage and price hikes is in place.Japan's economy registered its first contraction in four quarters in the July-September quarter due largely to sluggish domestic demand, but economists expect it to recover in the current quarter to December.The Cabinet Office said the world's third-largest economy will receive support from strength in domestic demand, such as private consumption and capital spending, in fiscal 2024.GDP, the total value of goods and services produced, is forecast to expand 3.0 percent in nominal terms and 1.3 percent in inflation-adjusted terms, slower than 5.5 percent and 1.6 percent for fiscal 2023, respectively.In 2015, the government set a goal of attaining 600 trillion yen in nominal GDP by around fiscal 2020, as part of the "Abenomics" economy-boosting program that entailed fiscal stimulus and powerful monetary easing.Market expectations are heightening that the BOJ will shift toward policy normalization by ending its negative rate and yield curve control, both introduced in 2016 to support economic growth and attain stable inflation.

[quebrntahuesos]

the constant stimulus from all sides at once in japan is something else

[geek-fashionista]

856

It’s the season of Thanksgiving, and before I get wrapped up in and carried away by life, I want to stop and acknowledge what God has been doing in my life for the past decade.

To recap:

In 2011, I went through a terrible breakup with the guy I’d been planning to marry, which derailed my entire future.

Two semesters later, I graduated with a degree in a field I didn’t want to pursue.

I spent the next three years at home, unemployed for all but four months of that time. Jobs were hard to come by. My self-esteem plummeted. I started having manic episodes. 

In 2015, I was accepted into graduate school in the field I loved.

In 2017, I graduated but still couldn’t find a job. I had another breakdown, during which God woke me up to the fact that I hadn’t been relying on Him.

In 2018, I got a part-time job and started saving for a trip to Seattle for novel research.

Six months later, I got a job interview for a school in Japan which flew me up to Seattle for free.

In 2019, I moved to Japan, a country I’d always wanted to visit, where my job paid well enough that I was able to throw most of my earnings into savings.

In 2020, when the pandemic hit, I remained employed full-time and didn’t take a pay cut. Japan did not lock down. I got stimulus checks from two countries, and I was able to travel all over the north with friends.

In March of this year, I finally left Japan with ten times the amount of savings most Americans have.

In April, I was able to buy a new car during the new car shortage.

In May, I felt God prompting me to move to Colorado to figure things out with my ex.

In July, I got offered a job in Colorado and had enough in my savings to move here and buy everything I needed.

Since August, I’ve been working full-time in a non-abusive job with insurance and a retirement plan.

In September, I got back together with my ex after eleven years of best friendship, transparency, and healing.

I’m not saying all this to brag about my own achievements, because ten years ago, I didn’t have a plan. I didn’t have hope. I had good intentions and crippling executive dysfunction. (I still do!)

But God. God knew, even as He told me to let my boyfriend and my future go, where I was going to end up. All I had to do was trust Him.

I have picked up a lot of trauma along the road, but I have done much. I have learned much. I have seen much. And now I am in a place that I am falling in love with, being loved unconditionally and healing with the person who hurt me the most. It’s not easy, and it’s not perfect.

But it makes one heck of a story. 

[pkmnprideflags]

Let's read the original Lavender Town creepypasta!

It's Halloween time, so I figured as a spooky scary special here at pkmnprideflags, let's read (and make fun of) "Come Follow Me," the original Lavender Town creepypasta. Is it scary? Is it any good at all? Let's find out!

Content/trigger warning: "Come Follow Me" contains descriptions of violence, blood/gore, use of guns, death, grief/loss, and suicide.

During the first few days of the release of Pokemon Red and Green in Japan, back in February 27, 1996, a peak of deaths appeared in the age group of 10-15.

I'm pretty sure what the author means to say is that deaths happened shortly after February 27, 1996, but the way they wrote it implies that everybody died on the same day. But I'm being pedantic, let's continue.

We're told that not every child who played these games were affected, but those whose suicide attempts were intercepted showed "sporadic" behavior, like scratching their eyes. When asked why they attempted to kill themselves, they only screamed. They would be calm when in a room with a GameBoy, but not if someone put a cartridge for Red or Green inside it. Well, actual psychology shows that stimulus generalization is actually more likely to happen in this sort of situation, but whatever.

They[the police] decided the first thing to do was to talk to the programmers themselves. The first person they met was the director of the original games, Satoshi Tajiri. When told about the deaths surrounding his games, he seemed slightly uneasy, but admitted nothing.

I've never met Satoshi Tajiri, but he sounds like a very sweet man and I refuse to believe his reaction to mass child suicide because of his game would be this nonchalant.

He [Tajiri] lead them to the main programmers of the game, the people responsible for the actual content.

The detectives met Takenori Oota, one of the main programmers of the game. Unlike Satoshi, he did not seem uneasy, but very kept.

Sure, that's a sentence that makes sense.

Oota insists that it would be ridiculous for a game to be causing mass death like this, but the police suspect he is hiding something. Eventually he mentions hearing a rumor that the Lavender Town theme had made some children sick, so the detectives go to visit the games' composer, Junichi Masuda. Masuda proves his innocence by playing the song in its entirety in front of the detectives, with no one showing any ill effects.

Going back to the cartridges they had seized from the homes of the children, they decided to take a slightly more direct look at the games. They knew that it was these games that gave the children the ill effects, so they took extreme caution. Popping in the cartridge and turning the console on, the game screen booted.

I'm sorry but the idea of someone starting up a Pokémon game with this much fear is hilarious to me, no matter the context.

The detectives note that in all of the afflicted kids' game files, the tracked time was very low, and the players only had a single Pokémon in their inventory. Therefore, the Lavender Town theme could not be the cause of the childrens' behavior, because it would be impossible to get to Lavender Town that quickly.

Well, considering that this is Gen I, I'm sure there's some obscure glitch you could pull to get there, but I won't blame the detectives for not knowing that since they're not exactly gaming experts.

Also, take note that in the "original Lavender Town creepypasta," Lavender Town is not the cause of the actual spooky thing happening. Since the entire thing is a conspiracy theory/hoax, that's kind of fitting.

If it wasn't the music, nor the title screen, it had to be something within the first few minutes of the game itself. They had no choice but to turn off the game now and go back to the programmers. Asking for a list of all the programmers from Takenori, they found, surprisingly, that one of the programmers had committed suicide shortly after the game was released. His name was Chiro Miura, a very obscure programmer who had provided very little for the game. Even more interestingly, he had requested his name did not appear in the credits of the game, and so it was not.

The only Google results for Chiro Miura are connected to this creepypasta, so I'm guessing the author just completely made this person up. Also, fun fact, in a lot of fanart about this creepypasta he is portrayed as a creepy bleeding Mew. 'Cause Miura, get it?

The police investigate Miura's apartment and find a bunch of crumpled-up notes with ominous messages like "Watch out" and "COME FOLLOW ME" written on them. Definitely a great sign. They also find out that he was a close friend of Kohji Nishino (whose surname is misspelled as Nisino), so they go to talk to him.

Kohji Nisino, since the release of the game, had locked himself in his apartment, barely leaving in the dark of night to fetch anything he might need. He told his friends and family he was mourning for his dear friend Chiro, but they didn't believe this, since Nisino had locked himself up the day the game was put in stores, a few days before Chiro had killed himself.

I'm not an expert on Nishino's life or anything, but I'm pretty sure this is incorrect, as he was probably working on Pokémon Stadium & Yellow at the time.

The police manage to coax Nishino into talking with them. When asked about Miura, he says that his friend had an exciting idea for the project. Miura was a little-known programmer, but Nishino was on good terms with Oota and was able to pull some strings to get his friend on the team.

They asked what Chiro's idea was, why he wanted so badly to have a part in making this children's game. Nisino told them that Chiro never told him much about it, other than a few details every now and then. He wanted to insert a special Pokemon in the game, one completely different from all the others. It would serve as an extra, a kind of out of place thrill for the player. It wasn't, however, Missing No.

Remember the halcyon days of the internet when MissingNo was considered scary? Good times.

The detectives pushed him more and more, searching through his mind for any and every scrap of knowledge this man had no game and Chiro... and Chiro's intentions...

Sure, that's also a sentence that makes sense.

It was when they asked about the notes found in Chiro's home that he snapped. From under the couch Nisino was sitting on he whipped out a pistol, pointing it straight at the police while backing away a few steps.

Sure, that's possible under Japan's very strict gun laws.

Nishino says, "Don't follow me," then shoots himself dead. And that's the point where this story loses what little credibility it had, because Kohji Nishino is still very much alive. He worked on Sword & Shield, for Arceus' sake.

It seemed all leads had finally died. The team who had created this original game were splitting up, becoming harder to find. It was as if they were keeping a secret.

Or as if the developers weren't expecting the game to get popular and have sequels, so many of them left Game Freak to work on other projects.

The police continue to interview various staff members for the game, but most of them had only briefly met Miura. All they knew is that he had worked on something towards the beginning of the game, but they didn't know the details. Several months in, it seems like they are out of leads, until one of the detectives is approached by a frail woman on the street and given a mysterious letter that she says he needs to read urgently. It is a letter written by Miura to Nishino, asking for permission to join the staff of Red & Green. It starts off business-like, but soon goes off the rails.

As the letter continued, the handwriting seemed to grow more jittery. He talked about a glorious idea he had, a way to program something unseen in any game before. He said it would certainly revolutionize not only the gaming industry, but everyone. He went on to say that it was a very simple procedure to program this idea into the game. He did not even have to add any foreign programming, but could use what was already given in the game itself. This would, the detectives agreed, make it impossible to notice any obscurities in the programming itself. It was a perfect way to hide whatever this was.

The detectives also discover (separately from the letter and offscreen, btw) that the programmers for the game had worked in pairs. I haven't been able to find anything to confirm or deny this claim, so I'm going to assume the author made it up. Anyway, Miura's programming partner was Sousuke Tamada. His interview with the police is presented to us in the format of an audio recording taken by one of the detectives. Tamada is acting overly nice, which creeps the detectives out. When asked about Miura, he says:

"I don't know him that well, really. We didn't meet up frequently, only every once in a while to trade data, or when the entire group was called up for a meeting... That's the only times I really ever saw him. He acted normal, as far as I could tell. He was a short man, and I think this affected his consciousness.. "

SHORT KING MIURA LET'S GOOOOOO

Anyway, he says that Miura was desperate for recognition and appreciation from his peers and the world, but Tamada didn't think he was anything special. When asked what Miura worked on, he answers that it was mostly Professor Oak's segments at the beginning of the game - "welcome to the world of POKeMON" and all that.

The police start getting more desperate and press Tamada harder.

"What else?" pushed the police. They could hear it in Sousuke's voice. He knew something. "We know you know about the children and the deaths. We know it was Chiro who did it. He programmed something in the game. "What are you implying?" asked Sousuke. It sounded like he was trying to maintain his voice. "We're implying that since your his partner, if you're hiding something from us then you could just as much be responsible for those children's deaths as Chiro is himself!" "You can't prove anything!" Sousuke shouted. "Tell us what Chiro did to the game!" they shouted back. "WHAT I TOLD HIM TO."

Tamada says that Miura was very easy to manipulate, and apparently so is Oota?

"I could control his [sic] flawlessly. He's a lot like Takenori... Of course none of you knew this, but I was the one who brought up the idea of the game, the idea of the entire operation. I just told the fellow what to do, and he followed me without doubt. He knows nothing, just like Chiro."

Well, we all thought Pokémon existed because of Satoshi Tajiri's love of bug collecting, but I guess it was all some mustache-twirling scheme by Sousuke Tamada. Who, I must remind you all, IS A REAL PERSON and likely does not deserve this level of character assassination.

In the audio recording, we hear the sound of the detectives cocking their guns and a window opening. Tamada decides to give the detectives a hint as to what's going on:

"At the start of the game you have to walk into the grassy area before Oak appears and you receive your first Pokemon, understand me? Under normal circumstances, it was programmed that even though you're in a grassy area, no Pokemon will spawn... I made it different. I manipulated that Chiro, told him what to put in the program, gave him all the instructions on how to do it, and he did it flawlessly. It's rare, but it can happen.. Stepping into that grass, one can spawn..."

What, a Pikachu?

Tamada says that Miura killed himself after learning the true nature of what he had programmed in, but Tamada stops his explanation, telling the detectives to play the game for themselves to find out. A bunch of noise is heard; we switch out of the audio-recording format when reinforcement police arrive, only to find the two detectives and Tamada both dead. The detectives were shot around ten times, while Tamada was shot only twice. Did Tamada take their guns from them? Did they go mad and shoot each other? That might be the implication, since Tamada is heard saying "Come follow me" on the recording, and I doubt you even need to get to the end of the story to guess what that means.

This game was causing a massacre. At least a hundred children were dead.

I'm sorry, HOW many? You did not specify how many at the start of the story, so I was thinking like twenty, and now you're hitting me with this?

Since Tamada confessed to being behind it all, the detective leading the case decides to close it before anyone else ends up dead. All the evidence is locked up, and no one speaks of the case much more...until the ten-year anniversary of the games' release. The lead detective is reminded of the case by something, and decides to go digging through the evidence container. He finds a container filled with exactly 104 copies of Pokemon Red & Green. (Did he count them out?)

He reached in and pulled one out, Pokemon Red. He hadn't seen one in a long time. He didn't know what he thought next, but he reached in his desk and pulled out an old Gameboy. He received it a long time ago, but it still worked. It was his son's, but he had died a few years ago. His wife was gone too. That was then though.

The detective starts up a new game, and even though he was not present at the meeting with Tamada, he can hear his voice saying "come follow me" in his head. He enters the grass, and the game freezes for a moment, then resets with this text onscreen:

"Come follow me, come follow me, come follow me. I miss you dad, I miss you my husband, I miss you so much."

More and more text along these lines keeps appearing. The man gets the sense that this is his wife and child speaking to him, and he begins crying. The text onscreen begins emphasizing that the detective should "come follow " them, so they can be with him forever and ever...

"Don't stay away. You can see us too.. We miss you.. Come follow me. We love yo--" A black screen. The detectives eyes grew wide, his jaw dropping. The screen lit back up, and Oak was leading him out of the grass. "Come follow me," said Oak. "NO!" shouted the man, dropping the game onto the floor.

I'm sorry, but that mental image is just objectively hilarious.

Also, can anyone confirm if Prof. Oak says "Come follow me" in his regular dialogue? If so, that's actually a nice recontextualization of something that's normally not scary.

The detective starts yelling at the game to bring his wife and son back. In the room with him appear the ghosts of children, many with injuries, begging the game for their lost parents or pets back.

So, did Tamada and Miura program ghost-sense into the player, or is the detective just supernaturally gifted? Or is he just going insane?

"Come follow me..." said a voice. The lead detective looked over, and in the corner of his room, next to an old desk, was Sousuke. He stood in the corner, tall, handsome, clean. A smile was on his face, stretching across his face.

Ah yes, the smile on his face stretched across his face. The floor here is also made out of floor.

Tamada tells the detective he can reunite him with his family, and pulls out his old gun from a desk drawer. Saying that he will follow his family, the detective shoots himself.

It was a few days before the body was discovered. It lay on the floor, blood everywhere. In one hand held an empty gun, and in the other was a classic Gameboy with Pokemon Red on the back. The battery had long died, and only an empty, black screen was left.

Notice how more sentences in this paragraph are given to describing the GameBoy than to the dead body. Lesson for writers everywhere: keep track of what you have put focus on, so your horror story doesn't turn into an unintentional comedy.

After this final death, a detective took all 104 copies of the games and burned them. So, this is the end of the incident.

However, this is not the end of the story. The code was said to have survived, and was even passed on to other language versions of the games. If you have an old Pokemon game, you can place the cartridge in the back of the classic Gameboy, turn on the system, and roll the wheel who knows? Maybe you'll learn the secret for yourself.

In the age of data-mining, this story is really rendered hilarious. If there really was some secret code in these games, TCRF would have found it already.

---

And that marks the end of this story! Wow was it bad!!!

Got any other hilarious PokePastas? Might just turn this into a Halloween series~

[oliviajames1122]

The global economy faces a grim outlook

World Bank warns global economy faces a grim outlook

The global economy faces a "grim outlook", World Bank President David Malpass has warned, as the aftershocks of the pandemic continue to weigh on growth - especially in poor countries.

His organization's latest forecast predicts global growth will slow to 4.1% this year from 5.5% in 2021.

It attributed the slowdown to virus threats, government aid unwinding, and an initial rebound in demand fading.

But Mr Malpass said his greatest worry was widening global inequality.

"The big drag is the inequality that's built into the system," he told the BBC, noting that poorer countries were especially vulnerable to economic damage from efforts to fight inflation.

"The outlook for the weaker countries is still to fall further and further behind. That causes insecurity."

Separately, the World Economic Forum (WEF) warned that divergent economic recoveries were making it harder to collaborate on global challenges such as climate change.

"Widening disparities within and between countries will not only make it more difficult to control Covid-19 and its variants but will also risk stalling, if not reversing, joint action against shared threats that the world cannot afford to overlook," the WEF said in its annual global risks report on Tuesday many business listings.

· Business Review of 2021: Climate change and Covid

·Hundreds of unions issue vaccine supply chain plea

The World Bank's Global Economic Prospects report said that in 2021 the world's economy bounced back from the pandemic with the strongest post-recession expansion in 80 years.

But the gains are expected to slow this year, as virus variants and rapidly rising prices for items such as food and energy weigh on households. Globally, inflation is at its highest rate since 2008, the report says.

The bank, which lends to countries around the world, also warned that supply chain bottlenecks and the unwinding of stimulus programs posed risks.

The slowdown in the second half of 2021 was already larger than the Bank had expected in its June forecast due to the spread of the Omicron and Delta Covid variants. It expects a "pronounced slowdown" this year, and predicts global growth will decelerate further in 2023, to 3.2%.

"The reality is that Covid and the shutdowns are still taking a huge toll and that's especially true on people in poorer countries," Mr Malpass said.

David Malpass warned rate rises could hit growth in weaker economies

Driving the global slowdown in China, where the rate of growth is expected to drop to 5.1% from 8% last year, and the US, which is forecast to expand by 3.7% this year compared with 5.6% in 2021. In the eurozone, the expansion will slow to 4.2% this year from 5.2%, the bank predicts business listings.

India presents a bright spot, with the growth rate expected to rise from 8.3% to 8.7% this year.

But many emerging markets continue to struggle with additional challenges, such as lower vaccination rates.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, for instance, growth is expected to slow to 2.6% in 2022, from 6.7% last year.

By 2023, economic activity in all advanced economies, such as the US, Euro area and Japan, is likely to have recovered from the hit it took during the pandemic, the bank said.

But output in developing and emerging countries is expected to remain 4% lower than it was before Covid struck.

Mr Malpass blamed stimulus programs in the richest countries for worsening the divide by driving global inflation. While officials in many countries, including the US, are now expected to raise interest rates to try to rein in price increases, Mr Malpass warned higher borrowing costs could hurt economic activity - especially in weaker economies.

"The problem with rate hikes is it hurts people that need floating rate money... and that's usually new businesses, women-owned businesses, developing country businesses," Mr Malpass said.

He said he would prefer to see central banks focus on unwinding pandemic-era stimulus programs, which buy assets such as mortgage-backed securities.

"That helps people at the upper end of the income curve, but doesn't do much at all for people in lower incomes or in developing countries," he said free business listings.

"An improvement, I think, would be if they bought less of that kind of asset and allowed the stimulus to taper in a way that would be beneficial for people more in the middle incomes, in the lower incomes, and in developing countries."

More on this story

·Business Review of 2021: Climate change and Covid

·Hundreds of unions issue vaccine supply chain plea

[777wave]

Remembering Shinzo Abe.

ABE: Always Be Evolving

September 21, 1954 - July 8, 2022

70th birthday.

24,762 days or 3,537 weeks and 3 days.

—

2 + 4 + 7 + 6 + 2

= 21

= 7 + 7 + 7

= 777

—

3 + 5 + 3 + 7 + 3

= 21

= 7 + 7 + 7

= 777

—

"777"

1. Seven Years as Prime Minister.

2. Seven Meetings with U.S. Presidents: Abe met with U.S. Presidents seven times, including President Obama and President Trump, strengthening Japan-U.S. relations.

3. Seven-Year Economic Revival Plan: Abe's "Abenomics" policy, which aimed to revive Japan's economy, was implemented over a period of approximately seven years. This policy focused on three arrows: monetary easing, fiscal stimulus, and structural reforms.

—

Photo:

CTTO

—

#ABEtterworld

#ABEnomics

#ABEreforms

#ABEpolicy

#ABEvision

#ABEleadership

#ABElegacy

[blockinsider]

Could Bitcoin’s Value Mirror the Upcoming Gold Surge?

Key Points

Bitcoin’s rival Gold continues to hit record highs, with a 25% increase year-to-date.

Bitcoin’s price could potentially benefit from the macroeconomic conditions that are driving the gold rally.

Gold, also known as the yellow metal and a store-of-value rival to Bitcoin, has been reaching new record highs. It surged to $2,564 per ounce on Friday, marking a 25% increase since the start of the year.

In the third quarter, gold’s price rose by 10%, while Bitcoin’s price fell by 7% and is now around $58,000. Compared to the S&P 500, which only increased by 2% this quarter, gold has shown strong performance.

Bitcoin and Gold Divergence

Bitcoin is currently displaying volatility due to macro developments, such as fears of Yen carry trading unwinding and the potential for a US recession. Some analysts suggest that these unique factors are causing a divergence between Bitcoin and Gold. The recent gold price rally could indicate favorable macroeconomic conditions for Bitcoin in the near future.

Charlie Morris, the chief investment officer and founder of ByteTree, believes that the rise in gold is driven by increased central bank accumulation, a benefit Bitcoin has not yet seen. This trend could indicate potential monetary policy easing in the future.

Morris stated, “The appeal of government bond in reserves is lesser and gold has stepped up. Many central banks are accumulating gold, which used to be priced off U.S. Treasury inflation-protected securities but is now being influenced by global factors like structural government deficits. The strength in gold reflects increasing current and future [fiat] money supply, among other things, and bitcoin will rally when the economy picks up or when the sound of stimulus is heard.”

Money Flowing Back into Bitcoin?

The combined fiat money supply from the US, Eurozone, UK, and Japan turned positive by the end of August. With central banks planning to move towards liquidity easing, the money supply could continue to expand.

Last Thursday, the European Central Bank cut interest rates, and the Federal Reserve is expected to follow suit next week. This could signal the start of an easing cycle that could lead to increased stimulus for US investors.

André Dragosch, head of research in Europe at Bitwise, noted that gold’s recent rally suggests a sharp decline in inflation-adjusted US government bond yields. Historically, such a drop in real yields prompts investors to shift capital into riskier assets, such as bitcoin and technology stocks, as seen in 2020.

Dragosh stated, “Gold prices have completely decoupled from US real yields. This implies two things: Either gold is overpriced, or gold is already anticipating a massive decline in US real yields. A massive decline in US real yields is equivalent to a sharp easing in monetary policy, which is not yet priced more broadly into financial markets except in gold, which is why bitcoin and other assets might follow gold higher.”

Central banks have been buying gold in large quantities, purchasing 37 tonnes of Gold in July. This is the highest monthly purchase since January when the net purchase was 45 tonnes.

However, Alex Kruger, partner at digital assets and macro advisory firm Asgard Markets, warned investors not to overinterpret the implications of gold’s rally for Bitcoin.

[leprivatebanker]

Japan's prime ministerial hopeful Motegi aims to compile new stimulus package

[head-post]

Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida resigns amid scandals

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced he would step down in September, ending a three-year term marred by political scandals, according to Asian media.

Politics cannot function without public trust. I will now focus on supporting the newly elected LDP leader as a rank-and-file member of the party.

Kishida’s public support has been falling amid revelations of the LDP’s ties to the controversial Unification Church and political donations made at party fundraising events that went unrecorded.

He has also faced public discontent over wages failing to keep pace with the rising cost of living as the country finally shakes off years of deflationary pressures. Koichi Nakano, political science professor at Sophia University, stated:

An LDP incumbent prime minister cannot run in the presidential race unless he’s assured of a victory. It’s like the grand champion yokozunas of sumo. You don’t just win, but you need to win with grace.

As the country’s eighth longest-serving postwar leader, Kishida led Japan out of the COVID pandemic with massive stimulus spending. He also appointed Kazuo Ueda to head the Bank of Japan (BOJ), a scholar charged with ending the radical monetary stimulus pursued by his predecessor.

The BOJ unexpectedly raised interest rates in July as inflation intensified, contributing to stock market volatility and causing the yen to plummet.

Despite the shift away from economic policy, Kishida stuck to the hawkish security policy pursued by his predecessor Shinzo Abe assassinated in 2022. He unveiled Japan’s biggest military build-up since World War II, pledging to double defence spending to deter neighbouring China from its territorial ambitions in East Asia.

Kishida also mended Japan’s strained relations with South Korea, allowing the two countries and their common ally, the United States, to pursue deeper security co-operation.

Read more HERE

[fantasy360]

**Global Markets Face Volatility Amid Economic Uncertainty**

Global financial markets experienced significant turbulence today as uncertainties surrounding economic policies and geopolitical tensions rattled investors. Major stock indices in the United States, Europe, and Asia saw sharp declines, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping by 2.5%, the FTSE 100 falling by 3%, and Japan's Nikkei 225 closing down 2.8%. The volatility is largely attributed to fears of a global economic slowdown, exacerbated by the ongoing conflict in Eastern Europe, uncertainty over China’s economic recovery, and concerns about rising interest rates.

Central banks around the world are walking a tightrope as they attempt to balance the need to control inflation with the risk of stifling economic growth. The U.S. Federal Reserve has signaled further interest rate hikes, which has fueled concerns about the potential for a recession. Meanwhile, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England are also under pressure to adjust their monetary policies in response to stubbornly high inflation rates across the continent.

**China’s Economic Recovery Falters**

China’s economy, once expected to be a major driver of global growth in 2024, is now showing signs of weakening. Recent data indicates that the country’s GDP growth for the second quarter was significantly lower than anticipated, coming in at 4.5% compared to the expected 5.2%. This slowdown has raised concerns about the effectiveness of the Chinese government's stimulus measures, which were aimed at revitalizing the economy following the prolonged impact of COVID-19 lockdowns and a property market slump.

The slowdown in China is having ripple effects across the globe, particularly in countries that rely heavily on exports to China, such as Germany and Australia. The Chinese government is now facing increased pressure to implement more aggressive economic policies to stabilize growth and restore confidence in the markets.

**Geopolitical Tensions Heighten Economic Risks**

Geopolitical tensions continue to cast a shadow over the global economy. The conflict in Eastern Europe, particularly the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, remains a significant source of instability. The war has disrupted supply chains, particularly in the energy and agricultural sectors, leading to higher prices and supply shortages worldwide

**Emerging Markets Under Pressure**

Emerging markets are feeling the strain of the global economic slowdown and rising interest rates. Many countries are struggling with high levels of debt, making it difficult to service their obligations as borrowing costs increase. The strength of the U.S. dollar, buoyed by higher interest rates, is also putting pressure on emerging market currencies, leading to higher inflation and capital outflows. Fore more...