"Many of them say they can eat nothing but GariGarikun"/"If they can enjoy the last mouthful, it will be a special moment shared by them and their families."

I'm quoting a Japanese nurse and doctor who work in palliative care, quoted in "GariGarikun ice pop, a surprise hit among the terminally ill."

That's published in Asahi Shimbun, one of the largest newspapers in Japan, which I went to read this morning because I wanted to see how much Japanese people were enjoying the excellence of Shohei Ohtani in our World Series. But nothing about Ohtani is in the top 10 most-read stories over there. I had to scroll down the front page to find his name, and it was tucked away in the sports section, just the AP report, here.

Nearly dead people eating popsicles got more attention. It was the second-most-read article. Meanwhile, the top of the front page is dominated by Trump:

Which one of those things is not like the others? Abe, yes. But also "Bear roams central Morioka, fatal attacks elsewhere."

"Shinzo Abe, 67, Dies After Being Shot During Speech/The former prime minister of Japan was assassinated on Friday in the city of Nara."

 The NYT reports, just now.

Earlier: 

Mieko Nakabayashi was in a TV studio, waiting to be interviewed about Boris Johnson’s resignation, when she heard that former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had been shot during a campaign speech.

Ms. Nakabayashi, a former lawmaker and a professor of political science at Waseda University, said she and the program’s hosts were “astonished,” adding that “they couldn’t believe that this could happen in Japan.”

And:

The attack on former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan was especially shocking because it involved a gun — a type of crime that is extremely rare in a country with some of the most stringent laws around buying and owning a firearm. 

Why assassinate a former leader? Because of the positions he took?

During his two terms the 67-year-old conservative prime minister faced steep opposition for his push for a more muscular military and his bid to revise a pacifist clause in the country’s Constitution, which had been imposed by the United States after World War II.

Trump's "Fake News Awards."

The GOP site is swamped, but Fox News has the list:

1) The New York Times’ Paul Krugman claiming markets would ‘never’ recover from Trump presidency

2) ABC News' Brian Ross’ bungled report on former national security adviser Michael Flynn

3) CNN report that the Trump campaign had early access to hacked documents from WikiLeaks

4) TIME report that Trump removed a bust of Martin Luther King, Jr. from the Oval Office

5) The Washington Post’s Dave Weigel tweeting that Trump’s December rally in Pensacola, Florida, wasn’t packed with supporters

6) CNN’s video suggesting Trump overfed fish during visit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

7) CNN’s retracted report claiming Anthony Scaramucci-Russia ties

8) Newsweek report that Polish First Lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda did not shake Trump’s hand

9) CNN report that former FBI Director James Comey would dispute President Trump’s claim he was told he was not under investigation

10) The New York Times report that the Trump administration had hidden a climate-change report

11) In Trump’s words, "‘RUSSIA COLLUSION!’ Russian collusion is perhaps the greatest hoax perpetrated on the American people. THERE IS NO COLLUSION!”

"Donald, Mr President, you are an excellent businessman," said Shinzo Abe, the Prime Minister of Japan...

... "praising Trump on everything from his meteoric political rise to his golf game."

At the link, a nice picture of Abe with his right hand nestled in Trump's 2 hands and the news that Trump declared Abe's hands "strong." And:

"When I greeted him today at the car," Trump said after an Oval Office meeting, "I shook hands, but I grabbed him and hugged him because that's the way we feel."

 He just grabbed him. And Abe let him. Because he's a star. 

The real question here isn't why half a million young Japanese stay inside all the time and have no social contacts.

As Bloomberg forefronts in "Why Half a Million Young Japanese Can't Face School or Work" — before admitting in the 4th paragraph that the issue — the "hikikomori" — is not new.

The current issue is that the Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, sees this matter of life-style choice and psychological orientation as problem in need of government intervention because the population is dropping. That is, the nation needs these solitude-loving people to have babies. But, it seems (it's hard to read through the dross in this article) the government is funding this stay-at-home behavior with welfare.

The article puzzles over why young people are doing this. Were they bullied at school? Pressured by parents? But what's so hard to understand? People respond to government incentives. If you had told me when I was 20 that I could stay home, not work, and receive monthly payments to cover basic expenses, I'd have snapped up that deal with pleasure. I can stay out of the workplace and use my time however I want, free from economic need? Sign me up!

Now, maybe you'll tell me I don't understand hikikomori and that these are people who feel strongly reluctant to get out into the world of work. But if you'd given me that offer and I'd gotten set in my ways of collecting a monthly check while I stayed home in my safe, comfortable apartment and read books, drew pictures, and listened to music, and then you threatened to take it away unless I manifested anxiety about going to work and supporting myself, I'd have the requisite anxiety.

"Syrian people (have been) suffering for three years and a half. It's enough.... So I would like to get the story of what ISIS wants to do."

Said Kenji Goto, 47, last fall, leaving his 2 daughters and wife in Japan, to report from Syria.

What ISIS wanted to do and did was behead him — on camera, with a message to Japan (Abe =  Prime Minister Shinzo Abe):

"Abe, because of your reckless decision to take part in an unwinnable war, this knife will not only slaughter Kenji, but will also carry on and cause carnage wherever your people are found... So let the nightmare for Japan begin."