In the world of the movie Bullet Train, opening in US theaters this weekend, Brad Pitt is an assassin in a hyper-stylized, neon-tinged Japan. Sandra Bullock and Puerto Rican pop sensation Bad Bunny also appear.
Forget them. The real star should be the train. A staple set for any movie that takes place in Japan, from Lost In Translation to Inception, it is about time the Shinkansen itself got top billing. Based on a novel by Japanese mystery writer Kotaro Isaka, Bullet Train shows the enduring obsession with Japan’s ultra-efficient and super-fast trains, nearly 60 years since their introduction.
Famously, there
Starbucks, which has long made its bathrooms available to the public, earlier this month announced that it might soon insist, however gently, that you would have to purchase something for this privilege. A latte for the loo, as the Britons might say.
This is unfortunate. Most of us unlike Russian President Vladimir Putin cannot take our toilets with us; we have to depend on private establishments.
All this begs a larger question: Why are so few public restrooms readily available?
The answer requires going back to the 19th century. Our potty shortage is nothing new. Consider, for example, this long-winded,
Even the murder of 19 elementary-school children in Texas could not deter the US gun industry from enjoying its annual celebration of the weapons that slaughtered them.
Ahead of its three-day convention in Houston, Texas, last weekend, the National Rifle Association (NRA) offered its “deepest sympathies” to the families of students, aged eight to 11, and two of their teachers, killed in a “horrific and evil crime” in the small town of Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday last week.
In the next sentence, the NRA absolved the gunmakers and their US$20 billion-per-year industry, which claims the lives of more than 100 people in
Amid more than two months of intense media focus on the war in Ukraine, one story was largely overlooked. Late last month, the US and Russia carried out an exchange of prisoners. Russia released a former US marine, whom it detained three years earlier, while the US released a Russian pilot imprisoned over a decade ago on drug smuggling charges.
What made the exchange noteworthy is that it took place as Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine brings relations with the US to their lowest point since the end of the Cold War.
The US has opted to avoid direct military involvement in
Deploying sanctions against Russian oligarchs and banks was a no-brainer. Now comes the far thornier question about how far to go in canceling Russian President Vladimir Putin’s country not just politically connected elites, but the athletes, artists and other symbolic ambassadors of the regime.
The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club the body that runs the historic Wimbledon championship has decided to ban Russian and Belarusian tennis players from this year’s tournament. Roland Garros, as the French Open is called, has not made a similar determination, which leaves the odd spectacle of Russian players being banned in