Two years ago, the  BBC said Japan was the future,  but it's now stuck in the past.  I agree. Among the detractions is ownership of real estate.  You buy a home, and after paying off your mortgage in, say, 40 years, it is worth almost nothing. Japan recently had the third-largest economy, is a peaceful and prosperous country with the longest life expectancy in the world, the lowest murder rate, little political conflict, a powerful passport, and the sublime Shinkansen, the world's best high-speed rail network.  Actually, about GDP and the economy, Germany has slipped past Japan into #3, with India in the next few months easing by Japan. When the author of this article, Rupert Wingield-Hayes, first arrived in Tokyo in 1993, a third of a century ago, he was effusive about the country being exquisitely clean and orderly.  Actually still is. But he noted that Hong Kong was an assault on senses and Taipei had horrible air pollution. He could have said...

The American Energy Society regularly sends info on the full range of energy and minerals. Which countries are exporting Liquified Natural Gas?  The leading suppliers are Qatar, Australia and the USA. Qatar is really small, occupying only 4468 square miles.  The entire Big Island of Hawaii is 4028 square miles.  Australia is 664 times larger than Qatar, and the USA is 850 times bigger in land area.   A good rule of thumb is that LPG is 10% of natural gas and 3% of crude oil. Coal is the worst fossil fuel for global warming, right?  Yes, by far.  However, coal-generated eletricity is up 8% this year, and has doubled in the last 20 years.  India is the fastest growing market .  India now has more people than China. Wind energy turbines kill birds, right?  Yes. But cats 2000 times more birds than wind turbines. Vehicles kill 654 times more birds than wind turbines. Here is how the American Bird Conservancy responds. While this report is d...