Correspondence from around the world

Public toilets
near a bridge in Taito-ku, Tokyo

Edited by Moristotle

[Items of correspondence are not attributed; they remain anonymous. They have been chosen for their inherent interest as journalism, story, or provocative opinion, which may or may not be shared by the editor or other members of the staff of Moristotle & Co.]

When quirky isn’t inconvenient: “Quirky conveniences: the toilets of Tokyo – in pictures” [The Guardian, May 8]. Excerpt:

Japan’s hi-tech toilets are a thing of wonder: some play music to you, others heat your bottom – and there are some that will even give you a wash and a blow-dry.
    Not all of the loos are this luxurious – 40% of public toilets in the country’s main tourist destinations are still traditional squats. But this is all set to change as the government plans to update and “westernise” them in time for the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.
    As an apparent authority on toilets, Japan is also reportedly offering its expertise to China to help it improve its public bathrooms across the country – part of president Xi Jinping’s own “toilet revolution” launched in 2015. [read more]

Anti-government protesters on April 21
pull down a statue emblematic of the government
[Washington Post]

According to The Washington Post, “Since mid-April, massive anti-government protests have rocked Nicaraguan politics, threatening President Daniel Ortega’s increasingly authoritarian regime...Since returning to power, Ortega has used symbols from the [1979] revolution to help shore up his claim to be the legitimate ruler of a single-party state. But protesters are using those symbols.. to undermine Ortega’s regime.”
    And now, according to the web publication American Expatriate Costa Rica: “More than 50 dead and 400 injured in Nicaraguan protests” [staff news writer, May 14]. Excerpt:

The government of Daniel Ortega faced roadblocks and strong protests on Saturday, while the army and the episcopate press for a dialogue to end the crisis that left 51 dead in less than a month in Nicaragua.
    The armed forces issued a statement in which they called to stop the violence, while they expressed their solidarity with the families of those killed in the protests.
    The protests have spread in at least eight departments of the country, where in the last two days there have been clashes between protesters, police, and government shock forces. [read more]

The beach in Atlantic City, New Jersey, 1915

At the end of the semester, this professor received probably the largest standing ovation ever received by a university lecturer: “Less cramming. More Frisbee. At Yale, students learn how to live the good life.” [Susan Svrluga, Washington Post, May 12]. Excerpt:

Laurie Santos, a professor of psychology at Yale University had created a singular class, on the psychology of living a joyful, meaningful life. And she wanted the lessons to stick. All semester, she explained why we think the way we do. Then, she challenged students to use that knowledge to change their own lives...to stop worrying about grades, even if only for an hour....
    1,200 students were simultaneously taking Santos’s “Psychology and the Good Life” class, the largest class, by far, in Yale’s 317-year history....
    The impact is not limited to Yale. Stories about PSYC157 spread around the world. Santos created a pared-down version of the class and offered it to anyone on the online education site Coursera.
    Within two months of its launch, more than 91,000 people, from 168 countries, were taking it....
    Santos designed this class after she realized, as the head of a residential college at Yale, that many students were stressed out and unhappy, grinding through long days that seemed to her far more crushing and joyless than her own college years. Her perception was backed up by statistics, including a national survey that found nearly half of college students reported overwhelming anxiety and feeling hopeless....
    The idea behind the class is deceptively simple, and many of the lessons — such as gratitude, helping others, getting enough sleep — are familiar. [read more]

An age-old, splendid natural phenomenon: “Will Tourism Ruin the Rainbow Mountain of Peru?” [Iliana Magra & Andrea Zarate, NY Times, May 3]. Excerpt:

At first glance, the mountain in the Peruvian Andes, with its bands of soil the color of turquoise, lavender, red-violet and gold, seems Photoshopped.
    But the otherworldly sight, standing 16,000 feet above sea level, is real. People living nearby call it Vinicunca, the Rainbow Mountain.
    The varicolored mountain, with sediment created from mineral deposits over millions of years, was discovered only about five years ago, locals say. But it has become a must-see attraction for hikers, bringing much-needed cash to the area but also prompting concern about possible damage to the previously unspoiled landscape. [read more]

Too close to the truth to really enjoy: “Trump Considering Pulling U.S. Out of Constitution” [Andy Borowitz, New Yorker, May 9]. Excerpt:

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Calling it “maybe the worst deal ever,” Donald J. Trump said on Wednesday that he is considering pulling the United States out of the United States Constitution....
    Trump was scathing in his remarks about the two-hundred-and-twenty-nine-year-old document, singling out for special scorn its insistence on three branches of government. “The branches thing is maybe the worst part of this deal,” he said. “The first thing we do when we pull out of the Constitution is get rid of two of those branches.”
    He also called the First Amendment “something that really has to go.”
    “No one in his right mind would put something like that in a Constitution,” he said. “Russia doesn’t have it. North Korea doesn’t have it. All the best countries don’t have it.”
    He stopped short of accusing his predecessor, Barack Obama, of writing the United States Constitution. [read more]

Atlantic City, New Jersey, 1910

After stopping for drinks at an illegal bar, a Fresno, California, bus driver found that the 20 mental patients he was supposed to be transporting from Clovis to Tulare had escaped. Not wanting to admit his incompetence, the driver went to a nearby bus stop and offered everyone waiting there a free ride. He then delivered the passengers to the mental hospital, telling the staff that the patients were very excitable and prone to bizarre fantasies. The deception wasn’t discovered for three days.

Grateful for correspondence, Moristotle