" Last summer, 530 people drowned on Japanese beaches. An appalling statistic by Australian standards but the best-ever recorded in Japan. Shunsuke Mitsue, a water safety expert with Red Cross Japan, believes Australian training for Japanese lifesavers could reduce drownings even further."

Japanese : Hata ho hata no aida de oyugu - "I swim between the flags".
Except that 6 tourists were rescued on Gold Coast last year. Australians have been warned to restrain their "maverick" instincts to prevent more tourists from dying in the Japanese snow. An Australian death mirrors that of Brisbane skier Scott McKay in 2009, whose body was found two months after he left a Niseko bar in sub-zero temperatures.

"It looks all safe, but if you do get off the beaten track and you're by yourself, you can die - very quickly," Marcus Dawe, owner of Niseko Lodge at the popular resort town on the northern island of Hokkaido, said.

"You can't climb out of the snow," Mr Dawe said. No one hears you screaming in snow. It just absorbs the sound. "While the Japanese are "great law abiders" and stick to the main roads, Mr Dawe believes Australians are "a little maverick and like to go off-piste." Off-road shortcuts are especially dangerous, because what appears to be thick snow may disguise a hole or creek. "The last guy that died that was the same case," Mr Dawe said.

So today's report of missing skiers is a problem . Japanese may have questions about foreign tourists. Now we have a baby on video climbing a swimming-pool gate and pulling up the latch. Re-design may be needed , babies network with mobiles.