gaijintraveller comments

Ha Ha!! The world is not that stupid!!

Yet many in the world are stupid enough to believe that US is a positive force for peace whereas it has been at war for all but a handful of the years it has been in existence. Right now it supplies weapons to Israel, supplies weapons to be used for genocide.

I am not stupid enough to believe the US is a positive force for peace.

I remember going to a snack many years ago. I had been drinking with a Canadian friend in a gaijin-friendly place. A Japanese girl came into the bar and recognised him. They had been to school together, an international school. It turned out her mother was running a bar, a snack, at the time. She suggested going there. It was closed, but she had a key and let us in.

When we sat down, she poured a large glass of whisky for herself. It really was a large glass, a tumbler full of whisky. She downed it all in one go. My Canadian friend and I looked at each other astouned at how quickly she drank the whisky. She then explained it was mugicha and came from a whisky bottle that was reserved for hostess drinks. Customers paid for whisky to get the hostesses drunk on mugicha. There was also a bowl of flowers on each table for the hostesses to dump real drinks in when the customer wasn't looking.

These are just some of the tricks used by such bars to inflate bills. I soon learnt that most bars in areas full of bars were full of scam bars and best avoided.

Fortunately the place has changed since Kirin City, Hub and so on have opened along with many other places that just charge for drinks with no questionable add-ons.

I think speed limits and other limits need to be applied sensibly, more sensibly than at present.

40 kph is a common speed limit on dead straight roads with rice fields on either sides and there will be a yellow line down the middle making overtaking illegal. 60 seems high for a residential area in Japan, nearly as high as expressway limits of 80.

Those who drive have probably noticed that the only places where you can legally overtake, places with broken white lines, it would be suicidal to do so.

More intelligence is needed on the application of spped limits, raise some, lower others.

Japanese driving technique also needs some modification. People are taught to drive too close to the kerb and not near the centre line. This is a particularly great danger on roads with no pavement (sidewalk to Americans) as there can be little or now warning when someone exits a sideroad or their drive.

Why did the police arrest him?

I ask this because the police normally have no interest in enforcing the law on animal abuse, no interest in investigating animal abuse. Did an NPO or shelter force to police to act? Was there a story about the police refusing to do anything in a newspaper?

I suspect what he did is not an exception but more like the rule in the puppy mill business.

Next time you see a pet shop please remember that like supermarkets and convenience, their product has a sell-by date after which the animals are treated like rubbish and disposed of.

If you want a dog, go to a rescue like ARK, Animal Rescue Kansai which also operates in Tokyo. If you want a cat, go to a rescue like Japan Cat Network. Do not go to a petshop.

Ex-PM Mori next for the hostage justice system? No way, this is Japan, so everything is case by case.

I remember Ghosn said after his escape, "I am not escaping justice, I am escaping injustice."

BertieWooster, I agree with you. Excellent cameras, 50 in Sony TVs and so on for around ¥10,000 are just too good to be true as are some so-called Amazon deals that don't seem to be connected at all with Amazon. Dodgy ads don't seem to go against Community Standards. I would never trust any facebook ad because so many appear to be untrue.

TaiwanIsNotChina, the Israeli attack on Gaza probably has a far worse effect on the environment and lives. The US has poured billions of dollars into this, provided bombs, planes and other weapons and encouraged an irresponsible government to grab more territory.

Let's not forget all US software has a backdoor for the NSA. and anyone else who can find it.

I don't trust Japanese labelling.

Recently we read here about I think it was Mr Donut's meat pies which contained no meat. We then see things like Mango 100% Juice, which is 100% juice but mainly apple juice and an unspecifed percentage of mango juice.

Companies that do this are rarely punished just politely asked not to do it.

Apple has criticized the new law, saying it risks endangering users' privacy and security.

The greatest risk to privacy and security is companies that track everything the user does. Your phone tracks you and everything you do, Meta tracks you, and the US government tracks everyone and everything.

Homeland Security laws ensure all American software has backdoors for the NSA and that makes American software and hardware inherently unsafe.

Why do you think the US dislikes Tik-Tok? Because it is not American. It answeres to one of America's rivals.

Snack bars are well-known for adding spurious charges to the bill. Japanese will go to one they know but tend avoid one's they don't know or haven't been introduced to by a friend as the chances of being ripped off are too high. Because of this risk many bars have sprung up that do not have additional charges. Izakaya are a much better experience as they are more reasonably priced.

One go kart has an accident and it is news. Maybe he didn't stop at the stop sign, but how many taxis do not stop at a red light every day? I drive a lot and i would say the biggest dangers are suicidal cyclists and people who don't stop at red lights, and the majority of them seem to be driving taxis.

The view doesn't look as if it ever looked amazing in the recent past. It may have looked amazing before the buildings on either side of that street were built, but how long ago was that?

The US supports genocide, mayhem and destruction. The US is the largest weapons producer in the world and the last thing the world needs is more weaponry. The US is still supplying weapons to Israel.

During a typhoon a sugi fell and just missed my house. It was so near it broke a gutter, brought down my woodstove's chimney and ripped a mosquito net. I went to the city office to find out what to do about the sugi. They told me to write to the owner of the land. I asked who owned the land. They told me to go to the land office. I told them I had already done so but the letter was returned because the address was out of date. I asked if they could give me the correct address. They told me they couldn't . I pointed out that they should have an address to send their land tax bill to. They said it was forest land and it was not taxed. I asked if I could cut some of the trees down as it was impossible to contact the owner. They told me I couldn't. Why not? Because they belong to someone. Who? We don't know.

I somehow don't think the government will manage to get around this. They will just run around in circles getting nowhere. They will do their best to do it, but won't get anywhere because the owner of the forest died years ago, so they cannot contact him.

Of course, there is a simple solution. Tax forest land. If the tax bill sent to the registered owner at the registered address is no paid, auction the land to pay the tax bill.

The other way of reducing the quantity of sugi is to replace it with solar panels. That is actually happening in my area although most solar panels seem to be placed on good agricultural land.

Maybe the fireflies are already finished for this year. They started early this year. Maybe ok further north, but the tail end in Chiba.

Israel always claims that, but they never seem able to come up with proof. They claim that whenever they bomb a hospital, they claim that whenever they bomb a university, they claim that whenver they drop a bom on civilians.

There is no mention of whether this app is only for Japanese or gaijin can also apply.

The inflation the LDP sought has made it harder for people to afford more children. Many can't afford to support even one child.

I haven't noticed any AI, artificial inteligence, on Facebook. However, I have noticed a lot of NS, natural stupidity.

I do not have a problem with him being Jewish. I just have a problem with people like him who support genocide.

Many good Jews all over the world support Palestine. Many good American Jews are among the demonstrators on US university campuses.

To be anti-genocide is not to be antisemitic. To be anti-Netanyahu is not to be anti-semitic.

Many of the demonstrators against genocide in the US are, unlike Kyle Bluestone, Jewish. It is anti-Zionism not antisemitism. Being anti-Zionist and anti-genocide is not the same as being anti-semitic. See what Bernie Sanders, a Jew, has to say about it. Not even seeing genocide is being blind.

YeahRight, why do you think Hamas attacked Israel and Israelis on October 7th? Do you seriously think that was the start of this? October 7th was a reaction, admittedly an overreaction to what Israel has been doing to Palestine for years and years. In fact, it dates back to the Nakba when Palestinians were thrown off their land by Zionist terrorists. In case you didn't know Israel founding fathers were terrorists, and many Israeli Prime Ministers have been ex-terrorists.

Did you know Gaza was under siege before October 7th? Did you know the IDF occupies the rest of Palestine? Did you know Israeli illegal settlers are still stealing from and displacing Palestinians?

I wonder if you know why Hamas exists? It exists as a reaction to the Israeli occupation of Palestine. It gets support every time Israel drops a bomb on innocent civilians, every time Israel destroys a hospital, every day Israel kills vainly trying to destroy Hamas.

It may surprise you to know that many Jews actually support Palestine and many Jews hate Zionism which is a form of racism.

I have found a load on my chilli plants. They are hard to get rid of. Does anyone know a good way to kill the buggers without poisoning anyone who eats my chillies? I usually spray them with a solution of washing-up liquid which helps but is not really strong enough.

Was the cheese also vegan? No mention of what that was made of.

Wow, a politician actually sentenced to a prison. That is rare. What party did he belong to? I am guessing it was not the DP as he is being punished.

Xin, who had dealings with the company, was in possession of a key to the warehouse, the police said.

So why did he break in if he had a key? Surely he could have just unlocked the door, which is hardly a break-in.

Americans have the choice between right-wing and extreme right, between someone who supports genocide and Zionists and a pathological liar with a Zionist son-in-law who would probably want to turn Gaza into a golf course.

I don't think the campaign is having any effect on world opinion. World opinion is that any country that supports and finances genocide, supplies weapons to aid genocide, uses stormtroopers to to quell peaceful protest is not worthy of any respect and deserves to be treated with disdain.

Americans have the choice between bad and worse.

Crticising Israel is antisemitic.

Criticising Netanyahu is antisemitic.

Criticising genocide is antisemitic.

According to the Zionists anything they don't like, anyone they don't like is antisemitic.

Bernie Sanders, a well-know American Jew, is antisemitic, The Jews who join pro-Palestine, anti-Zionist demonstrations are antisemitic.

In reality none of this is antisemitic. It is anti-Zionist.

Survivors, leaders of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, such as Marek Edelman, were critical of Zionism. I mention Marek Edelman, a leader of that uprising, as an example as he supported the Palestinians in their fight against Zionism and he wrote an open letter to Palestinians in support of their cause.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marek_Edelman

America only supports free trade when it is to America's benefit. Developing countries should now feel free to place 100% import duties on Coca-Cola, Boeings and other American products.