Negative Nancy comments

Awful for everyone involved. That poor girl, that poor child! To be in a position of such extreme fear, to not feel like she could not reach out to anyone, including her parents, the male partner, or even the medical services- she must have been in a terrible, frightening place.

Then the girl's mother- whatever flaws she may or may not have had as parent- that discovery of a dead baby (her grandchild!) and then having to pick up the phone to call the police on her own child is a real-life nightmare scenario.

What a sad story. It's so extreme that certain posters forget that this article is about real people in the most awful of situations.

I value some peace and quiet away from the nagging. Work is the only place where I am safe.

I don't take holidays in the summer. My office is nicely air conditioned, but I feel it is more environmentally friendly to be cooling down the room for the benefit of the group than sitting at home playing video games under the air conditioner by myself. I take my summer holidays in either June or October, at the start or end of the allotted summer holiday natsu-kyuu period. I also take cold water baths at night, and begrudgingly sit in the same room as my wife in the evening instead of doing our own things.

There is basically no time allowance for preparing lessons. This is especially the case in elementary school, where one person has to do everything. As a result, the default position is to use the dry teaching materials published by commercial sources without much care or thought. It allows for no flexibility for differently-abled students, including those with language issues stemming from different family background. The teachers also have to do things like counting money and helping to serve food at lunchtime, which should be delegated to other people. The problem is systemic, full of flaws but ultimately unchangeable. This is not to mention the time used for home-visits, 'research' lessons and sports activities. It's no wonder there are difficulties in recruiting and retaining teachers.

Not a big fan of Royal families but I see some good in Princess Kako.

Of course, she studied in Leeds!

It's very interesting how things are framed. Some time ago, there was a huge campaign to promote tourism in Cool Japan. I don't see anyone trumpeting the success of the campaign now. It's been a massive success; think of all that money they're making from it!

"Are you looking forward to your state-sponsored holiday?"

"Oh yes, very much, thank you. Last time, I went fishing with the Duke of Edinburgh and the late Queen put on a barbeque. This time, I'm looking forward to seeing my old uni digs."

"Is the Empress ok?"

"Yes, I think she's fine. We won't have to put up with Sunak too much."

"Oh, and what about your heirs?"

"I have a nephew, y'know."

It depends on perspective. British TV certainly panders to be more inclusive these days to the point of frustration, but at the same time there is a lot more content which would never have passed the censors even ten years ago. People seem to be more open to talk and joke about very explicit things, but as society is more and more inclusive, it is no longer comfortable to talk about other topics.

There are benefits of self-service registers in certain shops, but it is a cause of job loss, and a massive cause of frustration to some customers. I think we are going a backwards step when we no longer speak with human beings.

Last night I had to order my Coco Ichiban curry on a tablet computer, which was very slow and fiddly. It was so much better when I could just tell my order to the polite and friendly staff.

It's weird that this is being suggested as becoming more widely spread, because that particular episode of disgusting racism and degradation was very specific to the United States. I think it is very important to be discussed within the US, but I'm reading Japan Today.

MocheakeJune 16  05:12 pm JST

Butt he could've ended up seeing the buttocks of a 58-year-old woman and get bummed out.

That's a very specific age. I think a lot of people that age (and beyond) would have quite wonderful buttocks. I've always wondered why certain parts of the anatomy are verboten when others are not. That situation in itself creates perversion because people become interested in what they perceive to be taboos. In certain cultures, where it is much more common to see buttocks, this kind of thing is probably not a problem.

At this point, do we even believe what they say they will do? I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if they just go ahead and do it anyway.

At this point, it might be most sporting to just let him concede! I worry that by the time of the election, people will be sick of hearing about it, and they may consider it a done deal. This could lead to Labour voters not bothering to show up, creating space for Reform and some of the other jokers.

Could this be the one? England looking strong. I'm feeling good about this tournament.

As other have said, the prices are still very low. You can't maintain low prices forever. A small letter to the UK usually costs me 110 yen, which is ridiculous really. My brother sent my son a small card recently from the UK and it cost around 5 pounds- approx. 1000 yen!

You have to commend the initiative here. This is clever business, albeit with dubious ethical considerations. As other posters have mentioned, however, this is ANOTHER story of the foreigners being the bad guys. If this were Japanese investors, then it would not even be in the news.

I think we must seriously consider whether women would want to be equal with men. It's not something to aspire towards. Men tend to do more dangerous, dirty, undesirable work than women, which skews the results. According to physiological differences in many cases, men and women are suited to doing different things.

An absolutely disgusting spectacle. The competitors should be ashamed of themselves.

Go team! Another score for American sports! Thanks so much for bringing us this!

I think until this incident, a lot of people thought the seatbelt was there in the case of a crash! Perhaps now people will do as they are asked.

I think airlines have contributed to this in the long-term by the small spaces they allocate for each seat. Guidelines even recommend having a walk about and stretching from time to time to combat the effects of sitting in a confined space for such a long time.

For the record, in my opinion, the airline was not really at fault here, they can't help the natural phenomena, but I'm sure the passengers will welcome the money.

I'm sorry to see another bona-fide legend coming out of retirement and tarnishing his legacy. Manny is one of the good guys of the sport too.

Tourism has been in Kyoto for hundreds of years. If you equate it to London, Paris, Rome, or similar, it is not especially expensive. The current complaints are in response to the recent very sudden upturn in a DIFFERENT kind of tourism that nobody was really ready for. The difference is that the tourists are predominantly foreign.

As other posters have mentioned, you don't need to stay in Kyoto itself because it is very well connected. If you can't keep up with the current costs, then find something else to do.

Ian, you are absolutely correct. Because stating an opinion on a message board is really, really, really silly. Who really cares? Basketball is of great interest to a whole host of Americans, including those who live in Japan. We should never forget their needs.

I'm really, really, really, really pleased to read this brilliant article. Absolutely fantastic stuff. Can't get enough. Keep the b-ball news coming!

During the cherry-blossom season, they had some stalls that are not usually there in the entranceway to a large and well-known temple that gets increased footfall when the blossoms are out. One of the stalls was a man selling all sorts of dried fruit. He appeared very friendly, but he was caught exploiting foreign travelers who were unsure about the currency. For a modest bag of dried fruit, he attempted to charge my mother 40,000yen. My mother, visiting me, was fresh of the plane at the time and was counting out the notes to give him, when I stopped her, and we walked away. The man shouted out at me in frustration of being caught, but I made a point of telling people nearby, which included the people in regular shops and the usual carpark attendants etc. We went straight to the koban, who told me there was nothing really they could do. I asked whether they could keep an eye out, and they said a crime had not technically been committed. A first impression of Japan for my parents!

Why is a name badge even necessary? There are only ever maybe three or four employees at any one time.

Collecting something is a curious habit, when you think about it. I collect all sorts of old junk.

My old grandma used to collect pencils. Almost every destination will be selling pencils with their design or logo. They're usually fairly cheap, and you can actually use them for something. They also don't particularly take up much space, but they serve as a nice memento.

The headline suggests the whole country is responsible for this, which is untrue. Actually, it is a small but vocal minority who are put out, who manage to make the headlines with their complaints every day. This year's hot topic is the so-called burden of inbound tourism. It's a nice stance that people can get behind.

In my personal experience, children are not so much of a financial burden, but being married is.

A lot of people have commented on financial reasons for the fall in birthrate, but the fact is that it is much more fun to be single and have the freedom to do as you please. Marriage equates to a commitment to sharing your time, space and finances. If you're marrying later in life, as many people do, then you will be accustomed to having your own time, space and money. It's very difficult to give it up. When you have a girlfriend or boyfriend you get all the fun parts including someone to talk to, someone to share activities with and someone to be intimate with- but eventually they go home and leave you alone.

If I have to use the air conditioner then I will. However, I will use it only in the room I am using, and my family and I move from our large bedroom with beds upstairs to a smaller bedroom downstairs with futons.