smithinjapan comments

Gonna be some strict punishment doled out here. I suspect stern looks, slightly stern warnings, a month of half pay, some shuffling of titles, and then back to business as usual.

"We believe that they will attend after seriously taking our thoughts into account,"

Hahaha... yeah... they'll start the ceasefire immediately because Hiroshima asked them to. And what's Hiroshima going to do when Israel does not? Give them a stern look?

I like how they plan to "ensure personnel keep a lookout and communicate more" in an accident in which, I'm quite sure they weren't saying, "Meh... we're not required to keep a look out, nor are we to communicate." How are they going to ensure it?

Color me surprised!

"I hope every single person will understand the value and importance of hosting the Olympics in their own country,"

Why? and what if they don't? I suspect it's far more likely only a very tiny percentage of people will recognize any value, and all the rest will realize only the costs. Hashimoto can put all the lipstick she wants on the pig, it's still a pig... but a pig that costs us all instead of feeds us.

I don't care all that much. I already get targeted ads all the time. I would actually delete Facebook and all related apps immediately if it weren't my only way of keeping in touch with some people. I wouldn't mind seeing it go the way of MySpace and Mixi.

Not sure why anyone's surprised... there isn't a population to support the military and no one wants to have kids because of the massive money that goes into the military instead of into support for having kids and raising a family. Heck, they could restart military conscription tomorrow and still fall way short of the target.

"Former reconstruction minister Katsuei Hirasawa, a ninth-term House of Representatives lawmaker from a constituency in Tokyo, described the election result as a "crushing defeat" and emphasized for the need to take "drastic reforms" for the party."

Notice how it's drastic reforms FOR the party, and not OF the party? I know that's translation, but still. They're likely going to do what they have done in the past and limit representation in local elections in order to favor their party.

As for voting other parties, the other parties are just LDP dropouts, most of whom dropped out because they didn't get their way on a certain issue, but still stand for pretty much everything else the LDP does. In short, there are no good alternatives. If people vote for a non-LDP member it's because that member is good looking and/or is from the voter's hometown. That's it.

They should arrest the politicians for all the noise pollution and unnecessary spending they create. Plus they are the biggest obstructors of business (and sleep) with the election cars and incessant screaming over loudspeakers.

"Police also issued a warning after posted an advertisement for an adult entertainment shop in the frame of a bulletin board "sold" by the Party to Protect the People from NHK."

Sorry, but I think this is great, and I hope people keep doing it. NO ONE needs those posters, which are a major eyesore and cost a lot of money to print and post. It makes it more fun, and actually brings more attention to the legitimate posters as well. I know this is a little different, but take for example the case of the weirdos a few weeks back who were pulling stunts at a stump speech by some LDP politician. Before they did that, I had never seen nor heard of her at all. Once they did it, she was on the national news pretty much every day for days, and several times a day at that. It gave her free advertising, coverage, and brought attention to the issues she was presenting. What she SHOULD have done instead of going "deer in headlights" and then asking them to stop, was stopped her speech, laughed, posed with them for pics, and then moved on (possibly even asking them to join in on the rest of her speech). Would make the politicians look far less hypocritical, make them look more fun, and as I said bring more attention to both themselves and the election as a whole.

Like anyone expected anything different. Anyway, now she can go back to ignoring her promises.

"Police said Horiguchi left his father’s body unattended for two year"

Sweet lord! I cannot imagine this, on a number of levels. Sadly, this kind of morally bankrupt idiot is only one of many and you hear about this thing far too often in Japan.

One reason why it's so darn hot is because Japan cuts down anything green... unless it's giving off pollen in a cedar forest MEANT to be cut down long ago. There was ONE large tree on my 3 kg walk to work until a month ago and the city cut it down for absolutely no reason. Now there is almost no shade at all on the walk. The road is, of course, asphalt, the sidewalks the same or concrete, and most houses have no lawns, and the parks are all just sand and one lonely bench and slide. When walking, you feel the heat coming off the ground as well as the scorching sun from above and even off concrete dividing walls in front of houses! It's heat-island effect to the extreme. And then of course you have the clowns watering their driveways... you know... to watch the cement grow. Yeah, it may cool down some of that trapped heat, but grass and other green works a lot better and does not harm the environment as much.

Title is slightly misleading. Not feeling it's sufficient isn't quite the same as not backing it. It makes it sound like they are against any remedies proposed.

The irony is, according to everyone I've spoken to, swimming is taught in Japan and most schools have pool because it teaches the kids how to be safe and to swim. This is 100% the teachers' fault, as well as the school's. First, just because a class schedule says "swimming" on it, decided a year or more beforehand, doesn't mean you have to walk to a completely different pool for the kids to change and swim (all during a 45 minute period!) when your own pool is not working. You CAN do something else. Second, it is supposed to be pool safety and swimming lessons, not "let the kids play" while the teachers don't bother to watch. If I were the parents, I would sue the pants off the school and then some. Since it's Japan I would then lose said lawsuit (but get ¥10,000 for the kid's death and a promise it won't happen again), but still.

Good luck to you, young man! I hope you do well.

Let the punishment fit the crime. Put them in a washing machine and hit start.... and maybe don't let them out until their trial is over. In the meantime, they should be fired immediately and this put on their permanent records.

So, they'll destroy an entire newly built condo building that was slated to be occupied this month because of a few angry residents, but if a bunch of tourists enjoy the view of Mt. Fuji they will put UP a wall to block it?

Geez... has she won ANY matches lately?

Sooooo much emphasis on nationality on this issue when the woman clearly showed she did what is human and has no nationality.

garypen: "One of the first things I thought of when I read this article was the famous story of Hachiko. I pictured a faithful Akita waiting for him outside the station."

Isn't that nice of you to romanticize it. In reality, the man was dead on a train and no one at home seemed the least bit concerned, let alone inquiring at the station after waiting lord knows how long. Seriously... there is no mention that the station or train staff got any calls from family (whom I'm sure, if genuinely concerned, would have checked the man's destination, like a workplace, hospitals, police, and at some point the train company that he usually rides with). None. Maybe they did, but I would suspect that would be mentioned as part the investigation and confirmation of where and when (roughly) he got on the train.

Awesome! Now the car tire company is an expert in the hotel industry on top of restaurants.

Honestly, I haven't seen anyone who cares about Michelin ratings outside of Japan, and Michelin must be laughing itself all the way to the bank.

Surprised the former didn’t get suspended as well.

I was big into photography and developing up to the time I came to Japan. Once I did, I could not find a dark room that was useable anywhere. Was told there were some you could rent in big cities like Osaka, but the cost was phenomenal, and then you couldn't get the raw film or the equipment to process it if the darkroom didn't have it all on hand.

I find it hard to fathom calling this a victory. It'd be like if a 1992 Olympic marathon runner finally crossed the finish line and called it a victory for the nation.

"Police in Muroran, Hokkaido, said Monday they have arrested a 38-year-old man on suspicion of committing indecent acts on a young boy without his consent at a child care facility"

Ummm... even if he had his consent, isn't it still illegal? Seems consent is a moot point unless we're missing something.

Tim Sullivan: "Rising stock prices won't help much when poverty stalks the land. I never thought when I moved here in the 80s that Japan would become a poor country, but the economic decline here is becoming increasingly obvious."

No kidding! I have friends or their kids who had wanted to come live and work in Japan but have instead opted for Thailand or Vietnam, or even South Korea or China, where they get MUCH better wages and accommodation, and where living costs are a lot cheaper. I didn't think I'd see the day, but we're headed back to the 1900's when people left Japan in droves to seek a better life in places like Brazil.

Daniel Neagari: Stop saying Japan is the world's third-largest economy. It is fourth now. and soon it will be fifth, then sixth, and by 2030 likely not even in the top ten.

Japantime: "Most of the other countries competing have Japanese as their Olympic hopefuls too. It is the same as Snowboarding, Japan produce the most skillful and fearless skateboarders. I haven’t heard of other countries that are able to skateboard as well as Japanese skateboarders. I have even seen it at the local park. The foreign skateboarders are really not as good as the local Japanese."

Nothing but hogwash. If you are a true skater or just a fan you can name off a dozen of the best skaters of all time, and I don't think there's a Japanese name among them. Say the name Tony Hawk and everyone will nod their heads and bow, but I had to look up Japanese skaters just to find any. There is a lot of talent, I am sure, but to say they are the best skaters and snowboarders in the world and no one is tougher is utter rubbish.

And what skate parks? I have not seen a single one in Japan... EVER. In fact, all I ever see in any parks big enough to skate in and not covered in dirt have "No skateboards" plastered everywhere. I do occasionally see kids skateboarding on suburban roads, but they are barely moving around in front of their houses.

"We... call on local authorities to release him immediately. We do this kind of thing in Japan all the time and it is never punished, and not even considered a crime. What you call 'price gouging' we call 'cooperation', and we encourage and reward it. The consumer does not mind at all! We ask to you, too, to please cooperate and release this man and let him sell the rice at increased cost."

Fixed it.

tigerjane: "Another story of an unemployed older individual killing a family member, and I will say it once more these stories will continue because there have been so many of these self-entitled individuals that were raised after the war era."

Dude... the guy was 56. That almost makes him post-Vietnam War. Not quite, but you get my drift. I think you came on here having already decided what happened without reading the article, and with extreme bias. Now, I agree that this kind of thing is increasing and will continue to, but not for the reasons you stated, since you were wrong about age group by quite a bit. This will continue because the rift between upper and lower class is increasing, with the middle class all but wiped out, and with poverty increasing and the economy collapsing. People can't afford to live, and so living as such with family indefinitely will cause immense strain on all involved, and I think we're going to see more and more people snapping. Doesn't matter if it's unemployed men in their 50s still living with mom and dad, a "sandwich" household (with mom taking care of her kids and possibly grandkids, as well as aging parents), elderly people taking care of infirmed spouses because they can't afford old-age homes, etc.

nandakandamanda: "Well, the mother waited four hours to call for an ambulance..."

Maybe that's when she found him? I doubt she sat around watching the blood and then said, "Okay, four hours... that's enough!"

As for the brother who killed him... well... the "I don't know if I threw the knife" thing is going to work well.