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Figure skating gets more attention than Toyota's problems in Japan

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Sex sells..

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I just finished watching the figure skating (took a day off!). Kim's performance, which I believe was a record breaking score again (just how many times can she break records?), was absolutely stunning. I couldn't see anyone else skate with such grace, elegance and sexiness, while nailing down those jumps. It's always a pleasure to watch her performances. The choice of music was great.

Technically, Asada was very good, but I just feel that she's slightly missing something in her artistic interpretation. And the choice of music, as people have said before, could have been better. But she's still 2nd place, nonetheless. Ando made a slight mistake on the first jump, but she can still get to the podium if she doesn't crumble a la Turin. She's got two Americans right behind her though. Good on Rochette for being able to pull it off despite her recent loss.

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Women's short program just ended. Kim Yu-Na in lead:78.51 Mao Asada:73.78 Kim's score was a world best so Asada in a tough spot. Akio Toyoda may rather be on ice skates in Vancouver than in Washington tomorrow.

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Elvis said the difference in performance wasn't reflected in the results. He thinks Kim was better but only by a tiny margin...for whatever that means...

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I just finished watching the figure skating (took a day off!)

That is too sad

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Figure skating is nice, but to me it shows how shallow the Japanese are.

Toyota's safety problems are a matter of life and death to some owners, but skating is being covered more heavily. Were it a foreign company with safety problems in products sold in Japan, there would be 20 minutes of outcry on every newscast.

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Elvis?(Iknow,Iknow)

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I just finished watching the figure skating (took a day off!)

That is too sad

I know! Hahaha! But seriously, I've got 26 days worth of holidays I need to take off before the end of this fiscal year. Somehow, I don't think I can use them all by then. For your information, I'm taking Friday off too!!!

Here's what many people think of Elvis:

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/Elvis-Stojko-talks-skating-tonight-live-chat?urn=oly,221427

For those who can't be bothered to check the link, words that pop up are:

drama queen

complete fool

childish behavior

who cares what he has to say?

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I just finished watching the figure skating (took a day off!) That is too sad

No, it isn't. Sad is having the holidays on paper and not being able to take them when you want.

http://www.japantoday.com/category/features/view/law-maybe-changed-to-reduce-number-of-long-holiday-weekends

Enjoy your days off, Pukey2.

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While some Japanese believe Toyota’s quality control has slipped, there is still strong trust in the company many regard as the flagship of Japan Inc.

I thought JAL was?

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It was the same a few years ago during the tsunami when baseball got equal or more coverage. Japan has something very wrong with her priorities.

But as for skating. Well done Kim and Asada. They are ranked exactly where they deserve to be for today's performances. Hoping for Ando to come up to 3rd.

As for Toyota. Japan will care when it starts to result in job losses or public bail out. But until the venue is on fire, they won't notice.

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Thank you Cleo.

Just thought I say that I'm not working at a place where we are encouraged not to take days off. My colleagues and I are lucky in that we have about 20 days off per year, in additional to 7 summer holidays, the new year holidays and all the public holidays. We are encouraged to take them all, and at anytime. It's just that I myself have been busy with work. BTW, no, I am not an English teacher.

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That's a no-brainer--car problems or cute girls in cute outfits doing amazing jumps and spins on ice?

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We are bombarded with bad news everyday. People are struggling with their daily lives. I don't think it's a bad thing if some good news is splashed on the front page now and then to pick up peoples spirits.

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If the Olympics were being ignored in favour of news about Toyota, people would be moaning about Japan obsessing about the woes of a single domestic company instead of joining the rest of the world in the sports fest. Is there any new news about Toyota anyway?

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Is there any new news about Toyota anyway?

The only new news I can find anywhere is that researchers were able to replicate the accident scenarios (which they had previously said was impossible). It looks like problems with the wiring caused the acceleration issues.

Regardless, it was fun hanging and sneaking peeks at the internet with my coworkers to see how skating was doing.

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"But much more TV time was devoted to women’s figure skating at the Vancouver Olympics, an event in which Japan has a couple of medal contenders."

What is this- an opinion piece ? So what do the viewership numbers look like to make such a bold statement ? We all know that the US/Canada mens hockey game drew 10 million viewers in Canada- making it the most watched event in tv history there. So what are the numbers here ?

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That people chose to watch entertainment over the Toyota hearings is hardly a surprise. It's not like it's the OJ trial. If a major hearing was on TV the same day as the FA Cup Final, I know what UK viewers would be watching.

For the skating I preferred Asada's performance to Kim's personally, even though she reminds me of Olive Oyl from Popeye, but both were clearly above the rest of the field. I also felt Ando was lucky to get fourth.

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Mao Asada did what she had to do and Yu-Na Kim was strong as expected. It is now up to these two to battle for the gold.

-I had no idea Toyota was having problems -better get those car fixed though.

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I'd rather watch Ando Miki than a bunch of socialists destroy our free market society.

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Feel good exciting news or doom and gloom? Let me see..... Try New Zealand when it comes to Rugby, a big All Blacks story will trump everything else, a big football story involving the English team in England, a big cricket story in Australia etc etc.

As for Toyota, most people see it as the USA wanting their pound of flesh and making an example of a foreign country to make their own sorry industry feel better. Toyota need to sort out their mess, consolidate and regroup and get on with it and perhaps close a one plant in the USA to spite the witch hunting politicians..... who cares if it not #1 and national pride at the olympics is? not me.

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Japanese media covers the Olympics? I must be watching the wrong channel. All I see is Japanese "athletes" finishing 6th and 11th but can't see footage of who they are competing against.

What channel is this olympics thing you all are atalking about broadcast on?

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Analysts in Japan said the questioning by members of Congress wasn’t overly harsh but Lentz did little to restore consumer confidence.

Because his hands are tied, the Japanese call the shots and he is just a puppet.

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I'm not sure why this is so hard to believe for some. YES, Toyota's problems are more serious than the result of sporting events, but the former causes nothing but grief while the latter provides hope -- the this country is on a serious shortage of hope with all the woes in the news.

I'm sure that replies of the grilling will be played over and over, just before the 10 minute replays of the J-women's performances and a two second cap of Kim's. That way they can see all of today's highlights both bad and good (or since Kim is leading, both bad and slightly less so).

Anyway, not to worry; when Kim gets the gold it'll be back to Toyota and no more mention of the Olympics... especially since there's 6 or so more speed-skating events and as such likely many more medals for South Korea.

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Pukey2 speaks for me....

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car problems or cute girls in cute outfits doing amazing jumps and spins on ice?

well, exactly. If it was the other way around, I'd be worried.

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Is Toyota an official sponsor of this event?

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This is how the nation is sliding down economically & socially...all for the sake of a medal? that too not gold (?)!

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So, can we talk about Mao or Toyota or both. Mao is a winner, Toyada a loser.

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Maybe they'll wait for someone to die before they'll believe that it's not safe.

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Akio Toyoda is facing a tough grilling. People have died in accidents that might have been prevented. Many people have died in automobile accidents due to mechanical or structural defects in cars over the past decades. But never has the focus on a manufacturer been so severe as this time on Toyota. Perhaps they were late in reacting to reports of accidents. But then it is always too late, like in putting up a traffic light after people died at a crossroads. Like aircraft manufacturers changing their design after a crash (or two). I don't recollect Boeing executives called to testify in the Japanese diet when more than 400 people died in one of their planes crashing due to structural defects.

Back to the skating. Olympics are held once in 4 years. Toyota bashing not. So I watch the skating and can read about Toyota woes on the net.

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Mao, Miki and Toyota are all from Aichi ken, interestingly enough.

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We are reaching the climax of this affair, at least from the Japanese layman's perspective : for the first time ever an iconic symbol of Japan is confronted with a context in which some alleged "values" of Japan have no importance whatsoever, in an arena where the language spoken is not Japanese.

Frighteningly new !

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Before nobody seemed to care about it, suddenly it seems like japan loves figure skating, a LOT. Today I saw people watching it on their 1Seg mobile phones while walking, volume blasting and all. Even at work people were doing it. Don't get me wrong, i like figure skating, but it seems to me i'm witnessing one of those 'minna isshoni' moments.

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ansamp at 09:00 PM JST - 24th February Before nobody seemed to care about it... it seems to me i'm witnessing one of those 'minna isshoni' moments.

Wrong. When you watch a European ice skating contest ON JAPANESE TV, you will see bill boards for Lotte and other Japanese companies IN THE FOREIGN STADIUM. You could not be MORE wrong.

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iLoveNippon at 09:31 PM JST - 24th February : Wrong. When you watch a European ice skating contest ON JAPANESE TV, you will see bill boards for Lotte and other Japanese companies IN THE FOREIGN STADIUM. You could not be MORE wrong.

.. I don't know buddy, I could be wrong, as you say, just my opinion here. Still haven't seen such fascination for ice skating in my 8 years in japan, even in the previous years olympics, or the european ice skating contests with lotte ads.

I didn't say there was previously NO attention to ice skating, simply that i feel there is more now than usual.

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Pretty faces are better than old news that keeps spinning.

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As said by many before its only in America that its a being made such a big deal.

...look round the rest of the world or at least on english news sites and you can see its way down in what people are interested in reading about..

BBC - it doesn't even make the top 10... some minor tv celebs divorce is far more popular.

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I don't know buddy, I could be wrong, as you say, just my opinion here. Still haven't seen such fascination for ice skating in my 8 years in japan...

I am sorry, but you are wrong. Japan is one of the top figure skating nations in the world. Figure skating is often on Television, and as I mentioned in my previous post, the foreign events have fixed advertising in the arena aimed at the Japanese. I have never seen advertising of that kind for another sport in my life.

Your negative criticism was unreasonable and fact-less.

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The Toyotos failing in America are American made. The focus should be on the people and factories in America that are building these vehicles.

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Figure skating gets more attention than Toyota's problems in Japan

LOL. I was at Haneda Airport and saw some passengers had to be 'pulled' into the aircraft since they couldn't their eyes off the TV screen....:)

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Whatever is written some people can only make negative comments, like ahochau. It is good that there is some good news to look forward to. As for Toyota ... I am willing to bet more and more crap will be uncovered.

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ilovenippon: Your negative criticism was unreasonable and fact-less.

LOL. i'm just telling my opinion, which is based on my personal experience. I could be wrong, perhaps, but I truly don't see what's unreasonable about that.

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I'm guessing people would rather focus on something positive rather than the media pounding of a national icon.

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As much as there is an interest in Mao Asada in Japan, there is even a bigger interest of Yu-Na Kim in Korea.

=This is the true battle that Mao Asada must win (and crush the Koreans). Everything else is insignificant at this point.

=We place the future of Japan on a 19yr-old girl's shoulders.

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some minor tv celebs divorce is far more popular.

There is nothing minor about Asley Cole. Are you a baseball loving septic?

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...that should, of course, be Ashley Cole.

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You know you are not important when they can't even remember your name correctly.

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Figure skating gets more attention than Toyota's problems in Japan

As it should.

The average person can't do anything about the Toyota safety scandal.

But out of the scanty good news Japan gets from these Games, most Japanese can take immense pride in their top-notch female figure skaters.

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Still one must admit that we are not only looking at some of the best pairs, dancing, to solo competitors that are in figure skating but some beauty as well. This is not something we see almost daily for it is once every four years if we are lucky & YES the males & females are simply amazing skaters to what those some 8 or 12yrs ago could accomplish so it is amazing to so many of us.

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anyway,i think it's just like a hikikomori.

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Figure skating gets more attention than Toyota's problems in Japan

Toyota's problems get more attention than Figure skating in this article

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The Japanese don't like bad news and secretly they have huge pride in the Toyota name. Now they have inner shame. The president has scurried over to congress and apologized in the Japanese way.In Japan expressing regret,then carrying on as if nothing ever happened is more than adequate to get you out of most bad situations. The public hate any bad news,especially as toyota have put shame on the country internationally..so as usual they just bury their heads in the sand, look the other way,change the channel and watch the olympics.another problem solved the Japanese way. There are intelligent people in Japan who access foreign media or read quality newspapers but they are in a small minority. I love watching the TV news when they do report a terrible crime in Japan,the newsreaders read the report with a serious face,then when finished they stare at the desk for a few seconds,maybe a sigh or a humm,then back to a report on someone who went to an onsen 'kirei' then ate some 'oiishii' food...and all is well in the world.

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Well if comes down to watching Yu-na Kim skate or Akio Toyota tap dance, I'll take Kim and day.

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This isn't news.

It's normal for events like the Olympics to take the attention of viewers and schedulers alike away from more important things.

Such times are excellent for passing unwelcome laws, or announcing that you have been swindling the taxpayer, etc. simply because it's likely you'll get little coverage and most people won't even realise until it's too late. I'll be surprised if there hasn't been a rash of executions of people languishing on death rows around the world too. It's a great time to do unpopular things, with all those zombified members of the public focused on athletes and their skill (or lack thereof.)

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