A Canadian comments

For PM Kishida, just making it through a day, let alone a G20 summit, without an gaffe or self-inflicted wound, should be considered a success.

Uber (ridesharing) and cannabis. Two things Japan doesn't have thanks to ____.

...an overly-conservative society controlled by old politicians who don't believe in fun and good times.

@factchecker

Another failure from the keystone cops of Japan's police force. Too busy Why were they too slow and failed to stop him leaving the country? Too slow to act and acting after he fled.

@factchecerk, you might want to check your facts. The guy stabbed his daughter on August 20/21. He flew to Brazil on August 22. The wife's father called the police on August 24, at which time the cops went to the apartment and found the bodies. Now, I'm in no way a fan of the J-cops, but I fail to see how this is an any way their fault that he fled the country since they didn't even know about the crime until 2 days after the dude was gone.

I'll have a Big Vlad set.

The logo looks similar to Mos Burger.

And McPutin's menu will feature the Big Vlad.

Does this mean the new owner will imitate McDonald's such as McBoris?

I'll bet it will be McPutin's.

This certainly won't curry any favor with his commanding officers, that's for sure. I'm sure he'll rue the day that he was caught.

@Kuruki

If Japan is truly sorry and regretful of their actions, then no amount of apologies will be enough.

This way of thinking is truly toxic. If no amount of apologies will be enough, then there will never be room for forgiveness and healing. There will be no moving on, and only anger and hatred will remain for eternity.

Tadashi Yanai, president of Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing, said the conflict should not deprive people in Russia of clothing, a basic human need.

I think what this should have said is, "Tadashi Yanai, president of Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing, said the conflict should not deprive a greedy company from taking advantage of a war to make a few extra bucks, a basic inhumane need."

So, basically he was not guilty but they had to save face for the prosecutors and J-gov so they found him guilty on charges for one year and gave a suspended sentence so he gets no prison time and can go free.

I would love to see the government do some research and base decisions on actual fact because I would be willing to bet that more transmissions of COVID are from commuting on those packed trains and within the office once people get to work. They need to stop picking on bars and restaurants.

”New abnormal" is more appropriate.

@letsberealistic

It very much is Toyota's fault for fostering a company culture that allows its managers to harass their employees and force them to do overtime. I worked for a Toyota group company for 3 years that supplied parts to Toyota and it had the exact same toxic environment. Managers would routinely berate their staff in the middle of the office and call them names in front of their colleagues. I was told to clock out at 5:30pm but was expected to work until 9pm or 10pm. I complained to HR twice and on the third time, after 3 years, I quit and found a new job working for an American company in Tokyo with a much better company culture.

How is the 3rd shot planning going? It really easy amazing that they didn't learn anything from the debacle of last year.

Right about now they should be faxing around the plan to start thinking about scheduling an exploratory meeting to decide whether they should consider early discussions about an initial conference call to talk about a booster shot. Meanwhile, cases will double every few days as has been the experience in other parts of the world.

As the Judge said the other day " what more can this man do"

Well, he could get vaccinated for one thing...I really hope the Aussie government doesn't treat this lying anti-vaxxer better than it treats its own citizens.

@Ricky - Good point and well taken, I agree it's not as black and white as principles vs. money, but I am also of the opinion, perhaps incorrectly, that China is fairly well entrenched in their current course of action and will not come back to the table unless it's with guarantees that the west and Japan will not compromise on. I should have added in the above that in reality, Japan's national interest goes hand-in-hand with American interests to a large extent as its main ally and so they won't send anyone, or they will send a delegation comprised of no one of consequence.

If national interest equates to doing the morally right thing, don't send anyone, but if it's economics, they'll send a delegation. Principles vs. money. Money usually wins. Maybe he can split the difference and send an "offering" like he does to Yasukuni shrine...

She served alongside four U.S. presidents, four French presidents, five British prime ministers and eight Italian premiers.

And 10 Japanese Prime Ministers...

Drivers in Japan don't even stop for an ambulance with sirens blaring that is clearly in the middle of tending to an emergency because god forbid they have to stop for 30 seconds when someone's life could be in the balance so do you think they care about stopping at a crosswalk???

First the J-gov asks financial institutions to cut off financial ties to those restaurants and now coercing alcohol wholesalers??? They try to get others to do their dirty work because of their own incompetence. If they had done their jobs properly and gotten everyone vaccinated in a timely fashion, we wouldn't be in this mess.

Indecisiveness is a sure sign of weak leadership. COVID has been around for over a year and a half so it is not going away anytime soon. It will still be here is 3 weeks and spectators at the Olympics will intensify the super-spreader event that it will already become.

Visiting dignitaries often pay visits to the cities

I would hardly call this clown a dignitary...

A handful of selfish Olympic athletes is not the "sporting world". I suspect some "pocket lining" is taking place.

The IOC and JOC are set to make billions of dollars off of the athletes so the least they could do is provide more hospitable accommodations. This room looks like a really cheap motel.

Suga, Bach and Coates should be made to personally greet, shake hands with and hug every athlete and person arriving in Japan because of the Olympics to put their money where their mouth is.

And so it begins...

The next step should be to cut about 15,000 athletes and we should be at about the right number...

Why are Olympics going on despite public opposition, medical warnings?

Money

I thought the whole point of using the Greek alphabet was to avoid associating a variant with a country to prevent prejudice against that country, but then JT goes ahead and associates Kappa and Delta with India so wtf is the point of the new naming convention???

Probably best for him to call a quick, snap election before the Suga-Bach-Coates variant starts ripping through Japan.