Abe234 comments

i guess the fat people epidemic has been caused by many things over the decades, and the research shows that over the decades. Socially And economically. So socially we have encouraged women to break the chains of the kitchen and get a career, so there is less time to think about food, quality and quantity and the heavy industries men traditionally did have been replaced or reduced. Retail psychology is another part, deals, two pizzas for the price of one or buy two get one free. Psychologically this appears cheaper but we know that the person will eat more calories than they ever intended at each sitting. So in reality the person/shopper has bought more food than they really intended. Eg I’ll have one today and one tomorrow but they’ll actually eat both today, buying another tomorrow. Advertising also pushes parents to buy poor food for their kids. If it’s made in a factory then it filled with sugars fats, emulsifiers etc. cause quantity over quality is more important. As both parents work, with less time and money it’s easier just to throw something in the microwave.The idea of having school lunch rules seems to have been lost. So I will give Japanese schools some praise here. No juices, no potato chips, chocolate or cookies. PE is still seen as important whereas in some western “fatty people” countries it’s been sliding down the value chain. Finally the health service is supposed to fix it all at the cost of the tax payer, while the fast food companies bring in the profits and pay tax to the government. I guess that old adage is true “there really is no free meal”.On top of that people aren’t the only ones to blame, It’s society, capitalism, sales, psychologist in business, and government policies. Even the little chocolate bar at the till.

beats me why the average guys buys this tland never take it off road.

Good! I’m glad she’s been caught. Glad she has been sentenced and glad that this ( not sure what word to use here) but also glad she’s been fined. When we see men taking women for 10’s of thousands of dollars, we might say what a scum bag. So in the interest of gender equality, isn’t it also fair to call her something similar. Sadly this happens all the time to men and women. But so glad she can go to jail and maybe find a new love. LoL. I won’t conflate the silly men who attend hostess bars ( legitimately) with a criminal.

GillislowTierToday  02:53 pm JST

let’s stop pretending they are innocent in this exchange. They gave her vast amounts of money because they’re expecting it to lead to something more than “wow you’re such a nice guy Mr. Suzuki”

So what, we as men have bought women drinks, taken them to the cinema,meals, and other things but doesn’t make every guy a loser because they expected something. It’s called trust! Romanance and hope we find someone we can love. Being gullible isn’t a crime! It’s just some people abuse that trust, and other peoples hopes. You wouldn’t be saying this if some guy swindled some older lady out of millions. You’d stilll call him a scumbag. (IMHO)

I think we might be in a situation where we have been allowing China to control the political narrative regarding Taiwan. Taiwan has very few countries that recognise Taiwan as a state. It's not in the UN. similar to Palestine. Politically it could be argued, that if we ( international) don't accept Taiwan as a country then by default we are indirectly saying, it belongs to China. Politically speaking that is. The CCP has been building up a massive naval fleet, air force, and army. That has another purpose and it isn't just defence. Especially the aircraft carriers which are designed to project power over the straits. We have seen what happens to a country that has a security guarantee backed by the US et al that has no nukes/or gave them up. Not once but twice! Thirdly, Taiwan has no US bases, there and so it could be argued that if China invaded Taiwan, it had nothing to do with the US,( even though they have a treaty, similar to the one promised to Ukraine). We are also allowing China to become dominant economically, to the point money talks and the US, et al can't afford to go head to head militarily with China or don't want to, and some countries won't want to rock the boat with China because they don't want to lose out. Finally, we have allowed China to build fake islands in the South China Sea, and I suppose if possession is nine-tenths of the law, then we have allowed China to build and lay claim to it. Legally or not, it kinda has that squatter right to it, but it does have that feeling of when Nazi Germany annexed parts of Europe. Finally, we have never seen two nuclear power countries go directly head to head in a shooting war, and I don't think that will change if China attacks. Let's hope the chess pieces are kept in place to keep a stalemate. Its time to say NO to China. as a group!

Debora JennisonToday  08:06 pm JST

rest in peace the poor parents ........... at least there´s one nutter off the streets.

Nearly all murders and killings are committed by so-called "sane" people. Not mentally ill people! We don't need your stereotypical stigmatization of people who may have had delusional ideation along with auditory, and visual hallucinations classed as a NUTTER!. They are more likely to harm themselves than anyone else. Some here may even have family members suffering from this disease.

Fighto!Today  06:53 pm JST

In any case, the killer will likely spend the rest of his miserable days in a mental asylum. 

Rest in Peace to the poor parents. One can only imagine how horrible their lives were made by their son.

Yes, that may be true. But if he was suffering paranoid delusions, along with auditory hallucination, all their lives would have been blighted but this terrible condition. Sadly we don't know the diagnosis.

We won’t ever have to go to a gas station. And so where are all the EVs of people who live in massive apartment blocks going to charge? Either a store, supermarket, electric station?’ We can’t have cables trailing g down from apartments or out of windows. Until you solve the charge times and where I can charge…. I can’t buy one. I certainly don’t want to be hanging around for 30 minutes.

I want one but I think we have to look at drivers who don’t live in a house and have a garage.

I’m not a betting man but the opposition is such a joke, even more so, than the clowns in power now,never read a single opposition policy here on japan today. So It’s just a matter of picking the least worst clown. So my guess is no change at the next election. Same party, same leader! Omg!…….. wait!…. Hang on! Did I say same leader? No, we Change the leader!say sorry. Bow!!! Very very deeply. Go to the country and win again. And pensioners will vote for the same party. Rinse and repeat!

Fighto!Today  09:00 pm JST

Good on Japan. 

Iran - being controlled by a totalitarian regime of mad Mullahs - is a shameful government not worthy of any respect.

well you might want to check the history books and see how the Mad Mullahs all came about due to the over throw of the duly elected government in 1953 by the UK/and the US and the Shah. The mods might delete this as they often think it’s off topic but it has a direct bearing on your comment and today’s situation and the mad mullah/ regime comment. Maybe not so mad but it does at insight into our attitudes today.

I think Iran had every right to do this in retaliation to the Israeli attack on their embassy in Syria. I’m not sure why Israel think it can go into a third country, and attack Iranian embassy, kill a few Iranians, and Iran is supposed to do nothing. we are allowed to criticize Israel without being labeled. Israel isn’t perfect! In the mean time the real crime here is Israel’s war in Gaza.

sakurasukiToday  07:28 am JST

Make sense, should be by American from American, for American! 

Make America Great Again!

totally! And we must pay the staff a totally low salary ….like. McDonald’s.

we must also make millions live with unaffordable health care.

we must make the workers so indebted to university loans to feed those loan companies, and keep the workers paying till they drop.

Then we must make housing so expensive the average joe can’t afford to buy. The ones that did buy scant afford to sell up. Rent inflation paying other peoples/landlords home mortgages. Totally great! Not!!!!!

School, doctors, the shop, politicians, gun lobby, mental illness. Am I seeing a pattern of obfuscation. We must blame everyone else and everything by else except the stupid gun laws.

The law that says a kid can have, hold and shoot a gun. Riiiiiiiiight! I’m clearly missing something. But you can’t give a 15 year old a beer. Sorry! Now it’s blame the parents and lock them up.

I wonder who they’ll come after next? The teacher? The doctor? The counselor….. certainly not the shop.

I think the family should sue the heck out of this rail company. Even a layperson can see this is an accident waiting to happen. Of course, the government could have legislated that crossings like this needed to have a barrier and a warning sign/alarm. Even more so when the Japanese government has printed money for years and they could have sorted this out. The grandfather, train driver, parents, and any brothers or sisters are going to be traumatized, and angry, at the lack of corporate responsibility. This is 2024, not 1924. This is Japan, not some undeveloped country. They could have built a bridge, a pedestrian tunnel, or barriers, or an Alarm.

wallaceToday  08:10 pm JST

Joshin Electric line is not JR. One of the many single-track lines. The government is not responsible for the crossings.

But the government is responsible for passing legislation.

I have to wonder if the new capitalists are the real characters behind George Orwell's Animal Farm. People think it's about socialism, but I see it from a different perspective, it's about capitalist greed, and how people in power aren't happy with what they have, and tell us ALL BOATS RISE, and we will all be happy, while they are given the trickle from the billionaire, to be shared. The billionaires want more. and it's the workers who pay the most, and often suffer the most. The rich can get that private health care, never have to worry about their mortgage, or even worry about buying a one-bedroom place, heating or eating or will they be kicked out by the landlord in favour of the other guy who can pay more. They are happy that food banks are there for the poor, like someone out of the Dickensian novel, and we should be happy at MINIMUM wage. Not a living wage, but the minimum, begging for Tips from the kind Scrooge. The new pigs are the capitalists, bankers and politicians, making the average person pay, as a percentage of earnings, more than multimillionaires. Nothing wrong with being a millionaire or even a billionaire, so long as you pay the same rate of tax, as the nurse, teacher, doctor, or Uber delivery guy. we aren't blaming immigrants, single parents, the disabled or the unemployed for the problems of a nation.

Some people are so disgustingly rich, while people can’t even have health care or can’t even get a home in the USA. Being generous to your staff is great, but as a nation , a government , we should be helpful as not everyone has the good fortune( no pun intended) to have won the genetic, health talent and wealth lottery. It’s great to be a billionaire but even warren buffet thinks he should be taxed a bit more…. And he’s a multi-billionaire and supports charities.

I guess you couldn't drop an F-bomb or an N-word in a song in the old days so you had to use your brain.... Then there is K-pop, blah blah blah, or some other American pretty singer, repeating some warble, lip tremble or jaw shaking, repeating the same chorus as filler. Where are today's modern, The Boss, Queen, David Bowie, Whitney Houstons, Madonna? Even Lady Gaga seems to have disappeared. I can't help but wonder if today's singers seem to be more from Disney TV, or another TV talent show chasing ratings, building up fans as you go along, and competition, rather than the organic way. However, Adam Lambert is a great singer for Queen.

WisdomToday  11:03 am JST

Care workers visit the homes of elderly people to assist them with bathing, using the toilet,

In others, gaijins wiping Japanese As##, Thats about right. It befits their skill and intelligent levels.

I can only say how disgusting your comments are. We wouldn’t allow that kind of comment in regards to immigrant nurses in the US, etc etc.

Being a nurse requires more than just what you said. It’s called knowledge and probably something you know nothing about. Eg medication causing side effects, regarding toileting. Skin care for people with i continuance, even bowel obstructions caused by constipation or even a tumor. Blood may be a sign of another disease. Not to mention patients who may have colonostomy or urostomy after removing the balder. even a Anal fistulas, cause problems. Women after giving birth can also have urinating problems. They may be young or old. Patients with a stroke can’t mobilize easily and leads to toilet issues, not to mention eating and drinking problems impact toilet regime. Skill and intelligence is acquired through training and your comments put down every single doctor and nurse who has to deal with these issues and the very patients who may have a problem with this daily activity of daily life. They’re not gaijin, they are nurses!

kurisupisuToday  11:14 am JST

@wallace 

Minimum wage per hour:

The UK is twice Japan and Australia three times. Even tiny Luxembourg offers 2600円 per hour.

Are you trying to hold up the UK as a good example of how to run an economy/country? I don't think it matters how much you earn per hour. It is the amount you earn relative to the cost of living and the services you receive. The UK's cost per capita has fallen since 2008, and had inflation to boot Even Poland is doing better than the UK. Japan's salary may not have increased as much as the UK's but they've had NO INFLATION. Education in the UK is falling apart, as are the buildings. a Health Service on its knees, a shrinking economy with an enlarging population. House prices are through the roof, and the average person can't buy a studio flat let alone a 2-bedroom home. Landlords creaming it in, jacking up the rent to cover their loans, and when interest rates fall, they will cream in even more, because they are NOT going to lower rents, so again, the renter can't save to buy a home. UK with food banks everywhere. The military cut to the point it can't even fill a football stadium. University costs rocketing, to the point that it i the cost of a home loan in 2000. They have to earn more to pay for all those increases. Roads with more holes than all the golf courses in Japan. (probably). So what austerity worth it? I think voters were suckered into that belief, and the debt is even bigger than in 2010. The people in the UK may earn more per hour, but they are per capita poorer in real terms with worse services. And we haven't even considered Brexit. Austerity crushed the UK, and the Tories blamed the EU for all its ills and the voters needed someone to blame. Sadly the animals voted to put the pigs in the farmhouse. But at least we got our blue passport!

Well since the USA is the worlds biggest market this is good for Japanese exporters. Japanese good will become cheaper for the American consumers. When those companies repatriate those dollars to yen, they’ll get more for their dollar. American who wish to visit japan will also get more for their dollar too boosting the travel industry. Also if the yen gets weaker this” MAY” be good for all those NISA buyers, in the Nasdaq or S&P500 and the Nikkei 225 where all those Japanese companies are listed.

リッチToday  04:04 pm JST

Enormous waste of tax payers money.

People said that about putting things into space. Like rockets, and satellites. The thing is if it wasn't for that taxpayer money, we wouldn't have better weather information, GPS, satellite communication, knowledge of global warming, deforestation, and the monitoring of melting polar caps. They help us travel better. and safer. If it wasn't for the brain of someone like Bradford Parkinson, using our tax money, we might never have had GPS, or how about the taxpayer's money invested in medicine. or the creation of the internet. The benefits are always down the line, after the fact. How about taxpayers' money funding Frank Whittle's research into the first jet engines? Now they are everywhere. Probably not such a waste.

If Japan can build this, and survive, I am sure Japan can build a commercial jet highlighted in another article. For all the complainers about spending tax money on this or that, if it wasn't for the initial spending of taxpayers money, we might not have all the wonderful things satellites give us. We have learnt so much from satellites about the weather, deforestation, global warming, polar caps, our GPS our phone services, etc etc.

Mr Goodman

I guess the above paragraph commenter isn't aware of other nations space exploration proficiency at all.

I think we are aware of that but there are way more who have never accomplished it. Only 5 have accomplished this. the USA, USSR, China, India and Japan. I don't see, France, the UK, Germany, Korea, Australia, Canada, putting anything up there. I'm even ashamed to put the UK on the list of "can't" because it can't even build a high-speed railway. Let alone put something on the moon or even into space.

daito_hakToday  12:07 pm JST

But I am sorry this all hydrogen plane ready in ten years sounds a lot like BS. No way and all of this sounds like another avenue for corrupted Japanese politicians to waste people tax payer money to satisfy their bodies in the industry and at the same time give themselves high salaries.

I have to agree with the hydrogen plane being ready in 10 years. It's not going to happen, although there is a hydrogen engine from BAE/RR on the 146 that has been flying. My question is...what size of plane? What is the range and how many passengers? people often hear the word plane and assume everything massive 777. I don't want to poo poo it, cause it seemed just as still to have the gasoline car when everyone used horses, or a plane that only flew 100 meters, or the first ever jet engines. So I'm hopeful. Other countries are working on this problem too.Its not just Japan.

CaptDingleheimerToday  09:20 am JST

They won't be able to do it. Not without a hell of a lot of copying, or a hell of a lot of American and European hires. We're not talking about a car or a motorcycle here.

Japan does build large parts of the 777 and 787 fleet not to mention contribute to the F35 programme and will for the next-gen fighter with the UK and Italy. Not many countries build their own jets on their own now. Japan should have been on this years ago. With Boeing's problems and the brand spanking new Chinese passenger jet coming out now, wanting to cut in on Boeing, Airbus, and Ambrear, business, I think Japan can compete. We could leave this whole industry to the Chinese, the Europeans, and the US. Japan has built some great jets. Honda's jet is a great example. The future of air travel is going to increase further over the next 10,20+ years, and Japan has a great reputation for engineering, tech, quality and safety, instead of giving up on production, we can invest in new jobs, factories and supporting industries to build this. That will mean someone needs to clean the toilets in the factories, and engineers, office workers, etc etc.

If he was cavalier with his wiki leaks information dump and put some informants at risk then, He should face some consequences for not doing due reporting diligence. However if it is just and only just about the shooting of unarmed civilians then that shouldn’t be extradited. We have seen journalists blow the whistle in the US before, Clinton, Nixon,mistakes in Afghanistan and Iraq. I think there is more to this than just the Apache incident. Anyway the US will not give him the death penalty, that’s for sure. The original whistle blower did his/her time and wasn’t given the death penalty either. Yes he might have done some good on blowing the whistle on something but did he also do something that cost someone else’s life. Did he do due diligence or did he just do a massive info dump and to heck with the consequences?

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If he was cavalier with his wiki leaks information dump and put some informants at risk then, He should face some consequences for not doing due reporting diligence. However if it is just and only just about the shooting of unarmed civilians then that shouldn’t be alllwed. We have seen journalists blow the whistle in the US before, Clinton, Nixon,mistakes in Afghanistan and Iraq. I think there is more to this than just the Apache incident. Anyway the US will not give him the death penalty, the original whistle blower did his/her time and wasn’t given the death penalty. Yes he might have done some good on blowing the whistle on something but did he also do something that cost someone else’s life.

What a Bunch of party poopers you are. We have those little tiny scooters bombing in and out of traffic, and i don't see how this is any different. It's probably taxi drivers complaining about this. Do they REALLY ignore traffic lights? or do they nip through on a yellow light? And is this JUST FOREIGNHERS? No Japanese university students? Not a single Mr Suzuki, Mr Honda, or Toyota Mario fan? I think there just might be a slight, maybe just a tad bit of foreigner blaming going on here...Just a tad! Surely, there must be some Japanese Mario fans who, jump out of their kart and take a pic. Maybe if noise is a problem they can go electric? And only 100 complaints? And if noise is so bad, let's look at those kids on motorbikes. Everyone likes different things, and they are on holiday.

TaiwanIsNotChinaToday  05:35 pm JST

Abe234Today 12:16 pm JST

WoodyLeeToday  09:05 am JST

The forces of Evil are only strong when Your are Weak.

there is an excellent Cold War documentary and we can see how bonkers it was and how Reagan and those before over hyped stigmatized the Soviet Union. There is an excellent part on how close we came to war and how the Korean airliner came to be shot down. Elements before the shooting down and the chain of events that led to the tragic loss and the how the US navy months before made a decision to enter Russian airspace’s which in turn led to Russian decisions after that that really do put things and Regan in a different light and how a tragic mistake happened. Some excellent information on US interference in over throwing democracies leading to todays Middle East , Central American and South American problems. Mainly due to the communist paranoia.

Still Russia that shot down the airliner and the ME still responsible for its own problems.

Absolutely! However, the Middle East problems go back to when the allies post WW1 promised the Arabs a greater Arabia and then reneged on them, and cut up the Middle East as it felt fit without considering other factors, eg Religious factors. check the Sykes-Picot treaty. A mess caused by the UK, France, Italy and Russia. Not to mention the overthrow of the elected Iran prime minister, Mosaddegh with US/UK interference. Especially after the oil was Nationalised. in 1951. So it's not as simple as we think.

As for the Korean airliner, I was blown away by it too, but these things happen when nuclear tension is high, mostly by accident. And let's remember the US Navy shooting down an airliner. Check out Iran Flight 655. Are we to assume they shot it down on purpose? NO! Mistakes happen. So I can see how things lined up, and a terrible mistake took place. One mistake we can't ever have, and that is a nuclear war. Thankfully we had men like Stanislav Petrov or Vasily Arkhipov, and the US Air Force had a chip malfunction showing an ICBM launch., luckily we had men who questioned what they saw.

WoodyLeeToday  09:05 am JST

The forces of Evil are only strong when Your are Weak.

there is an excellent Cold War documentary and we can see how bonkers it was and how Reagan and those before over hyped stigmatized the Soviet Union. There is an excellent part on how close we came to war and how the Korean airliner came to be shot down. Elements before the shooting down and the chain of events that led to the tragic loss and the how the US navy months before made a decision to enter Russian airspace’s which in turn led to Russian decisions after that that really do put things and Regan in a different light and how a tragic mistake happened. Some excellent information on US interference in over throwing democracies leading to todays Middle East , Central American and South American problems. Mainly due to the communist paranoia.

Then we must also prepare for A) further increases in tax B) prepare to pay more to go t”to visit hospital or a cut in services.C) prepare to see or national debt increase further, D) inflation 2.8% now will be used to annually reduce the value of debt as a percentage of GDP over the decades. Either way we will have to pay for it.l one way or another. We can’t magically produce aircraft carriers, ships, and future jets out of thin air. Although there might be a money tree somewhere called….. the money printer.

Interesting the language usage. Workers v immigrants. I guess in the political world workers can be sent home but immigrants can causes sense of panic in the main native Japanese population because they come with a sense of permanency, settlement.

I don’t think they are solving a working problem, they’re solving a demographic problem. Again a subtle way of hinting at a temporary solution, instead of it being a permanent solution to a problem that was ignored for 50 years.

If we turn to appeasement or appear weak we will get to a point, where the dictator will want more, and push for more, and history has always shown that appeasement will lead to something much worse. Do we decide to help those who need help, or do we turn our back on them and hope, that one day, we won't need anyone else's help if we are placed in the same situation? The Cold War dividend is over! It is time we invested in defence. Build our alliances, and train. Just as we did against the Warsaw Pact. But I do think Ukraine will eventually be thrown under the bus, as the US, EU, et al as they get tired of spending money. But I think helping Ukraine for however long it takes, could be the best investment Europe and maybe the world will ever make. China, Iran, North Korea are all watching us. If the Afghans, can beat Russia and the US, so can Ukraine. They just need enough body bags. ( atleast until Putin is out) Lets double down on the arms to Ukraine.