AgentX comments

This doesn't just come from nowhere, this movement. Illegal wars and injustice in the ME will tend to produce terrible consequences. And misguided kids like her.

Agreed. I am not justifying the violence form either side but we are only given half of the story. To think that the west is free of guilt is quite naive and ignorant in itself.

Again, Japan handing out light sentences for the most vicious and heinous crimes while smoking pot will have the whole house of bricks come down on you. This innocent girl will be scarred for her entire life! Where is the respect for her dignity?

How does this even make any sense? It doesn’t change the fact that he abducted her.

And the statement below pretty much discredits the lower court's ridiculous justification about the window being unlocked:

The girl escaped from his apartment in Tokyo on March 27, 2016, after she found the door unlocked and made an emergency call to police from a public telephone at JR Higashi-Nakano Station.

I would be very surprised if this girl was not sexually abused also, but the courts would probably see that as her fault anyway...

edit: ... if schools were an institution that could be trusted with protecting the well being of students,..

Elementary, junior and senior high schools in Japan reported more than 410,000 cases in fiscal 2017.

Without a shadow of a slither of doubt, the real number is far higher than what the schools report - or even higher than what they bother to notice.

It's a bullying culture. Considered a cowardly act in developed countries, but in Japan it is normal. It exists in all facets of society.

Ten of the 250 students who committed suicide had been bullied at school, according to education ministry data.

Only ten? Well.. if schools were an institution that could be trusted with protecting the well being of schools, I could believe that number. Until then, the above statement gets filed in my BS/Propaganda drawer.

The current system has drawn criticism due to the fact it treats children as property.

I imagine a lot of oyaji thinking "but they are property... that's why they don't need free will."

Truly curious... what is so special about the incoming Emperor that he should be held in such high regard? Can anybody tell me?

One aspiring volunteer, Masanobu Ishii, said he wanted to convey the spirit of omotenashi, which translates as showing Japanese hospitality.

Ahhhh.. good old Japanese omotenashi.

The thing where Japanese pretend to like someone so much that they would bend over backwards to impart a false reality of Japan to that person - then quietly stereotype and make a caricature of that foreigner to their friends when the foreigner is no longer around.

I prefer to deal with outwardly passionate, or even rude (but honest) locals in my travels...

As for unpaid volunteering one's time and money to (by extension) the government, this is quite common in socialist countries so I'm not sure what people are/were expecting. People do it everyday here in Japan.

Get back to work!

All lawyers in Japan come from the same cookie-cutter do not upset the system do not betray your compatriots mold as do all prosecutors judges journalists and basically all authorities. If any buck the system they will be blacklisted and banished.

Sad but true. Yes.

The Jomon were already in the Japanese archipelago likely from 10,000 BC. The Yaoi came later from the Korean Peninsula. But the Yamato are not people who immigrated. They are the mainstream "Japanese" who are a mix between the Jomon and Yaoi and any other ethnicities, cultures that may have been absorbed.

A rare occasion that I agree with you completely. The point being that there were people living for many thousands of years on honshu before the Yayoi, and consequently the emergence of Yamato. Something skimmed over in Japanese history lessons.

These are sickening, lighthearted sentences for cold-blooded MURDER!

Slap me sideways! People get harsher sentences for smoking pot. Wake up, Japan! One of your finest died a terrible, lonely death at the hands of these animals. WAKE UUUP!

Kenji FujimoriFeb. 15 06:54 pm JST

Its because we are the native people of Japan, where as in the west, anglo saxons invaded foreign native lands, which make up the colonial era of those countries. Hence the difference on why the law wont change to grant them native land titles to the Ainu peoples.

One word for you, sir: Jomon.

The Yayoi and Yamato came later...

He said there was a reserve fund for such increases.

Of course there is... just take it from petty cash..!

If they want to stay on the water, they could organise dolphin-watching tours or dolphin swims. Run diving tours, show people how pretty the sea is when it isn't soaked in blood and guts.

This! ^^

What do they plan to do with the melted fuel...???

Dolphins are traditionally caught for meat in Japan

What meat? I have never seen dolphin meat for sale anywhere - not even in pet-food. If it is being wrongfully packaged and sold as something else then it is clearly a part of a larger problem. As if it could be any uglier than it is...

I don't want to buy or eat eat dolphin meat! Period.

If it is being sold in Japan, it needs to be labelled correctly (and lawfully). Better yet - stop this barbaric dolphin hunt!

And are they doing anything about it?

A lot of what is considered abuse in other countries is considered as 'normal' in Japan. Hence you now have a bunch of adults with mental illness making the decisions... Blind leading the blind.

Because of Japan's backward justice system, and the fact that it has now caused Ghosn heavy financial loss, if Japan cannot find him guilty Ghosn may now have grounds to subpoena the Japanese government to the tune off many millions (of his personal losses while being unnecessarily confined).

Luckily for Japan, if that event were to occur:

a) Japan doesn't have the US type litigious legal system, AND

b) Japan can just put a kangaroo court together within minutes and find themselves "innocent" of such allegations.

Japan had better hope they can pin this on him, lest they brace for some severe damage when Ghosn is released. Can't wait to see what happens.

As usual, we have people here justifying the poor human rights standards of Japan by comparing it to America. You know, there are more than two nations in the world. Plenty of great examples out there...

The fact is that school life in Japan is dehumanizing on so many levels. There is no other way to explain it, unless you want it sugar-coated or prefer to live in denial. But that doesn't help the children who are suffering.

Suicide is the leading cause of death in children in Japan. Just stop, put your preconceptions aside, and think about that for a moment. Why would so many children want to end their own lives? And if you somehow disagree with this fact and want to downvote, that's fine, but at least have the courage to speak your mind about it.

The UN should do more about this in my opinion, as Japan seems either incapable or unwilling to raise its own standards.

FouxdefaToday 11:14 am JST

Not sure why this post was voted down. I think it's quite a sensible post.

I also believe that 'clubs' should be optional (guilt-free) AND separated form the school. This would free up teachers, the kids would have access to teachers well-versed in what they are teaching/coaching (unlike now, many teachers don't know the sport they are coaching).

The teachers would have more time and less pressure. And the students would potentially also have more time and less pressure, along with access to better coaching. The economy of the local society would also improve with new jobs etc.

It's quite absurd to think that I drew that conclusion from this article alone. But it was certainly on-point considering the thrust of the article.

As for the World Summit on Faith in Japanese Cars - that's precisely where I heard that. But I'll be sure to check with the Hillclimber International Council of Conjecture next time before I make those findings public...

Toyota's fiscal third quarter profit plunged to 180.9 billion yen ($12.6 billion), about a fifth of what the Japanese automaker earned the previous year...

... helped by perks from U.S. tax reforms.

Toyota lowered its profit for the fiscal year through March...

...below its earlier projection...

I think the world is starting to lose faith in Japanese cars again, and also realizing that there is plenty of ingenuity and reliability in other cars.

Mislabeling food products? Lying to the public? The people under fire here are probably wondering what is wrong with that. Everyone does it here to the point that it's considered 'normal'. TIJ.

I think a big part of this problem is that Japan doesn't really understand what abuse is yet, and the damaging effects of it. Abuse is happening right now, in many facets of J-society. They often don't even see the problem (or pretend that they don't).

Sorry, Japan - it really is time to join the 21st century.

No one here is surprised at the fact that a teacher, who is most probably married, is soliciting young girls online. Nothing to see here!

This man shouldn't be teaching kids, he clearly lacks the moral fiber (if that is worth anything anymore).

I avoid those places like the plague (that lives in their kitchens).

Nissan's board decided to nominate Renault Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard as its new member

I hope Mr. Senard is wearing some strong body armor to protect himself from the inevitable knife in the back...

Cybernet Systems Co

Why does that name come across as a direct rip-off of the famed "Cyberdyne Systems" that created "Skynet" in a famous movie?

Strangerland - use all the big words you like, but after the Funato Yua case and more before her, it was abundantly clear that, not only procedural changes were required (that would warrant your data), but a more pressing change in attitude and diligence was required.

Evidently, if a school can betray a known victim's privacy and confidence to an abusive father and the system cannot stop that - to highlight only part of the her case for my argument - it's easy to deduce that "change" has not happened.

Does that mean that they have taken no actions, or that you just haven't read about them? It's a fairly big difference.

I think he is referring to meaningful change. Change that achieves more positive outcomes for at-risk children...