AkashiAussie comments

Welcome to Japan.

A while back I saw a few things online where Sony camera parts were found to have being used in Sidewinder missiles being used by the Israeli army. Less savory groups were calling for boycotts of Sony back then, and I can only imagine that similar missiles are being used by the American forces in Syria and Iraq at the moment. If a group called 'GOP' is claiming responsibility, it must be related.

It's no excuse, but why do people think it's strange for people to say they don't remember incidents like this in a country where you can drink as much as you want for hours on end, drink in public, and there's no responsible service of alcohol anywhere?

Mike Will - I didn't know that Rhodes Scholars could be considered yobbos?

Kurisupisu- I earned 3 times as much as your average English teacher in Japan my first year out of university by working in a remote part of Australia. I always cringe when Americans tell me that they cannot get a job earning as much money back home as what (insert dispatch company) will pay them here. That said, the cost of living in Australia is quite high.

God damn unions and their never ending quest for more money for less work.

@Joe Biggs: In Australia, the Chinese have overtaken the Asian Studies departments of every university. Full fee paying Chinese students are keeping the Australian University system alive, and the universities are bending over to keep it that way. There is an agenda in place to brainwash the next generation of Australians to hate Japan and side with Japan in the event of future conflict. I can only guess that Musashi is a victim of this manipulation.

While the rest of the world is criticising Russia endlessly over anything and everything, Abe is journeying to Sochi in a show of support. Despite the annual rally for the return of the islands, this can only mean good things for the future of Soviet-Japanese relations. Don't forget that despite their recent joint military operations, the Chinese and Soviets still have some contentious border issues of their own. China and the Soviets were ready to nuke each other in the 60s and 70s over border disputes, and lots of people are not happy with the agreements that have been reached over the last twenty years.

History can be fabricated and twisted to suit any argument and if you repeat something enough, people will start to believe it. This seems to be very much the case with a lot of the information permeating out of China of late.

Considering that the USA have warned China not to establish an ADIZ in the South China Sea, it will be interesting to see what their response is. It will also be interesting to see if any response will come from the Chinese this time around.

Has an unwillingness to criticize China by greedy nations not wanting to upset the investor created delusions of grandeur?

As we already know, the Chinese government does not rate the UK or the people living within it. Given that the Harry Potter series is so popular there, they are probably trying to discuss the Japan issue in terms they think the people in the UK can understand.

Just reading some of the comments off your link obladi... Wow?!

daily 1:08pm What a loser!...........trying to go there to make a statement to the Japanese but only ended up needing them to rescue him............if you don't have the ability to make it there, rather drown in the waters then to have the Japanese rescue you............Remember that the next time you try such a stupid thing.

I'm sure if the government got strict on enforcing the visa status of the current generation of Chinese and South Korean 'comfort women' in Japan, there would be a lot of women in Japan provided with one way tickets back to their country of origin. The CCP and Mrs Park wouldn't have much to say I bet.

Anyone who thinks that the Americans didn't know that Abe was going to the shrine beforehand are kidding themselves. Of course they knew and despite the public outcry against the visit, they have now hit enter and are waiting to see what the Chinese do before moving a few more battleships into East Asia in their real life game of Civilizations. Japan is part of the US global network and the Americans are fully in control.

http://www.quickmeme.com/p/3vqjb0

To all the anti vaccine people out there, here is a link for you.

But to all those people scared because they might get a cold --- please harden up a bit. It's winter in a very cold and very densely populated country. If you think every person with some kind of ailment is going to stay home, you've got another thing coming. As a foreigner though, it's your god given right to take your sick days even if your Japanese friend wont, so perhaps just look forward to getting the flu, then you can sit on the couch all day and eat ramen. ;)

First for education? Boring, underfunded classes of 30-40 students, all force fed information out of text books using the same methods as 30 years ago. Has there ever been Computer in an elementary class? Do Japanese students know what a smart board is? First for education????

If they didn't call it 47 Ronin it would have been a great movie. I watched it with my Japanese girlfriend and she kept reminding me throughout the movie that the forests, the armor, the islands, the forests, the kimonos, etc were not accurate. She seemed really upset that the story was not told accurately too. I enjoyed it though - despite the updates.

ね

http://mobile.news.com.au/world/chinese-media-reports-of-plans-to-build-a-110000-ton-super-aircraft-carrier-to-rival-us-naval-power/story-fndir2ev-1226788022570

Has anyone seen this?

Being in Japan where a million and one kids tell you their name and where a million and one cute girls who all look the same as the next girl introduce themselves to you, it would be handy to have a set of those glasses with facial recognition, but for some reason Google are 110% against it.

Why is Rudd being quoted? He's in love with China and is a nobody in Australian politics at the moment.

Katakana adds emphasis to a word.

Good on them. For many, police are seen as distant and potentially dangerous characters. If this helps soften their image and means that some girls are more willing to seek their assistance, then good job Nagano. Police must be sensible about the way they handle cases though and manage their time appropriately. Regarding the death of that stalking victim recently and your comments about the police 'refusing' to take stalking cases seriously, the way some girls are over here, if the police jumped through hoops every time some princess claimed she was being followed or that someone had said something mean to her, they'd have no time for anything else.

Exactly sf2k. Teenagers in Japan wouldn't know what is going on in the UK because they don't even know what is going on here. Ask them about any current events and you'll be met with a blank stare. How a link between two random attacks of women and a criminal trend in the United States can even be considered is beyond me.

Don't like deserts. Don't obsess over trains. Don't watch anime. Don't gamble. Couldn't even name one idol.

Come at me ladies. ;)

There are good and bad in all groups within society. As a foreigner in Japan though, you get some very strange receptions from some old people. In Australia, a lot of old people still hate Japan and Japanese with a passion and will say racist things to Japanese tourists. I get that same vibe in Japan. Some of them still treat non Japanese with disrespect, so I find it hard to treat them with the respect I would normally give the elderly.

White_Shinobi, I had a similar experience with an old person in a gym in Japan. I had just been for a swim and as happens when you are in water, I got wet. When I went back to the change rooms, I sat down on the change room bench and a bit of water dripped underneath me.

This old guy came over and started yelling at me and rolling his Rs in the same manner a yakuza speaks to someone or an angry school teacher talks to his worst students because I had made a bit of a puddle in front of his locker. I didn't understand all that he was saying, but got most of it, including where he said, 'This is not your country,' so I replied in a similarly disrespectful manner. I told him it was a public place and people normally get wet when they are in a pool. I also told him not to talk to me in the manner in which he was talking to me.

The angry old man didn't understand what I was saying, but he did not appreciate it. I assumed that in his day he was some sort of low level manager who got where he got in life by yelling at people and intimidating people - there are plenty of elderly types like that who no longer have power, but still have the attitude.

In the end he looked like he was about to pop he was so mad. He started saying some more racist crap about how this was not my country and I should be subservient to him. In the end he got up close and pushed me, probably waiting for me to hit him or something. Given that I am 6'3 and over 100kg and this guy would have been lucky to be 5'2, I just laughed at him. I have heard too many horror stories about foreigners who have stood up for themselves over here...

Some old people in Japan need to learn to relax. They are stuck in the hectic salary man mindset they lived for so long.

Abbot has already said this year that Japan is our most important friend in the Asian region and the liberal party tends to favor stronger ties with the United States. During the Taiwan crisis though, Australia said it would not get involved in a potential conflict.

You can tell even by the content of the newspaper articles themselves that Australians don't understand the situation and for a lot of Australians they don't care. Despite this potentially being the beginning of a dangerous chain of events in the Pacific, Australian newspaper headlines are about Justin Beiber doing some graffiti, Lara Bingle's cellulite and a whole bunch of other crap.

Chinese government funded education has overtaken the universities and money is the most important reason according to a lot of Australians to further relations with our neighbors. A free trade agreement is on the cards with our largest trading partner and this will be important to a lot of people. Many Australians too are sick of following the United States into battles they don't understand and will lump this event as just another one of those events.

I have been proud of the way that Australia has responded to the rumblings out of both Indonesia and China of late, but if Bishop withdraws her complaints, I will be very, very disappointed.

http://www.news.com.au/national/china-lashes-out-at-julie-bishop-over-comments-made-about-the-east-sea-air-defence/story-fncynjr2-1226769961127

China is not happy with Australia.

Marcelito, The aircraft carrier and convoy were already organised to head to the South China Sea to parade around the Paracels and Spratleys. It just so happens that they will be heading through the East China Sea to get there. Some people are calling it a response to the B52s, but that it is not.

The one in 1986 lasted just over a year.

1986 eruption An submarine eruption built a new island on 18 January 1986, but the new island had been eroded again by waves and disappeared under the surface by 8 March 1987.

http://mobile.volcanodiscovery.com/fukutoku-okanoba.html

Exactly. Indonesia are two faced clowns. I am glad that Australia finally has a leader who says what he thinks and doesn't walk on egg shells. As you suggested, they themselves have admitted to spying on Australia in the past and I would bet you anything that they are still doing it today. When it was found out that the Indonesians were spying on Australia, Australian politicians just shrugged it off - as the Indonesians should be doing. It is the way of the world and hollow, meaningless apologies from either nation would be pointless.

When the extent of the USA's NSA espionage was exposed, they charged the whistle blower (Snowden) with espionage and accused Hong Kong of destroying relations with the US because they wouldn't extradite him. Prior to the exposure, the US were pointing the finger everywhere else themselves too, no doubt to try and divert attention away from their own shady operations.

So Corby wont get parole? I will cry myself to sleep. We will have to find someone else to sell our natural resources to? That wont be hard. Watch Indonesia's tourist market collapse as Australian tourists dry up. Without Australians, Bali will go bankrupt within a month. Indonesia are not a friend or an enemy to Australia and both nations will always be suspicious of each other. If Indonesia want to play hardball, they have a lot more to lose than us.

Abbot is a member of the Liberal Party of Australia which is a centre right political party. Only the left wing radicals would label him a right wing extremist. If anything, Austraila had the chance of catching up with Europe in terms of unmanageable debt if the left were left in power and the people could kiss their jobs goodbye. He and Abe are similar though, and this is a good thing and exactly what Australia needs in the face of massive increase in human trafficking of refugees with questionable statuses arriving on Australian shores under the watch of the left.

The leader of the left was able to communicate in Mandarin, but went to China and made more enemies than friends. His speeches were very quickly censored and the Chinese university students were offended, claiming that he was trying to be more Chinese than the Chinese. Abbot has made very clear that his aim is to strengthen relations with the USA and Japan and personally I support this. Anyone who thinks that Australia was in a better position under Rudd or Gillard has rocks in their head.

Nobody remembers who got second.