Alphaape comments

Good for her!  Glad to see she doesn't let the opinions of others guide her.  As for her child, if children at a young age begin to bully the kid on their mother's past, I think the bigger issue would be what parents have told their children about sex and porno at such a young age to have them bully her children?  Again, if kids do "find" it on the internet, the bigger issue is why are children looking at porn on the internet?

Wish her the best in raising her kid!

I too would just say I am not going I have other things planned.  I get that may be a bit difficult for native Japanese to do, but from what I have been reading and hearing, if you are a foreigner in J-Inc. you are somewhat seemed an "out cast" anyway.  If so just live with that and do your own thing.  If your work is being done, and you are making your goals, you will still be seen as an outsider so why put yourself through it.  If you do go there will still be something that "just isn't right" about you so may as well not go.

Looks like a good recipe but when I put something in a slow cooker I normally don't brown it first. I've found that the meat is just as tasty and tender by adding all ingredients at the start and putting it on low for 4 to 5 hours.  But to each their own.

Commanteer - personal words from her family.

I see they are probably going with that line of defense to lay some of the guilt on the MSGT.  Not what I would call ideal, but if you were being charged for murder I would want my lawyer to use every legal trick available to get me out of it.  I guess it will come down to that "responsibility" that they tell us about here in Japan if you have a traffic accident.  Even if you are the one who was hit, for us gaijin that are military affiliated they tell us that somehow you will still have some sort of fault for being hit.  Could you have taken the bus or train, did you really need to drive? Is what I remember being told when I was going through orientation.  I imagine that something similar will be used in this lady's defense.  Not that what he did (if he did anything) is justification for murder, but that is how I see the justice system working in Japan sometimes.

So, if I were to get a prepaid iPhone in the US, will it work in Japan? My provider is Mineo. Sorry if this might be a bit off topic, but I just want to know.

If you bought a sim free iPhone in the US and brought it back to Japan, as long as it is not locked to the US Mobile company then it will work in Japan.  You could use Mineo if they allow you to bring your own phone.

If you go to the Straight Talk or Tracfone web sites they have the option for you to either BYOP 'Bring Your Own Phone" of buy one of theirs and put in the sim card to activate.  Those phones are normally low end in regards to performance and may not have all of the bells and whistles but they do allow you to make calls and surf the net.  Bring one of those back and it should work.

The big difference between the US and Japan is that there are more Japanese that travel out of Japan to foreign countries (percentage of population that is) than there are Americans going overseas.  So the US carriers will offer some better deals on global roaming.  However there is much competition among carriers so they started a few years ago going with unlocked phones.  So one would buy a phone not sold by one company (AT&T) and use it on another network (Verizon, etc) and they got a little smart about that and started to try to cash in.  I guess here in Japan they will try to maintain their steady numbers and try to lock you into a plan and service and not allow you the flexibility to change.

Firstly, never buy a phone via a monthly contract - they own you

So true.  Last week in Singapore I received a text from Softbank saying that I could data roam there for about 3000 yen a day.  With an unlocked dual sim Samsung I have bought from ebay overseas, I was able to buy a local Singapore sim for 15 SGD and have data and a local phone number for 7 days.  Still able to receive and make calls via Softbank cell number but not using the data.  Just paying the paltry amount in SGD compared to the daily jack up rate that Softbank will charge for data is why you see Japanese smartphone companies hesitant to unlock phones.

Anyone has any experience using unlocked smartphones purchased in Japan with overseas SIM,s?

I have used an unlocked phone bought at a Yamada Denki or some other place overseas with a sim and it has worked fine.  There also is a guy on Facebook that offers to unlock any sim from Japanese carriers (AU, DOCOMO, Softbank) and make it sim free.

When I left Japan in 2015 I had an HTC One from AU that I loved and as I was getting ready to leave I asked them to unlock it.  They told me that they could not since it would not work on their network.  Told them I didn't care since I was leaving and then got the hissing of teeth and they said it may not work on a foreign network, again I let them know that's my issue to worry about not theirs.  Bottom line, they didn't unlock, so my daughter had a very expensive wifi device to play with.  Came back to Japan, went to the Facebook guy, sent the phone and for about 5000 yen it was unlocked.  I put in a data sim bought from an electronic store in Japan, and was able to get LTE service on DoCoMo.

When I moved back to Japan in 2017, tried the process in reverse with an unlocked dual sim phone and none of the providers (AU, DOCOMO) said it would work, even though I had a data sim in it picking up the DoCoMo network but they tried to sell me a phone and a plan.  Finally had to settle for Softbank, since they let you bring an unlocked phone onto their network and I get 4G speeds but the rest of the annoying notes they send via texts are all in Japanese.

I have always said Japan is moving "slow in the fast lane" at times and this is one of them.  I travel to Singapore and many other places with my dual sim phone and it works just fine with a Softbank sim and any other from any GSM network.  Not sure why these companies don't want to allow the customer more options.  I would have preferred to stay with AU and gotten my old number back, but they were playing games when trying to play me with a sim that they said would not work when in actuality the phone was working great on Japanese networks.

This was Fujiko’s fifth marriage. She met Yoshiki through her son of an earlier marriage who is also 25 years old. The two had been close friends.

She is probably a skilled "listener" able to get these young men to believe that she is the only one for them much like the young hostesses do to the old men that they interact with.  There is probably a lot more of this going on than one would believe, ripe for a good made for TV drama

Meanwhile, the children remain traumatised.

That is the fault of their parents, and if any government is at fault it is the one that they are coming from, and not Pres. Trump nor the USA.  I am for immigration done legally, but the USA is not there to take care of the world's poor.  I find it interesting that many on the left complain that we are not doing enough for the poor in America, yet I see we are placing these children in foster care facilities, spending upwards to $35,000 a day for their upkeep, and now will possibly house some on military bases, yet we don't do the same for US citizens who live there.

Confronting people in their personal lives is not the answer to resolving this.  Again, if any government official is to be confronted, it should be from those countries that people are leaving and they should be brought to task on the conditions of their countries that causes their citizens to leave.

Yamataya v. Fisher, 189 U.S. 86 (1903).  A young Japanese girl -- age 16 -- was deported because she had no one here and would be a "Ward of the State." Rather then make her "our" burden, she was sent back to Japan.

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the deportation and even ruled that the courts have no say-so in the matter. As long as the deportee was fairly tried by the authorities, the immigrants had no right to appeal.

The law is on Pres. Trump's side on this one unless there has been another case that has overturned it.

For those who may have made it into the interior of the country and lived for a few months/years, then give them due process and a hearing.  But for those right at the border or who are caught not far and in the process and have not established themselves in the USA, send them back to wherever they come from.

I know these kids

 One wonders if this is part of Fat Leonard

Fat Leonard had nothing to do with this or the collisions that have occurred. He was in jail well before those things happened.

The real question to ask, if there are not mass amounts of people owning firearms in Japan (they are legal just not wide spread) and Japan is supposedly doesn't have as much of a high crime rate like the USA, what do these 6,600 police do every day?  Keep in mind that there are other police doing other things so that's a lot of cops for a relatively peaceful place.  Just wondering.

tell them that he had gotten into trouble at work by losing a bag full of cash or a briefcase with important documents and that he needed money urgently. He then would tell his “parent” that he would send a work colleague over to collect the money. 

Maybe it's just me but if my child is an adult and makes a mistake like that, then it is up to them to atone for it.  I don't get any money from them for their work at the company, and I did my duties in raising them to the point where they are able to join the work force so any mistakes made wouldn't be a reflection of anything I did.  And if they make a mistake at work, who cares what others think, and me supposedly giving money to cover it up doesn't really matter anyway since people are going to talk good or bad.  I guess social pressure is still really a big thing in Japan.

How about letting adults be adults and if they want to blow all of their money in a casino then it is on them.  Putting an entrance fee on them is a tad silly, but I guess the pachinko parlors don't want the competition.  What I really want to know, will the drinks be free and the buffets cheap?

Good for Japan.  A country has a right to determine who they let in.  We may not agree with it, but it is their right.  Fully understand the changing population demographics in Japan with the aging and decreasing population, but if they want to not grant refugee status, then it is their right, just like in America we can determine who can stay and who can't, or in any other country that has the right to determine who can stay.

simply put, from a sanitary stance its not that dirty,

Not so sure. The places where people take their cell phones and the germs on them. Willing to bet the same thing with this camera. No telling where it has been and if he had washed it. Ask yourself, would you want to eat off the plate that it was on?

I can understand the frustration with sometimes living in a place like Japan where one is expected to conform, but still there comes a point where one must "fight on" and make their own way.  In a way they (hikikomori) are doing that.  By shutting themselves in they are deviating from what is expected they are making their own way, now they just have to see that they can do it on the outside.

By sitting alone in a room and not hearing others talk about you doesn't mean that they aren't talking about you.  If you are willing to choose that lifestyle while others are talking about you, then you should be able to at least go on with your life and step outside once in awhile.

I get there may be some cases of other mental issues at hand, but this guy sounds like he just gave up.

This will not help the workers of America. It will only increase employment and profits for the Asian Heavy industrial Companies. Who are already supplying the USA market with it structural steel.

So you think the US should just rely on some other country to supply with steel, and when they feel like raising prices there will be nothing for them to do since we wouldn't have any industrial capacity on our own.  At least Trump is looking out for the American worker.

In the grand scheme of things, does it really matter what his family life is like?  After all once she is married she becomes a "commoner" so out of the IHA reach.  What should really be at the forefront of people's minds is the fact that because she is marrying a "commoner" and loses her status, that the IHA really doesn't have the rest of Japan at heart since everyone else are just "commoners" who don't really matter.  Wonder what would happen if they held some type of Royal event and everyone just looked the other way?

How about just not giving the chocolates and men if you don't get any from the women in your office, just go out and buy some yourself.

Just Wow!  I can imagine that at least 2 years ago she had seen all of the "cute" baby clothes and probably one of her friends was pregnant and she then decided at 41 that she wanted a kid.  Now after realizing that it's a lot of hard work, she would rather just forget about the kid and go out and get back out there and have fun.  Such a shame, but sad to say there are many out there like her (and men too).

Interesting idea, but I am sure that the Japanese students will have to pay.  I believe current tuition costs for a non-SOFA sponsored student is about $17,000 per student per year.  I am sure that that must be cheaper than some of the Japanese private schools.

But it seems interesting to me, that on the one hand the Okinawa government wants the bases to leave, yet they want to turn to them to help the unemployment rate with letting kids go to school in them.  What will happen when some of the bases do close and leave, and those jobs held onbases by the Japanese locals are no longer there, nor with the reduced numbers of US service members and families will not be contributing into the local economy.  Yet, it makes good news to stand there and protest the bases.

The missile should never have been allowed to enter Japan air space... why wasn't it shot down?

I read these comments and wonder how many of those who say these things were the same ones who thought that President Trump's statements are the reasons for these actions and we were better off with someone other than him.

This event took a long time to make happen, and not just since Jan 20th.  NK's missile program has had years of growth under supposed sanctions where nothing has happened.  Remember, the war never really ended just a cease fire.  They have violated the UN treaty so many times that most use of force against them could reasonably be justified.  Yet we do nothing.

Didn't see too much with it. I am actually more offended that in Japan to promote something, you have to use some silly animated character to get grown adults to make a choice on vacation like they were kids watching the Saturday cartoons/commercials the months before Christmas.

How about an "adult" ad campaign that treats the viewers like adults and brings out the highlights of the area without resorting to kiddie characters.

If I were single, I don't think I could do an office romance.  I see those people 8 to 9 hours a day for 5 or 6 days a week.  Why would I want to see someone on my free time after that?  Additionally, when I leave work, I do just that, I leave it, and don't care to be reminded of it at home.  Dating someone outside of the office, you could get a new perspective on how things are done elsewhere, plus talking about it with your partner is a lot better than going over office gossip with someone who already works there.

Everyone calm down.  It was a parody joke.  When other Presidents make fun of themselves it is viewed as funny and classic.  What's the difference between this gag, and the White House Press Dinner that Trump skipped where the Presidents make jokes about themselves and others and sometimes go into places where it may seem appropriate.  I seem to remember the libs were up in the air when "W" made jokes, and they were saying he set the world on fire and all he can do is stand there and make lame jokes about it.

Even when then candidate Nixon went on the show Laugh In back in the late 60's and said "Sock it to me" some felt that was un-Presidential but it helped him when the race back in 1968.

It was a doctored video from years ago when he was a private citizen, let it go.

Strange article but sad.  Next you will see the Yaks move into this territory by opening up host bars with nothing but these dolls in them for the ones who don't want to drop the money on a doll.

What intrigues me is how do these grown men, feel comfortable walking around in public with a doll that everyone sees them with and knows that they have a sexual relationship with but don't seem to care, and yet are too timid to actually talk to their wives, or interact with another female in real life.

I think redtail's game of chicken scenario has a ring of truth to it.

No it couldn't.  The CO has standing orders that when ships get a certain distance, the OOD is to call and describe the situation, state who is the give way (in this case the Fitzgerald) and the stand on (ACX) vessel and what his intentions are.  If the ACX had flashed him with signal lights a good OOD would have told the CO in the call.  I have had to call my CO many a times in the middle of the night when coming upon other merchant ships out at sea, and the CO's know it comes with the job.

There are numerous radar data tapes that will be reviewed and looked at, and the courses and the events leading up to this disaster will be thoroughly examined. 

I don't subscribe to the "because of tensions between the US and the PI" meme since more than anything the ACX Master would want a job, and the bridge crew are not into Geopolitics when out on the high seas.  For them to know it was a Philippine flagged and crewed ship, they would have had to spoken with them and so far nothing has indicated that they have.

Clearly either the US ship was not following procedures, as they should be trained to send out a distress call during an emergency, or their radios were jammed.

They couldn't send out anything on the Navy networks because their radio room was damaged in the collision.  These ships normally monitor satellite circuits and others that keep them in constant communication with their higher ups.  They were unable to because the main radio room was damaged.  It would be interesting to see if they went out on normal Bridge-to-Bridge (VHF Channel 16) which is the international channel that is monitored (or should be) by the Japan Coast Guard and other vessels in the area with a distress call.