American Devil comments

I was under the impression that such places generally forbid foreigners from entering soaplands. Are Chinese an exception, or are big, hairy foreigners finally allowed to get soapy with the girls?

For those who have a plunger-on-your-face fetish. Does this also work well to unclog drains?

Have the police decided to take down the website, or is it legal to have a "train molester" website? I mean, this would be great for catching molesters if it were a sting operation, but if there are actually women who want to be molested, I am just speechless! Dare I ask if there are other heinous molester websites? Actually, maybe I'm better off not knowing.

It seems odd that this would happen in the state that promotes open carry laws and insists that 2nd amendment rights will prevent crimes like this from happening. Guess all those gun owners were somewhere else when this jerk pulled a knife...

I'll also pray for the two in critical to recover.

Now the interesting thing here is that Yahoo.com has a Reuters story stating that Japan will officially join the TPP by the end of this month. Either Reuters is looking too far ahead to assuming that it will be a done deal, or the PM is ram-rodding the deal behind the backs of the rest of the government and the public.

Here's the link.

http://news.yahoo.com/japans-amari-japan-u-final-003941494.html

As much as we foreigners may think of Hashimoto as a joke, a growing number of Japanese people see him as a refreshing leader. The followers are tired of seeing the government always kowtowing to other governments

Despite the problems it has caused, there are still a large number of people who support Ishihara for his actions with the Senkaku islands. It wouldn't surprise me if Abe wins the next election, and with the support of Hashimoto and others, starts changing article 9. Once that starts, it will open up a whole can of worms that Japan isn't prepared to deal with.

I pity the girls who would be employed here. Imagine what kind of losers they would have to "sleep" with. A lot of the people would likely have hygiene problems, bad breath, smell of alcohol, cigarettes, etc. and they would probably be the losers who never bathe either. YUCK!

And like soap-lands, I wonder what's on the secret menu... I remember an ear-cleaning shop near my office got raided for employing a 15 year old, who was having sex with the customers for an extra 10,000 or so. I'm guessing that's going to be somewhere on the "hidden menu" at this sleep shop... especially on the delivery service. They should just legalize prostitution and get over it. At least then, someone could provide healthcare and get taxes from it.

My disappointment comes from the misleading title. I thought it was the JAL president who was caught taking videos of his own employees' panties.

And what company does this guy have? Let me guess, he makes pen-cameras...

There are so many panty-fiends in Japan, from young boys to police and company presidents, that women should be warned before arrival not to wear skirts, or to wear dark covered hose at all times. As has been stated above, the police are more likely to oggle the pen-camera videos than actually arrest the man.

On the bizarre side, I've heard that there are exhibitionist women who like being stared at. Maybe those women should start a hostess-perv club for patrons like this nut-job to get their jollies off without bothering regular people.

I'm surprised the goldfish weren't dead from all the chlorine that's usually poured in the pools to keep them clean. Anyway, if they live, some kids will get to take home some pets. Overall, this just sounds like a school prank. Not sure why this made news.

Cute, but useless. Even bicycles can hold 2 people, and they can (and do) park everywhere, while this requires a dedicated car parking space. And I wouldn't dare take this on any road where full-size vehicles weave in and out of traffic. It'll get crushed like a bug.

More likely, the Japanese government will just let the matter remain in limbo. they've made a ruling before, but now will not hurry to enforce it. The same thing happened with the NHK rulings. It's against the law, not to pay the NHK fees, but a huge number of Japanese people are not paying simply by not answering the door when the rep comes by once a year. I've watched them do it. No police come around to arrest the Japanese people for not paying, and I doubt they would bother even if asked.

Likewise, despite the ruling outlawing the downloading of videos, etc., the police will NOT be going door to door, computer to computer checking to see if anyone has an illegal copy of a movie or song. The police in Japan are incredibly behind the times and were scandalized a few years ago for not updating their computer security for years. I think they were using something like windows 3.1... I seriously doubt they will be able to identify or persecute people for downloading. More likely, if they arrest someone for other reasons, then they can add this to the bundle of crimes, along with not paying the NHK bill.

TEPCO execs still want a winter bonus according to TV news that covered the stockholders meeting. I say their bonuses should be dropped down that radioactive drainpipe into the basement of number 1 reactor. If they want their bonus so bad, they can fish it out themselves, or better yet dive right in and get it out by hand.

Actually, I've heard that Gal Sone has an extremely high metabolism. She needs to eat almost constantly or she passes out. I'm worried that if her condition is genetic and is passed on to her baby, her husband will be out of money very quickly.

I wish her the best of luck and hope she and her baby will be healthy.

With Japan's lack of investigation ability, this will be less effectively pursued than the NHK law requiring everyone to pay... or else. As has been said, likely the police will only go after really big offenders... like that guy in Australia who was a major distributor.

And as also been said, until Sony and other corporations stop making blank DVD's and selling them in the rental shops (as well as manufacturing the computers with the copy programs installed right from the start in the pc's when you buy them ) the downloading and copying of movies and music will continue...

How far can they take this actually? Will they outlaw DVD recorders, too? Let's try this Sony Entertainment. stop all this piracy at the source. Stop selling all PC's, DVD recorders, CD recorders, MP3 players and blank media that could possibly copy and record your material. Then close the movie theaters where copies are made on Sony hand-cams. Then you should finally be able to prevent people from seeing and copying your movies and music.

Of course without any revenue from sales, Sony will go out of business in a few months.Then the other more tolerant companies will prevail...

I would like to add my 2 cents to this little fray.

Point 1:

I live in Saitama, north of Tokyo. I live a few towns away from the Iruma Japanese Self-Defense Force Air base. The Japanese "Air Force" fly their craft in Holding patterns over my town and over my house and my daughter's kindergarten daily. No one protests or complains. The aircraft flying overhead include the aging CH-47 Chinook Dual-rotor helicopter. No one blinks an eye.

I asked my Japanese neighbors if they worry about the Chinooks falling out of the sky and every single one of them shrugged saying that they had no choice but to believe in the Japanese government and military. None of them considered protesting or even complaining about having military aircraft flying over our heads every day.

Point 2:

My sister was a Navy radar mechanic stationed in Misawa, Aomori Japan. This military base holds both American and Japanese airforce craft and is also pressed right up against the base boundry. F-15 Eagles, and F-18 Hornets practiced touch-n-go exercises almost daily, and they are Extremely loud! I was there to confirm that.

But no protests. I asked a shop clerk if the noise bothered him, and whether he was worried about accidents. He also shrugged and said that the base personnel, both American And Japanese worked well together, and he trusted both.

Now, I'm sure everyone will draw their own conclusions, but my opinion is that the protests would stop if there were Japanese SDF on the base along-side the Americans. I have a feeling that the Japanese wouldn't dare protest against their own SDF, no matter what they are flying. If Ospreys were introduced at either Iruma (near me) or Misawa, in Aomori, I think the locals would only be happy to take pictures, not start protests.

If "Rock of Ages" actually gets as popular as the hype suggests, I expect that other actors will jump on the bandwagon as well... Maybe Nicholas Cage or Leonardo DiCaprio will try to do Metallica... of course that would give me the creeps, big time.

Let's be honest. Noda's days were numbered even before he was selected to become PM. And the next PM after him will also have his days numbered... because the Japanese government hasn't had any "real leadership" since Koizumi, and no one else will be given the chance to stay in office more than 1 year. So, asking if the PM's days are numbered is like asking if the Japanese people eat rice?

Here's a wildcard conspiracy theory I heard recently. It's one of those unprovable theories that makes you go hmmm.

The conspiracy theorists say that the media conglomerates want to control everything we see and hear. Their ultimate enemy is not the pirate but the library. After all, libraries provide copies of movies, music and books for free!! But, if the mega-companies get their way, and pass their laws, libraries will be shut down because they aren't paying royalties... which will allow the conglomerates to redistribute only the media they allow people to know about... Fahrenheit 451 style.

Yeah, its just a silly conspiracy theory... but it does make me wonder how far the media corps will go to stop people from copying or viewing stuff for free.

The article complains about China being the leader in piracy... here's a news flash for Hollywood. Stop asking China to produce your CDs and DVDs! It's lunacy to ask the fox to guard the hen-house and expect it not to eat the chickens.

The average Chinese laborer gets extremely small amounts of pay for making the DVD's that will be sold for high prices. Those laborers need to eat, and they can make money by making a few extra copies for themselves. If Chinese piracy is such a big problem, how about making your product in America? Pay a decent wage with insurance, and the employees will be less likely to feel a need to sell illegal copies to feed their families.

It's ironic that companies like Sony make computers with CD-Ripping programs built into them, then complain that people are actually using those programs to rip their CD's.

Hmmm. What is the difference? Both want Nationalized Healthcare, neither has been in the military, both play to partisan groups... Is religion a factor here? Other than skin color, they both seem like the same person on opposite sides of the political fence.

America needs a leader to bring both parties together so that the problems can be fixed without all the partisanship blockades. Unfortunately, Neither Obama nor Romney will do that. Whoever wins the election, all America will lose out for at least another 4 years.

The whole 3D thing was and continues to be a flop. Everyone gambled on it after Avatar came out, but it hasn't panned out for TV companies, nor Nintendo. The super-short battery-life also put a nail in the coffin, for sure.

I like the idea of the Smart-phone mix. Maybe a clam-shell smart phone? i-DS?

Just another diet coke for people to have with their chocolate cake. they should just rename it "Oxymoron Cola"

Like Tommy Lee Jones... when your movie prospects dry up, come to Japan and do silly commercials. It pays for the mansions and beats sitting in the unemployment line... Better to give up pride than have to give up the home, right?

Apple I-pod Nano users have already been doing this for years. I have. Sony is too slow on the draw. This isn't going to be very popular. Like the Titanic, you can deny it all you want, but the company is going down.

Epic FAIL!!! Another great from our loser neighbors in North Korea.

Note: Isn't this the same mayor who put an airport in the middle of the tea fields? I don't know how this guy got voted into office in the first place, but if its the same guy, he was extremely unpopular for making that eye-and-ear sore, and now he's going to be burning radioactive debris in the middle of the tea farms. Not only do I doubt that he WON'T Be re-elected, I wouldn't wonder if the people of that town aren't going to run him out of town on the rails of the Tokaido train line. I know I would if I was still living in Shizuoka.

I agree with gonemad.

while tkoind2 may not be able to sell his CD's directly, the internet is no better or worse than, say the radio... remember that device? I do. I remember that those big companies like SONY sold me equipment like cassette recorders, and taught me how to record the music I heard on the radio... for free.... they sold me VCR's and taught me how to record movies and TV shows from regular and cable TV... for free. They sell computers with high-speed broadband internet connections and DVD/Blue-Ray recording ability and they have tutorials of how to use them...

Now, Sony is claiming that after following the same pattern for years and years, that its suddenly surprised to find that people are following the instructions and downloading things for free? Give me a break!!!

before the internet, tkoind2 and his fellow indie artists were still crushed down by the big companies who said join our mainstream or get thrown under the bus, because no one will find your music without big corporate backing. But those indies put their stuff on small radio stations for free, it got played... And during those years, people made "BOOTLEG" copies of just about every type of music that could be found out there. Those bootlegs went around and the big companies complained, but almost no one went to jail. And those bootlegs got copied and sold to eager fans who gobbled them up for big money. Those indies who had good music found that more people came to their concerts and snapped up their CD's thanks to hearing the music for free on the radio. Now YouTube replaces the radio station but does the same thing.

So, technology has blown away radio and the regular TV, but so long as the companies make and sell computers legally with the ability to download and record those music titles and movies, they can't complain that using their technology to copy what's out there.

For some people its enough just to see/hear them at any poor downloaded hand-camera quality, and for those who want nice quality, its better to buy the original. If I could watch my favorite tv shows in the states for free, why should I pay extra for them here in Japan? If I can listen to music on the radio for free and hit record on my ipod, then that isn't anymore illegal now than it was when I used cassettes and my stereo was tuned in to the alternative rock music stations back in my hometown.

According to the TV news yesterday, only the one sensor was going up, while the two others at the same level of the water containment vessel said the temperature was going down. And all three sensors at the next level down also showed the temperatures going down... so ... that would be a pretty strong indication that its just a busted sensor.

Now, yes, that requires us to believe that Tepco is telling the truth about the other sensors as well, but I think its very plausible that one thermometer is broken after all the crap that's gone on. Still, its good for the media to keep an eye on the situation.

Does this mean that the S.S. has caught up to the main whaling fleet. or is it just an attempt to escape from the one ship that has been following S.S. and broadcasting their location... preventing them from sneaking up on the rest of the fleet?

If Net Ninja looks at the picture, there's a skull and shepherd's crook symbol on the front of the boat. That might indicate that its the S.S. I think JT is taking the word of the Japanese people on the receiving end of the thrown bottle that it was just rancid butter and not a failed Molotov cocktail.

I agree with Kansaichris.

Obama has had his faults... mostly for trying the My way or the Highway approach. But he has had successes as well. Chrysler has reported record profits and has passed up Toyota for top auto maker. Bush left them insolvent.

As DentShop indicated, if there was a better person, I would vote for that person. I voted for Obama because he seemed better than McCain/Palin. In this election, I will vote for whoever appears to be the best choice. Right now, neither Mitt nor Newt appears to be worth my vote.

Mitt and Trump are solidifying the view that the GOP favors only the really rich. Mitt has already fronted his own Obamacare/Romneycare and still says its the best. so if he gets the nomination, we'll know that obamacare will continue regardless of objections.

Newt is a lost cause all around. He has his scandals, his failed attempts at past presidencies, his record of flip-flops on capital hill... and his speeches are almost laughable. He promises everything to everybody. He promised (to spend trillions America doesn't have) to build a moon-base. That's out of touch with reality from what I can see.

I would vote for Ron Paul, but he has little chance of catching up to either of the others. In the end, it looks like I have the choice of wasting my vote on Paul, a man of substance but no chance of winning, or voting for Obama-clone-Romney. I won't vote for Newt! I'd rather vote for Obama than see Newt self-destruct in the oval office.

Either way, I don't see much chance of anything changing over the next 4 years.