amerijap comments

Video is so funny. Looks like it's similar to a fake rhino-costume (two guys inside) walking away from the Ueno Zoo park.

Wonder when Japan will ever stop their backward-looking national politics. Anyone?

Okkkaaayyy. So they made a choice to relapse the past irrelevant to the island dispute in a way to renew culture war? I don't have a problem with Chinese doing research, but why does it have to be now?? And what's the point in doing so since there's plenty of credible work made by Chinese, Japanese, and Western scholars already out there?

If Republicans had a better candidate --at least as better as Reagan and Eisenhower, and not like W or Nixon, I would not hesitate to vote for him. Too bad Romney is mediocre at best. His habitual flip-flopping and his terrible choice of running mate, including Ryan budget plan that hits hard by many economists and an attempt to privatize social security--which is exactly the scheme W did at the cost of tax cuts for wealthy people in the past-- convince me they will unlikely make much difference than W or current administration.

Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Makiko Tanaka has called outgoing Tokyo Gov Shintaro Ishihara a “wild, reckless old man.”

WROM. She said it very clearly. Like father, like daughter. You don't want to mess with her especially you're working as MEXT bureau.

So they are having contaminated water at break neck speed--much faster than getting it purified and pumping it back to the reactor. And there’s little extra space available for water tanks? This is so called situation hanging on the cliff with nails.

Mitt can't compete with Obama in lying. Obama lies while thinking he's telling the truth

Highly doubt it. I agree Obama is not immune to this as he has been following a similar logic the W administration engineered in their last eight years to fix a total mess. But Romney is not the same guy he used to be as a governor of MA. He is getting addicted to ugly hard line Republicans who miss no opportunity to upset Americans with a lot of non-sense. He and his running mate Paul Ryan are indeed a perfect duo for that. He would be in the same situation as Obama is, within a year or two, assuming that he would make a stunning upset in the election and take the office in January next year.

In their statement, prosecutors did not offer an apology to Mainali.

They won't because they don't care about the rights of foreigners in the first place-- accountability? Who cares!? That's their attitude.

I don't have a problem with mandating the citizens to obtain insurance, regardless of Medicare or private, since the system is already broken and national economic recession has kept more people out of insurance. However, I do have a problem in regards to the accessibility, cost, and quality of care to those who are uninsured. There's still no guarantee that these people will get public option--due to eligibility issues. And it goes easy on many private health care industries regarding the ethics of business practice—i.e., denying or terminating service in the middle of contract due to pre-existing condition. The worst nightmare--for them is that Obamacare would eventually lead to the privatization of public health and medicine-- corporations and money over people's common sense, which is exactly the problem with Washington and Wall Street.

Only Wyoming Republicans and hard line rightists will praise this hawk-eye criminal. Imagine he stands nearby the main entrance of the US Supreme Court alongside with his culprits--Ashcroft, Rumsfeld, Carl Rove, Rice, and GW. And he snickers himself with black brief case titled "Plan B."

They could be as much annoying as radical environmental activists like Earth First! or the extremists like ELF. Terrorists? Dunno. Obsessed with fame? No doubt about it. They’ve got a name for the Wrecking Sea Crew.

TEPCO doesn't care about what will happen to the workers who died unless the cause of their deaths is related to radiation poisoning. They don’t even know for sure that they are responsible for putting the workers and volunteers into an excessively hazardous environment for over 10 months that will seriously affect human health. I wonder if they pay condolence to the families who lost their loved ones in the plant.

The pro-Pyongyang minority have maintained their loyalties and have their own civic organizations and educational institutions funded by the North, while integration with the host culture is strongly discouraged.

Here’s the conundrum. How come is Japanese government still leaving these institutions un-investigated if they are indeed financed by a hostile regime? Although there’s absolutely no reason to harass Korean students walking in the streets or at school like Zaitokukai racists, the central government should put their interests—i.e.,Korean General Headquarters and Korean schools—in Japanese soil on the radar on a growing tension of crisis.

You mean settling the conflict on a national/diplomatic level, right? The thorny problem is that national government’s attitude and perception fundamentally skew the public understanding of the issue for many years, rendering compensation as the end in itself—rather than the means to an end. Sadly, it just serves as hush money to silence the victims because it’s a great embarrassment to a national government. This is exactly the reason for establishing a controversial Asian Women Fund, which ended up in defunct due to the flaws in its strategic framework for fund-raising and political correctness. I personally don’t believe both governments are capable of hammering out the solution through financial means, unless they are willing to change their bureaucratic attitude on the issue involving culture/gender sensitivity.

I think the key issue here is whether these women fall within the scope of the treaty. People are taking it as if it's a fact that the 1965 compensation covers these women.

The treaty was supposed to function in that way. The problem, however, is that the gender was/is a common vocabulary in neither government at the time of 1965 Treaty due to masculine character of ideological warfare culminated into anti-communism and anti-Vietnam War movement. South Koreans have claimed many times that Japan owed compensation to the victims based on bi-lateral framework, while conveniently ignored the contexts for which the accounts of victims were constructed. Remember the South Korean government was the one who got blamed by the victims for neglecting the issue--in the late 1980s. Indeed, the SK regime didn't blame Japan on this when the female victims divulged their shady pasts for the first time.

Are they finger-pointing Japan as solely responsible for the issue? It sounds more like shoving off the blame of gender insensitivity on your partner by refusing to admit your role in neglecting the issue. That's why we hear such an axiom like "Man cannot speak for her." It’s ironic that Japan and South Korea are very similar in this respect.

If Japan wants to keep practicing what they preach, go on. Just let them do it if they can keep their faith in their 'questionable' business to the detriment of fallen, schizophrenic national image.

Stand by what you say. If you justify whaling for scientific purpose and insists that it depart from commercial purposes, make an utmost commitment to that practice. All you need to do is prove how your practice is different from that of local whalers going off the Antarctica to catch the whales for business. Defend your position by providing the evidence that you are indeed studying the ecology of cetaceans and mammals for academic/scientific purpose at an international level—i.e., preservation of marine biology and/or oceanography. That's the only way you can brush off the criticism from international community for the restoration of your national credibility. And don't even think about flip-flopping from pure science to business/consumption practice—like many pro-whalers when you face a mounting criticism. That will make your position indefensible.

The jobless rate for men stood at 4.8%, while that for women was at 4.0%,

You say what??? How come this is going to be a serious problem?

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said Monday that the number of welfare recipients in Japan reached a record high of 2.60 million as of Aug 31

I heard it last month. The figures are slightly higher this time--the ministry fixed the data, I think. Still, this represents only 2% of a total population. I wouldn't say it's not a big deal to Japan, but there should be an impending concern Japanese government should address to the public, I think.

I just don't want to hear this again.

NG's comments are indeed NG. But he doesn't care. Let him say whatever he wants until he throws the fit and says, "Calling me NG is totally unacceptable!"

Ossan America:

SSCI is incorporated in and exists under rhe laws of the United States. That is sufficient to establish the jurisdiction of the US fEdral Court for the Southern District.. End of dicission.

You are apparently ignoring the characters of US courts in this respect. The point I'm asking is not about the defendant's position. It's the plaintiff's. Go check out the ICR's website, if you can read Japanese. What part of the US do they have a legal entity? NONE. This is crucial.

It really matters whether you have a legal entity in the US or not. What the US courts consider important for jurisdiction is how the infringement of plaintiff's interests matter from American perspective. If you don't have one, that's gonna make you extremely difficult to make the case. That's the norm of legal practice in the US.

This reconstruction minister is too young to adjust his own thoughts to the standards set to conventional politicians. He's younger than Edano. And don't let the MOFA pull the wools over you. They're sneaky, stinky rats--as always.

The truck must have been long enough to carry all 100 pigs. That's quite a lot.

I wouldn't be surprised to see the traffic accident by a senior driver. It’s happening in any country. The DMV should reconsider the driver-license law for them.

Lockheed Martin's F-35 fighters

I don't know why but, to me, it just doesn't seem to have a nice ring on it. Are they still being haunted by the ghost of Kakuei Tanaka???

Ultimately, Japanese war hawks like Ishihara will not bring about peace in East Asia if they continue to dispute China's legitimate sovereignty and obstruct China's national interests.

When did the island ever become an 'undisputed' territory of the PRC??? Did Chinese national media report that at the risk of undermining their credibility while the sovereignty is still up for grab? Claiming the island as a legit sovereignty while ignoring the voices that oppose to such claim is not persuasive at all.

Regarding Nobuteru Ishihara, I think he has decent qualifications for the future national leader. He has certain political skills, visions, and humbleness--unlike his father.

Wonder who are behind these crazy Chinese fishermen.

Okinawa “rape” comments by a senior Defense Ministry as well as his own remarks in the Diet

Funny, the way the media frames the issue to instigate the controversy as if this man made the nasty, disgusting comments-- instead of an ex-Okinawan defense bureau. Ignorant and arrogant are not the same words, you know.

Completely wrong. US courts are riddled with actions brought by and defendended by foreign individuals, organizations and corporate entities.

Bring me evidence that the US courts are indeed good at dealing with the cases involving the international interests. How many cases out of tens of thousands of the US courts have ever taken throughout its legal history? I have never seen any of them so far, to the best of my knowledge.

Foreign individuals, organizations and entities bring action in US civil courts all the time as the only requirement is that be a basis of jurisdiction. Now where is SSCS located?

That’s insufficient. Again, answer me clearly what convinces the US court to take the jurisdiction in the case. What will ever be a convincing reason for them to take the case????? Just because the defendant has an entity in the US alone is not strong enough for the plaintiff to convince the US court for the jurisdiction--regardless of the issue. How does plaintiff’s interest become their utmost concern? That’s exactly the plaintiff’s job to demonstrate that.

The US courts have way too many domestic cases dealing with the environmental justice--especially in the West Coast. I highly doubt their capability to handle these cases-if any,since so many legal scholars identify the problems with American legal system today (i.e., international child abduction). Even if they were able to hand the jurisdiction regarding the issue, it is highly questionable if it substantially hampers the SSCS from traveling the oceans outside the US to harass the plaintiff over whaling. They are NOT an alternative to an international court. It's chimerical to count everything on US justice regarding the issue.

You obviously have no experience with he US courts systems and the arguments you have posed are quite meaningless. I suggest you consult an attorney prior to posting further nonsense

LOL. Ditto to you. You haven't provided any compelling reason yet regarding the case--i.e.,why does the issue primarily become concern with the US court? You have started off with an ‘if’ statement regarding the likelihood of US jurisdiction, haven't you?

Republican lawmakers also complained that Jaczko may have acted illegally when he declared in March that Japan’s nuclear crisis constituted an emergency in the United States.

Typical behavior by the Republic Congress. Harry Reid is right. They are out of touch. They just don’t want him to regulate the nuclear industry and engineering because they are more interested in profit-oriented business than the public safety. Three-mile Island, Reagan’s anti-nuclear freezing campaign in the 80s, and nuclear stock-piling politics are the representatives of their excessively pro-nuclear stance.

Is it his intension not to grab the stipends for the sake of his manifest, or did he simply forget about it?

A spokesman for production company Toei said the film portrays Yamamoto as a man torn between war and Japan’s future. The spokesman said the film shows Yamamoto as an individual who had a global perspective, looked forward decisively and displayed real leadership.

Um, who are screenwriter and producer?

Anyway, I personally don’t think Toei intends to play down the stigma of Japan’s imperial army over Pearl Habor, per se. The Admiral Yamamoto, despite his chief role in directing the attack, is portrayed as a lesser evil in most American films, unlike Hideki Tojo and his brainwashed soldiers. "Tora! Tora! Tora!" is a pretty good example.