ANOTSUSAGAMI comments

timorborder - LOL! That made my day.

The problem lies in what fatfrenchfool calls the "rent-an-idiot". They call celebs like Tsubasa Masuwaka O-baka Idols. They are actually celebrated for being mentally slow. Contrary to what seems like popular belief, real men don't want stupid girlfriends or wives. And last time I checked, no one looks up to idiots. That goes double for those that simply pretend to be stupid.

"[T]he U.S. handed over al-Khazali to the Iraqi government and was not involved in his final release." That tells me almost all I need to know. The U.S. may have known that Iraq was going to release him in exchange for the hostages, but there was nothing they could do legally. True, the crime he is accused of killed U.S. troops, but it happened on Iraqi soil. Law of sovereignty allows them to prosecute crimes that happen on thier soil as violations of thier commonwealth. Obama is hardly responsible when a foreign power exercises it's right to prosecute crimes on thier soil. Especially since he wasn't involved in the placement of said government. It's sad that Iraq gave him away, but international law states that it's thier decision to make, NOT Obama's.

I understand your 12:44 post, and I'll accept your judgement that I'm judgemental. I can't stand people like this woman who promote what I recognize as self-hatred. Everytime a woman picks up a magazine with someone like her on the cover they get the message loud and clear that thier own natural face isn't good enough. How do you feel when you're being told everyday you'll never be pretty enough without makeup?

Moderator: Readers, please stop going around in circles, repeating the same comments. Please move the discussion along.

fatfrenchfool - LOL right on. Am I the only one who thinks she looks like a jack-o-lantern? Maybe I am.

seliny19 - See the problem I have with women wearing "cover up, blush, mascara, and probably fake eyelashes", is that once she's done, she looks nothing like she does without it. That IMO is truly sad. As a woman, don't you think it's sad that so many women feel like they have to become someone else, that their own natural beauty isn't enough? Why would anyone look up to a woman who feels the need to cover her face with so much makeup they're barely recognizable? Kinda funny that the article says "Tsubasa Masuwaka puts her face to cell phone photo album service", when it's not really her face... Why do you equate not wearing makeup with "doesn't take care of themselves ever, too simple etc."? Am I reading that right? You think that if a woman doesn't wear makeup she doesn't take care of herself?

"Life without change, stasis, no fashion, a controlling society that looks down on individualism, and creativity is boring. It's much more interesting and exciting to fight against social norms and the strict rules of society. Which is something people like you will never understand." Really. Unfortunately women wearing makeup is older than Japan itself. There has been no real change in the practice for thousands of years. The men who control this society have decreed that women are to wear makeup when they leave the house, lest they be subject to the "supin yabai" scrutiny. "Conform or be ousted" is the message women like Tsubasa Masuwaka send to the young women in this country. There is NOTHING revolutionary about it, No "fighting social norms" (isn't it a social norm that women wear makeup as you said?) or anything like it, and it's sad. Again, I think that women shouldn't have to hide thier faces with makeup to satisfy someone else's perception of femininity and beauty.

Not sure I want my lips anywhere near that chemical-laden face...

Exactly the reason Japan is going to hell in a handbasket. Let's not forget this was the same guy who called Tsuyoshi a "bastard" and that he would "never forgive him". Hatoyama is just another fine example of the two faced political sempai.

As POTUS, Obama has to maintain a strong air of diplomacy. This of course means mending the frayed relations with foreign powers. The polarizing with us or against us mentality is hurtful to say the least, because it assumes in absolutes that everyone thinks like us. We don't have to go very far to find the flaws in that logic. The only way to truly achieve peace is to reach agreements and understanding. Reaching out in the spirit of dialog so as to learn about one another is the only way to create that understanding. Hopefully, with understanding will come trust, then peace. From this speech, it seems like Obama understands this.

"Barack Dubya Obama hasn't changed anything." So that's why you're singing his praises, teleprompter? I mean, according to you your hero Bush's policies are still in effect. So you have no problem with Obama.

I think the guys who are repulsed by this picture feel so for a number of reasons, usually- A. Pregnant women, beautiful as they maybe, remind them of thier own mothers and it is difficult for a lot of men to associate thier mothers with sensuality and sexuality. Or B. Centuries of religious dogma have conditioned many men to veiw pregnant women as off limits to thier fantasies, thou shalt not covet and all that. BTW Osakadaz, not to take anything away from your post, but I'm thinking it's totally different when it's YOUR bun in the oven.

Tosaken- You must understand, that where she said it (at an AIDS awareness event) along with what she didn't say (whether or not she practices safe sex) is relevant. If she followed that statement up with how she always uses protection, it would be appropriate considering that was one of the most important lessons one should take away from such an event. To simply mention how often she does it, considering the time and place, was in poor taste. It also seems she has self esteem issues. She could have said she has sex a lot, and that she loves it. To put a quantity on it sounds like she wants to flaunt something.

If fans here freak out when they hear that their favorite idol has a boyfriend, or is having sex, how does one think they would react positively to this, which is undoubtedly the result of both?

I wonder about signs like this. Did they hire someone to do the English translation, or did some idiot in the office who likes to say he got an 800 on his TOEIC test but really couldn't Engrish his way out of a wet paper bag write it up? It's really sad. They aren't the least bit embarrassed by nonsensical sentences like this? I mean if that's our tax yen at work, why not a decent translation?

I find it hard to believe that WilliB needs an explaination as to how this commercial is possibly racist. I therefore will not waste my breath. While I take offence, I am aware that there are those who would take this lightly.

What an insensitive if not outright racist commercial. As they eat the curry their hair turns into turbans? Yeah, nothing wrong with that.

jonnyboy- What law has been broken?

I think he may have been practicing to get it right next time. About the shallowness of the wound, if he got her in her upper back (which is most likely) the blade may have been vertical (like in movies) and thus blocked by the rib cage from going any further.

Well until Japan develops a address system it's citizens can actually use, I vote for the street veiw to stay. I'll actually be using it to find a culture center that I CANNOT find an address for this morning. Why don't government websites have the addresses of all the government buildings in which they have events? They don't want people to show up? Even Japanese people who've lived here all thier lives need maps to get anywhere new. Most of them are poorly drawn and people are still like WTF.

"What a load of crap. Handrawn and computer generated images ARE not a child porn loophole." likeitis is right. The problem with child porn is the sexual violation of children required to produce it. That, more than anything else is the most wrong about the issue and the part that is actionable by law. Video games are simply pixels on a screen and no one is being violated. For the law to be applied there has to be a victim. Since in the case of video games there is no victim, no harm is being done therefore NOT a loophole. A loophole by definition allows an actionable crime to take place, a victim to be victimized with no repercussions. Since there is no victim, where's the loophole?

"If you cant see why these games are over the top, I can only hope video games havent messed you up so bad you do something regretable someday" LOL No, my mom did her job thank you. I know right from wrong and I cannot be influenced by pixels on a screen no matter how realistic it may be nor how much others may say I will be. Video games don't mess anyone up, and those that believe they can are giving the real criminals an excuse. I won't care if the victims in the game look like people I know, why would I? I know that A) it isn't them B) it isn't anyone really, it's just an image. Am I supposed to get all upset when an actor who looks like me or someone I know gets killed on tv? Please.

A game like rapeplay would be rated "AO" for Adults only. Seeing as adults who are already set with their own moral values will be playing the game, I don't see the problem. The prospective players have been raised by their parents already. There's no need for anyone else to play their mommy or daddy.

GTA rocks. As a gamer, I don't see the connection with doing things in a virtual world, and then doing those same things in the real world. I know I can't leap off the side of a 13 story building and walk away without a scratch. Though I do it in video games all the time. People should let other people decide for themselves if they'll buy this game or not. I know that I would hate for someone to make my decisions for me.

If anything is unnatural it's marriage. You don't find marriage in the animal kingdom. Marriage was a way that people could force a man to take care of his children, for a man could simply deny that a woman's child was his thereby avoiding responsibility. A man's wife was his property and therefore all things that derived from her (i.e. children) was his responsibility. Adultery was a crime of violating a man's property as the charge didn't apply to married men who went to see hookers. The church only didn't like gays because they couldn't produce children who could be inducted at birth into the folds of the religion thereby increasing it's power base, propogating the faith. In those days Christianity was fledgling and this law would help increase the numbers.

Fadamor- 100% agree. I believe that one has to be taught such behavior though, thus my point on Japanese culture. Of course to be clear, this type of thinking and treating of women like property is not singular to Japan. BTADT- My point is that your romanticism of "men of muscle and steel" is just a fallacy. The reality is that throughout Japanese history there has been an attitude of misogyny that is simply deplorable. Men of muscle and steel indeed. This attitude was most likely what this loser had when he decided to kill his girlfriend. I have no sympathy for this killer either.

This loser appearently thought he could do what he pleased too. The reality isn't so romantic.

Burakumin discrimination is a testament to human nature. Humans will find ANY excuse to malign each other. In the absence of people who are different, they will create those differences amongst themselves. Those with power will be exalted, those without will be cast aside. One wonders though a few things: Were cooks considered burakumin too, because they handled the butcher's meat too or were they somehow exempt? Second, undertakers were Burakumin, right? I wonder how the Burakumin haters feel about Okuribito's success? Anyway not Google's fault that Japanese people decided to make these maps in the first place. Certainly not thier fault that people use it to deny others thier humanity.

I still suspect the surviving son. 1. His hands were simply tied behind his back, though with a little practice and some flexibility one could do that on thier own. 2. His wound could be self inflicted, I mean who can't reach the back of their neck? The motive to inflict such a wound on himself is to make his lie more believeable. Why, if the assailant was looking for money, was the son's wallet intact? Why wasn't the house tossed looking for some secret stash? Why go through the trouble to hide the mom and kill the cat? One could probably say that the son told the assailant where the money was and therefore didn't have to toss the place, but the son says he lost conciousness almost right away only hearing the demand for money. Too many questions and holes in his story. Check to see if he took out a life insurance policy on his mom.

SuperLib- You mean wait until the facts are all out there and THEN form an informed opinion? Blasphemy I say! We all know Obama is evil and everything he does tainted. OK, sarcasm off. Your head asplode!

TexasAggie- Most students who go to college have some form of government aid. This is to even the playing field a little for those that don't have silver spoons. teleprompter- more alarmist drivel from you? Pray tell, what is Obama's grand design that you see so clearly?

Smith: Right on. Thus defeated, teleprompter disappears from this thread, to slink in despair into his anti-Obama bunker waiting for his next chance to express his venom against his nemesis. I swear man, everything Obama does according to teleprompter is evil. Makes it difficult to take him seriously. Obama is moving in the right direction on the science front. If you want to moralize it, where in the Bible does it say that obtaining of knowledge is wrong? I've never seen that verse myself.