Antony Cudworth comments

The default age of consent in Japan is 13. However many prefectures and localities such as Tokyo and Osaka have passed by-laws to raise the age to 18 in their jurisdiction.

I live in Iida and was talking about this with my wife this morning. She said that in the TV report the mother claimed to have been holding the baby in her arms as she walked alongside the river and that at some point she accidently dropped him and he fell down the bank and rolled into the river. Apparently the 6 year old brother ran to a nearby house and those people called the police/ambulance etc. I immediately called "bulls**t" on the mothers story and told my wife they need to lock the mother up. At best it's negligent homicide but most likely she tossed him. I'll be happy if I'm wrong but we all know a 2 month old baby doesn'y suddenly fall into a river.

Watching the local news this morning the announcer said that the girl was found on top of her younger brother. This may have been a protective reflex, it may have just been coincidence, either way it is likely that the air bubble between their two bodies enabled the little boy to survive.

Unfortunately many Japanese people and possibly even some JT readers need reminding about the bigger picture. Japan is already only 41% self sufficient in food production, food imports are already a fact of life. Also Japanese agriculture accounts for only 4% of the GDP. If Japan doesn't join the TPP big companies like Honda, Toyota, Panasonic, Sony, et al can say goodbye to their US market share as American consumers will be buying Hyundai cars and Samsung and LG TVs and other electronic devices that have suddenly become a much more affordable option than their Japanese counterparts as Korean companies will no longer be paying the tariffs that Japanese companies will be. If that happens tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of jobs will go.

My in-laws are farmers and while they know TPP will provide challenges for them they know it wont be the doombringer that the paid lobbyists are campaigning on. They know that there will still be a demand from some quarters for domestic produce and that by tailoring their crop choices to suit the marketplace they can not only survive but thrive as well.