Apsara comments

Thank goodness I don't live in Osaka. If I did, this would be the last straw, I'd move, even if it was just over the border into Kyoto or Hyogo, so I didn't have to have this ass as mayor of the city I lived in.

They mean depth. 20 km is how far below the surface of the earth it is, i.e. as you move towards the core- 40 km isn't unusual for an earthquake. It's got nothing to do with the depth of the ocean anywhere.

The 3/11 earthquake was huge but no one that I saw was falling over.

Neither are the people in the photo. They are crouching so they'll have an idea of what they can reach if they are in a situation where they have to lower their centre of gravity to keep their balance. Is that so hard to understand?

The picture shows anal people doing anal exercises that will be forgotten in the first instant of a crisis.

Right, so you're saying it would be better for them not to have drills at all, since in your expert opinion they're wasting their time. But then you would no doubt criticise them for not trying to be prepared- it's so hard to please the armchair experts of JT!

Same to you, gogogo- that's the position they would be in (and possibly were in last year) in the case of another earthquake that size, it's impossible to keep your footing with that level of swaying. I can't believe people are asking this- you live in Japan and have experienced reasonable-sized earthquakes, right?

I don't understand why they feel the need to bend down because the control room of any generating station should be earthquake proof

What an odd thing to say. Did you experience the earthquake last year, and if so, were you able to stand normally? Even in Tokyo it was hard to stand straight during the earthquake let alone in Fukushima, and I don't think anyone's yet designed a building that's so earthquake-proof that there's no swaying at all- that's not what "earthquake-proof" means.

Will this lead to a typical over-reaction of random body searches at train stations and banning liquids from trains?

The 1995 sarin gas attack didn't result in that kind of body search or ban as far as I know, so I don't know what basis you have for calling that (far-fetched) possibility a "typical over-reaction"?

The commuters in the car must have been terrified- the Marunouchi line was one of the lines affected by Aum's sarin attack and I'm betting it was one of the first things that went through everyone's mind.

makes you wonder if the underneath foundation of the island is slowly weakening itself......

Earthquakes are not a new thing in Japan...

Problem here is, with all the modern technology, they still have only "cold water" washing machines... In France one can programme the washing machine to any desired temperature 20 or 30 degrees.

No, that's not a problem, cloth diapers can be washed in cold water. And the newer technology is actually washing machines and detergents that wash effectively with cold water- it's wasting resources by using hot water that is actually old fashioned.

Redesign? Yes. Just use Velcro. Yes, more expensive. Failing that use a different kind of adhesive.

What are you talking about? The chemical affected is the absorbent part of the diaper, not the adhesive. Velcro has nothing to do with it.

It won't take long to repair the plant.

It could take months for all we know, unless you have heard something different or are an expert in the manufacture of this kind of chemical? Even if it takes only 6 weeks or so, Japan goes through 20 million disposable diapers a day (not an exaggeration- the US uses 50 million a day) so they will have to be up and running very soon to keep up with that demand.

As soon as this news spreads there will be a big panic buy of all the diapers on the shelves right now which will affect supply as well- I'd say it will start happening tomorrow actually.

That's bizarre- desecrating the Japanese flag seems to be a very popular pastime in Korea. When I was there a few years ago I saw people in a demonstration throwing eggshells full of red paint at a Japanese flag and have seen flags getting similar treatment from Koreans on the news here countless times. How can the newspaper criticise Japanese extremists for doing exactly the same thing that their own activists regularly do?

Agree with billyshears- I don't think people consider the punishment before committing this kind of crime or that it would make any difference, it's not a bank robbery.

Is it really unreasonable to prefer to marry a guy who doesn't get abusive when drunk, doesn't gamble and doesn't mind helping with the kids and housework? I'd say most of the things on the list are universal, not specific to Japanese women at all, and all of them are qualities found in most decent guys, which I'd hope includes all the married male commenters above!

Seriously, all the people saying the list is unrealistic and is the reason why there are so many single women, which of the things listed is unreasonable and why?

That is sad and all, but you would think you can hear the thing coming

And do what, if he was 20m up somewhere along the track? All that means is that he knew almost certain death was approaching.

The boy is ambitious, and if he can pull it off at that age he has a bright future.

Who are you talking about, the boy in the picture? He's not the artist...

I would not live within sight of the west coast of Japan if it was all expenses paid

When was the last time a tsunami hit the west coast of Japan?

Somebody should tell this old coot

He's 43. I don't know exactly when old coot-ness begins, but I wouldn't really have thought he qualified.

In English, one assumes? I don't know how many Dutch and Austrian people you have met, but they tend to speak English very well.

If this is the same case as I saw on the news last night, he was actually found in the under-floor storage bin in the kitchen rather than under the floorboards. Normally you'd think someone in the family did it- I wonder who else lives in the house?

What Suzuki Motors should do is bring the jobs back to Japan and help the workforce and economy. What the heck are they doing in India? or any other country for that matter...

Maruti Suzuki produces cars for the Indian market. They do need cars there, you realise.

Ever hear of life-guards?

There are plenty of lifeguards on beaches here, who seem to spend a lot of time urging people not to go out past their waists, and harrassing you if you do. They can't be everywhere though.

Some people here are overlooking the fact that it is hard to prosecute someone for drunk driving if you wait until the next morning.

Does Japan have the same problems as other countries with many bicycles (like China)?

What kind of problems do you mean?

I caught bits of it and lots of walkers dropped out. It's a bit of a silly-looking sport, but I think there's no question that walking 50km is hard work, let alone doing it in a few hours.

OK, so all this fuss is about women's soccer? I wonder how many of these 'die-hard sports fans' have actually ever seen a game of women's soccer prior to the Olympics.

Women's soccer has been pretty big here over the last couple of years and a lot of people, guys included, follow the women's world cup games. A lot of the team members as well as the coach are well-known faces on TV these days.

They need more retirement homes in Japan. The daughter should not have been stuck with this responsibility on her own.

Some people actually want to look after their elderly parents...

Sometimes quirky stuff can be news, it doesn't all have to be earth-shaking events, surely. Seeing the news a couple of years ago about all the bicycle seats replaced with broccoli heads made my day that little bit brighter, I like this kind of news!

I saw that the other day! Can't remember where it was now though.

Was at the beach yesterday with my son for just two hours and now suffering with extreme sunburn! Won't be stepping outside on the beach again anytime soon this side of September!

I was at the beach with my son on the weekend for 5 hours and neither of us got sunburnt, even though we're fair-skinned. Our secret? Sunblock and a sunshade tent- you too can go to the beach before September and not get sunburnt with these simple things!

Why aren't children learning to swim in the first year of school in Japan? Most children in the USA learn to swim by age 2 or 3 years old. Some babies learn as young at 6 months in the USA.

I'm sure the boys had learned to swim, but breaststroke and butterfly probably aren't going to help you in a fast-flowing river. Pretty sure also that no 2 or 3 year old would be able to swim their way out of a situation like that no matter how many swimming lessons they had taken, let alone a 6 month old.

Plenty of rivers are clean enough to swim in in Japan, your ALT was probably talking about rivers like the Arakawa or Sumida river.