badmigraines comments

She and her husband just spent about JPY 50 billion on a huge, hodgepodge residence right in front of the tennis courts in Moto-azabu's Arisugawa Park. It looks like a Jules Verne watercraft-cum-Howl's Castle creation.

So sales of the old models drop as people wait for the new models to come out...nothing to see here.

Strange comment, did you even read the article? A prison inmate grabs a gun from an armed officer in a courthouse. There isn't any pro-gun vs anti-gun angle here. The only armed people in a courthouse are law enforcement staff. The NRA and 2nd Amendment have nothing to do with it. You don't have to look far to find cases that make the NRA look bad, but this one is irrelevant.

Nice headline, but he's just adjusting his glasses.

The company was Nishikawa Rubber. Very strange that it isn't even mentioned in the article.

By this logic all drivers and passengers bear responsibility for motor vehicle accidents. There are better arguments for gun control.

Preschool: almost anywhere is fine for nursery and kindergarten. Nice if you can find a cheaper international one to bolster English skills.

Elementary school: it depends a lot on the area, same as in the US. If the community is educated or professional, the local school should be fine. But if you live in an agricultural or industrial area--we are in a part of Japan which reminds me of Kentucky--expect a lot of troubled kids, monster/violent/chinpira parents, and no background cosmopolitan or educated worldview in the school or community.

Jr. high and high school: it seems as bad as commenters have posted here. The system encourages dull obedience and slogging through endless mountains of worksheets and rote tasks, with "activities" and other group obligations taking up all free time. None of the junior high school kids in our neighborhood can do many of the things that American kids had picked up naturally by that age...roller skating, ping-pong, basic tennis, swimming, rowing a canoe, pitch a tent, change a car tire, build a birdhouse, put on a puppet show or lemonade stand, shoot baskets, roller hockey, basic skateboarding, spackle or paint a wall, and unless in some kind of club, throw and catch a ball, basic soccer skills, etc. They spent all their time doing worksheets or just zoning out trying to escape. And the motivation to get through all the homework and paperwork, at least in my town here, seems to be the threat of violence and bullying criticism...not curiosity or the desire to better oneself. People are pressured and forced from a young age.

And it's even worse if your children are females. There are very few positive or uplifting role models in Japan for females. A lot of girls end up fascinated by strange apparitions like Pamyu Pamyu or other bizarre iterations of unreality. If you want your kids to be creative, independent and have a life toolset that works in places outside of Japan, then get out around grade 5 or 6.

That's our plan. Fortunately, my US hometown has a large Japanese expat presence and a weekend Japanese school, so the kids could make some semblance of keeping up their kanji and a connection to the Japanese hive.

Or use international schools, if you live in a big city and can afford around US $25,000 cash per kid per year...or have an expat package which pays for that.