BakabonPapa comments

If the masses could get past the state and religious divisions between us, we could have an effective planet-wide revolution and get rid of the 1%.

Taiwan was basically taken by fleeing Nationalist Party refugees who lost the war over control of China; it never really was part of China, and certainly doesn't belong to it. Who would want to be governed by the party of Chairman Mao?

Voters: please stop casting votes for LDP candidates!

A staged performance to boost public fear and support for militarization.

After all, the USA did play a part in the proliferation of nuke plants in Japan, and in the perpetuation of the nuclear energy safety myth.

I'd like to see the results of a survey on how many people believe that one can get over a cold or the flu faster if they "give it to someone else."

Let's be clear on this. It's not about "various opinions in the public" - it's about the position of Nippon Kaigi and the most conservative lawmakers, most of whom are Nippon Kaigi members.

Yes, the LDP-led gov't should disband the Unification Cult. Then, it should disband the LDP.

"Safe" is a relative term. So is "stupid."

Just one thing: "sex offender" needs to be clearly defined. A fellow could wind up being classified as a "sex offender" for getting caught urinating late at night behind a dark building or in a dark corner of a park when he thought nobody was around - no real exposure, just a little careless and unlucky.

Guilty or not, she should not be executed, because nobody should ever be executed.

Russia should get out of Ukraine before saying things like this. (Then it should return the four southernmost Kuril Islands to Japan.)

Dementia can cause this kind of behavior in men and in women; affected people may think they're young again and with their spouse or lover. Perhaps the staff should have taken measures in advance.

People like this give humans a bad name.

Why not just head for the nearest red light district? (Nobody gets harmed and nobody gets in trouble.)

More power to 'em!

This takes getting "dolled up" to a whole new level.

It's the economy, stupid!

The fish is probably no more dangerous than before the triple meltdown, and the act of eating it is inconsequential. The real problem is that Kishida and the LDP have no clear plan or honest desire to wean Japan off of fossil fuels or nuclear power.

Only very rarely do these mega events bring real economic benefit; they almost always run in the red (yet help line the pockets of certain parties). Read "Circus Maximus" by A. Zimbalist (2016).

The US military is notorious for dumping toxic chemicals in and around its bases, not to mention other polluting activities (read "Poisoning the Pacific" by J. Mitchell (2020)). It hardly cares about its own people - why would anyone expect it to care about the civilians of other countries?

This twisted, exploitative, system - ostensibly beneficial for Japan's SE Asian neighbor countries and people - is merely an LDP / Nippon Kaigi tool for ensuring that people from such countries will not comprise a significant piece of Japan's permanent immigration pie chart (i.e., that they will soon leave after supplying cheap labor and paying taxes).

This kind of thing was a major problem at Woodstock '99 - women in the crowd getting groped and grabbed. When the conditions are right, someone's going to go for it. There's always someone.

What an archaic philosophy.

The line between legal and illegal in blue collar crime is blurry at best, so I wouldn't assume that Ghosn is 100% innocent, but it seems that the Nissan executives dishonestly used the police (i.e., the state) to do their dirty work and flush him out of their company.

Some truck drivers are okay, but in general they are among the most dangerous drivers on the highways. Higher speed limits for trucks = more highway deaths. Period.

Wow - talk about "Heart of Darkness." The state should give up...and abolish the death penalty.

The LDP-led government could spend more public money on elderly care support...but it has other priorities, like subsidies for major corporations that donate to its campaigns and encourage their employees to vote for LDP candidates, big pork-barrel projects like Maglev, and of course building up the military to prepare for fighting China over some rocks.

Unfortunately, this is an example of typical Olympics behind-the-scenes shenanigans. It happens every time. It's also an example of typical LDP politician behavior. It's one reason why Japan's big corporations prefer the LDP over other parties.

Japan's government - under the LDP - is too stingy with public money regarding social services that would help prevent people from having to care for elderly spouses, parents, and other relatives, often in isolation. The ruling party politicians have plenty of money to pay for private care for their own elderly relatives, so they don't really care about this matter - they just pay lip service to it from time to time.