Bill Adams comments

Paul14

It is the only reliable baseload power source other than those that burn fossil fuels.

I guess you never heard of tidal power?

I guess you don't understand the meaning of "baseload".

Whatever Japan and the EU do, the UK is definitely in favour of nuclear power. It is the only reliable baseload power source other than those that burn fossil fuels. The government is investing in the Small Modular Reactors being developed by Rolls-Royce.

Hmm ... how odd. At one time we were told that favouring people on the basis of their sex was sexism and this was wrong, and that favouring people on the basis of their race was racism and this was wrong too - but now it seems that we should be discriminating on the basis of people's sex and race. Well, OK then. So if I choose to specifically favour a white man then that's good, yes? No? So is it only all right if you discriminate against white men? Because clearly equality is only good in some cases, and in other cases you should definitely oppress people on the basis of their sex and race - but only if they are white men. Yeah, that's definitely not going to cause any resentment or backlash, and Trump or someone similar definitely won't be boosted by this ...

To be honest, the restrictions were not being enforced anyway, but nevertheless it's good to be rid of them and to return to normality. And about blooming time, too! Now we just need to wait for the rest of the world to follow suit and then we can start travelling again. Hooray!

@ Sven Asai - watch them in a Private Window. Problem solved.

I suspect that when it comes to non-Japanese, the top Japanese-oriented YouTube channel is Abroad in Japan.

I really fail to see what on earth Japan, on the other side of the world, can possibly bring to the table here. This is hysterical nonsense from the Ukrainian ambassador.

Why? What is wrong with normal bread? I just don't understand the motivation for either making this muck or buying it. What next - tea made from cow urine?

“They’ll be times when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine,” he said. “And we will need some power that we can actually turn on and dispatch at will. That leaves two choices: either fossil fuel or nuclear.”

This is the key point. And this is why in Britain the government is backing the development of nuclear Small Modular Reactors designed and built by Rolls-Royce.

I'm amazed that McDonald's is too incompetent to source more potatoes from alternative suppliers, but this chip war is very entertaining!

"Air pollution control in North America and Europe succeeded in lowering ozone levels," said Kazuhiko Kobayashi

It would be interesting to know which regulations or other measures we are talking about here.

At last we are returning to normality - and good job too! The truth is that it would have been impossible for the government to have maintained the restrictions, so they bowed gracefully to the inevitable. Conservative MPs were rebelling in ever greater numbers against the restrictions, and many people were just ignoring them, with enforcement almost zero. We want to be free to decide for ourselves how we lead our lives!

Scientifically idiotic. The virus cannot survive on paper more than a few hours, as this is a porous surface that dries it out and inactivates it. This is just a pathetic and desperate attempt by the Chinese communist government to deflect the blame for their failure onto foreigners.

I find it hard to believe that Asahi's management are so stupid as to replicate the Coke fiasco, so this is surely a marketing trick to raise the profile of their beer. They will probably end up bringing out a second beer, 'Asahi Super Hops'! Well, that's what I would do, anyway.

What a tragic story. It's awful that anyone should feel that life is not worth living, but for youngsters in their 20s to prefer death is just too sad. What made them feel this way? An investigation needs to be conducted to find the root cause so that this can be prevented in future. Something as terrible as this should trigger a serious response.

Why are we worried about the number of cases? Surely all that matters is the number of deaths - which I notice is not even mentioned!! Given that only 7 people were even hospitalised in Tokyo, the number of deaths is presumably even more insignificant. So I really don't understand why anyone even cares about this disease anymore.

The latest evidence from the UK is that Omicron is only about 10% as virulent as Delta (though much more contagious). England's policy of only having very minimal restrictions over the Christmas and New Year policy was successful (in that hospitals were not overwhelmed and deaths did not rise noticeably) and now all restricrions will be lifted at the end of January. It seems likely England will be the first country to decide that we can now live with Covid just as we have always done with flu and the common cold. Good!

I'm not sure how marching like a ludicrous robot helps the cause of patriotism. Don't these people realise just how moronic the goose-step is? I just laugh at these fools.

How awful. That's really terrible. Poor man.

This petty and vindictive persecution of man just trying to go about his business is making Australia look really bad.

If you want to host a sporting tournament you have to let all the sportsmen attend, or it just makes a mockery of the event and the eventual winner will not be respected as he will not have played the best opponents.

Stop this covid paranoia, drop all these stupid rules and restrictions and lets just get back to normal life.

a vending machine didn’t work

If a vending machine takes your money but does not give you the goods you paid for, is that not theft?

And yes, there is usually a helpline, but what if they do not respond or are unwilling to help? Theft is a crime.

I'm not saying that this was what happened when the person called 110, just that this is not necessarily as black and white as may at first appear.

he told other passengers he had the coronavirus because he didn’t want anyone to sit near him

People are so ridiculously fearful you could probably achieve the same result by simply not wearing a mask!

I've lost track of what the law is currently in Japan - if you have covid, are you permitted to leave the house? If not, then this would be the correct charge to bring against him, but if you are allowed to go out then he was simply performing a public service by warning others of his condition!

@ Zaphod:

Then you have a yacuzzi, not an onsen.

A "yacuzzi"? Is that a jacuzzi run by the yakuza? :-)

And pls tell us how you want to wash yourself with your swimsuit on,

Nowadays (as the article makes clear) nobody goes to the onsen to get clean. They do that at home. And this is why all that people do before entering the onsen is douse themselves with water. In any case, I am not saying that people shouldn't get naked, if they want, merely that they should not have to do so if they don't want to.

and how you want to take a sauna (which most onsen have today) with that.

Many people take a sauna in a bathing costume. This is perfectly normal. And again, if you prefer to get naked, that's fine by me, but don't make this compulsory. I am for freedom of choice. You are not. I am a democrat. You are not.

And also, why would trust the cleanliness of those textiles you bring into the bath?

Why wouldn't you trust the cleanliness of "those textiles"? The overwhelming likelihood is that the bathing costume will have have been laundered before use, and it is only put on in the onsen anyway. It is not underwear!

The arguments against bathing costumes in an onsen are very silly and based on unthinking prejudice rather than logic or freedom of choice.

When food is this hot you can no longer taste the flavour, so what's the point? It's just a silly gimmick for silly people.

This is obviously just a marketing scam. People are so easily duped.

Funniest story of the week!!

Hats off to this guy - he refused to be hidebound by the moribund rules of bourgeois society and with a bit of lateral thinking solved the problem of all that time and money spent courting and the possibility of rejection. Kudos!

This problem would instantly disappear if children (and adults too, for that matter) were allowed to wear a bathing costume. Why the obsession with getting completely naked???

The covid crisis is all but over. Time to stop worrying about it and get back to normal. Eliminate the restrictions and get the world travelling again - so that I can return to Japan!! :-)

Normally I go on an expensive long-haul holiday, but because of covid I haven't been able to do so for the last couple of years, so yes, I'm better off - but I would rather be having fun travelling rather than just building up my bank balance ... We should be enjoying life and not worrying about a trivial little virus.

To those questioning why a 90-year-old man is driving, I would say 'why the hell shouldn't he be?' With his experience I would guess he's a better driver than you are.

As for this incident, the police have gone quite mad. The alleged shoplifter is clearly the aggressor here, and the driver was simply trying to protect himself by getting away from a potentially homicidal lunatic. Any normal person would have done exactly the same.