Bob Macaroni comments

BigYenToday 10:21 am JST

The American Psychological Association defines trauma as "an emotional response to a terrible event like an accident, rape or natural disaster" not as an emotional response to too many clicking cameras. Unfortunate, sure, a pain in the ass to deal with, but trauma? Just another soi-disant celebrity victim in a world where the slightest difficulty is unquestioningly endorsed by a cooperative and approving media.

It is hard to comment given that you and I are nobodies and never had to deal with these people in your face 24/7, baiting you for some kind of reaction, and generally invading your privacy. Perhaps if you walked a mile in her (or any celebrity's) shoes, you might feel differently...

obladiToday 04:12 pm JST

As if there wasn't enough to worry about already...

The last refuge--the shopping mall toilet--is no longer safe.

LOL, I feel really sorry for you if shopping mall toilets are the only refuge in which you feel safe. But just to clarify, the kid attacked him outside of the cubicle...

People are killed everyday in gang related violence throughout the world. Why is this story so special?

500 million yen for a training camp? Surely there is an extra zero or two in there or someone is getting royally ripped off and/or something fishy is going on...

If you look at where the mark in the glass was and where the chou cream made contact on the rear window, it would seem it is impossible for the mark/chip to be from the pastry...

That is not a guitar, it is a bass...

bass4funkToday 10:36 am JST

> Nonsense. Prove illegals vote in droves, you can't. 

You can’t prove they don’t.

If you are the one claiming that a fraud took place, it is incumbent on you to make that case and provide evidence of the fraud. Otherwise the courts would be full of cases with people accusing others of fraud with the prosecution claiming, "prove you did not commit fraud". As Hitchens famously wrote, "that which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence"...

@mike: to clarify, you are on record in previous comments having previously exclaimed (in bold) that there would be no way you would ever take the vaccine, blah blah. I would argue that you probably do not really understand the vaccine hence your trepidation. But that is by the by. Above you posted a comment indicating distain for the Japanese government on this position for. I feel you are being a little inconsistent as in your logic and called you out. You are the one who got their knickers in a twist. Take it easy mike :)

Mike: trying to claim the moral high ground I see. As you are well aware, I have not attacked you personally. I have just given my opinion, as you do all the time... However, if your arguments had any substance, maybe we could actually address them. Give it a try mike.

@robert: I guess they believe discussion = action...

I can imagine a bunch of sexual harassment cases coming out of this as the male employees might think they are been given the green light to harass female employees for sex. But if we entertain his comment seriously, I am sure they will not pay their employees more, reduce working hours, or enable them to take leave if they get pregnant which would better enable them to start families...

Sorry, but there are hundreds of stores and private clinics selling tests.

And if your doctor won't refer you, go to another hospital.

If you want a test it's easy to get.

And, what are your symptoms?

We are constantly told by many the medical professionals know best, yet when they don't think someone has corona suddenly they are part of a conspiracy.

Yes, you are right, there are thousands of clinics even, but it is not free to get tested. Perhaps 20-40 k per test. It is not such a big deal for me to know, so I assume it is covid and behave accordingly. But that is by the by... My point was that many people may not have the financial resources to ge tested on their own coin (you know people are working less and have less money here in case you didn't notice), especially if there are 3, 4, or more family members to test. Although it is not your business what our symptoms are, here you go: temperatures in excess of 38, dry cough, sore throats, fatigue, loss of chemoreception ability, fatigue, and conjunctivitis. So you be the judge. Our doctors just said it was a virus. I accept it could be anything and I am not a medical professional (I am assuming you are not either given you are reading and replying to these comments). I am also not saying there is a conspiracy at all, I think the government have been pretty blatant and open about their policies. There is a need to show corona is not a problem here (because of something beginning with O and ending in C) so it makes sense to limit testing...

If you believe the figures you are an idiot. It is impossible to get tested unless you are at death's door. All members of my family have been suffering from a virus with similar symptoms of corona for the last 3 weeks. The local doctors have refused to refer us for testing simply saying we have 'a virus'. Helpful, eh? We are just working on the assumption we have it. This is all so Japan can say it is doing a great job, let the games go ahead.

If it's not funny than don't laugh, it's your right to laugh, sneer or shun or change the channel.

It's not your right to cancel people nor to declare their speech "hate speech" because you don't like them.

This is not a simple freedom of speech issue as you insinuate here. This guy is a paid broadcaster with responsibilities to not be culturally insensitive. He should have had the brains and forethought to realise it would be stupid to even try what he did.

Okay, so you're not allowed to do a comedy Japanese accent. How about a French one? When I'm talking about my holiday in Paris for example, am I allowed to put on a fake French accent for laughs? Or how about a Scottish accent? Are we really being banned from comedy accents now? The world has gone insane.

If one is employed as a sports commentator on an international broadcast, then culturally insensitive renditions of any accent are unlikely to be a good idea. Think about it... However, I am sure you will be fine doing your hilarious version of a French or Spanish accent to your friends and family.

As a MC1R recessive, there ain't nothing desirable about white skin in the summer time...

I expect these "passports" will be tested legally soon. I am no anti-vaxxer, but you cannot restrict someones freedom of movement. Therefore, I would expect this all to be tested soon in Europe or North American courts...

Giving the people what they really want and need. Stuff like this shows how out of touch the Japanese royal family and those in the halls of power really are...

Some people here seem to be experts on street fighting and old-school honor systems without having any themselves. They would have been among the first to have been cut down to size for the nonsense they spew in the "good old days"...

Swabbing for corona in one's corona. How apt...

Somehow the commenters will find ways to twist this to blame it on Suga/the government. I am no apologist for these guys, but this is just one of those things. Equipment breaks down sometimes, it is unfortunate, but at this stage it seems an isolated event. Hardly worthy of mention in a national news website...

I checked Toyota's PR and it stated, “using traditional Japanese wood joinery." So some of this project reflects a certain amount of nationalistic pride, rather than being just about science, technology and efficiency. There's a reason modern joinery superseded the old types - because it's better. It's called evolution.

I am no expert on joinery, but maybe it depends on how you define better. Could it be that modern methods are cheaper or require less skill? Not necessarily less effective joints...

Good move. Imagine a car named the Crysler Jew, the Ford Gypsy, or the Chevy Zulu...

The fact that this is news tells you everything you need to know about Japan. But I think this practice is not so uncommon...Incidentally, my son is named with my Japanese wife's surname because otherwise he would have been lumped with an awful katakana approximation of my name and allows Japanese and it marks him out strait away as a gaikokujin...