bobobolinski comments

@jkanda Well-spotted. It looks "shopped" - maybe in the original you couldn't see his hand, leaving it to the imagination where it was.

Seeing as this came from the same intelligence sources who told us of yellow cake and wmd a while ago, I would wonder why this is being released now. I don't doubt that Lashkar-e-Taiba and their pals do indeed think up plots, but presumably they are doing this pretty much all the time. In the absence of arrests or discoveries of materials, it looks like the intelligence agencies are justifying the latest, and presumably ongoing, drone attacks on Pakistan - a country which the US and Nato are not at war with. Yet.

Well, they have been released; no charges. So, the connection between this incident and terrorism is, Muslim = terrorist? group of north Africans conversing = terrorist conspiracy? I see.

Three reasons. One, apart from having home advantage in 2002 they had never done anything in previous international competitions. Two, coach Okada was awful in 1998, and hardly inspired any confidence since his reappointment. Three, they were just terrible in the lead up to the competition. It was hard to see where goals were going to come from and the defence looked really shaky. The question should be, what happened? All three games, including the Netherlands match, Japan have been purposeful, tight, and direct. Is it something they ate?

If the research behind these claims is valid, then people should stop eating cetaceans right now, and governments should immediately ban the sale, trafficking and all consumption of such food products. If the research is dubious, it is vital that all the concerned countries drop their petty politicking and do proper, serious further research on the presence of trace elements in all fish and cetaceans. Or we could just go on making trivial little political points while we commit slow suicide by poison.

Tosaken, you may be technically right about the production company, but the writers, director, cast and general style of the film are all part of what is generally recognized as an Ealing comedy.

Back on topic, there are loads of films that I would love to see, but due to the narrowness of Japanese distribution, it seems that unless it has Johnny Depp or Brad Pitt in it, it will not be released here for ages. For example, recently released British movies like Four Lions, Cemetery Junction, Centurion, The Disappearance of Alice Creed, Heartless, and several others. But you know we will get Robin Hood and that is all. Oh well, back to the torrents.

If there is one thing that annoys many Japanese people on trains more than people talking on the phone, it is people talking English. So all of you cheerleaders should bear in mind that it might be you that gets a thump in the face next time.

It struck me as odd that Ms Feineman is not sure whether the AWG came from Ohio or northern England. I assume, perhaps wrongly, that she is a native English speaker, and I would think that nearly all English speakers would be able to tell the difference quite easily. Perhaps the AWG was speaking quietly and other than the occasional expletive, could not be heard? Or maybe the whole scene was really short-lived?

@cracaphat

Well that is that. Stupid old idiot - the man who lost England the World Cup. I hope Netherlands-Belgium get it now

And I supposed you have never said anything in private that if heard by the wrong people would be cause for alarm,eh ?

If I said anything dubious about other people that later came out in public, then, yes actually, I would feel rather foolish for being indiscreet. If I was at the head of a major national project and I made really serious allegations in conversation with a younger lady friend, and those allegations became public and destroyed the project I was heading; in that case I think the phrase "stupid old idiot" would be completely appropriate. I'm not defending the Mail, which always was an odious rag, but the man is an old fool.

Well that is that. Stupid old idiot - the man who lost England the World Cup. I hope Netherlands-Belgium get it now.

While Cameron and Clegg may be similar in many ways, there is a huge gulf between the policies supported by their parties and presumably their voters. On almost any major area - Europe, immigration, environment, taxation, welfare - they are polar opposites. The Conservatives might have actually found more common ground with Labour, if personalities were left out of it. There will be some quick economic fixes, then a period of confict, at the end of which Cameron will call a quick election, blaming his junior partner for obstructing government process.

bobbafett - I think if the Organisation Europeenne pour la Recherche Nucleaire do come up with some super military application it is more likely to be kept by the French than provided for the USA. But I doubt it will come to that anyway; this is scientific research for the best possible motive, to understand the universe we live in.

Smith, it is notable, however, that Troussier has been the only appointment from outside of Japan - Zico, Osim etc. all being already present. I think this is a common mindset, not just in the football area: if it has to be a foreigner, then it should be a "safe" one, who knows the way things work. So, instead of going for a keen young European or South American, who might take on the challenge as a way of advancing his own career, they have gone for the apparently safe option, again and again. And when it doesn't work out, like now, they publicly wash their hands of the guy, months before the tournament itself. It would be nice to see JFA president Inukai announce that if Japan don't do well, he will step down himself. Some hope, though.

It's going to be a real cluster thing if it turns out that some of the people getting their passport photos and names plastered over the media and internet really were tourists.

The hitmen may well have been British, etc. but that doesn't mean they were working for a European government.

Agree with herefornow. Okada should not have been appointed, but it is way too late now. The JFA should support their man; but this looks like they are already getting ready to shift the blame. Sack the board!

@sarcasnm123 - I fail to see what is funny here. It was a tragic accident.

So, the idea of someone retiring under a cloud but receiving a hefty golden handshake is not commensurate with Japanese culture? Indeed.

As the great Argentinian writer, Jorge Luis Borges said of the 1982 conflict, it's "two bald men fighting over a comb."

It might have been better to have been concerned when they appointed the current manager, whose record at the World Cup finals in France, 1998, was played 3, lost 3, goals for 1, goals against 4. And that was with a Japanese team who were probably much better than now. Okada-san is a good manager at J League level, but completely out of his depth internationally. Bring back the Frenchman!

Cleo is absolutely right about the importance of avoiding error in a culture where examination performance is paramount. And there is another consideration. A lot of foreign language teachers adopt what might be called a Socratic approach to education. The teacher asks a question; the student gives an answer; the teacher shows how wrong the student is and what the right answer is; the student is enlightened. Japanese students loathe this kind of strategy. They see it as a smartass prof making them look foolish in order to reinforce the teacher's superiority. If teacher knows the right answer, why doesn't he just impart the information? (And I know all the arguments for students having to learn through active discussion, but that is a different thing from making someone look stupid in front of their classmates.)

I'm no big fan of Bono, but to be fair he has been doing a lot for Haiti over the last couple of weeks: benefit concerts, recording a single with JayZ and Rihanna, etc.

One of the very few advantages of being an oldie is that you've heard all these tunes before. The people who are condemning contemporary kids were themselves criticized as a generation of wasters. But there is no evidence at all to back up the claims. Yes, there are problems; always were. Some kids don't learn much at school; always was the case. Some students cheat or plagiarize; it's universal and was as common a hundred years ago as it is today. If you look at the OECD statistics, for example, you can see that educational attainment is fairly level across industrialized, developed countries. There are a lot of very bright, aware and original Japanese students, just as there are in Norway, or France, or Canada or anywhere else. They don't always want to show off in front of the foreign language teacher, just the same here as in your own country. The big problem comes when these bright kids get into the world of work and have to submit to the hierarchy of idiots who make it up the ladder. That's the problem, not how many archaic kanji they know, or whether they pick up the phone on time.

Nah, this is part of Okada-sensei's cunning plan. Having won the group against lowly European and African opposition, Japan's next round and quarter-final will most likely be against Paraguay and then Brazil. In order to fulfill the stated aim of getting to the semi-final, Japan will probably have to play for draws in those games, and get through on the penalty shoot out. The lack of apparent preparation will no doubt lull those footballing "superpowers" into a false sense of security. Banzai!

As someone who definitely belongs to the "if its shiny and made by Apple I'll buy it" school, I have to admit deep disappointment. I didn't really want a Kindle, already have iPods, and really wanted a better class of netbook with touchscreen, apps, but a much better range of functionality. Maybe when they've wiped out the other ebook readers, we might see a higher end iSlate. But I think Steve believes we should be buying the Air for the serious stuff.

Stirfry, I think the problem is that being an elected politician is just an incredibly boring job; once the excitement of the election is over, all you look forward to, unless you want to really line your pockets, is people coming to you with problems about garbage, roads, kids schools, etc. (See the downfall of Tommy Carcetti in The Wire, for example.) So, they love these junkets; the twin towns, the "research trips", and if you come from a big enough town, the major sporting events. Travel, excellent cuisine, opportunities for all sorts of extra-curricular activities. If I ever get the vote I'd like to see some in-depth accounts for exactly where the money goes, though.

Any non-European nations bidding for 2018 are wasting their time and their taxpayers money. The 2022 bid, however, is more open, since it cannot go to Europe or South America. This leaves, at the moment, Japan, Korea, Australia, Indonesia, US and Quatar. Australia have a strong hand in not previously having hosted it, and having had a very successful Olympics, but is there really enough popular support there? I wouldn't discount Japan totally for 2022, but they shouldn't waste their time any more with 2018, or with the Olympics, for that matter.

"The level of sophistication demonstrated was not beyond that of a child’s talking toy ...it can already discuss Manchester United ..." Yes, indeed.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. This article is so full of errors, based principally on its ludicrous premise of climate change taking place over a 500-year period. The author says that Japan has nothing to worry about for the next 100 to 200 years - wrong. Climate change is happening now, and to take the author's principal example, mass migration is happening now, and will most likely increase enormously over the next thirty to forty years. James Lovelock has said very little about the prospect for 2500; what he has said is that 80% of the human population could die out by 2100. That is change we, and our children and grandchildren could see, not some fantasy of a distant future.

OK, so he is profiled and subject to what is now being called "enhanced screening". He has a valid visa. The pat down and scan will not find the concealed materials. A strip search would, and this where El Al would no doubt find it, which is why he would not try it with El Al. But I have seen nothing to suggest that enhanced screening will involve anything like the intrusive (literally) searches that El Al conducts. Sniffer dogs, I don't know; but again there has been no indication that this will be an option. So, we have pat downs which check that you have nothing under your armpits, and a scanning process which its own advocates admit is likely to be ineffective.