Bofington comments

I'm already past the point of needing to worry about this stuff for my own life. But my kids? Several countries are upset. China won't even allow seafood imports because of it.

I don't know. Isn't there a better way to deal with it? Build silos or bunkers like the US does? Increase the size of treatment facilities? Japan's electricity costs have skyrocketed in less than 3 years. Where is THAT money going?

This is huge space news. Congrats to India. The knowledge and data that will come from this will rival Apollo missions with our advancements in tech. Sell it to Blue Origin and let them build a base on the moon. Hell, let them build a city. And, help with it. How cool would that be, SpaceX wants to build a city on mars, but let's start closer first. Then let SpaceX solidify human life on Mars.

And congrats to JapanToday for covering a story not super negative. Too much of that lately. We need Japan to start questioning and challenging their decision.

This has been one of the main discussions on TV here for days. I've never once heard a conversation about why marijuana is this illegal, or questioning the stigma. The questions or opinions "are these western sports also dangerous?" or "the professors and coaches at the universities need to be arrested as well," are not what reporters and television personalities should be talking about.

I've said it many times before. The government continues to paint weed as this highly dangerous substance that will ruin your body and life. The only evidence of that is the prison sentence that goes along with it. You see commercial after commercial for alcohol, and girls in skimpy clothes still hand out free cigarettes on street corners and in izakayas. From a medical view, those are worse for your body and future.

Get with the times Japan. Even if it is illegal, a slap on the wrist and a "please don't do it again" is the only acceptable response. These young men have been on every channel since the story broke. Give them a freaking break.

A bunch of very elderly people don't want to be reminded that their time is getting shorter. I say open shop, and charge a convenience tax. Stop listening and playing to the people that contribute the least to society. I'm not saying leave them. Of course, take care of them for the long life they worked and contributed, but their voice for the future should be muffled or muted. Think about the kids and their tomorrow.

@virusrex They aren't meaningless. Most astrophysicists will tell you in a very simple way.

100 to 400 billion stars in our milky way galaxy. Each star has an average of 1.6 planets.

You think that we were that lucky? They're already finding signs of (non-intelligent) life on other celestial bodies in our own solar system.

Now they say there could be upwards of 2 trillion galaxies in the universe. Each contains billions or trillions of stars, and even more planets.

It must be hard to stay confident thinking these calculations are "meaningless"

Ever ask a Tesla driver what their next car will be?

Keep disrupting the market Elon! Investors may not be that happy, but consumers get nothing but benefits. He's really doing what he said he would, normalize the EV market, and make it affordable. If you sell all the cars you make no matter how often you increase production, what's the issue? What other car manufacturing company has risen from nothing to the size of Tesla in the past 30 years? None. Tesla did it in 20.

We have a promising future for vehicles!

When you start something in Japan you are expected to finish it. Even if it isn't for you, you must finish it.

This mentality eliminates the idea of an out. When you hate doing something, how long can you "gaman"? Certain people will snap under pressure. With recent JSDF stories being so negative why would I not be surprised if there are far bigger issues than the kid that had too much?

@Rodney is right. The kid was 18, not even considered a true adult in Japan. Who knows what kind of sick stuff those commanders and trainers are putting Japan's young youth through. The key here was he murdered his instructors. Not his peers. No doubt they were bullying, and pushed him over the top.

The military needs to teach survival and battle tactics. They need to help them build strong and able physical forms. They need to teach them to be confident, and to realize that their job may be THE most important job for their country so that when they go to work they really give it their all. There is no need to harass them into submissive little drones.

The chance of intelligent life somewhere other than Earth is theorized to be 99.99% I believe that.

I actually believe that there are plenty of places across the seemingly infinite amount of galaxies harboring intelligent life.

I do not believe any one of them has come to Earth. Why would they? We were barbaric savages until not too long ago. Even if we reached some technological level they would recognize, we're still on a path to self destruction. If they were to visit, and had light-speed tech, it would still likely take hundreds if not thousands, or millions of years to reach us too. How many generations would need to live and die in space cans to reach us?

Any "UFOs" are scams or enemy technologies.

Interesting, I don't see any women in the picture of the protests.

Too many restrictions on women and happiness in some beliefs. Too much power for men. That's why they're scared when someone starts publicly protesting against their open beating and humiliation of women and girls.

It blows my mind they would even consider this. Limit to 960 hours of overtime? How is that even close to okay with current wages?

American truck drivers make crazy money, but their house is like a home for 4 or 5 days a week. They shower at truck stops, sleep in their cab and eat at restaurants. I haven't seen a truck with a cab here, so these "working" hours are most likely DRIVING hours. Terrifying.

And, how are there so few accidents, I've seen trucks pass me going at least 100km/h around a turn without visibility on icy roads.

This is something that has had a consistent increase in demand since they were invented, and the only country keeping up with it was China. What do they expect? Why do you think other countries haven't started doing it?

It's because from the beginning, it will never be financially feasible. China has done it at such low costs that western standards of employment will never be able to match those cheap prices.

If I was wrong, wouldn't every major company be investing in the chip/semiconductor market?

Yeah, David, that's a hot take.

If increases in education levels and advancements in science have been gradually lowering religious numbers... Why are universities in the spotlight here?

Anyone who is already enrolled in a higher level of education should be deemed responsible enough to make their own decisions using common sense, no?

It's the poor and vulnerable we need to worry about. They actually have a reason to succumb to false hope.

AND, if it really is a problem at universities in Japan, then it goes to show how awful Japanese universities really are. Education statistics are very doctored here.

Music fan culture has always been a bit off.

At least western artists have less diehard lifelong dedicated superfans like in Asia. One wrong thing said by an idol changes their fans from spending every last penny on their idol with hopes of a future together into a foaming-at-the-mouth soon-to-be murder suspect.

Did anyone expect the movie would do well after Crystal Skull? Even if Chin-.... I mean... Disney didn't make the movie so it would be 100% accepted in one of the larger Asian countries, 40 years is too long to bring back a beloved character and keep him popular.

That's why Star Wars still does so well. It captured a new audience using new characters and timelines, but also appealed to older fans. Indiana Jones needs a reboot, which will happen soon I'm sure.

A park visitor reported a strange odor?

I think a park visitor found a body and didn't want any involvement. I'm jotting this one down for what to do if I find a body in Japan. That's next level thinking there. Call someone and say "it smells really bad over here, someone on the clock should probably check it out."

I can understand how a current day gender studies class could cause stress.

Things change too fast. It's almost as if anything anyone says or believes becomes the new truth.

No matter how hard I study, the next day I'm behind the loop. It moves faster than AI.

Are you surprised? I'm not.

I have a feeling there will be dozens, if not hundreds of similar stories coming in the next decade.

Is the beauty of a bonsai tree natural? In the same way that women used to wear clamps on their feet to keep them small. The treatment of a bonsai tree could be perceived as torture. Constantly being cut, tied, bound, and starved into what someone once decided was beautiful.

That aside, the countryside can seem rich in nature, but it's destroyed for me when you can't see the milky way from anywhere in mainland Japan. You're never that far away from something concrete or electrical.

Also, you can see an abundance of raccoon dogs, foxes, monkeys and deer. But, you never see squirrels, rabbits, or chipmunks. Variety of birds is also lonely sometimes. Too many crows.

There is a reason websites are able to offer "free shipping." What are the product margins? If you profit enough to meet your average sale goal, and the extra profit meets the average cost of the standard shipping price, then it isn't really "free shipping" is it? If you have to spend a certain amount to get free shipping, it isn't free either. Sure, you receive more than if you paid for 1 bottle of hot sauce and shipping separately, but not everyone needs $75usd of hot sauce.

With services like Prime, the only products that are eligible are ones that are sold directly from Amazon warehouses, which also comes with rules such as a minimum margin of 20%. Amazon rarely loses money from a Prime subscription.

All the more reason to head over to Twitch.tv and use your "free" prime sub on someone trying to make it as an online entertainer.

Korea has a similar problem to Japan with hiring blue collared skilled workers. Wages are trash. Why would someone choose to move to Korea or Japan to do a job they could do in Canada or Australia for literally 3 times the pay?

You can see it with Japanese nurses who can speak English, they move to Australia and live a happy life. With better hours, more pay, and an eye-opening change of lifestyle that makes it hard to return to overworking Japan.

My guess is Korea will start using their suicidal K-pop idols to rope in lonely working class men from around the world.

He'll get a slap on the wrist and be moved to another prefecture to do the same job. He won't need to sign any kind of predator list or be registered as some kind of sicko.

Let's get strict, this is disgusting.

As much as I hate how the Japanese university system is directly influenced by the rest of the education system. "Difficult to get in, easy to graduate," they should really start reforming the way scholarships work. Awarding someone money for academic performance and making them pay it back is not a scholarship.

It must not be that hard to become a lawyer in Japan if the straws you have to grasp at are "the fire wasn't intended to hurt passengers" during the trial of a 10-man stabbing spree.

These analysts and researchers always leave the most important point out. The fact you can charge at home, and in many apartment complexes. McDonald is right, the real priority is people being able to charge where they live. And that is what most Tesla owners do in America.

In the case that you are doing long distance travel, and there are more than 500km between hotels with chargers, then Tesla Superchargers are the most plentiful charging stations across the US. There should be a standard that allows all electric vehicles to charge wherever. Could you imagine if you couldn't gas up at a gas station because your car was the "wrong brand"?

Certain companies have been trying to do this for years. Look at apple, with unique charging cables and ports other companies aren't allowed to use. Now, apple is being forced to drop "lightning" for USB-C, the universal option. Electric vehicles should be the same, no matter what brand. I should be able to charge my Toyota at the Tesla supercharger if I need to. If I couldn't, there just wouldn't be the proper infrastructure to own a different brand electric vehicle.

Where I came from, 75% of people have switched to Starlink in the last 2 years. For people living in rural countrysides, it has to be the best option you have. Fast, reliable, little downtime, easy setup, and relatively inexpensive compared to other systems.

It's a great option for anyone mobile, or out of city limits. So it would be great for the forces.

I remember thinking it was over late last year. Things got better faster than expected. I don't know how, I don't know why, but here are my fingers, crossed once again.

Love how the picture at the end of the article is the most "WTF were you thinking" reaction photo ever.

Korean dramas are the most watched television in Asia. Korea also has a very good track record with recent movies, being well directed, well cast, and very artistic. I think it's a good investment. More interest than Hollywood entertainment on this side of the globe.

This is ridiculous. Marijuana should have been legalized worldwide by now. How is this big news in Japan? We see boxers and fighters smoking weed at their press conferences and stand-offs in the U.S. Even in states where for some reason it's still illegal.

When was the last time a famous Hollywood star or musician was known for having a clean drug record? Why are these things so taboo in Japan that it could mean the end of your professional career.

And why do they need to get down to a dog's level and say sorry? "I'm sorry this stressful lifestyle led me to use a substance that helps me to relax, while the government does nothing, and doctors tell me to man up."