bookowls comments

Why would you launch this on a Thursday anyway? The vast majority of people are at work - they have to be in order to earn enough salary to pay for this monstrosity!

There are two islands - why not just take one each and rename the entire area "Friendship Islets" or something similar? It would show a harmonious relationship between SK and JP instead of all this bickering nonsense!

Here in Yamaguchi and down in Kyushu, some areas have seen more than 290 cms of rain today! It is raining very hard at 11:16pm and expected to worsen overnight. It has not stopped since 11am this morning!

I don't know why the cops feel they have to arrest every driver who hits someone here. Accidents happen and it would seem that this is all it was. Her profession as a Child care giver should go to helping her testimony. A few unanswered questions need to be asked.

As StormR says, they've just announced on the news that she has been found and the kidnapper apprehended. Thank God. What remains are the unanswered questions as to why the police didn't do more to prevent this in the first place, given the incident in May. But thankfully they did enough to find her alive. As for the kidnapper, let's hope he gets the rest of his life behind bars!!

the demographics don’t lie: by 2050 the largest age segment in Japan’s population pyramid, both for males and females will be those in their late 70s, with fewer and fewer younger people.

Good! Judging by the way young people are changing and growing in Japan, I can only see the youth of tomorrow getting more obnoxious, lazy and ignorant!

This teacher was well within her rights to go and attend her son's ceremony!

Nothing is more important than family! NOTHING!!

I quit a teaching job many moons ago when the boss of the school said the school was more important than my family! Well, just as the people complaining about this teacher's actions are now, my boss was dead wrong too!

Kudos to her for doing what she felt was right and sod the complainers!! This is the 21st century - not the 18th!

@gogogo...we get it, you hate Mac. Each to their own, but don't embellish on something you clearly know nothing about! When I had Windows machines, 4 in 5 years, I'm convinced it was their updates that killed each machine. 3 of them died in the same year. In 2009 I switched to Apple products, and have never looked back since! My iMac 24" (late 2009), is still running as fast and as smooth as the day I bought it! No problems with updates or security and I'm not convinced that this 'flaw' was anything to worry about.

I hope they lose in court and have to pay damages for being anal.

Lord forbid that this loony in Osaka should ever think that tattoos are art! Sick to death of tunnel vision thinking in this country. And those that think all tattoos represent Yakuza, are just as ignorant. There is no reason to tie tattoos to being involved with the yakuza in this day and age. I hope this woman has the sense to consider suing the city for infringement of her basic human rights.

“The dolphin fishing that takes place in Taiji town is an ancient fishing practice rooted in their culture… and supports their livelihoods,”

Can't believe this buffoon is still in power or even got back into power! "Rooted in their culture"? - They've only been hunting dolphins since 1933! Moreover, the only ''livelihoods'' being supported here, are the ones in Taiji! And if anyone's ever been there, while it's a quaint looking place, it only has a population of less than 4,000. Dolphin hunting is neither necessary or required to sustain their local economy!

My wife says "死ね" to me all the time in jest, although she has said it seriously a few times. Sadly, for her, I'm still around!

Just owning a car in Japan is expensive - road tax, insurance, shakken, etc. And as someone who owns a high-powered car, paying nearly $600 a year in road tax, the highway tolls are a rip-off!

“Dietary culture varies and it is the wisdom of civilization to mutually respect other standpoints unless the world faces a lack of resources,” Nisaka was quoted

In 15 years here, I have never once seen dolphin on any menu or any store shelf. Never. As for respecting other standpoints unless the world faces a lack of resources - Nisaka would do well to recall how Japan repeatedly rejects calls for them to lower their fishing quotas on species such as Tuna, which have increasingly decreased in numbers over the past decade, due to over-fishing. It all comes back to the same old, tired argument, that it's ''our cultural and traditional right". Sadly, old traditions and culture, have no little to no place in the modern day world, and the world is growing tired of hearing the same rhetoric from Japanese officials.

There are a lot of comments from people who are not married to Japanese and some from people who think the only jobs here are teaching English!

I'm married to a Japanese woman, miserably and happily, for 14 years. Yes, there are quirks that just defy logic even Spock couldn't figure out, but you learn to live with them or work with them. As for jobs, they are there if you look for them. Both myself and my best friend here, work as managers in a car company. I don't miss teaching one iota, and my wife enjoys making my bento every morning before we both go to work. Still yells at me for leaving a wet towel on the table.

“All citizens have a right to expect that they will not be treated or punished in a cruel and unusual way,” Rion said. “Today’s actions violated that constitutional expectation.”

He didn't think about that while he raped and murdered a pregnant woman. He thought nothing of the suffering he put two human beings through. The pain, the torture and then snuffed their lives out.

He has paid with his life. And in a way that few will feel sympathy for.

When I saw that the mother was 51, and the child was special needs, that sort of makes sense.

Actually, no, it doesn't. And neither does your further remark that the risk for "Down's syndrome" is great because the mother had a child at 42! What a load of twaddle!

For the old moms, Its often a baby in hindsight - hit 40, have a career, house, husband, car, countless designer bags, but forgot about a baby. I find it hard to believe they are having a baby because they want to be a mother - Its just another lifestyle accessory - and the concequences when it goes wrong can be dire, as in this womans case.

Just another lifestyle accessory? Please get off your soapbox until you know what you're talking about! What an insult to mothers!!

I hope this case is solved soon and the little girl's soul finds peace.

Japan apologised a long time ago and then some. China does not have the trump cards it seems to think it has, and it playing a game it will 100% lose. The west will not be swayed by Chinese rhetoric and China would do well to pull the plank out of its own eye first, before continuing to drag the past into the present, where it has no place. The world doesn't forget atrocities carried out by China either.

Their irresponsibility started after abandoning the first child. They are vile.

Japanese sex education definitely needs to be improved.

Disagree. I sat my son down a year ago to give him "the talk" about the birds and the bees. He laughed at me, as did his mother - his school had already taught them plenty about 6 months prior! They are definitely not shy about it, but thankfully it has its place in societal behaviour and mannerisms.

The concept of adoption in Japan is still practically unknown. One couple I used to know wanted a child more than anything, but the wife could not conceive due to complications. I suggested adoption and they literally balked at the idea of raising "someone else's child with different blood". I kid you not.

As for this despicable couple - the death penalty will not bring back the babies. But a long time to rot in a prison cell, will certainly give them plenty of time to reflect on their evil selfishness.

WakarimasenJAN. Why is there no information about why he might have been offed? Was he "charismatic"?? Weird article, JT

Did you not read the entire article? It says quite clearly that there was a possible motive from gang related involvement in opening business in China. But I'll grant you, it is a weird article and I am curious as to how this was even passed for publication, without being vetted for possible hate talk!

Several years back, I watched an NHK documentary that interviewed some old soldiers from the war era. Some of the soldiers told how they 'refused' to 'obey orders' and use a comfort woman, when they saw them tied down, and a long line of soldiers standing outside the hut she was forced to be in. They were punished by being given various duties such as toilet duty, demoted or other punishment. But regardless, they still felt they were right to disobey such disgusting orders. Some of those same soldiers still shed tears for those women.

Today, Japan is a very different nation and mindset, and to call them "barbarians" now, is just ignorance.

I don't disagree that the sentence is 'light', but it's certainly befuddling when some people are given less time in jail for murder.

This article refers to the crew of the Sea Shepherd as "militants". Seriously? Might as well just call them "terrorists"!

@Bookowls said: "You imply that speed is the reason why and yet there is no report of any speeding being witnessed."

As quoted from the LA Sheriff's department: "Speed was a factor in the solo vehicle collision," the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department said in a updated statement late Saturday.

The driver was definitely speeding. What Paul Walker was doing while the speeding was going on ..well we'll never know. Hopefully as I mentioned above, he was telling the driver to slow it down.

I wrote my comment before the LA Sheriff's department had made any announcement. Regardless, it doesn't justify the insensitive and uncaring nature of some people commenting. As you said, hopefully he was telling the driver to slow down.

The shakken here is extortionate. When I tell my Japanese friends how much it costs in the UK compared to Japan, their jaws hit the floor. The car tax is, I think, quite reasonable. I drive a 350z and pay ¥58,000 a year in road tax, for having a 3.5 ltr engine. Some drivers in k-cars drive like they own the roads, so putting the price up somewhat, may help alleviate these idiots from being able to drive around easily. However, I don't agree with putting things so expensive that it stops being able to afford to get to work.

W/ appologies to everyone that loves Paul Walker, I have remarkably little sympathy. Somebody was driving at very high speed (there's NOTHING left of the car) within city limits. This type of dangerous driving (the kind celebrated by the Fast and Furious franchise) is a real danger to innocent bystanders. The only silver lining in this accident is that at this point it seems that they did not kill anyone not in the car (like a family out for a dinner together).

Wow...first of all, Paul Walker was not driving the car, he was the passenger, and so any blame cannot lie with him. Secondly, we don't know for sure what happened yet, so for you to try and justify these sad deaths by laying blame with both occupants of the vehicle, is extremely insensitive.

The vehicle exploded into flames - that's why there wasn't much left of it. You imply that speed is the reason why and yet there is no report of any speeding being witnessed. I once lost control of a DOHC Fiat 5 door I had, at just 10mph. The power steering wheel literally 'snapped' back to it's regular position, as I was trying to turn left. Almost took my thumbs off. Sometimes things happen in an instant and you have little to no time to react.

RIP to both Paul Walker and the driver.

First static fingerprint sensor in a phone.

Lol…no it isn't. Fujitsu have had this for years! I used to own one!

Same with the two cameras that Apple claimed was a first. My old DoCoMo D902i was one of the first to have two cameras, long before iPhone was even invented! (I still have this phone, along with several others from many years ago).

This latest update from Apple was severely disappointing and I'm glad I made the switch to Galaxy S4 2 weeks ago. What a superb phone! I'll never go back to iPhone now, especially with their claim of the swipe up action to change screens and access menus. The Galaxy S4 does this from the top down and has the unique no touch feature whereby you can simply answer calls with your voice, open menus with your voice and change sites or pictures with the wave of your hand. I especially like the finger pointing option which allows you to peek inside emails without opening them by hovering your finger a couple of centimeters above the screen.

I expected better of Apple this time round, but it wasn't meant to be. As someone else said - maybe they should just roll out stuff like this until they have some game changing model.

Casinos would be a great economic boost for Japan. I think it's unfair to blame casinos for the addictions of gamblers - no one forces them to get out of bed and go to the casino.

Good question: Where was the family? I get sick of seeing so many parents allowing their young kids to tear across car parks at shopping places. Sounds like a simple accident in this case. RIP little one.

There are some very senseless and idiotic comments from posters regarding this story. Fact is, a customer paid for a service and that service was not fulfilled correctly. Many people take their pets on vacation and this girl had every right to do the same. As for ANA, I stopped using their services years ago thanks to the crappy attitude of a customer service rep.