Japan Today

borscht comments

Posted in: Whenever you read about random knife attacks in public places, does it make you more attentive to what people around you are doing when you are walking along the street, waiting on train platforms or shopping? See in context

No. I’m usually aware of my surroundings and the people who act a bit odd. So much so that my wife complains I’m too aware.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Learning Japanese just got easier — wherever you are See in context

Are you ready to level up your Japanese skills?

Are you ready to improve your English skills?

I know ‘level up’ has creeped into English. It is either from Dungeons and Dragons where you go up a level when you get better but it might’ve been reborrowed into English from the Japanese attempt at using ‘cool’ English phrases in sentences. In any case, I’m an old guy set in his ways and don’t see the need to use two words (level up) when one (improve) is sufficient.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Posted in: In 10-hour news conference, Fuji TV execs step down over TV host sexual misconduct scandal See in context

It’s hard to believe a youngish popular former boy band singer and MC can’t get his own dates (or escorts) but has to rely on a Fuji-employed pimp.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Posted in: Ishiba says he will accelerate debate over selective surname system See in context

Women don’t “need” to change their names, but it’s traditional that they do. Men can take their wife’s name, but is more common that the man gets adopted by the wife’s family.

On divorce, the rate in Japan is about 35%.

That Ishiba can’t even get this minor change through his own party doesn’t bode well for any economic reform that will benefit your average Taro and Keiko (with different last names or not).

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Posted in: Three bodies found in house in apparent murder-suicide See in context

 Not all his fault, if your kids are still "at home" in their 30's, you have failed as a parent.

In my neighborhood, 77% of the children are 25 or older, went to good universities, have good jobs, are single, and live at home. I don’t think their parents have failed.

So far, none of the children have killed their parents.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Posted in: Japan bank execs take pay cuts after employee is accused of stealing from safe deposit boxes See in context

Rather than a 30% reduction over three months, I think it should be a 30% reduction until retirement. I’m sure that would still be many times the average wage-earners pay.

It might also encourage early retirement.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Posted in: Japanese actor dropped from beer ad campaign after drunken escapade See in context

Interesting no-lock apartments or trusting neighbors.

Every time I’ve attempted to enter a neighbor’s apartment to use the bathroom (I don’t remember why, actually, I was drunk), the door’s been locked.

11 ( +15 / -4 )

Posted in: What are your fondest childhood memories of Christmas? See in context

Not childhood, but high school: going for a walk, running into a friend and going back to her apartment, eating, sipping wine, talking, and completely forgetting it was Christmas Eve; she’s an LA lawyer now after several years living in Central America.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Posted in: We would like international students to not just study medicine in Japan but also learn about the high quality of Japanese medical equipment and pharmaceuticals. If they introduce these things in their countries after returning home, it will help grow the Japanese economy. See in context

They also might be shocked at how little medical students in Japan study in their first two years of school.

Plus, at what age are the Asian students starting? 18 like in Japan or 21/22 as in other countries?

Finally, they might be shocked to know only Japanese is spoken in class while medical schools in Korea at taught in English, which many Asian students already know.

-3 ( +3 / -6 )

Posted in: Man arrested for burying mother's body in Nara cemetery See in context

Editors, what is ‘human hand a foot’ Perhaps missing an ‘nd’?

Maybe he thought that since he owned the plot he could bury her without govt involvement; silly goose

Moderator: Thanks for pointing that out.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Posted in: 4 arrested over death of man found naked in Hokkaido park See in context

each aged 17 and 18

I don’t think they’re each 17 and 18. Probably one is 17 and the other is a year older.

Perhaps JT could go with: Two males aged 17 and 18.

But I’m not an investigative reporter, so what do I know?

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Posted in: Veteran editor asks, 'Where have all the book readers gone?' See in context

 use eBooks such as Amazon's Kindle

To be pedantic, Kindle is not an eBook; it is an eBook reader.

I’ve two questions about this ‘reading’ survey. In my casual survey of college-aged students over the years of how many ‘books’ they read, often they say two or three a month. But a bit of questioning unveils that the ‘books’ they are reading are what I call fashion magazines.

forms of data other than books" -- mainly believed to be from the internet

Second, did the survey ask if people read ebooks? Or was it concentrated just on the physical book? According to Statista, ebooks are a 44 billion yen market and that people under 45 (nearly half Mr Hanada’s age) are doing most of the purchasing; it is also growing. How many are manga or graphic novels is not clear but should it make a difference.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Posted in: Japan's longest-serving death row prisoner seeks acquittal in retrial See in context

Are any of the policemen who supposedly beat him, prosecutors who allegedly fabricated evidence against him, or judges who didn’t give a farthing alive? If alive, they should be hauled out to explain themselves.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Posted in: Japan ruling party to hold unpredictable vote for next leader on Friday See in context

I side with those who think Ishiba has already been chosen by the powers that be behind the PM chair. I hope Takaichi is chosen so that, if she survives longer than four months, she and President Harris can shake hands, smile for the cameras, and simultaneously twist the undies of die-hard fundamentalists.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Posted in: The government plans to scrap the current health insurance certificates this autumn by replacing them and integrating their functions with the My Number cards, which carry a 12-digit number for each individual that links together various personal data, such as taxes and social security information. Good idea or not? See in context

In the hospital today: Place the card on the scanner. (Take it out of the little plastic sleeve that ‘protects’ prying eyes from the number... ha.) Either enter your PIN or use the facial recognition. Then there are three questions which you have to agree to and then push finish. Much quicker than the paper route which requires someone to read it, enter the data into their computer, and give everything back. By-passed a lot of people doing the paper route.

I worry about the Japanese government’s ability to keep everything secure as in the past they have failed a few times. Of course, if they still use floppy disks, it might be secure.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Posted in: Japan wants its hardworking citizens to try a 4-day workweek See in context

By the way, karoshi has become an English word where it is easier to say than worked to death, a concept that is hard for some Americans to understand.

0 ( +5 / -5 )

Posted in: Japan wants its hardworking citizens to try a 4-day workweek See in context

This:

Although 85% of employers report giving their workers two days off a week and there are legal restrictions on overtime hours, which are negotiated with labor unions and detailed in contracts.

seems to be an incomplete sentence.

And this:

Proponents of the three-days-off model say it encourages people raising children, those caring for older relatives, retirees living on pensions and others looking for flexibility or additional income to remain in the workforce for longer

is also true of working from home, which companies are also rejecting now that they have more control over their employees.

A four-day workweek will work only if pay remains the same; workers can’t afford lower pay with the rising prices of everything.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

Posted in: Reactor in central Japan fails to pass post-Fukushima safety review See in context

This: due to a possible active fault underneath the offline unit

And this: building reactors … directly above active faults is prohibited.

So why this?: Nuclear Regulation Authority plans to seek public comments on its assessment report

Is this nuclear safety by vote or by law?

Also, doesn’t this (lying) mean Japan Atomic Power can’t be trusted to run a safe power plant?:

documents that included inaccuracies and data rewritten without approval

8 ( +13 / -5 )

Posted in: U.S. urges Japan to name disaster relief hub task force members See in context

I’ve noticed Japan will do what they think is best when it’s too late.

From refusing US help after the 1985 747 crash which could have saved lives, to not shoring up their elevated highways after the Northridge earthquake in 1994 because, to paraphrase an LDP politician, ‘our engineers are better than Americans.’ Only to find the 1995 Hanshin Earthquake proving him wrong.

But this is merely a request for committee members names so the long tedious process of securing food, supplies, resources, and a location for citizens caught in a disaster can begin; preferably before the next disaster.

I suspect they are stalling on this onerous task until after the LDP election so the newest prime minister can dole out these positions to his friends (and donors).

3 ( +12 / -9 )

Posted in: Japanese woman, 116, to be named world's oldest person See in context

Congratulations to Ms Itooka

Peter Neil, fyi, of her 117 years in this vale of tears, Maria Branyas Morera spent 99 of them in Spain although she was born in San Francisco to Spanish parents who returned to Spain during WWI.

Did she have American citizenship by right of birth? I don’t know. Did she keep her American citizenship her entire life? Again, I plead ignorance.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Posted in: Do you think that constant use of abbreviations while texting messages or sending email is having an adverse effect on your spelling, grammar and punctuation? See in context

Abbreviations didn’t start with texting. They started with the printing press in order to use less space on the page. It’s why we write Mr. and Mrs. instead of Mister/Master or Missus/Mistress.

Before texting was a thing, I spent many decades teaching students that ‘wanna’ is not the correct spelling of ‘want to’.

And it’s a pity that LOL was commandeered by Laughing Out Loud and not Lots of Love as LOL is too often used as an insult.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Posted in: Japanese convenience store allows use of initials on name tags to prevent harassment by customers See in context

Bund & BeerDeluveryGuy,

thanks for the clarifying everything; much appreciated.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Posted in: 45% of Japanese living abroad feel lonely: gov't study See in context

First, agree with Asiaman7. Japanese in Japan feel lonely, too, at about the same rate as those living abroad. I wonder how many non-Japanese living in Japan feel lonely. Or, more broadly, how many expatriates feel lonely. Especially when looking at a frequency such as

"often or always," "sometimes" or "once in a while."

I have no statistics to back up this claim but I think most people in most places feel lonely 'once in a while' or 'sometimes.' It's part of being human.

38 ( +43 / -5 )

Posted in: Japanese convenience store allows use of initials on name tags to prevent harassment by customers See in context

Or, and bear with me here, they (either management or employees) could use Fake Names! I saw a non-Japanese Lawson's clerk with the name クルー and thought it was his katakanized Cool nickname.

Clerks could be so lucky as to choose their own nickname: 熊 (Bear) , ロキー (Rocky), プチン (Putin), whatever they wanted. Then when grumpy old men or women wanted to complain out loud, they'd have to use the (made-up) nickname. Plus, the name tags could be interchangeable saving management money.

11 ( +16 / -5 )

Posted in: Elderly couple attacked by bear in their home in Gunma Prefecture See in context

Police said the man told them that her and his wife were asleep

Who is this ‘her’? The bear?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Tempted to try a no-buy year? Here are tips from people doing it See in context

And maybe stop being influenced by so-called influencers who are probably vapid consumers who beg for their crxp for free.

If some TikToker exclaims you have to take a picture of Mt Fuji seemingly coming out of a Lawson’s roof, please remember: No, you don’t. You can go explore the Atacama desert in Chile instead.

Independent thought, what a concept.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Posted in: Parisians get ready to leave city with rental cash in pocket See in context

Niece had a chance to rent her house for an Olympics but checked with other owners at a different Olympics and discovered the clean up and repair costs were prohibitive. Renters literally destroyed walls, left food in the bed, spilled alcohol everywhere etc.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Japan's imperial family to make Instagram debut in April See in context

When podcasts first started in Japan it was mostly radio stations uploading their regular programming.

I fear this social media presence to ‘young people’ will be the Imperial Household’s regurgitation of standard IHA photo ops.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Posted in: Man tries to stab tourist in front of A-Bomb Dome in Hiroshima See in context

Why was the location of this random stabbing attempt in the headline?

I guess “Man Tries to Stab Elderly Tourist” was to generic?

2 ( +7 / -5 )

Posted in: Local governments supporting elderly by promoting cashless payment systems See in context

Why? If the so-called elderly want to use cash, what’s the problem? Oh, wait, cash for the app makers. I see. Never mind.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Recent Comments

Popular

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites


©2025 GPlusMedia Inc.