Brantastik comments

For Pete's sake...what is with Japanese guys and their weakness to their sexual urges?? As a guy, I know the battle to control our sexual urges is an uphill battle at times but it really isn't that hard to control ourselves for the sake of decency and respect for females.

Japanese society is increasingly gaining on Western society, specifically America's, in terms of degradation. Geez...what has the world come to? An 18 year old selling nude pics of herself for "spending money". For crying out loud...there is no hope left for the future.

So 2012, what do you have in store for us?

@vulcan

Agreed.

And yes, Japan should strengthen their ties to their Asian neighbors - China and South Korea as the DPJ, at least during the Hatoyama period, pledged and emphasized. They don't have to cut ties with the US but it's time to be genuinely on equal footing with the them which means they can disagree if it doesn't benefit Japan.

modeling, you have to be kidding, he had to move to Tokyo he would never make it in Vancouver as a model. You know the city that's voted every year as one of the best places to live!

LOL. Agreed. Also, personally, dude seems like a tool if the article is at all accurate in representing him.

And he looks nothing like an Asian so no on the are you part Japanese regardless of whether it's half, quarter or 1/100...again, what a tool.

What a loser. In a sane and logical world, he should lose his job immediately and I hope he does.

Good on him. The law needs to be strictly enforced and there can't be any signs of weakness. This man behaved like any good, decent human being would. Raping a 15 year old girl is just utterly disgusting. Again, how is it that so many men cannot control themselves when the majority on this planet of ours can? Rapists need the book thrown at them, especially those that disturbingly rape underage girls. Urgh... just disgusting.

These groupies should at the very least be forced to attend therapy or thrown in jail along with the douche bag of a human being that is Tatsuya Ichihashi.

This is just plain sick and twisted.

@Taj

It has everything to do with it. Go live among them and see how much lack of respect they have for everything in general. I do, and so do many of my friends and even my reserved friends can't deny how undesirable of a people they are. Luckily, Islamic apologists like you are a minority and are in decline as the world is getting sick of political correctness, and specifically the threat of Islam to our Western world and how they are manipulating our customs, laws and systems.

Also, religion sucks and I hate religion in general although I strongly believe in our Lord Jehovah and the sacrifice Jesus committed for us. I do have to say that I'm surprised at the hate for Christianity by some who visit Japantoday.

@Yelnats

To be fair, a person's religious affiliation has nothing to do with how greedy said person is. We live in a materialistic world driven totally by the dollar and the vast majority of people are victim to it, regardless of race and religion.

Tokyo is one of the most densely populated cities in the world, easily ranked in the top 5 so you have to have modest expectations. Admittedly, I'm old school traditional so I rather stand and give up my seat for females even though I always argue that females want equality and more. As the old saying goes, "give them an inch and they will take a mile".

All I can say is, if the same degree of density existed in other cities, especially those in Western nations, well, I shiver at the thought of the chaos that would occur on a daily basis.

Yeah because many of you have either lived in Japan for too long or currently live in a Western Nation in a middle to upper class suburb, well distanced from large populations of ethnic people, let alone immigrants. They do bring a lot of unwanted baggage that negatively impacts communities in which they are placed but no matter how you or I feel, the politicians ultimately decide what's best for us so most discussions/complaints are moot.

Personally, I hope Japan doesn't change it's usual self with regards to immigration and foreigners. There are other ways to resolve this issue and as a previous commenter said, slashing a few million will help to ease the environmental burden among other things. This could all be blown out of proportion and exaggerated as is usually the case with many things in this world:/ If the decline does indeed continue, Japan will adapt and maintain progress but I don't see even Hatoyama's government making any crazy changes such as easing immigration or the like. This was clearly evident as he said "First, we will improve support for child-rearing by offering cash allowances for families with children,” before thinking about immigration" which indicates preferably, he'll exhaust all available methods before resorting to this worst case scenario (in the Japanese sense).

Oh boy, this girl has absolutely no morals and sadly this has always been very common in Japanese society whether we care to acknowledge it or not. It always makes me sad to hear about how so many Japanese girls are willing to sell their bodies. It is something so damn sacred which they have put a very small price on.

I always have this conversation with my friends, but at least they charge you whereas girls in the West will "give it up" for free after a few drinks or if they're feelin you.

Whatever the case, I really wish girls would respect themselves so much more than is the standard in our societies.

@stirfry

I've been advocating this from just about the beginning. This troubled nation/region doesn't genuinely want to resolve itself and the corrupt government will squeeze the Allied nations for as much aid and funding as possible.

Just leave already. America has it's own share of problems it needs to resolve first and Japan may have even more on it's own plate. Anyone thinking the 1-in-6 households live in poverty?

But then, everyone is really there for "other" reasons:p

Once I stumbled on an "honor fight" (a duel with fists apparently) between two groups of very tough-looking middle easterners off a suburban cycling trail

You're kidding right dude? The last thing Japan needs is middle eastern gangs because believe me, from where I'm from, they are as undesirable and unwanted as they come. And what the heck were they doing? "honor fight"? What is that anyway??

No words can describe how utterly disgusting of an act this is...

God help us, especially that poor child.

Needless to say no one deserves to die and especially not like this but she was in the Adult Industry. Rough industry and a lot of sh*t happens.

Hope they catch the evil that committed this. Brutal murder, regardless.

All I hear is words so far. How's about they get to it and back up those words and look after the people they are meant to serve and protect.

You don't want to think that crap like this occurs in Japan but unfortunately it does. What they need to do is to stamp it out by way of severe sentencing. You expect savagery like this to occur in the rest of the world but not in Japan.

As someone else said, throw the book at em!

Sheesh. Japanese women get around:(

@lifehappiness

Well said son. Appreciate the unfiltered truth that is devoid in our censored world.

A lot of the previous comments are on point. This is bogus. If there is any issue in life that can't be applied to a simple, one size fits all explanation, it is our skin. It's purely luck based on your genetics. You can certainly eat certain foods and use certain products to dictate how your skin appears but ultimately, if you don't have that baby smooth complexion many lucky sobs have, then no amount of intervention by you can change that.

As to this writer's impression that Japanese females seem to have nice skin, it is very obvious that most wear an insane amount of makeup, more so than their Western counterparts in my personal opinion.

“It’s good that I know there’s something different out there, but knowing too much also makes you realize shortcomings.” Yup, I plead that ignorance is bliss. Better not to know some things if they have no relevance to you. Striking a balance in life is always hard and she is right on when she says that the Japanese can too overly reserved while the bluntness of Americans is not desirable.

I agree with everybody here with the exception of Spider. This is obsession at it's peak which is why they're called "Otaku" but after all these years I still find this somewhat disturbing and weird. Like most of the previous people have said, I wouldn't visit a nation for something as trivial as this. If they were here on the basis of seeing Japan in it's entirety, that would be normal.

But then as always, to each their own and if this sort of (weird) thing rocks their boat, then who are we to criticize.

@sydenham

Very well said and I absolutely agree.

@womanforwomen

I agree some of the blame must be placed on the girl as well. But all in all, this situation that we all know happens way too often in Japan is just as messed up as it gets in general:(

@MrUSA

I totally agree. Nations should start looking after their own backyards first before committing to assistance under the guise of humanitarian when we all know it's all for appearance and reputation.

@AK619

Lucky you're not someone who is in government because that is among the most absurd things I've heard recently. Why don't you send your family into harm to build businesses for them? If anything, that's what America should be doing because it's their war. Nations are withdrawing their troops and you want Japan of all nations to commit 40,000 troops? Haha...you're a comedian because everything you said must have been intended as a joke.

He's a politician and none are better at flip-flopping than they are. He stressed that he wanted to be more independent of the US but doesn't seem to have the balls to proceed with this intention. Diplomacy is one thing but I sense that he won't see this through.

I hope he at least keeps his promise to put Japan and it's people first, ensuring Japan's future and stability.

I am also a big supporter of his East Asia Community concept and I've actually dreamed of something similar for most of my life.

I'm VERY happy to hear this and also hope that the killings will stop but realistically I don't see them giving up their decades long tradition but one can hope. As an animal lover, I don't know how they can kill such a beautiful creature. I don't know if I can watch "The Cove" and it's probably best that I don't.

Yeah, the lack of self-respect is sad. We all know the allure of money, especially in these dire times, is hard to resist but there some things that can't be bought.

Personally, I hope they fix this loophole because this is just another step downward for society and we're already starting to reach the bottom:(

Why am I not surprised to see that there are Apple fanbois in existence here too. Japanese TV probably does suck but gee, I think I've heard the same argument raised against American and British TV too. There is a little something called personal preference. Although that doesn't apply to Apple fanbois as Steve says, cult does.

The phones in Japan are higher spec'd but more importantly, they more than serve their purpose. I love my iPhone but I'm waiting on Android to mature and for WinMo 7 to bring it;) Getting tired of having to convert my avi files and the frustration (for me personally) that is iTunes.

Well if the DPJ are smart then they will keep the status quo for as long as they can which if this writer is correct, they will.

It makes perfect sense that the Japanese want to protect their own just like you would any of your relatives. Who would want to put any of their relatives or even friends at risk? As much as do-gooder, left thinking people would like to screw up the status quo (because they never seem to be content)even they must acknowledge that at the very least the Japanese are only protecting their people. That's hard enough as it is.

Just like all of us, we'll do as much as we possibly can but there are definite limits to what we can do and should do and I believe Japan shouldn't have to send their people to die. No Nation has the right to expect this of any other nation and that includes the United States.

I hope Japan remains consistent and keeps the status quo, especially if the DPJ do win the election.