BulltheBuffalo comments

Posted in: Japan overwhelmingly favors CDs to digital music See in context

CDs make up 85% of all music bought - sure. The last AKB48 album sold over a million copies, mostly to due to their packaging of event tickets with the pysical media, a practice that is replicated throught the "idol" industry. One individual bought over 30 million yen worth - more than 30,000 physical copies - of the last release. If you discount idol acts, the percentage of phyisical media purchases drops significantly.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Posted in: Rodman returns to Pyongyang but says he won't bring back jailed American See in context

"He called Kim, 30, who rules unchallenged in a country where there are an estimated 150,000-200,000 prisoners in work camps, “an awesome kid”.

200,000 out of 25 million. Compared to the USA's own 2.4 million inmates out of 310 million.... that's actually pretty close to the same incarceration rate.

0 ( +5 / -5 )

Posted in: Girl made up false knife attack story to worry parents, police say See in context

Thanks to this girl, our neighbourhood matsuri was canceled out of fear that the "slasher" might show up and wreak havoc. Shame the matsurikai didn't hear about her recanting in time...

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: Owner of dog that mauled 90-year-old woman to death jailed for 14 months See in context

Himajin has it right. Laguna and Simon, please read the following:

“A study performed by the American Veterinary Medical Association, the CDC, and the Humane Society of the United States, analyzed dog bite statistics from the last 20 years and found that the statistics don’t show that any breeds are inherently more dangerous than others. The study showed that the most popular large breed dogs at any one time were consistently on the list of breeds that bit fatally. There were a high number of fatal bites from Doberman pinschers in the 1970s, for example, because Dobermans were very popular at that time and there were more Dobermans around, and because Dobermans’ size makes their bites more dangerous. The number of fatal bites from pit bulls rose in the 1980s for the same reason, and the number of bites from Rottweilers in the 1990s. The study also noted that there are no reliable statistics for nonfatal dog bites, so there is no way to know how often smaller breeds are biting.”

It's not the dogs, it's the owners, and as a responsible guardian of my dogs, I am happy to see an irresponsible "owner" getting almost the treatment they deserve.

9 ( +11 / -2 )

Posted in: Tokyo's Setagaya Ward draws up rare certificate of residence for unregistered baby See in context

Taj, that is correct - but the parents also had ten months during which they could have registered themselves as married. This is purely an issue of selfishness and irresonsibility on the part of the parents.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Posted in: Tokyo's Setagaya Ward draws up rare certificate of residence for unregistered baby See in context

Common-law marriage does not have legal standing in Japan.

The issue is that the parents are not legally married, but are trying to submit birth registration papers that have been filled out as if they were married at the time of birth. Because they are not legally married, the ward office is (correctly) rejecting the forms.

All that needs to happen to correct the situation is for the parents to correctly declare their legal marriage status - unmarried - on the registration.

The ward office appears to be bending over backwards to protect this little girl from the irrespnsibility of her parents.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Posted in: Man robbed of Y270,000 at Odaiba ATM See in context

Too many of you lead sheltered lives.

In rougher cities, it is completely commonplace for strongarm criminals to wait within view of an ATM after bar closing times, waiting for bar staff to come and make a deposit, or for last-round drunks to mug. At the bar I used to work at, the manager doing the cash deposit run always took two of the bouncers with him.

Looks like this practice has finally made it to Japan.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: 92-year-old woman dies after being hit by truck in Shizuoka See in context

@Waltery ...and seniors, bless their hearts, frequently walk into the road regardless of the signals. I almost hit one of my neighbourhood grannies this morning when she decided to cross the road against a red light. She's lucky that I put brand new tires on last week.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Boy's suicide over bullying sparks death threats at Shiga school See in context

Everyone will be happy to know that the police raided the school yesterday, and are rumoured to be looking at the possibility of bringing charges of professional negligence resulting in death against the teachers involved.

Let's hope the charges are laid - even if they get off with a suspended sentence, this would send a wake-up call to teachers in other schools that this sort of activity will not be tolerated in this day and age.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Posted in: Calls made for bicycles to have number plates See in context

@Disillusioned

I actually saw a 20 something girl just keep on riding when a cop asked her to stop. He chased for 10 meters or so and then he stopped. She just muttered something along the of "bugger off pig!" and kept riding.

This is the main reason they're talking about implementing license plates. When patrol police, whether on foot or on those antiquated and heavy police bicycles, try to stop someone for doing something illegal, the riders just keep riding. When they say, "make cyclists more responsible", they mean, "make cyclists more identifiable".

Of course, all that's going to happen is the scofflaw types will bend/obscure their plates, like all the bikers do now.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Posted in: Assistant police inspector arrested for drunk driving at 8 a.m. See in context

.63 mg/l breathalyzer is roughly indicative of 0.06 percent BAC (just divide by ten - not precise, but close enough). The inspector wasn't driving "drunk", he had the BAC of an average person who had downed a glass and a half of wine. At most, mildly buzzed rather than sloshed.

This, though, should indicate the perils of heavy drinking the night before - under the current zero tolerance laws, driving the day after a big night can still see you losing your license and possibly facing a stay behind bars. A regular from my neighbourhood pub was taken in for precisely the same thing - driving the morning after - and ended up with a three month prison sentence.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: NPA to discuss tighter rules for issuing driver's licenses to epileptics See in context

The rules as they stand are in line with international standards - epileptics have to be seizure free for two years before being allowed to drive, and that's fine - it means either they have outgrown the conditon (it happens) or that they have been stabilised through medication. The only change that needs making is that there needs to be a provision for doctors to notify the driver's license centre to have licenses pulled from newly-diagnosed epileptics, as can be done in most countries.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Posted in: New York proposes ban on sale of oversized sodas See in context

Instead of banning 32 ounce servings, try banning anything containing HFCS (high fructose corn syrup).

That's the real killer in most processed/fast foods.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

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