Bungle comments

Terumasa Hayashi had been inspecting sewage pipes. When he lifted the manhole lid, which was on a crossing at an intersection, and stuck his head out, he was hit by a car

Hells bells. Why was he emerging from a closed manhole anyway? Cordon the area off and keep the means of ingress/egress open at all times.

Also, a very selfish man, travelling from, Wuhan, 5 days after having a possible infection.

Maybe. Maybe not. Most people in this situation would assume they just had a particularly heavy cold. Pneumonia is not something we tend to self-diagnose.

Good luck with that. Submariners suffer the highest rates of attrition during armed conflict. At least as a Japanese she'll be used to living in cramped spaces.

If Oh's story is legit, he will have friends and acquaintances who will be able to vouch for him. In that case, fine him and let him go. Things get murkier if they can't or won't, and then there's the actual forger to consider as well.

Police "can" ask for ID in the form of a passport or a reisdence permit in the event they have a well founded suspicion of criminal activity, but you are under no compunction to provide ID in the absence of a reasonable explanation as to why.

Good luck with that.

The unseasonably warm weather has already caused headaches in Sapporo, where organizers of the city's famed snow festival have had to hire a record number of trucks to bring in snow from the suburbs and surrounding towns to build their signature sculptures.

Just how is this “eco”? Could it be that all this Thunberg is just leftist virtue signaling?

I know the feeling. I hate getting home and finding my drive thru order is wrong or the food is badly cooked. It's is very maddening.

Cook your own meals.

The fact that Trump’s blundering and criminal assassination of a top Iranian figure to bolster support by his party for his impeachment charges being the ultimate cause of all of this is ever so quickly and conveniently forgotten.

Two points: American / Iran tensions predate Trump by a great many years (no doubt before some of us were born); secondly, you can dress it any way you like but the man who pressed the “fire” button was Iranian. This one is on them.

I have mixed feelings about this. Tourist hotspots seem to be overburdened, while the provinces remain neglected - even dying as the young ’uns move away and the old ‘uns move on.

Ghosn's trial should be held in absentia. If the prosecutors are confident they have a case against him, let's hear it in all it's glory.

If anyone hasn't being paying attention, it should be as clear as red that the prosecution case is politically motivated. They'll probably make Hironaka go to gaol in Ghosn's stead.

An Ukraine passenger plane has crashed in Iran with 180 people on board.

There's a video circulating of a plane in Iran going down in flames. Could be the Ukraine jet.

If this turns into a full blown war then it will be solely down to the incredibly stupid actions of Donald Trump. Wouldn't put it pass this jackass to go nuke eventually.

My understanding of Middle-Eastern politics is too incomplete to form a hardened opinion, but I do know that it takes two to tango, Simon.

I wonder if he will be going to Lebanon?

I wonder if NHK will dub over Ghosn‘s voice the way the BBC did with IRA leader Gerry Adams way back in the 80s and 90s?

She wasn’t drunk...

He who fights and runs away will live to fight another day.

He, he!

Ghosn hides in bassist's case to avoid facing the music. Oh, the irony.

Millionaire Ghosn is an arrogant, shifty looking character who's sure to have plenty of skeletons and cash stashed in cupboards all around the world. 

Ghosn may indeed be a crook, but that doesn’t mean threat the Japanese authorities aren’t trying to frame him as a convenient scapegoat.

Methinks the last thing the government wants is Ghosn spouting while on trial.

There are easier ways of getting rid of Ghosn which don’t involve the drama of absconding in the middle of the night.

Conspiracy theories abound here. If the Japanese authorities wanted to be shot of Ghosn, why not quietly drop the case against him on a “technicality”? Going AWOL in the middle of the night is hardly discreet...

On the subject matter in hand, undamaged asbestos, if left undisturbed, presents little harm to members of the public. What the authorities need to do is cover the asbestos (to prevent accidental damage) and label it (so that future demolition workers will be informed of its presence).

Good to see they are clearing the back log,

indeed. One could almost say that Wei Wei got time off for good behaviour.

If I want to see Sappho sanctioned frolics in my movies I’ll rent Silk n' Sabotage, not Disney.

At minus one ( -1 C) I'd think the " junk yard " would be just a " yard ".

At minus one degrees centigrade it would be closer to a centimetre than a yard.

At minus one ( -1 C) I'd think the " junk yard " would be just a " yard ".

Don't worry; it's the personality that counts.

Just checking, but is groping also considered rape?

The dirty old dog only admitted to groping her. That she went to the police and not her employer suggests that she felt confident that she had been assaulted.

Well done, Dems. That's sealed four more years of Trump.

Fools.

I think a large Seiri-chan badge would be a more effective deterrent.

What's a Station Wagon?

A car with an extended boot/trunk. Also known as an "estate". Popular in the 70s / 80s before MPV/SUV cars took over.

Looking the crane's boom, it is almost at 12 o'clock, meaning the weight distribution must still have been fairly longitudinal. I wonder if one of the left side outriggers failed, or were set on an infirm or uneven surface.

Well don! Keep up the good fight.