cartier comments

After that the one and only Cold Stone in all of Japan will be the Mitsui Outlet Park Jazz Dream Nagashima branch in Kuwana, Mie Prefecture, about an hour from Nagano. While not completely unimaginable, clawing back to nationwide success from such a low-prominence location is likely to be difficult

LOL. It is 20 minutes from Nagoya Station which is the third largest city in Japan. It is next to the most popular amusement parks in Tokai.

You do not need to wear a bicycle helmet for normal commuting. You will not reach a speed fast enough for it to matter. You are also unlikely to fall off your bicycle head first in an accident while commuting, the kind of accident in which a helmet matters. More pedestrians are injured or die walking on the sidewalk then cyclists but no one believes pedestrians should wear helmets.

People here forget that the 2005 Aichi World Fair made a profit of ¥10 billion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expo_2005#:~:text=The%20cost%20of%20the%20Expo,no%20special%20area%20set%20aside.

Typical. Japan believes it should be allowed to expand rice exports 8x but ban the import of foreign rice.

The BYD Seal is the Japan Car of the Year 2024-2025.

https://cleantechnica.com/2024/12/18/byd-seal-wins-a-japan-car-of-the-year-award-1st-chinese-car-to-achieve-this/

Nissan has 12 to 14 months of cash left.

https://www.carscoops.com/2024/11/nissan-exec-says-we-have-12-or-14-months-to-survive/

Honda sales in China down 40% in China and have no new EVs until 2027. https://www.pcauto.com/my/news/hondas-sales-in-china-plummeted-in-the-first-half-of-the-year-a-year-on-year-decrease-of-215-13653

Toyota will use BYD hybrid engines in future EVs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UI_DPeNu0_o

Toyota sales are collapsing in China.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHe77K6la5g

Nissan debt was junk and a senior Nissan executive told The Financial Times two weeks ago that they only had 12 to 14 months of cash left. Nissan is closing factories in China and losing money in North America. Honda sales are also crashing in China, down 40%. Toyota sales have begun to collapse in China. Toyota only has one EV and it is junk. They are going to be using BYD developed hybrid engines. That's right. The new EV cars coming from Toyota and Lexus the next two years are using BYD hybrid enginess. You might as well just buy a BYD car. The BYD is the 2024-2025 Japan Car of the Year.

Would a Palestinian state support free speech? No. Would it protect women’s rights? No. Would it allow Hamas to be a political party? Yes. Would it allow free and fair elections? No. Would it allow anti government protests? No. Would it allow pro-Zionist parties? No. Would it protect LGBTQ rights? No. There is literally no one alive in Gaza today who ever lived in Israel their so-called homeland. The goal of Hamas is the destruction of Israel. That is genocide.

The supplements industry is one of the biggest scam industries. Just eat a balanced diet with some fruit and vegetables and you’re good.

You should only use a teflon pan for eggs. Use stainless steel, carbon steel, or cast iron pans for everything else. That includes when cooking rice. Don't buy an electric rice cooker. They are overpriced and break every five or so years. Buy a Staub or Le Creuset rice pot. They are much better and last forever. You can give it to your grandchildren.

Toyota is in trouble. No one buys a Toyota car because they are cool and stylish, they aren’t. They buy them for reliability, they are. EVs don’t have an engine or a transmission, just a big battery. Reliability is not an issue. EVs will compete on style and design. They will also compete on software, definitely not a Japanese or Toyota strong point. Toyota will still sell lots of pollution generating cars in poorer countries where infrastructure is not ready for EVs. Toyota will shed market share to the more innovative and design centric makers in richer countries. Who wants a Prius when a Tesla is the same price? No one.

Big fish meet small pond.

Why would anyone voluntarily be a member of a religion that forces them to remain uneducated? Afghan women should get on a bus and put their country and Islam in their rearview mirror.

The boy is from Nagoya and attends Tokai High School. It is the most elite high school for boys in Nagoya.

I don't understand the criticism of her "kimono." It looks like a short dress with a long train to me. It is definitely not like any kimono I have ever seen.

He confessed, so the real reason prosecutors decided not to try him is the case is related to yakuza. Prosecutors are scared. A homeless person does not just walk in to a a construction company's president's office and beat him to death for no reason.

Japanese companies all raise their prices on the same day but no investigation of collusion or price fixing?

Apparently, the law of contracts which frames the Olympic Games, only the IOC can cancel the Olympic Games. Suga does not have the power to stop the Games and probably lacks the savvy to finesse the IOC into cancelling without ending up in court and being sued for billions of USD.

Under certain clauses, there is the possibility to cancel, which would still end in litigation. There is insurance, but it is unknown what the terms are for the parties involved.

This is an interesting post. The Prime Minister of Japan certainly has the power to shut down the Olympics. He would just withdraw all financial and security assistance and the governor of Tokyo would close the stadiums. The Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee could just stop working on preparations. There is no way a Japanese court would force them to continue working. The financial penalty in the contract is the big question. What court or arbitrator would decide and how would the IOC collect from a bankrupt Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee?

Bach cannot guarantee that all of the athletes, coaches, and trainers will be vaccinated, but the number will be extremely high. The US, China, Japan, Korea, Canada, and the European countries including Russia will be at near 100% vaccination rate. That is the overwhelming number of the 90,000 people coming. They will also need to show a negative test before entering Japan. The foreigners are not the problem. The problem is the Japanese spectators and volunteers will not be vaccinated. Social distancing and sporting events and wearing masks should mitigate the dangers. That has been effective at Japanese baseball games, football games, sumo tournaments, basketball games, etc.

Being vaccinated means you don't get seriously ill if you do catch the virus, but it doesn't mean you cannot pass it on to others. (Transmission appears to be less likely, but not impossible - up to about a 50% reduction rate, according to the BBC).

This is an argument for never having the Olympics again and is unscientific. The Pfizer vaccine is 95% effective, Moderna is 90%, and Johnson & Johnson is 60%.

There will be at worst case 10% of the 90,000 who are not vaccinated. That is 9,000 people all of whom have tested negative before entering the country. How many Japanese business men and women travel to Tokyo on a daily basis who have never been vaccinated and have never been tested? How many travelers land at Haneda and Narita every day? The number is much much greater than the 9,000 foreigners. Do you want to shut down the shinkansen and the highways to Tokyo? Close the airports? No. But you think it is reasonable to shut down a $15 billion event because of 9,000 foreign visitors for the Olympics. Again. I'm glad you are not in charge of any large projects. Your risk assessment skills are questionable.

Cleo

Who is coming to Japan without being vaccinated? Bach cannot guarantee everyone but using your numbers there may be 3,600 non-vaccinated in a population of 38 million people. You think the solution is to cancel a $15 billion event because of those 3,600 people who tested negative before entering Japan and will be tested regularly in Japan? I'm glad you are not running any large project.

I guess the other 72,000 will just have to "quarantine" for 14 days before leaving their accommodations each day...uhm, errr, nevermind.

Why? The foreigners will be vaccinated! The foreigners are not the problem. The Japanese are the ones who are the problem because they are not vaccinated. Do you really think if the Olympics are cancelled the people in Tokyo will be staying home because of the virus? No! They will be shopping and going to restaurants just like they always do. So, how does cancelling the Games help?

So some politicians and IOC ignore the doctors and want to hold the Olympics.

Have any countries said they have decided to not come to the Tokyo Olympics because they are unsafe? No.

If the US Olympic Team decided not to come to the Tokyo Olympics, then the Games would be cancelled. There are no Tokyo Olympics without US TV rights money. There is no discussion in the US about not attending.

Many expect new variants created in Tokyo game, which will be called Bach or Suga virus.

Who? There are 38 million people in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Fewer than a thousand got coronavirus yesterday. Every country on the planet would be declaring victory if they had that low of an infection rate. There is no way you cancel a $15 billion sporting event that has been planned for nearly a decade because a 1000 people got sick and a tiny fraction of them died.

Does anyone here really think that the US Olympic Team is coming to Japan with no US doctors? How about any of the European teams? How about the Chinese team? Of course, they have doctors.

https://www.statnews.com/2018/02/08/olympics-medical-team-doctors/

There has always been rumors and articles about the Olympic bidding process and the bribes and corruption associated with it. I don't care about the Olympics and don't really watch them since they allowed professional athletes to compete and became packed with overpaid prima donnas .

So, you are against the Olympics regardless of the pandemic.

What got my attention in the case of the Tokyo Olympics was the IOC crawled out of its hole and really showed how depraved the whole process and the IOC organization really is. The health, wellbeing and preferences of the people of the host country and by extension, the participating athletes count for naught. Once the IOC has a contract to attach themselves to your city, it is like having head lice, fleas and genital crabs at once, but with deadly consequences in this case.

The democratically elected representatives of Japan are choosing to hold the Tokyo Olympics. They have the power to cancel if they believe there is a serious public health risk to the people. All of the foreign athletes and coaches will be vaccinated. They pose no unreasonable risk. The Japanese government has said the Japanese athletes and coaches will be vaccinated as well. So, all of the athletes and coaches could walk around Tokyo with no masks and pose little to no health risk. The problem is with spectators, but Japan professional baseball and football are holding games with spectators with no outbreaks. This is not a difficult decision. The Tokyo Olympics should not be cancelled.

There is no reason to panic and cancel the Tokyo Olympics. The foreign athletes and coaches coming to Japan will most likely be vaccinated. Who would come to Japan without being vaccinated? The foreign athletes are not a problem. The problem is the Japanese spectators will not be vaccinated, but sporting events have been held around the world during the pandemic. Baseball is played with spectators in Japan.

You can buy 100 Astra razor blades at Amazon Japan for 1499 yen.

Kawamura is great. It way past time to demolish the concrete monstrosity and replace it with a new wooden Nagoya Castle.

When you roll the dice and lose a war, there are consequences. Germany lost 30% of its territory. Japan lost a few worthless islands. I think Japan came out pretty well. It could have been much worse for them. The Soviets wanted Hokkaido and they wanted to divide Tokyo like Vienna and Berlin.

It could be the second time the Tokyo Summer Olympics have been cancelled.

Even when using caloric intake, Japan is ranked number 9 in food self-sufficiency. This is hardly an emergency.

Food self-sufficiency measured by production value increased by 2% to 68%. There was a decrease in vegetable and fruit imports and an increase in domestic production of both. Rice self-sufficiency was at 100%. No one in Japan is going to go hungry. Wheat production is low. Nearly all bread is made with imported wheat because domestic wheat is used for udon.