Cho88 comments

Haha, did not see that coming.

I think that there needs to be more coverage on Japan. I live in France and so check both British and French news, yet never find articles or reports about the current state of, for example, the TEPCO shambles. It is such an important issue, and if nuclear waste is dribbling into the sea then it affects everyone, not just Japan. I can't understand why there is so little discussion.

Just clicked on the statistics of that apology video :

Top demographics Male, 45-54 years Male, 35-44 years Male, 55-64 years

That creepy part aside, this whole story really is asburd.... I didn't know that they weren't allowed to have dates or any kind of love life...

I get his point. I live with my partner and his grandparents. His grandfather suffers from well advanced Parkinsons disease, can no longer walk or do anything for himself. He is in pain and often contracts additional health problems. He tells us that he wants to die. However, legally we have to prolong his life as long as possible by giving him 20 medications a day and a drip during the night. I feel awful participating in prolonging the suffering of somebody who no longer has any quality of life.

It's all relative. If I was richer, I'd probably buy it to see what it tastes like. If it was good, I would buy it again. As a broke student, I shan't be buying one. C'est la vie.

I think that compulsory military service could be a good thing in many countries to instill a sense of purpose and discipline into young people - or better yet, a system whereby instead you could choose to spend a year in civil positions such as in hospitals or retirement homes. However, cutting off somebody from their social life, not letting people unwind outside duty? Unnecessarily harsh...

'Historical mistakes can be forgiven, but the lessons of history should not be forgotten.'

I love this quote. Diplomatically, I believe that an apology from the Japanese government, whether they truly believe it or not, would help their image and position in Asia at the moment.

I had a three hour meeting at work this morning.

I know that feel, bros.

Looks like a larff

If we address the swelling costs by doubling the amount of government bond issuance (to 10 trillion), our firm will become an entity only for the purpose of dealing with post-accident issues, a company statement said.

That's all we expect from you now.

My 16 year old self would probably have massively panicked and reacted rashly before thinking things through. When I was 17 one of my friends fell pregnant and didn't tell anyone - just stayed in complete denial throughout her pregnancy that this was happening to her. She kept the baby, but I know it was a really hard decision to make.

Don't be too hard on this girl. 16 and pregnant must be terrifying.

Wow.

......

....wow,

Words fail me. They actually do.

I love going out to dance. You've been studying hard, working hard, it's been raining constantly and your train pass just got stolen.... but then you can go out with a group of mates and dance for hours and forget all of that for one night. No dance = no fun!!

Now that I think about it, I only ever went to one night club in Japan, in Shibuya, and the only people dancing were foreign. It's a shame, cheesy dancing over embarrassing karaoke any day!

I don't think that the press should be able to publish nude photos of anybody that is on private ground. Celebrity or non-celebrity. These vultures are horrible, horrible people. I hope the royals win the case.

Take down this film and you'd have to take down all the anti-christian videos too.

I wish religion didn't weigh so heavily upon this world...

This is actually scary. I can see both countries being both stubborn and dumb enough to go into war over this.

I wonder what the man's relation was to the victims? It says that he lived with them, not that he was blood related to them. Odd

Um, Spoiler alert...?

Good on them. They'll all have different stories of course, but really, what's wrong with porn?

I dabbled in the idea, just to make my second year of the Masters degree more comfortable. I was getting really fed up of living on next to nothing, after years of living on next to nothing, and if people were willing to pay a little bucket of money for a day of my time....

I didn't do it though. As the internet is smaller than you think and I hadn't decided on a career yet...

...and when these J-ladies get old they'll have some digitally recorded images of how young and hot they were! ; )

Also recently saw a woman clipping her kids nails and letting them fall to the floor on the subway. Still haven't seen that in Japan yet! >_<

I live in Paris. Brief breakdown of the Parisian metro : Dirty, falling to bits, full of people having loud conversations, full of pick-pockets, people always trying to get on the train before letting people off, beggars asking for money (a record of three in one journey last week), buskers getting on and playing music, drunkards, gropers, nobody giving a toss about anyone else.... I could go on.

I'm a very peaceful person, but the metro here in rush hour actually fills me with a murderous rage. Compared to here, the Japanese metro is like a dream!

Defining anything as 'a crime syndicate' makes it pretty illegal in my books.

“We’re excited to introduce Conversation Ads as an opportunity for marketers to reach our hundreds of millions of connected users...While on a 1:1 audio call, users will see content that could spark additional topics of conversation that are relevant to Skype users and highlight unique and local brand experiences.”

This BS tears me up. 'We want money!', just say it and get it other with, I'd respect you far more!

Skype is a wonderful service, but the sheer amount of advertising we are bombarded with everyday in this world actually makes me feel sick sometimes.

Police believe that the two girls were friends, and that Okazaki’s girlfriend called the other girl to the park to accuse her of cheating with her boyfriend.

...Does anyone else see what's wrong with this sentence, or is it just me not understanding? She called the girl to the park to accuse her of cheating with Okazaki... instead of confronting Okazaki?

If the numbers (despite the lack of concrete stastics) are dwindling so much, then I'm happy that supermarkets are considering pulling eel from their shelves. Give them a chance to repopulate before we munch them all!

Awful story. It will be interesting / horrifying to see what other details emerge from this case. Was the little boy kept in the house all the time as well? I'm sure if a stranger had seen his physical appearance, alarm bells would have been ringing.

On a side note, there are a few people talking on here about how the mothering instinct will absolutely overcome fear of a partner. I feel so strongly about this that I just have to comment on it. I firmly believe that mothering instinct is not some inborn, pure, glowing sentiment that every woman naturally has. Some of us do not have it, point blank. Not a single speck of maternal longing. I am in no way condoning or trying to excuse this woman's actions, but I do think people sometimes need to take off the rose-tinted glasses when it comes to mothering and maternal sentiments.

Finally. Hurry up and speed it through the lawmakers. Job done.

This is such a non-issue, I can't believe the hysterics it generates.

I usually really dislike it when commentators say that such and such a crime (i.e child abuse) only occurs in Japan etc... but I really can't see this happening anywhere else.

Tragic story.

As many have noted, she may have had/continue to have post-partum depression. There seems to be no other explanation readily available - the babies were injured once, not systematically. She may have just lost it in one terrible moment of stress and madness. I think all of us would like to believe that no human being could hurt a two-week old baby just for kicks. I hope it's true, anyway.

On a side note: In a wider sense, cases like this could have their causes in societal pressure. I am the same age as this woman, and I am repulsed by children. We are not all destined to be loving mothers. But I find that pressure in Japanese society to marry and create a lovely family is persistent to the point of overwhelming. You can see this pressure in practically every drama, every magazine (magazines especially - the pressure to be constantly smiling, beautiful, chic, the perfect bento cook and mother). /end side note.