Christian del Castillo comments

Jeez, a magnitude 6.9 is now considered 'moderate'?! http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20130903-712122.html What is considered a 'strong' earthquake nowadays?

@gregoryharuko

... Joint exploitations of the Senkaku islands and its surrounding seas by Japan, Taiwan/China and perhaps other countries is the win-win scenario! Perhaps also joint military coorporation between Japan and Taiwan/China and even Korea, would make these islands an example of East-Asian integration ...

This would only work if all sides are willing to compromise. however, if you look at the actions of China:

-China vs Philippines last week http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17741644

-China vs Korea - fisherman killed a coastguard captain http://edition.cnn.com/2011/12/12/world/asia/south-korea-china-stabbing/index.html

-China vs Japan - Chinese vessel rammed Japanese coast guard vessel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lv031K_lV4I

-China vs Vietnam http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13723443 , etc. )

and the reaction of the Chinese government in all these instances means that such a fantasy will not ever happen.

China will continue to claim Taiwan, the whole of the south china sea (despite the contrary claim by the rest of the world), and whatever it can of the east china sea. If ever it succeeds it'll probably start claiming the rest of Asia due to 'historical reasons'. And since it's slowly building up its military might, this big bully will never agree to 'military coorporation'

@Squidbert- Where does it say that it will be a nuclear power plant? In other news, it was reported to be a diesel-powered plant:

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-01-31/kepco-wins-order-for-800-million-diesel-power-plant-in-jordan.html

smith,

I think that is actually the reason why the law is so lopsided regarding accidents such as this: Most of the time, a collision between a car and a bicycle would result in dents to the car, emotional distress to the driver - but for the bicycle, oftentimes major physical damage, sometimes death, no matter whose fault it really may be.

However, I think maybe the knowledge of this rule is actually part of the reason why accidents like this tend to happen - bicycle riders thinking that cars 'SHOULD' stop for them, so they drive recklessly, not really understanding that car drivers wouldn't see them or stop for them in time all the time (even if driving carefully) . Accidents of this kind probably happen less often here in South Korea where you just know that car/truck/bus driver will simply mow you down if you dare try to get in their way.

I guess I gotta be more blunt in my comment, since my previous comment to this effect got deleted.

It is definitely a very tragic accident, and so many factors are involved that we cannot truly form a complete picture of what happened. That being said, it is never only 1 person's fault, you will notice that the insurance companies adopt a 'percentage fault' wherein each party has a 'percentage' of the blame in any accident. 1) Claire should have stopped at the crossing - but maybe she didn't see it turn red, she may have been exhausted, the babies might have been crying, the brake might have gone out, 2) The driver, on the other hand, should have slowed down, even if it was a green (I remember that being hammered into me when I got my JP license - green doesn't mean go, green means proceeed if it is safe to do so), he might not have seen the bicycle because of a parked car or truck, then he should have slowed down because of the blind spot (also hammered into one when getting the JP license). He might not have be able to see well in the dark, in which case he shouldn't drive, or at least drive really carefully if he really had to.

However, to all those who are bashing Japanese drivers, you guys should come here to South Korea and see how they drive - running the red light is the norm, trying to scare pedestrians who are crossing is the norm (even in the zebra), when you get on a bus the driver will accelerate so fast while you're still walking to your seat, and will make sudden brakes, and try to speed away while you're still climbing down. The rules of the road are for ninnies here. Compared to South Korea (where I'm working at the moment), and to the Philippines (where I come from), Japan has very safe and very law abiding drivers (I lived there for 10 yrs).

Those North Korean players were probably playing for their lives, literally. I also loved the way 'bananas, chewing gum, and instant noodles' was described as 'regime-threatening contraband'. Kim Jung Il deposed by a boatload of instant noodles! Seriously, though, NK probably sees the smuggling of 'Choco-Pies' from South Korea - as regime threatening, It gets the people from the North wondering what other luxuries their decadent brothers down South are enjoying ... http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2010/01/12/2010011200624.html

11/11 celebration started in Korea as 'Pepero day' (a Lotte Co. product, Lotte's prez is Korean-ethnic so that Co. has a huge presence here in SK) in 1994, Glico was trying to copy the success of that 'celebration'. Pepero day is very popular here, unlike in Japan where I've never heard of Pocky day until I moved here to SK last year. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepero