Japan Today

cleo comments

Posted in: Trudeau apologizes for recognition of Nazi unit war veteran in Canadian Parliament See in context

What side he was on?

The wrong side.

Are you seriously trying to make up excuses?

No. No excuses. I stated clearly that the Speaker of the House of Commons should have checked his facts before embarrassing himself. And the other members of the House should have been able to trust his judgement.

This man, his SS group were trying to kill Zelensky's grandfather who was fighting in the Soviet Army!

And Anthony Rota should have got his facts straight, should not have drawn attention to Hunka, should not have called him a hero.

I repeat, there was no hate crime here, just stupidity and gullibility.

look up the atrocities that the Galicia SS did to polish civilians 

No argument at all with you on that.

Remember that until 1941 half of Poland was under USSR control, complete with show elections, annexation, deportations, political murders and summary executions.

Saying that one side was bad doesn't mean that the other side were angels.

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

Posted in: Scientists warn entire branches of 'Tree of Life' are going extinct See in context

Do you think modern humans would be less capable of survival?

Probably as capable of survival as the dinosaurs were last time? Most of them died out, but the direct descendants of a few dinosaurs remain.

For example, chickens. Birds are descended from theropods, a group of two-legged dinosaurs whose members included the tyrannosaurus rex and the smaller velociraptors. From king of the ancient world (tyrannosaurus) to the Colonel's main ingredient. Some legacy.

So modern humans, if any did survive, might follow a similar evolutionary path; becoming smaller and weaker, and prey to whatever species won the evolution lottery next time round.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Posted in: Trudeau apologizes for recognition of Nazi unit war veteran in Canadian Parliament See in context

The USSR started off being on the side of the nazis and then switched sides. Easy to be confused as to whether and/or when they were goodies or baddies.

Ukraine in the 1930s had plenty of experience of just how bad it was to be under the USSR yoke; not surprising if some of them reasoned that, if they had to take sides, the nazis couldn't be any worse.

If in today's atmosphere a supposedly responsible lawmaker introduces a person as 'a war hero who fought for Ukraine', then most people in the moment would probably clap. But as they say, the devil is in the details.

There was no 'hate crime' here. Just a bunch of people being too trusting of one of their own, who should have known better. The Speaker of the House of Commons should have checked his facts before embarrassing himself and his fellows.

Did Yaroslav Hunka make it clear to the Speaker which side he was on in WW2?

-1 ( +4 / -5 )

Posted in: Trudeau apologizes for recognition of Nazi unit war veteran in Canadian Parliament See in context

Every single clapping seal in the Canadian Parliament who stood up on cue once they heard "this Ukrainian man fought against Russia" should face hate crimes charges as well.

For being misled?

-2 ( +4 / -6 )

Posted in: City in Nagasaki Pref decides against applying for gov't survey on nuclear waste site See in context

*The radioactive waste needs to be stored in safe containers. Not dumped. Probably several hundred meters underground. Island needs to *safe from earthquakes and tsunami

So, nowhere in Japan, then?

I cannot get my head around the fact that some folk think it's in any way a good idea to build nuclear power plants anywhere in the Ring of Fire.

Sheer lunacy.

0 ( +6 / -6 )

Posted in: Scientists warn entire branches of 'Tree of Life' are going extinct See in context

I seem to recall there having been global mass-extinction level events in Earth's past. Yet, here we are.

Good point. We already survived a big one.

We'll figure this one out;

The last global mass extinction event happened 66 million years ago and killed off the dinosaurs. We as in the human race, didn't survive anything since we weren't around at the time; our earliest vaguely humanoid ancestors didn't even appear, in the form of homo habilis, until somewhere around 2.4 million years ago. Their earliest ancestors, the group of apes known as hominids, split from the chimps and bonobos some 7 million years ago.

So no, if we engineer ourselves a mass extinction event as we seem set on doing, there will be nothing to 'figure out'; we'll be gone, as dead as the dinosaurs. And Mother Earth will take her time, millions of years, evolving hopefully something a bit more intelligent than sapiens.

6 ( +9 / -3 )

Posted in: U.S., S Korea, Japan raise concerns over Russia-N Korea military cooperation See in context

some might say western Ukraine invaded eastern Ukraine following the coup of 2014

And some might say the Moon is made of green cheese and wears a straw hat.

And they'd be just as wrong.

Western Ukraine did not invade eastern Ukraine.

There was no coup in 2014.

The russian puppet Yanukovych tried to renege on his election promise to sign an agreement between Ukraine and the EU in favour of closer ties to russia, and in the face of public outrage fled to russia.

Following that, little green men in fatigues with no insignia crossed the border from russia into eastern Ukraine and stirred up a bunch of malcontents, giving them weapons and supporting them in a takeover of government buildings.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Posted in: U.S. drops anti-whaling wording opposed by Japan in Indo-Pacific pact See in context

Not my point to argue ... that it is "crucial to the food supply", which of course it isn't.

...which was precisely my point....

-3 ( +4 / -7 )

Posted in: U.S. drops anti-whaling wording opposed by Japan in Indo-Pacific pact See in context

I counter your anecdotal observation

Don't like anecdotal? Fair enough. How about government statistics?

Whale meat consumption in Japan totalled just 1,000 tonnes in 2021, compared with 2.6 million tonnes for chicken and 1.27 million for beef, government data showed.

At its peak in 1962, annual whale meat consumption was 233,000 tonnes.

1,000 tonnes works out at around 7 grams per person per year. Crucial to the food supply???

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-whaling-firm-pins-hopes-vending-machines-revive-sales-2023-01-24/

And note they're trying out these vending machines  in hopes of reviving sales of a food long in decline and shunned by many supermarkets.

Most Japanese people have never eaten whale meat and have no interest in eating whale meat, even if it is available in some Kansai supermarkets.

To cover what they can't persuade people to eat out of vending machines, the whalers are resorting to marketing their product as pet food:

demand for whale meat is so low in Japan that the country’s only remaining factory ship whaling company, Kyodo Senpaku, is in serious financial trouble, and stockpiles of unwanted whale meat are being repurposed for pet food.

A new independent analysis of the whale meat market in Japan by a Japanese researcher shows that, even with significantly lower catches, the amount of meat stockpiled for lack of buyers has been growing since mid-2020. Despite deeply discounted sales to schools and medical facilities—and promotional gimmicks such as whale blubber ice cream—whale meat inventory remains high.

...

more than 50 Japanese whale products are marketed for dogs (including raw meat, processed meat in pouches, dried jerky, sprinkles, biscuits, and freeze-dried cubes). Ten additional products are marketed for cats or both dogs and cats, including an omega-3 supplement made from whale blubber.

https://awionline.org/press-releases/japans-whale-meat-stockpiles-turned-pet-food

If you're an animal-lover, best to check the list of ingredients on the packet before giving Fido and Tiddles their dinner.

0 ( +8 / -8 )

Posted in: U.S. drops anti-whaling wording opposed by Japan in Indo-Pacific pact See in context

Whaling is crucial to Japans food supply.

Rubbish. I've lived in Japan longer probably than most JY posters have been on this earth, and I could count on one hand the number of times I've seen whalemeat on sale in the local supermarket or even fishmongers. And have enough fingers left over to hold a cup of coffee without spilling any.

A few specialist restaurants catering to old men with a nostalgia for the immediate post-war era do not make dead whales crucial to the food supply.

Remove all whalemeat from Japanese sales outlets and probably 98% of the population wouldn't even notice - till the maudlin old men started pouting.

2 ( +10 / -8 )

Posted in: Gourmet omelets in five minutes See in context

Mixed chopped veggies (potato, sweet pepper, onion, mushroom, corn, broccoli, asparagus, whatever takes your fancy or whatever's in the fridge) fried in olive oil till almost done, pour in the egg, let the base just set. Sprinkle on cheese and finish in the oven like a pizza.

Yum.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Posted in: Gourmet omelets in five minutes See in context

Some kitchen gadgets that at first sight seem totally unnecessary are actually very useful.

This isn't one of those.

8 ( +8 / -0 )

Posted in: Man arrested for abusing 4-year-old daughter See in context

So parents cannot discipline their children spanking?

There is no need ever to spank a child.

Corporal punishment does not teach a child not to misbehave: it teaches him/her that physical abuse of someone unable to retaliate is a useful means of getting your own way. A child raised on slaps and spankings learns that it’s OK to ‘punish’ people smaller and weaker than themselves, regardless of whether those weaker people are in the wrong.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

Posted in: Japan to accept 2 more wounded soldiers from Ukraine for treatment See in context

Ukraine would not even be in this mess if they 1) rebuked America's invitation to NATO, which only keeps Russia as an enemy for manufacturing consent, and also let Donbas and Crimea separate as their people clearly wanted.

There was never any ‘invitation to NATO’ from the US: quite the opposite. Ukraine asked again and again to be allowed to join, and the OK never came. If it had there would have been no invasion.

As for the Donbas and Crimea, at the breakup of the USSR both regions voted in favor of independence from Russia: Crimea by 54.19%, Donetsk by 83.9%, Luhansk by 83.83%.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: Japan to accept 2 more wounded soldiers from Ukraine for treatment See in context

Watch the video.

I did. Seems to be a few newly-recruited ‘recruiters’ with a flawed understanding of what their job entailed. Investigated by the authorities.

Besides, if "everything was cool" there would be no need to clamp the men down and prevent them leaving would there?

Who said ‘everything was cool’? The country is being attacked by superior numbers of officially recruited conscripts (themselves dragged off the streets, subways and prisons), homes, schools, hospitals and markets being bombed, children being abducted, infrastructure being destroyed and huge swathes of land being seeded with mines. It’s about as far from cool as it’s possible to be.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Posted in: Japan to accept 2 more wounded soldiers from Ukraine for treatment See in context

We are talking 2 million people or more! They can't just move! Obviously. Russia can't just take in 2 million people! Obviously.

It’s estimated that between early 2014 and early 2022, some 3 million people fled the Donbas. More have left since.

The population of the Donbas in 2014 was around 6.5 million. You think around 2 million of those claiming to identify as ‘Russian’ means the other 4.5 million should just fall in line? Or do you want them to move/be moved to other parts of Ukraine?

Explain again about the ‘right of self-determination’. It applies to some but not to the majority?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Posted in: What is USB-C, the charging socket that replaced Apple's Lightning cable? See in context

if you haven't heard of USB-C Apple has done effective marketing on you

I’m genuinely confused. Apple has kept USB-C a secret from Apple users? Really?

When Mr Cleo upgraded his iPhone a couple of months ago the new device - obviously not the 15 - came with a ‘USB-C-Lightning cable’, so obviously the attempt to keep Apple users away from USB-C is decidedly not a thing.

And when I got a new Watch 8 two weeks ago, the charger that came with it is also USB-C. (Yeah, if I’d waited just a bit I could have had a 9. Couldn’t wait.)

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Posted in: Centenarians in Japan hit record 92,139; women account for 88% See in context

Women didn't work their entire lives. Just spent it hanging up washing and talking trivia with their neighbours.

Total hogwash and poppycock.

Raising kids, keeping house , running a family, IS work. And it never ends. There is no retirement, no day after which everything is done for you. And it’s keeping active, having stuff to do, that keeps women healthy well into old age.

Far too many men see retirement as the cue to do nothing, to be waited on hand and foot - they’ve done their bit. The change in lifestyle is abrupt; suddenly there is no need to do anything, no purpose in life. They stagnate.

I see this with a lot of my neighbours; for the husband every day is Sunday, while the wife continues washing the clothes, cooking the meals, running the house as well as enjoying chat time with friends, continuing hobbies, etc. Not every retired couple is like this of course, but far too many are.

Add in Laguna’s very salient point, that grannies looking after grandkids and otherwise making themselves useful, have in evolutionary terms been of greater value to society than grandads no longer able to bring the bacon home and cluttering up the cave, and it’s only natural that females tend to live longer.

The same phenomenon can be observed in killer whales. Female whales live longer, and a pod with a matriarch thrives better than one without.

Men, if you want to live long and meaningful lives, help out with the grandkids, wash the dishes and put them away, get a hobby that gets you out into the community. Don’t take retirement as the cue to stagnate.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Posted in: Patients need doctors who look like them. Can medicine diversify without affirmative action? See in context

Another example of American exceptionalism.

Measures that clearly work in every other developed country in the world cannot even be tried in the US because…… just because.

Whether it’s race relations, universal health care, gun laws, sensible politics…..making things better is just Too Difficult, can’t possibly work.

Because.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Posted in: Patients need doctors who look like them. Can medicine diversify without affirmative action? See in context

Patients need doctors who know their stuff, listen to them and provide optimum, appropriate care.

In my time I’ve been treated by doctors of all hues. Some were good, some maybe not so good, but I never felt the quality of care I received was dependent on the doctor’s skin colour or mine.

America needs to get its act together and treat all its citizens as people, not as members of this or that group.

7 ( +9 / -2 )

Posted in: Ukraine claims to recapture Black Sea oil platforms seized during Crimea's annexation See in context

Ukraine will pay a price for their stupid wars

Ukraine hasn't started any stupid wars. The whole stupid thing was started by stupid Putin.

The West is very angry. 

They expected a breakthrough by Ukraine 

expected? I don't think so.

Though I know I certainly hoped for the invaders to be squelched quickly and decisively.

We should have express-delivered the arms Ukraine needed; the delays gave the invaders time to build defences that they should never have been allowed to build.

There are no winners in any war, but this is one that Putin had lost by April of last year.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Posted in: Do you prefer using self-serve checkouts at retail stores or regular check-outs where you can talk with the cashier? See in context

Only one of my local supermarkets has a self-checkout. It's not the closest to my house so I don't shop there that often, but when I do, I use the DIY. There's a (very small) discount, and every little helps.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: 2-year-old boy dies after being left in car for 9 1/2 hours; grandmother arrested See in context

She needs to be punished for this awful incident.

I doubt there is any punishment on earth that would be worse than the punishment she inflicts on herself daily, knowing that she is directly responsible for the death of her grandchild. I cannot begin to imagine what the poor woman - and the rest of the family - are going through.

Kids do fall asleep readily when strapped into a car. We had the kids to stay over the summer and whenever we went out in the car - whether to the pool, or shopping, or some other excursion - they would promptly fall asleep as soon as the car started moving. The older kids would wake up when we stopped, but the youngest nearly always had to be woken up.

8 ( +9 / -1 )

Posted in: Rakuten CEO touts Viber's ability to counter Russian 'fake news' during Kyiv visit See in context

why is Zelensky insecure to hold his own election in Ukraine

The country is fighting an existential war. A large part of the population has evacuated out of the country, another large part is internally displaced, another large part is busy trying to kill conscripts who are being forced against their will to attack their neighbors and not get killed in the process.

If Zelensky has the organisational power in that situation to hold free and fair elections, he should be using it to drive the conscripts who are being forced against their will to attack their neighbors from his country.

...which is in fact what he is doing.

There will be time for free and fair elections when Ukraine - all of Ukraine - is once more free.

13 ( +14 / -1 )

Posted in: Millet trilogy: India serves G20 leaders a vegetarian dinner See in context

What will you do with the millions of cows, pigs, and sheep? 

Stop force-breeding them?

There are only millions of them because the meat-eaters factory-farm them.

5 ( +8 / -3 )

Posted in: Russia sticks to demands on Black Sea grain deal, rejects UN bank proposal See in context

Putin is a very stubborn man you see

Yes, stubborn as in stubbornly poisoning and/or imprisoning his opponents, stubbornly defenestrating his rivals, stubbornly blowing up the homes, schools, hospitals and infrastructure of people who don’t want to be russians, stubbornly stealing their kids and dressing them in Russian military uniforms and making them speak Russian, stubbornly claiming bits of other countries are actually Russia when they’re patently not, stubbornly ignoring any signed and sealed international agreements that he finds inconvenient….

So, stubborn, in that sense, yes. A man, in the sense of a decent specimen of humanity …. nah.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Posted in: Russia sticks to demands on Black Sea grain deal, rejects UN bank proposal See in context

so it said no more deal until we get what was agreed upon

Because russia is so well known for sticking faithfully to the deals it has agreed to.

7 ( +9 / -2 )

Posted in: 5 ways to discover traditional Okinawa culture See in context

I love Okinawa. Apart from the sea, which is the absolute best bit, the culture is also attractive and constantly developing.

In addition to traditional ryukyu music, the work of such bands as Begin add a new, pop flavour.

Kokusaidori, as the article suggests, is lots of fun without being too heavy. All on the same street are traditional restaurants, bars, music, dancing, jewellery shops and souvenir shops of every kind. Well worth a visit. also try popping down some of th little aleyways leading off the main street, there are some real gems to be found.

Ryukyu glass has developed in several different directions in recent years. It used to be all chunky, coloured glass with lots of bubbles in it; today it's possible to recognise a number of different styles, each with the individual touch of the glassblower. The quality has rocketed. Prices have also gone up, but I think finding that one glass that is you is well worth it. It's also fun to have a bash blowing your own.

There are also a number of pottery kilns around the islands, producing both traditional and modern pottery. We found a nice little place in Yomitanson.

Agu pork, soki soba, spam, rafute, tempt me not at all, being vegetarian, but if you're a meat-eater you might like to try them (Not the spam, of course). Chinsuko biscuits are made with lard, so they're out, too.

But sata andagi, dense little doughnuts, are typically Okinawa, as are beni-imo and shikwasa used to flavour anything from ice cream to sweets to cocktails.

And I always bring back with me at least a couple of kilos of kokuto unrefined sugar. Great for adding extra depth to the taste of all kinds of sauces and condiments.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Posted in: Russian missile strike on Ukrainian market kills 17 as Blinken announces new $1 bil aid package See in context

The people in the photos sure look like Military Age Males

Who do you expect to be manning the rescue teams? Schoolkids?

At least one of the rescuers seems to be female. Second pic.

17 people killed but no reports of women or children among them.

*At least 17 people, including a child, were killed in the blast*

...

*she described seeing soldiers carrying a woman afterwards who "had an open fracture and her bone was sticking out from her leg".*

...

Kostyantynivka sits close to the battlefield and has been hit on various occasions this year

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66731927

Considering how many times the town has been attacked in the past, I wouldn't expect many children to be still there, they will surely have been evacuated.

In the video a US-supplied AGM-88 HARM is visible .....Now they are conveniently taking down the footage, but it's out there.

...

The video says it all. Watch it.

The video is out there? Great. Link, please.

The video of the explosion and aftermath is easily found, but I see no signs of any fins?

5 ( +7 / -2 )

Posted in: Pet-friendly apartments: Honesty is the best policy in Japan See in context

You 3 not the majority,

Me 3? Pardon?

always going to the far off exception doesn't change the fact most do do what you say to do!

Erm, toilet-training a dog is not the 'far off exception'. It's basic. As is providing litter boxes for kitties.

most do do what you say to do!

Yes I know most do do what I say to do, but I think you pressed POST before you took the time to read what you wrote. I imagine you meant to write *most don't do what you say to do.*

I don't agree, of course. But then I spend my time associating with responsible dog- and cat-owners who take training seriously and don't let their pets ruin their homes, while it seems you spend your time tearing up floorboards in homes where the animals were not trained/the owners were not responsible.

It's what's called confirmation bias, or something. You see what you see, and ignore the rest. You and me both?

0 ( +1 / -1 )

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