Commodore Shmidlap (Retired) comments

... said the guy from the country claiming every island in the sea as their own and flying jets into Japanese airspace as often as they can. Ask Vietnam and Taiwan if they agree Japan's the troublemaker in the region.

If NK somehow manages to put one of their room-sized low-yield atomic devices on a large flatbed truck, drive it to the heart of Seoul without anyone stopping them or the truck itself breaking down AND make the thing go off then I suppose that would be pretty scary.

Basically you have the hate-filled racist big-business-loving/labor-hating greedhead who doesn't claim Jesus as the source of these views versus the hate-filled racist big-business-loving/labor-hating greedhead who thinks God put him on earth to wage war against the Anti-Christ.

The question seems to presuppose your romantic relationship is with someone of the opposite gender. Having friends of the opposite gender may be an entirely different proposition if your romantic relationship is same-gender given the assumption that in a heterosexual relationship one or the other partner would have problems with these opposite-gender friendships, viewing them as potential rivals.

With that out of the way, I don't have a problem with my wife having male friends. She actually has none, but if so, I would be supportive especially in light of most of my closest friends being female.

Saying that doesn't mean you're a racist, not by a long shot.

Only racists use the black friends thing as an excuse for their shoddy opinions.

This guy thinks when he buys dozens of the same CD to get tickets to handshake events he somehow has a relationship with the idols he follows, and an ownership one at that. The management companies encourage this delusion to the detriment of all. It's pretty pathetic. Just because you spend money on merchandise gives you no rights whatsoever in determining how other people live their lives. Idols owe the fans nothing beyond hitting their marks during performances. And that is all.

The U.S. Entertainment industry controlled by white liberals who vote democrat who nominate other white liberals who vote democrat for awards. Nope, no bigotry by democrats there. . . .

It's that goshdarned George Clooney and his evil lackey Leonardo DiCaprio. They're the real racists, not the people who watch Fox News and vote GOP and say things like, "The democrats are the real racists!" while using codewords like "welfare moms" and "thugs" when the word they really want to use starts with an N.

While this one case as reported might look like very light sentencing, the fact remains that even with a generous allowance for unreported crime, Japan remains a much safer country than those having draconian sentencing laws.

Masumoto probably took comfort in knowing what a safe country Japan really is in his last hours.

Sad news. That's really heartbreaking.

Videos he posted from Texas made their way to Japan, where they developed a following.

He became more intrigued about Japan, conducting more research and posting more videos. His notoriety snowballed as more people began paying attention.

Translation: "He KA-CHING! realized he could cash in!"

I thought moms just tossed out your precious magazines when they piled up too much.

Well, they could have arrested a fraud for alleged spying, I suppose.

It's good to check if he was being bullied at school after he's dead.

Well, the more practical minded wear their PE pants under their skirts until they get to school. Girls here are allowed to wear black tights, so that's at least something. In class it's the lap blanket.

Basically, when the old men in charge invite women to participate, it's as tea-pourers and drink-servers. Same as it's ever been, same as it ever will be.

Dumping on women by taking a fun, romantic holiday and turning it into an obligatory hassle removing almost everything of the original intent in favor of a joyless, perfunctory exercise in group appeasement and fear of being mildly ostracized that few, if anyone, actually enjoys.

Perfect.

And I'm sure the women who put so much effort into handmaking chocolate are going to get the same consideration a month from now on White Day from their male co-workers and colleagues.

What a bizarre story. Rather than the unraveling of Becky's public image, the focus really should be about how a gossip magazine took it upon itself to seize a moment to humiliate publicly and destroy the career of an inoffensive TV personality. And 1,000 complaint calls? Infantile. Why aren't there calls for the person who hacked/leaked the Line accounts to be identified and prosecuted? Why isn't the magazine being investigated for shady "journalistic" practices and invasion of privacy, possibly getting their info from criminal activity?

I almost get the feeling Japan Inc. is living in denial.

Yeah, just a bit.

Yay! With that rotten apple gone the barrel is totally clean and will remain so. Forward the Glorious Suicide of the 120 Million!

Oblivious? Your hardship is part of the plan. Self-sacrifice and the good ol' days, that's what it's all about. You're supposed to shut up and do your duty to the nation and keep watching those romantic WWII movies about kamikaze pilots giving their all. Those are your role models under the LDP.

"Will be?" Even before he passed it already was. It is. There wouldn't be a Lady Gaga without David Bowie first. And that's just one example. The guy was an influence or progenitor for almost everything in rock post-Beatles. His legacy is there are still people copying the many, many things he did. There will be for quite some time.

I'm not sure I'd hand it into the police. We might just stand off to the side somewhere discreet and call the police. Beyond being the right thing to do, there's a chance someone is watching it. I don't know of any illegal transactions that involve leaving a lot of money lying around like that. Pretty stupid situation, to be honest, even as an intellectual exercise in "what if?" Anyway, on the off chance the world's dimmest drug dealers/kidnappers are involved somehow, we'd play it as safe as possible while still doing the thing that allows us to sleep at night and look at ourselves in the mirror in the mornings.

Remember "No Country For Old Men" and "A Simple Plan." And plenty of examples from real life. Free money is rarely free. Even people who win the lottery sometimes pay a heavy price that goes beyond the monetary gain. I certainly have a "dark side" as someone above mentioned, but it doesn't include stealing someone's boodle of cash. Doing the right thing is usually my default, but when tempted by the Dark Side, I do a quick cost/benefit analysis. The risk has to be worth it.

Trust me... and I'm the guy who wouldn't steal the money, so I think you can... it's not worth it. If we're imagining some consequence-free fantasy Candyland scenario where you were meant to have the money, go on a spree and no one ever gets hurt, then I suppose you can justify it. But if this were real-- as ludicrous as the set-up is-- someone is going to get hurt. And you are that someone as well.

Not many candidates want the incumbent campaigning for them. They usually want to be seen as something fresh and new. I don't recall Bush stumping very hard for McCain.

I like that Texas up there is touting the fact that guns used in a massacre were bought legally as an argument against gun control. I don't think this executive order will make so much as a dent in gun violence, but Texas and his ilk seem to think the answer is either A) do nothing, or B) arm EVERYONE. I also like that snide comment about Obama causing more guns and ammo to be sold. Yeah, to nutcase racist militia people who think the US Army was about to invade a certain big state. Those people have been filled with a lot of completely insane propaganda that used to be found only on the far reaches of the rightmost AM stations on the dial and only in the earliest morning hours. Now they have an entire network that propagates falsehoods and stirs up racism while simultaneously calling Obama the "Divider in Chief" among other cutesy pejoratives based on projecting.

Sometimes when I get bummed out about something about living in Japan all I have to do is read a few comments of his here and suddenly I remember what I left behind and once again it's like the sakura are blooming in ol' Nihon.

There's no need for a public apology. This is no one's business except the 2 people involved and their respective partners.

Also this. Although I suppose I'm being hypocritical by having an opinion. It just seriously stinks to see Becky being tarred and feathered publicly while the guy in question gets a couple of shots at work or walking down the street, then a cut back to Becky groveling in front of the cameras. It's disgusting and demeaning. And it's solely because she's a woman. Whether or not she knew he was married and continued an affair isn't even the point-- that's between the three people involved. The point is even if that's the case, why is Becky the one being publicly pilloried? The ONLY one being publicly pilloried. Until this kind of double standard ingrown misogyny is rooted out and Japan's gender relations join the 21st century instead of the 1950s all this "Women are the whatever arrow" nonsense is worse than hot air and boneheaded male bluster by Abe and the Old Boys in Charge. Japan desperately needs its women, but it needs them for leadership and for ideas. Right now Japan treats them as pets at best, as property at worst.

Sure. Rich kids have real pressures AND they're rich enough either to go to therapists or for their parents to buy them out of jail. Poor kids? Not so much. So despite having read this really earnest editorial I continue to be comfortable with using the "spoiled rich brats" appellation.

Wait, this is just stupid. Kawatani is the one who is married, so he, not Becky, is the one "having an affair". Why is she the one taking heat over this?

Oh, right, because she is a girl and he is a guy and this is the Japanese entertainment industry we are talking about. Got it.

Exactly my thoughts. Hello, double standard. And we don't even know if they were having an affair or if they really were just friends. Guys and gals can be pals. This whole thing is stupid along with being ridiculously unfair to Becky.

Let them actually make an H-Bomb before we physics scholars start pedantically explaining what it is.

You mean there's a chance NK might be lying about having produced a hydrogen bomb they can fit onto a missile? No way!

Space pictures, huh? That's the latest thing. Let's get a few more space pictures into production and cash in before this craze blows over!

There were underwear thieves back home, but here they're like a Thing.