Daijoboots comments

It's another thing entirely when people constantly compliment your most rudimentary skills like using chopsticks

I don't get upset at this, for a couple of reasons. One is chopsticks are not used as cutlery generally in many countries, thus the surprise at the ease with which they are being used. Having said that I hold my chopsticks slightly "wrong". It doesn't stop me from eating too much. Another is said surprise is often a result of the speaker's limited interaction to date with foreigners. It is an honest observation and not intended to be a blow to the foreigner's sense of I've been here for blah blah and oh this is so rudimentary.

I've had more than one friendship crumble upon learning a Japanese "friend" had actually been keeping me around for the free English lessons

The penny drops. Six years of compulsory English education develops a large number of English bandits, many who would rather not pay for it. My advice is to be friends with those who at least mix the two languages in their communcation with you, or who can't be bothered with English but can be with you. This however is dependent on the foreigner actually wanting to speak Japanese, you know, living in Japan and all. I have a couple of foreign friends who have been here for more years than words they can put together in Japanese. Each to their own perhaps, they're having fun.

This country is really going to the dogs!

You can leave at any time.

these corporations are offering a salary increase of less than half of it

Do you know how much the labour unions were asking for? Do you? They know what is realistic and then add some cos they know they will be have to come back to the middle somewhere. Then multiply that figure by every employee every month, also factor it in to the bonuses and other benefits employees receive - it bumps all remuneration up.

Let me know what figure you come up with. And if you're not happy with it, you pay for it.

The punishment is weak

God what would you be happy with? Zero revenue for the club on the match on the 23rd; the three offenders have been banned from the stadium indefinitely; the message has been loud and clear by a number of organisations and the media are all over it.

a random "Japanese Only" at a football stadium

There was nothing random about it. It was at one end of the ground where the most rabid fans get together and like to chant in unison and most likely got all upset by foreign spectators supporting another team, in what fashion I will leave to your imagination. The banner has been slammed by a number of areas of society. It was not unprovoked though.

NHK NewsWatch9 just led off with this story. Very strong message sent out by a number of bodies that discrimination is unacceptable behaviour. Total attendance ban for the match on the 23rd is the first time in J-League history. Three fans responsible for the offending message have been banned from the stadium indefinitely.

Story finished with a message raised the following day at another game (in Gifu I think it was) which said "Say no to racism."

SS (or Sinking Ship as they also like to be called) says:

"ruthless assault", "launching their onslaught", "increasingly vicious onslaught"

Please these kinds of colourful adjectives only worsen the emotional blinding.

"protected whales", "(our actions are) completely lawful"

Hey let's just do away with the truth or facts altogether and distort things further to suit our agenda.

If he can hear or not is not very important to me, if people like it is more central to all.

A lot of people don't like being lied to. This piece of (insert derogatory adjective of your choice) went around the country telling everyone that he was disabled, that he wrote the songs, inspired people to carry on, and pocketed tens of millions of yen in the process.

I hope he is done for fraud.

Bob Barker captain Peter Hammarstedt said the Sea Shepherd vessels were "unprovokedly attacked"

Haha. Yes travel thousands of kilometres with the single purpose of illegally interfering with and assaulting vessels at sea, and after doing so, it's "It wasn't us! It was them!" again. Credibility: zero. Misguided priorities: at the usual maximum extremist level.

by the Japanese harpooners in a "ruthless" fashion

Oh my what a colourful adjective. Could be an artist at work if he gave up his day job/cultural crusade.

Half of Hakuho's wins this tournament were done in disappointing and/or dangerous fashion. Dodged to the side on the first two days, nearly ripped arms off a couple of opponents, and pulled back on a number of other occasions, all done to minimise injury/effort and save himself for the end of the tournament/prolong his career. Empty victories from a once good yokozuna. Meaningless tally of wins and championships.

Kisenosato, aiming for promotion to yokozuna at the start of the tournament, finished on 7-7-1, pulling out on the last day due to injury. Choked under the pressure well before then though.

Kotooshu missed his chance to return to ozeki by getting less than 10 wins. Finished on 8-7 so could have slumped down to komusubi for next tournament. Wonder how long he will linger around at sekiwake before retiring and heading up a stable.

How 4 people on a 7 metre vessel which can turn on the 100 yen coin from which it was made, not only fail to notice a 180 metre vessel coming but then manage to steer into the middle of its side, is classic Darwin.

In short, they are not your friends. I don't even ask them for directions.

Ooh cold as ice. One of the first things I do when I move into a new neighbourhood (moving is one of my hobbies) is pop in to the local police box and ask where something is - coin laundry, post office, best snack club in town, etc. Tell them you just moved and make yourself known. Then if you ever have any problems etc you've already chatted and are best friends.

Harumafuji's absence will leave fellow Mongolian Hakuho as the lone grand champion competing in the January "basho" (tournament).

Just saw the replay of a couple of today's bouts and watched this "grand champion" dodge to the left at the beginning of the bout, known as henka but no one would dare call it so for the "grand champion". All the people who paid to see it up close must have been delighted with such a cowardly anti-climax to the day.

Also disappointing was Kisenosato, aiming to become the first Japanese yokozuna in 16 years, losing his bout on the first day. Try again next time.

The Japanese icebreaker Shirase made it to near the Showa base for the first time in three winters yesterday.

So far, I've been to about 63 Onsens. 4,788??? I've got a long way to go it seems.

That's hot water sources, not places you can or should get naked. That would be this.

As for the largest number of hot spring spas, or onsen, in Japan, Hokkaido takes first place with 254 facilities. Nagano comes in second with 231, and Niigata comes in a distant third place with 150.

What it doesn't say but what I will declare, is that Tohoku has the best. The end.

Don't know what weight to attach to FIFA's rankings, but Colombia are currently 4th, Greece 12th, Ivory Coast 17th, and Japan 48th. Going by that alone Japan's not gonna make it past the first stage, but they will probably surprise.

Australia was grouped with Spain, Holland and Chile.....save the money on plane tickets and hotels and stay at home!

I guess it's not that dissimilar from the japanese word.

Jejeje! (It's an expression of surprise. Best heard from Princess Nonen.)

before they finally settle into obscurity and everyone forgets they ever existed.

You might hear omotenashi a few more times in the lead up to the Olympics and especially in 2019 and 2020. Enjoy or be pained, the choice is yours.

As for jejeje, so many cheap laughs. And Rena Nonen is quite the princess. I'm going to marry her.

The thought of my child having a name that 4 others in her class share doesn't do much for me Im afraid.

I'd be more concerned that there were more than 500 kids in that class. And even then there's no guarantee you'll hit that 1 percent four times. Might be better off buying tickets for the end of year jumbo I'm afraid.

So most parents, after weeks, sometimes months of deliberating come up with a name a million other kids share? Uniformity starts at birth in Japan...

How did you get that figure of a million? And then come to your grand conclusion? Oh wait....

I hope she wins her case.

This law breaker and gold digger filed for action from a Kagoshima court just this month, more than six months after her negotiations with the disputes tribunal left her unsatisified. She was paid 120,000 yen by TEPCO, which she accepted. That TEPCO did not offer more at that time nor now suggests data do not justify offering more for her plans-to-conceive-and-have-a-baby-one-day stress. The women's prison (the only one in Tohoku by the way) does not have walls made of cardboard and there are radiation measurements which are also concrete, and will trump fear.

There is a prison in Fukushima that is within the evacuation zone?

The prison is in Fukushima City, about 70 km away from the plant. I wouldn't describe it as "near," nor simply as a "Tohoku prison."

I would also refrain from using simplified descriptions such as "the nuclear evacuation zone." There are a handful of categories. The prison is located in an area in which citizens were urged to consider leaving voluntarily.

As a prisoner serving a three year term from February 2009, she had forfeited her right to things like freedom. She will lose her case.

Shows how much the state values the lives of the staff and inmates.

No, it doesn't. It's "regrettable" this article omitted the word "voluntary" as in "voluntary evacuation" from the description of the zone in which this prison is located (in Fukushima City, 70 kilometers from the nuclear plant.)

Splendid picture. I suggest making it picture of the day every day from this day forth. Until the next triumph comes along.

As for the tears about the ooh nature of this picture, how hard is it to explain to any prying eyes that this is a news site, that this is news, and that if had they read the newspaper or watched tv this morning would know the content. Them watch them scamper, or fawn over you for keeping up to date with the news. Then analyse this latest triumph by the water cooler or vending machine.

Psychopath stabs ex-girlfriend and flees to an island next morning, where he is arrested on arrival, 16 whole hours after his slash and run.

Geez, I wish these "JCops" actually did their jobs for once.

Another Jcop FAIL resulting in a successful murder. I wish these guys actually did their jobs for once.

Yawn. Another salvo against the cops for blah blah blah. The cops can take more action IF the person filing the complaint chooses so. More often than not they choose a watered down option, and the cops follow that through.

The "fail" is not with the cops but with the psychopaths who knife people down.

Nothing happened unless it was captured on a cellphone camera. Sad

Interesting take on their moment. They probably uploaded it to social media for their friends etc to see.

apparently the money was collected specifically for the tree and did not come from the general donations.

Donations are still being accepted for maintenance of the monument and surroundings. The amount necessary for preservation work was raised by July.

http://www.city.rikuzentakata.iwate.jp/kategorie/fukkou/ipponmatu/ipponmatu-bokin/tirashi-en.pdf

Why anyone would want to spend their NYE sitting in front of the boob tube for 5 hours is really beyond me. I know it's a Japanese "custom" and all, but honestly... put on a jacket, and go to a Shrine (who cares if you don't believe in the Japanese gods- neither do the Japanese), come home, eat some toshi-koshi-soba, drink some hot sake and have a great conversation with your family - sounds much better than spending an evening watching SMAP, AKB and Arashi on TV.

Do you think it might be at all feasible that people watch the show AND have conversation during/between songs, drink, change the channel, go to a shrine after midnight/in the next couple of days, and are quite capable of boozing it up in a fashion more pleasing to you the other 364 nights of the year? Why don't we just make everything the same as back home.

Im not criticizing people raising money as individuals, many people did the same after the Tokoku earthquake and tsunami too ... but we all saw what happened to that money...

Going down this path are we? Go on then, do tell, what did you see?

Why are they giving this money to the Philippines, when they cant even afford to help their own? Insanity to me.

You might be interested to know that people in Ishinomaki and other hard hit places on the Tohoku coast are raising money for those affected in the Phillipines. What goes around comes around.

We appreciate that it sounds like something a Japanophile might say in a cringeworthy attempt to prove how integrated into the culture they have become

Ah how nice of them to add this just in case, you know, to stay "cool" to themselves.