danalawton1@yahoo.com comments

This is not Japan warning its citizens.... it is Japan saying to China.... we're prepared for you to hate us.... we do not care.

Cars often pass me on narrow roads at a high rate of speed while I'm riding my bike in the same direction. I'm unable to see them and can only hope they're aware of me. If all of a sudden a bug or something flew in my eye and I mistakenly veered right.... I'd be dead. Especially if the vehicle were travelling at a high rate of speed.... and high rate does not have to be actually that fast. High rate, in my estimation, would be any speed faster than around 15kph when passing someone on a narrow road. Any speed faster than that would be unsafe because the driver would not be able to stop quickly enough to avoid an accident. Drivers need to slow down on narrow roads when passing someone walking, biking, or riding any slow vehicle.

What cracks me up is that Conservatives are every bit as bad as the Liberals..... both sides of the aisle go completely deaf and blind when it is their candidate that has made a mistake or done something wrong. I'm a Liberal.... but I'm not blind. Hillary was a a raving idiot in regards to her email controversy.... she brought that upon herself. Do I think she did it because she wanted to hide certain things.... she probably did, she might have felt she could get more done with out State Department scrutiny. Or as conservatives would say.... she did it because she wanted to hide all the bad stuff she was doing. I don't know..... but because she's my candidate... I'll give her the benefit of the doubt and believe that she had good intentions. Regarding Benghazi.... that is a total witch hunt. That could have happened to any Secretary of State but the conservatives dragged it through the mud for years with the main goal of discrediting Hillary. Trump supporters don't see it that way..... but when Trump gets dragged through the mud.... they're screaming bloody murder. I don't like Trump because of the things he says and does. I think is a scam artist..... come on.... "Only I" can do this. If you met someone like him at a party and didn't know who he was you'd think he was a self centered idiot.

Just about everyone in D.C. hates Donald Trump.... you tell me how much he'll get done if elected President. Sure its not a good reason to not vote for him.... but just remember if you do, both sides of the aisle will see that he does not get what he wants. It would be best if he dropped out and another more liked Conservative runs against Hillary. That would scare the Democrats. I would not be surprised if a 3rd party candidate emerges in the next 2 to 3 weeks.... and I would not be surprised if he drops out. Especially if he continues to spew idiotic crap and have his numbers fall even lower.

Part of Trump's tax plan is to do away with the "Death Tax", which Reagan implemented. Basically anyone that inherits more than $5.45 million, will have to pay tax to the Federal Govt.... for the portion over that amount. The law has been on the books for 30 years..... now Trump, purportedly worth more than $2 Billion himself, a man that would also be the richest President by far, wants to make sure his kids don't have to pay the death tax.

I can remember sitting at a Family Restaurant a few years back when I heard a couple of unsavory individuals talk about getting themselves locked up for the winter..... saying it was better than living in a box. Why this guy wants to get locked up now.... I'm not sure though.

Give the guy a break.... he's 82 and not in the best of health. He just wants some time for his wife and him to relax and spend quality time together. Let the kid take over the rein/reign's.

The U.S. was founded based on equality for all regardless of religion or ethnic origin, Trump does not believe that. Trump is racist and a war monger. The rest of the world, except Al Quaida and ISIS are hoping he loses. ISIS would love it it Trump wins because he'll play right into their hands.... heck, they manufactured Trump.

No they won't.... because if the U.S. is attacked the attacker would only be China or Russia at this point in time. And if that is the case, especially in the event its a Chinese attack, you know the Chinese would probably strike Japan at the same time. If it was Russia... they might not go after Japan but the U.S. could handle them alone... but I'm sure Japan would send troops if needed. Trump is way off base. Only speculating here....

Agree.... especially the Brits in Japan.... I think they hate that they've come to a country where it has much more American influence than British. Not all Brits of course but I've met quite a few here in Japan that look down on Americans when we're just trying to make a living over here.

I call BS on the Beer comment..... sure our run of the mill mass market beer is crap, totally agree, but go to the Northwest, the number of amazing craft brewers will astound you. Oregon and Washington are both beer lover's states.

No doubt we are direct and to the point.... we are very "bottom line" oriented and have a difficult time understanding complex business relationships that have been built up over time. When I first came to Japan I was often frustrated over the way things were done here. There were steps we took in the completion of a task that made no obvious sense to me. Over time I realized that those steps were needed in Japan. One thing to remember about business in the USA. The U.S. has seen growth of population and industry going on for 200 years... when you have growth you do not have the need for complex business relationships since the pie itself is still growing and coveting certain markets is not necessary. Not all markets of course but a large enough portion to still provide the American Dream if you're smart and work hard.

I wonder if that group of restaurants has recently refused to pay protection money to the local crime organization?

A study was done on what major demographic in the USA supported Trump, well it was no surprise when they found that Redneck White Trash were just a hankering to vote for him.

I've been saying the Govt should do this quite often. Print money, use that money to buy up foreign assets, stocks, bonds, hotels, land, buildings, you name it. Take those assets in put them in the National Govt Pension Account. Before you start buying..... announce that Y150 to the Dollar is your goal.... after that no more asset purchases. The Yen will move to Y150 pretty quickly and inflation will soon be on its heels.

I've flown into Haneda a few times, especially from the U.S.A., it surprises me when we fly well south of Haneda itself and then back North to it for the landing.

For 22 years now the GOP have been after the Clintons and the only thing they ever really found that stuck.... was a cigar.

I rarely hear anything that shows deep rational thinking out of Trump's mouth. Its either slamming someone or promising things he will never achieve. At least with Hillary there is a rational achievable plan and I don't think she would lead us into WWIII.

Love how they wrote it.... "more than halves". Hey.... buy JAL because their profit more than halved in the 1st Quarter!!

@ Ananta PB... great post... I thought that might happen. What may have started as a game became a learning experience which has brought more attention to Peace Park itself. And as usual.... the powers that be, could not fathom that these players had enough intelligence to realize where they were. Why is it that they constantly underestimate the younger generation.

Live here long enough and you'll notice patterns....but that might take a good memory in the first place.

Love it.... now that Pokemon-Go is ticking off these officials it fully becomes a Niantic Game. No where in the article is Nintendo mentioned..... typical. If it were a Japanese game they would have used back channels and not have gone to the press.

You know..... you really have not had an interesting life without at least one naked episode in it. Good for him.... shouldn't have gotten violent though.

As is with anything and possibly more so with Japan.... since it it about 97% Japanese, change takes time and it takes time to get used to change. Don't shut down a great opportunity for the country based on fear and ignorance. It is such a beautiful country with an amazing culture, it should be shared not horded.

The Government is basically printing Y28 Trillion as its newest stimulus package.... I think they should earmark Y5 Trillion to be used as potential loans for owners of all the Vacant Homes around Japan. Basically, a Vacant Home owner would contact a construction company to get bids to fix the house up and either sell it or rent it out. Many of these owners, if they're unable to sell the property could set it up on AirBnB. The Government has been throwing Trillions of Yen at its cronies for decades.... they should throw some towards the people and this would help vastly at local levels to put people to work and clean up their towns and villages. But this makes too much sense.... never happen.

When you consider that there are hundreds of thousands of empty homes in Japan and that many of them have the potential to become nice AirBnB rentals... yes, it could be a problem for most Hotels and other types of establishments in Japan. However, there is also a percentage of people that want to live like a local, myself included. When I travel I prefer to live in that location for at least 3 to 4 weeks. I don't want to run around every minute trying to see the sights, I want to get a feel for what it is like to live there and for those reasons AirBnB is a Godsend. Locals need to realize that money is going into their local economy and that they have nothing to fear. AirBnB is fantastic.... I could see possibly making the minimum stay at least 1 or 2 weeks.... but beyond that it would just be another example of Big Business crushing the small entrepreneur. In addition, allowing for AirBnB to operate would also open up a large amount of business opportunities at local small Real Estate Agent companies. They could act as go between's for cleaning and maintenance of said homes. Also, it could fuel a small construction boom as people fix up their unused homes in order to rent them out. It would be such a wast if the Government shut this business down.

Having Dentsu and CyberAgent on both lists only proves how wrong these women are in their assumptions are and how foolish the survey was..

It seems like every other month I read about an officer committing suicide. I don't know about you.... but I'd think that being a cop in Japan, while tedious, might not be so bad. I wonder why these guys are offing themselves? Has anyone in Japan written a book about what its like to be a cop in Japan?

Niantic was "spun-out" of Google last November but I've got to think that Google must own a majority stake in Niantic. Could not find any ownership information. More than anything Pokemon-Go is a U.S. Game but using the extremely well known Pokemon as its catchy character. This is another example of Nintendo just not getting with the times.... years ago they should have jumped on the cell phone bandwagon.... had they done so they might have come up with this themselves.

Do not know why.... but Russia somehow equates Olympic Medal Wins with Power overall. So winning a medal in the Olympics becomes extremely important.... to the point that they have cheated far too often to get them. The IOC needs to uphold the ban on Russians in order to protect the integrity of the Games.