Daniel McNeill comments

Why do gays and lesbians have to make such an issue in public, of what they do in private? I have no need to know what other people do in the bedroom.

Actually, I think you'll find it is the anti-gay bigots who make an issue of it. Nobody is asking you to watch what they do in the bedroom, they just want to put an end to discrimination.

Who care if they will go extinct! Its not like we can see them everyday.. Even if they go extinct, life will go on as usual.

This attitude is exactly the reason that whaling should not be allowed. Judging by its blithe indifference towards the plight of tuna and other species, could we expect Japan to manage its whaling responsibly? I doubt it. This is a country whose government spokesman once referred to minke whales as "cockroaches of the sea".

So why, then, Frungy, given Japan's uniquely moist soil do they manage to bury cables in some locations?

Aesthetic sensibility in all aspects of life? Has this person seen a Japanese city?

Yay, religion!

Dick, the Hadron Collider was built by physicists. I really don't they would have much to contribute to cancer research.

Dick, finding a cure for cancer would involve biology based on Darwinism. I'm sure you wouldn't want that. Why doesn't your god cure cancer?

Dick Morris, What does the big bang have to do with Darwinism? Learn some science.

How about a ban on religion?

That's right Ironchef, if a foreigner is skeptical about Azuki Pepsi it's because they are a foreigner. We all know that no foreigners can eat any Japanese food, and every Japanese person likes all Japanese food. I admire your wisdom. Here's more: foreigners who leave their countries and move to Japan hate trying things they aren't accustomed to. As for urging those who dismiss Azuki Pepsi to leave the country, hear hear! How dare they?

Could we call this "toilet room" please? Toilets don't have floors

I don't know where you come from, but "toilet room" is certainly no English that I've ever heard. "Toilet can refer either to the fixture or the room. If I say that someone is in the toilet, do you imagine that they are standing in the actual bowl?

From the Online Dictionary:

a. A fixture for defecation and urination, consisting of a bowl fitted with a hinged seat and connected to a waste pipe and a flushing apparatus; a privy. b. A room or booth containing such a fixture.

Thanks, Taiko!

Taiko666, I'd love to get some Quorn! Is it available anywhere in Japan?

Shamus, How can you eat lasagna if you are vegan? Do they make it without cheese?

Change,

At the risk of "jumping on you", I would suggest that if the law is useless in so many cases, a reasonable response would be to reform the system rather than to rely on a syndicate of thugs to settle things. Sorry if my suggestion insults you.

It would help if the police were a little more professional. Just mumbling the word "passport" over and over without offering any sort of explanation seems almost designed to put one on the defensive. In a lot of parts of the world, gangs of thuggish, inarticulate men demanding passports are more likely to be thieves than policemen, and one would be well advised to flee.

Even the uniformed Japanese police are scarcely credible. I was stopped recently at Narita airport for an identity check. The policeman approached me as I was walking along, then veered off. He gathered his courage and came back, timidly asking if I spoke Japanese. He was so nervous his hands shook as he took my papers and it took ages of fumbling with his clipboard for him record my name and (Japanese) address. In his ill-fitting uniform he looked more like a child in a Halloween costume. It was like being questioned by Mr. Mole.