daninja comments

Izaia Perese (pictured) was caught selling cocaine and MDMA on the Gold Coast a few years back...

What exactly is that thing under his shirt?

Nail-biting finish interrupted by yet another replay of earlier crowd footage. Did the camera crew go home after the 4th inning or something? Saw same footage of the guy in the yellow suit, the young girl holding a flag, the young boy eating a flag, the colourfully-crowned lost boys, and the patriotic-pompom-headbanded girls at least ten times!

"Local governments should treat foreign residents in the same way as Japanese residents, and make their guidelines and other policies clear," said Menju.

Yes, perhaps if the federal government treated foreign residents in the same way as Japanese residents (with regard to re-entering Japan), local governments might follow suit.

It took Japan six days to surrender after Hiroshima.

Apologies, got my cities back to front in previous post.

It took Japan six days to surrender after Hiroshima. Was three days really long enough for Tokyo to realise the full devastation of the first bombing and consider surrender before the second was dropped? The West has always considered themselves as morally superior, but did the US check that Tokyo understood the full devastation of Nagasaki, threaten to drop a bigger bomb, and confirm that Japan wished to continue with the war? The fact that they were different types of bombs also makes Hiroshima seem more of a horrific test than a necessary tactic.

I bet they're all still required to pay their taxes when they're eventually allowed to return!

Man arrested for trying to molest baby boy mistaken for girl

"I may be a molester, but I'm not gay!"

Is this supposed to make it any less evil? I know you don't accept it, but don't even acknowledge this defence of his, JT.

Of course all lives matter. "Black Lives Matter" is obviously directed at those who think they don't.

...if someone had come in with an emergency, they would have had to wait for the sergeant to pull out...

Was this graphic description necessary? Unless the reporter had solid information that the unusually athletic pair were at it the whole time they were in the break room, this as a crass, lurid speculation better suited to tabloid press. Or is that what we've become, JT?

...undamaged asbestos, if left undisturbed, presents little harm to members of the public.

I'm guessing that the risk would increase in a country prone to earthquakes and in a facility built before the 1995 earthquake saw building restrictions tighten. The decision to take "emergency countermeasures" sounds like they've already done their "air particle" testing and can't just leave it as it is.

If the campaign fails to change the status quo, a second issue should be addressed, and that is to standardise which side of the escalator one should stand on. International and domestic travellers alike will be less confused, locals will be less frustrated, and safety may improve. Though I'm from Kansai, I vote for standing on the left and walking on the right, as this aligns with Japanese road rules—perhaps this partially explains why Osaka has more car accidents. Oh, and even when walking, keep left unless overtaking.

When convenience stores started selling Japanese craft beer, even I stopped drinking the bland pilsners from the 'big four'. The far superior offerings from Yo-Ho Brewing, Ginga Kogen, etcetera, might account for that 3% of Japanese exports that they just.. can't... stop... drinking!

Why would anyone want to wave (what has become) an officially-designated military flag at a sporting event when there is a far more appropriate and acceptable alternative that pisses off far fewer people? Are there any athletes that feel more encouraged from seeing the 'rising sun' flag rather than the Hinomaru?

Whatever you think of the associations of this flag, there's only one reason South Korea is bringing it up now.

To provoke Japan.

Whatever you think of the associations of this flag, there're only two reasons someone would wave it at a sporting event:

Ignorance, or to provoke South Korea.

When a Japanese Navy Ship visits Pearl Harbor, it flies the Rising Sun Flag. If the USN, does not have a problem with it, why should anyone else?

Because it's a naval flag representing the navy. The athletes are representing the whole of Japan. There's a (far less provocative) flag for that.

You have to question why people feel the need to wave a military flag at a sporting event when there is a perfectly acceptable alternative? The flag in question was used by the pre-1945 imperial forces and now only the SDF navy. It obviously means a lot of different things to different people. A prefectural or city flag would make more sense in supporting a particular athlete, but my guess is they are competing for Japan, not just its navy.

When tax increased from 5% to 8%, Starbucks, Uniqlo, and many other companies deceived the public by charging the original price (which already included the 5% tax) and added 8%.

I'd like to see JT make a blacklist of companies that take the opportunity to make another sneaky price increase when price tags include tax again.

Oh, get off your high horse, TTD. Where exactly did I "pass judgement" on anyone? Do you always react so strongly to people questioning what the full story might be? Hope you're not a judge, mate. Or a Jussie Smollett fan.

The driver was in the wrong and (hopefully) will be appropriately punished, but could a death have been avoided with better education/awareness on the part of the cyclist? Just voicing a question based on what I see every day. Many comments had already condemned the truck driver (—fair enough!), so there was no need to repeat what'd been said. I simply suggested that cyclists also need to be careful and pay attention—even when they know they have 'right of way'—as this can save lives. Ever driven a truck? Or even a bicycle? Ever heard of 'defensive driving'? 'Safety first'? 'Better safe than sorry'? Don't know about you, but there are more kids than truck drivers in my life, so I'll do what I can to help them be safer when they're out riding their bikes. If you know for a fact that all truckies "are the biggest liability on the roads", "never slow down on crossings", "always drive at speed" and are 100% to blame for any accident, I'll leave educating them to you. But I'd avoid the generalisations—they (also) make you seem narrow-minded.

It's less disrespectful than silly. Just like calling a buffet, which works fine in katakana-go, a "viking" because Japanese can't say smorgasbord.

Do the French and Scandinavians think it silly that English speakers rarely pronounce buffet, smorgasbord and yes, even viking, the way they do?

victim blaming is disgusting

I completely agree. Please re-read.

Can't really make a judgement call without more information. Sure, the truck driver has admitted to reckless driving (and by Japanese law, that trumps ANY kind of recklessness on the part of the cyclist), but was the cyclist also abiding by the road rules? Was she crossing on a shared crossing? If not, she should have dismounted and walked her bicycle across. Was she riding on the road (if it was safe) as she was supposed to? Did she shoot out from a place that hid her from the view of turning cars? On any given day, I see more cyclists breaking the law at crossings than drivers. I don't know whether it's through their ignorance of the law or if they're simply ignoring the law, but, particularly because they are more vulnerable to being injured, they don't ride as safe as they should. Sad news but possibly could have been avoided. Ride safe, people. Learn the laws, use common sense if you bend them, and ride even safer! https://www.jitco.or.jp/download/data/leaflet_English.pdf

How could this scenario not have been considered when designing he park? It doesn't take much imagination to consider that a lifejacket would be more of a hinderance than a lifesaving device in an area full of wide pontoons. RIP little one; sadly, once again, customer safety was disregarded in lieu of profit focus.

The government has used the day to communicate to the international community that the issue is a matter of sexual violence against women during wartime and of women's universal human rights.

So make it clear that it isn't simply a Korea vs Japan issue and put an end to the nationalist-based bickering. They would get support from women everywhere (and from those that love them) if they acknowledged that Chinese, Filipino, Taiwanese, Burmese, Indonesian, Melanesian, Dutch, Australian, and Japanese women were also used as sex slaves. Until then, people will suspect that there are ulterior motives.

Thanks KWBO, I'm all too familiar with the police weapon of choice (being a ninja an' all). 'Baton' had been misspelt in original article. All good now. Didn't expect praise for spotting the funny mistake, but laughed when I saw that someone thumbed me down for it!

Police had to use a what to get into the car?

*"Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the Lord." Leviticus 19:28*

...more than 90 percent of motorists do not abide by the law.

Sounds like it would be far easier to change the law. Perhaps a pedestrian crossing could instead indicate a safer place to cross when there are no cars coming?

Either way, better get this sorted before more Aussie tourists suddenly march out across a pedestrian crossing, knowing they have right of way, but forcing surprised drivers to swerve or screech to a stop. You know what they say, "When in Japan, do as the Romans do".

...how would the sender know to whom they are sending it to on a packed train?

They wouldn't know for certain, but if "RebeccaのiPhone" appeared as an AirDrop recipient on the sender's phone on a train in Japan, they could probably guess.

Good. A law that should've been changed a long time ago, but only highlighted now to gain political points in the debate over personal rights ahead of a by-election. The law, as it stands, isn't commonly supported (even by the Christian schools themselves) and, as the absence of past examples in the article suggests, has rarely (never?) been claimed as grounds for expulsion for decades.

I'm not sure how many San Franciscans were directly affected by the terrible treatment of women by the JIA. However, if the monument was erected to simply be “a symbol of the struggle faced by all women who have been, and are currently, forced to endure the horrors of enslavement and sex trafficking” as SF Mayor London Breed says, then it should a) acknowledge the Japanese, Taiwanese, Burmese, Indonesian, Dutch and Australian women that were interned, and b) state which regimes are "currently force women to endure the horrors of enslavement and sex trafficking". Instead, it depicts women from just three nations (that continue to maintain a resentment toward modern Japan/Japanese) and carries a plaque which specifies that 200,000 women were abducted by the armed forces of the government of Imperial Japan.

Into the future, on any given day, I envisage this incongruous, parochial monument will promote more Japan bashing than food for thought. Woe betide any innocent, Japanese-American school children that must pass by this monument on their daily commute. It doesn't quite provide a forward-looking, hope-for-a -better-future image that a Peace Memorial or Peace Park would promote.