Darmstadt comments

Good to hear this monster's life is over now. Get the trash off the streets

Well done to Taiji, and hope the whale hunt is upped 10 fold. It's time for a return to commercial whaling!

Well at least he got some free healthcare before his deportation. I assume that's one of the objectives of these guys.

Why is it good for Iceland? Why is it good to hunt whales?

It boosts their employment, local economy, and exports. Protecting whales over human livelihood is a nonstarter and invalid.

What is even better is whale watching has become an important part of Iceland's economy since 1997. Whale watching creates a bigger economy than a limited whale hunting when much of it must exported.

That is for Iceland to decide, not international "anger" over some big fish. It appears Iceland has chosen whaling over "whale watching"

Perhaps you would feel differently if the SDF officer had called an LDP politician an enemy of the state?

Not really, I would say the SDF officer is exercising his right to free speech.

One difference though is that the LDP would not be so stupid as to immediately demand the resignation of the Defense Minister. In fact, I didn't think anyone could be that stupid but we unfortunately have found them in the DP

Good for Iceland!

sf2k: Of course I'm worried about being tarred with the same brush. We are all foreigners who will never be completely welcomed in Japan in the eyes of the Japanese, but the status quo is perfect at the moment if you are a skilled expat here. Unskilled work is a different story and no country really welcomes hoards of unskilled labour into the nation without a big backlash like we are seeing in almost every nation around the world today.

A backlash against foreigners in Japan would be highly brutal and all would be included. This is why I don't want these guys ruining it for the rest of us

The problem is with the japanese themselves. They expect nothing more from their sham democracy

Yeah silly Japanese! Why can't the Japanese be more like the "critical thinking" real democracies like Trump America and Brexit Britain!? Until Japan elects Trump or inflicts a grievous self inflicted economic wound on itself like a real democracy, they are a "sham democracy"!

Hypocrisy seems lost these days

If normal work for foreign nationals in Japan so resembles "slave labour", Why on Earth even bother coming here in the first place? There are many foreign nationals in Japan who don't seem to be complaining at every little thing and are leading productive and fulfilling lives. As an expat in Japan myself, in my view agitating and complaining foreign nationals demanding better pay or whatever does absolutely nothing for the image of all of us and makes life difficult for all of us as well

This annoying side issue

Yeah, don't the families of the innocent kidnap victims know that their children are just annoying side issues and that their claims are invalid? Do they not realize that Kim Jong Un is a moral leader who is wise and inspiring?

Is that the official investigation conducted by the government, i.e. the ruling parties? Yes, I'm sure it will be more trustworthy.

An official government investigation or unsubstantiated and baseless conspiracy theories thrown around by a bitter and divided opposition desperate for relevance?

Um.. Yeah.. The proper investigation wins hands down. Maybe it would be different in Trump's America, but thankfully not in Japan

Good to see that the opposition is doing something, even though it's a mindless pet project with no results. The clearer minded will wait for the official investigation results I think, far more trustworthy

Case settled then. So what else does the opposition have or are they still trying to waste all our time with this garbage?

A few hundred protesters out of 128 million? Yeah right. Glad to hear the majority of the populace is level headed

Good on Japan for keeping Moon on his toes here. He will sell out Japan in a heartbeat, such is his quality, so this will ensure he does so at his own risk.

How low can you go. The anti-Abe crowd crying about getting down votes now? I guess we can all be glad they can't vote

It's good on Abe that he is bringing North Korea to the table after the global sanctions broke that terrible nation.

It's disturbing to see the anti-Japan crowd take such personal and bitter offense at any attempt by Japan to resolve this crime against humanity committed by North Korea, as if they were wishing for direct harm on the nation.

Hopefully they get out on the world stage, Durex condoms are terrible and need to go

This is long overdue, Japan needs to be able to defend itself from its neighbours

Would you say that indeed. Care to elaborate?

Elaborate on what? Aso's idea of the sales tax is popular among fiscal liberals and conservatives alike to raise revenues and also pay down the public debt. Aso's monetary policies are what is causing such a big economic expansion at the moment, so all businesses are benefiting. Inflation targeting is also working better than expected considering the 2 decades of deflation experienced here.

You really think any businesses care more about some land deal which by the day seems like nothing, than the health of the economy? Not in a million years, they would never risk their livelihoods for something like that

Great article! Good to hear that Aso won't be resigning as he has shown he has been invaluable to the current economic boom in Japan. I would say almost all businesses in Japan would agree

That's understandable, as the leader of the nation it would have been treason to let this crime go ignored. How South Korea handles this request will define what sort of nation they really are

@Akie: Yes I understand what I am saying. We have far worse corruption scandals in politics back in Germany, yet no one resigns or even apologises, that's how it is.

This is such a minor issue I am surprised at why so many people even care about it unless for ulterior motives, which seems likely from all the emotional anti-Abe comments.

Also, if you think lying to the public or parliament is an "impeachable offense", I think you might have to go and impeach every politician on Earth to be honest. Also, if it were really an impeachable offense, impeach him then. If it's really a "criminal act" like you say, indict him on criminal charges then. Good luck

Abe has my support. His positive contributions to the nation and economy have far outweighed any negative outcomes, so don't even really care about this minor land sale issue to be completely honest. I would say every business in Japan probably thinks the same

It's starting to sound like the summit might be off

Disgusting to see some here praise North Korea for all this, as if they haven't been threatening nuclear destruction and sending missiles over Japan and as if this wasn't blackmail in its purest form. Some seem to be more enamored with the despicable and subhuman North Korea than America or Japan..

Great to hear the economy is growing so well right now!

Well done to Japan and America for keeping the pressure and sanctions on North Korea that has now forced them to negotiate!

Good on Japan for never forgetting this absolute outrage, and justice will be done