David K Anderson comments

This money will not go toward any infrastructure. It will go toward the military spending they are struggling to pay for.

I may be mistaken, but I don't think any of the the military budget comes from prefectural or municipal taxes, which these lodging taxes are.

the Trump tariffs...appear to simply be hollow threats to generate MAGA praise that transforms into votes.

I completely agree, and I really, really hope we're right about that. Actual broadly-applied tariffs are a dismally poor idea (but one that appeals to low-information, emotion-driven voters).

“There are people who pass off illegal drugs as candy.”

“Did we forget about drug gummies? Cannabis gummies are regulated as narcotics.”

Never in my long life, much of it spent in various drug-permissive US states, have I encountered a drug user interested in giving away their expensive stash to children (or anyone). I'm sure such things have happened over the years, but I have little doubt they are incredibly rare. Like "struck by lightning" rare, at most. There was a lot more justification to worry that this guy might have been a paedo.

Look at the comments. not a lot of empathy or joy, mostly sarcasm and adolescent reaction.

In attempting to murder other people (or at the very least acting with reckless lack of concern for others), that guy abandoned any expectation of empathy. I'm getting old, too...and yeah, it really sucks sometimes. Doesn't make me want to murder another human being because I have the sads.

The population is Gaza is a little over 1.2 million. Total Palestinian casualties (civilian and Hamas fighters) are estimated to be just under 46,000 in over a year of fighting. If this is an attempt at genocide, the IDF isn't very good at it.

Winter hasn't really gotten started here in Sapporo. A year ago we'd already had quite a bit of snow. It's snowed a couple times, but has almost all melted off. It's nice...but kind of alarming, too. This Summer and Autumn weren't cheap on the power bill, even with just my little window AC (and even up here in relatively cool Hokkaido).

Because the punishment for trespassing should be death. Obviously.

For anyone unable to read minds, there is no way of knowing if the trespasser is just some harmless weirdo like this guy or someone with far less benign intent. Guys like the former or drunks stumbling onto the wrong property are probably less common that people intending thievery (or far worse), even in a low crime place like Japan. Certainly at least being prepared to defend yourself when dealing with a trespasser is only sensible.

Covid vaccinations are still free in Australia, and recommended every 6 months. I take them as soon as they are available to take.

Before moving to Japan last year, I was getting mine in the US (also for free). I was lucky to avoid contracting COVID for a long time, but when I finally did get it in 2022, my symptoms were mild and relatively short-lived, one of the claimed benefits of the vaccines. Here in Japan I'm going to have to shell out for the next one, but i'm a geezer, so at least there will be a discount.

I kinda hope he gets off light...then crosses the border and tries pulling that crap in NK. That will be the last we ever hear of this bellend.

Ladies and gentlemen, your LDP in a nutshell. ;)

But as others have pointed out, the procedure is needlessly tedious and you can't really blame the guy.

and why no staff came to her immediate assistance? At first grab something should have been done.

Agreed. As soon as that nonsense began, some additional staff should have bundled that drunken lout up and chucked him out the door.

When a collision seems imminent, just enjoy it.

I've gotten to the point where I've stopped going out of my way to avoid pedestrian collisions with phone zombies. If they can't be bothered to pay even cursory attention to their surroundings while in the very act of moving through them, then the results of the collision are on them. I do come to a stop before impact, though. As a stocky 181cm Westerner, I'm a good bit bigger than the large majority of folks here in Sapporo, so they basically just bounce off.

"Hmmm...how can we make the Japanese work experience, including the process of job seeking, even more stressful and horrific?"

[...]

"Hey, I've got an idea!"

Oh, thank goodness they were able to curb all that "unruliness!" Some of it might even have been committed by...gasp...FOREIGNERS!!! Japan is saved!

Not unlikely that he has been providing material to those sites.

That's a really good insight, Legrande. This creep's like "Hey, I'm not just some ordinary pervert...I'm a content creator!"

Barring extenuating circumstances (and it's hard to think of any likely ones), this creep should hang.

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Japan were frankly unlucky not to have gone further than they did in the last WWC. Flat first half, fluky goals against, and dismally unlucky in the final 30 minutes. No knock on Sweden, but play that match ten times, with the teams on the form they were in at the time, Japan wins nine of them. Best team in that tournament on form. They played well at the Paris Olympics, but the luck of the draw had them face the eventual gold medalist USA team in the quarters. That game could have gone either way. The Nadeshiko have been on a very good trajectory...although we'll see if not renewing Ikeda's contract was a wise move.

But yeah, the WE League. The quality of play is high, it's pretty competitive across the table...and people don't go to the matches. Beleza (and of late Kobe and Uwara) have been getting picked over by wealthy Euro clubs, too. Tokyo_m mentioned the ticket prices, and it might be a good idea to lower them, push the marketing in every way possible, and try to make enough new fans to let the volume more than make up for the reduction.

I’m all for the buyout of US Steel by Nippon Steel but come on… that has much larger repercussions 

In terms of strategic importance? Sure. But in terms of revenue, Seven & Holdings is a larger company than Nippon Steel (by about 30% in 2023).

Good for her...but unless the clerk was obviously in danger of serious injury, I'd probably be inclined to stay out of it, myself. Not so much out of fear of injury but because being the only obvious foreigner involved when the police arrive has all too good a chance of not working out well.

China has the largest navy...

Well...sort of. China has the most vessels, but a whole bunch of them are basically civilian-type light cargo haulers and such. China's navy is half the tonnage of that of the US.

Japan is so absurdly backwards where cannabis is concerned. It's legal in a growing majority of US states, and the results are overwhelmingly positive: less stress on the prison system caused by imprisoning non-violent offenders, massive increase in tax revenues, a more controlled, tested (and much cheaper) product, reduction in revenue/power of criminal gangs, etc.

Yes...until it's replaced by something newer, probably a neural implant fulfilling many of the same functions plus others. A tech regression, though? Only if we bomb/virus/emit ourselves back to the stone age.

That picture has to be damaging to the pride of Americans.

Not to this American, it isn't. Japan is one of America's most trusted allies, and a Japanese company's ownership is far, far less of a security risk than allowing the Chinese steel industry to drive US Steel out of the market. That could hardly be more obvious...except to the slack-jawed reactionaries both US political parties are pandering to.

Not if its a "Free Palestine" t shirt....

They don't want to take the legal risk of leaving off the "...with proof of purchase" part.

Good. The IOC is a ludicrously corrupt, administratively incompetent joke of an organization.

If only countless pictures of women in their underwear could be readily found on the internet...

I don't use 7-11 all that often (I live in Hokkaido, so there's Seicomart...), but they're an acceptable alternative. If this goes through, I hope they don't make changes for the worse...but as others have pointed out, that's probably unlikely.

Hopefully they'll get rid of those stupid semi self service cash registers.

I don't know...I kinda like having a place to just dump all my accumulated 1-yen coins...although I guess just tossing them in the charity box is a better alternative.

her breath was found to have four times the legal limit for alcohol.

Nonsense.

Yeah, that doesn't make sense, really. I mean, Japan's legal BAC limit for driving is 0.03, and 0.12 BAC is perfectly possible (although pretty drunk)...but there's no legal limit involved in riding the bus, I don't think. Conversely, there is no allowable amount for someone below the legal drinking age. Sloppy writing...

Imane isn’t a man

That shouldn't be the argument, at least not my the modern understanding of gender (that is, as a social construct). But she may very well not be female in biological/genetic terms.

There is 0 proof she has male chromosomes

Nor is there proof she doesn't. That's the crux of the problem: there are no publicly verifiable test results available. And the IOPC (foolishly) eliminated sex testing years ago, leaving the matter up to individual national organizations' requirements and going by athletes' passports, a ludicrous (non-)standard for proof.

The IBA that she was disqualified from never disclosed the testing methods they used to justify her disqualification

Nor can they, legally. Those are a matter of confidential medical record. They did, however, cite the labs used, and both of those labs are multi-accredited testing laboratories. There is no reason to doubt the accuracy of the tests...we just don't know what those results are.

But you know how that could be solved in an instant? The athletes could agree to the release of that that data. I wonder why they don't do that? Or why Khelif withdrew her appeal of last year's ban and Lin never appealed at all (if an appeal had gone to court, those results would have become public record).

The IBA is an extremely distrusted “sports authority”

No argument there. But their opposite number in this matter, the IOC, as also one of the most corrupt organizations in sports history. Each have teh credibility of a politician's promise.

People on both sides of this fiasco have been making confident statements that "Lin is a man!" or "Khelif was born a biological female!" despite having zero firm knowledge of what they're talking about (or if they do, they're on shaky legal ground re: confidentiality). But questioning these boxers' biological sex is not an unreasonable position (although too many who have done so have been strident and disrespectful about it, which is unnecessary), and the IOC needs to step up and address this before 2028. Bring back sex testing.