deaneyed comments

It comes down to this. To be a man, you have to put your family first. If you make a mistake, you live with it and try to make it right, no matter how long it takes.

Good advice, but how about ''to be a human being''. Why do all of your points come with a perspective of the man being the villain? The man was either on the list to take his child or the day care messed up, badly. He had not run off with his son to a distant city. He was at a local shopping center. How do you suppose they found them??? The article doesn’t say, but they might have simply called him on the phone. Would that be the actions of a kidnapper? Perhaps he did intend to run but as usual, there is entirely too little information to condemn or condone.

It is a tough row to hoe, but once you find yourself outside of your family looking in, the only way to get back in there is through sacrifice.

I agree with the statement but not the assumption that the reason you are on the outside is always of your own accord. Sometimes, believe it or not those ''whiny'' fathers aren't at fault. Yet, often they still find themselves on the outside looking in. In some cases, the father might just be a bad husband, not a bad father. Heaven forbid. Does that justify, using your child as a weapon for revenge.

No they don't. Two or three whiny "fathers" who have been unable to keep their respective families together do not require or deserve a policy or legal initiative. They just need to grow a pair and be better people.

This statement is unbelievable. Since you have been so blessed due to your obviously superior relationship skills in keeping your family intact, you feel compelled to speak from the mountain tops to us lowly, whiners who must not have tried to behave as adults, or tried to reason with our exes. Our wish for a more balanced view regarding laws that are strongly in need of an overhaul to fit a very different society then the one in which they were first set to paper are due to a lack of balls, apparently. I too, come from a broken home, and was caught up in two parents not able to agree. So like you, when I started my own family I wished for nothing more than to keep my family together. However, unlike you my wish didn’t come true. Through the years I ultimately had to accept my ex’s decisions without question or I paid the price. That price was always a missed visit, or worse. sorry,…whining moment just slipped out) Unless you’ve lived it, step down from your high horse please. Being the better person doesn't necessarily get you visitation or anything for that matter. Going to court might or might not work in Japan, even if you are the better person.

BTW I wholeheartedly agree that divorce rates are too high in the west. People equate marriage with their own selfish needs instead of the families needs. This is one character trait I wish Japan would not pick up.

I also think Mikihouse is on the money. There is no proper social system in place for abandoned children in Japan. In Japan, children are your responsibility. No one elses. It is considered shameful to have givin birth to them and then not be able to care for them properly. Also, remember the women was Japanese. Suicide is an acceptable alternative culturally. Trolling for arguements about a culture is simply wrong. Murder/suicides are not exclusive to Japan. Would anyone on this post have taken these children in??? If they were right in front of you, maybe...but it's easy to assume someone else will pick up the ball and run with it, as armchair observers. It is tragic by any account.

When I say that the people can get rid of these idiots, I mean through elected officials. Elected official who can use the police to protect, elected officials that can make education a priority, and elected official who can promote healthy patriotism. I am not saying the people should go out and throw-down with them.

I think there is merit to both sides of this arguement. I feel the article does come off sounding condescending with racial undertones. That said, the Japanese people are the only ones who can legitimately get rid of these idiots. How they do that I'm not really sure. It seems to me that the nation has been striped of it's national pride in many ways, and these uber-nationalist are a result of this. Young Japanese men want to feel proud of their country and through ignorance perhaps fall in with these kind of rhetorical trash talkers. The country needs a facelift concerning healthy patriotism vs. militant facism. The emperor is correct in ignoring them. To speak out will most likely only fuel the fire. Proper education for the masses is a good place to start.

United States $350m in government donations, although this is expected to rise to $650m. Washington also sent military assistance involving 12,600 personnel, 21 ships, 14 cargo planes and more than 90 helicopters. Around $200 million of private donations, with $120m donated to the US branches of the Red Cross, Oxfam and Save the Children, and to Catholic Relief Services.

Ishihara is a waste of space in the first place. This kind of crap is par for the course. We all, hopefully, know this. As an American, I agree there should definitely be more discussion over the accords. A large percentage of Americans are quite happy to ignore the ugly truths of our lives of excess. However, just because one person sells it as a diamond, doesn't mean it is. The Accords need to be much more balanced and clarified if everyone is going to jump on. Using America as the punching bag is not helping. Every country has it's own interest in mind. It is quite natural. What?...Other countries don't manipulate? Machivelli anyone? It looks like the pot calling the kettle black.

Secondly, Americans gave nearly $300 billion to charitable causes last year, setting a new record and besting the 2005 total that had been boosted by a surge in aid to victims of hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma and the Asian tsunami. That's a quote from the Associated Press. I don't know what "net" check you're speaking of "Blacktea", but that was what I came up with. That's about nine hundred dollars per living soul in the US. I hope you gave more, otherwise,...