desmosedici comments

LOLs what would the alternative be?

How about the Chinese made iPed. Have been on sale for a while. Looks exactly the same as the iPad, same functions, it works, but sells for less than 10.000 yen. Maybe somebody skimmed a load of these things from the factory where they make the Apple one and applied a different sticker.

It's a perfect outfit if you are or aspire to be a geinoujin.

They'll need a hell of big billboards and loudspeakers to target a few more hundred meters.

Well, from what they showed on tv, if they would put these speakers in the middle of Tokyo, you'd be able to hear it as far away as Tokyo Disney Land.

Didn't they have a similar incident last week? Burned out taxi + driver inside. Think it was near Hiratsuka. Which is not too far from Fujisawa. Could be somebody with a rather brutal mo.

Well, it certainly looks like it. Political posturing in front of the Okinawan electorate. They have been strung along for many years now from what I've been reading. The Okinawan authorities and the central government could have saved everybody a lot of time by just saying 'we do this for that amount of money'.

The remnants of the torpedo found at the location of the sunken South Korean ship match a torpedo in a North Korean "sales brochure", a type imported from China. They found Hangul lettering on some parts and this torpedo is and was never in the South Korean arsenal. Kim abruptly cut his recent trip to China short, apparently due to China not willing to hand out food, or whatever, outside that what the UN provides. Maybe there were other things China was not too happy about.

Apart from a shouting brawl in a bar in Yokohama China Town, in the early 80's, I have since not once seen a foreigner shouting, but then I am not frequenting bars anymore. I do have since seen many Japanese, men and women alike, shouting and otherwise misbehaving in public. Which would be statistically correct, since there are proportionally more Japanese than foreigners in Japan. I do trust that the actions of one person does not stigmatize the average foreigner here. Write an article when it's a common occurrence.

Sometimes they ask me why Kitano get's these awards overseas, but I wouldn't know it either. In a TV interview he mentioned once that he didn't want to make violent movies a la Clint Eastwood, but I have seen a couple of his movies and I found them pretty violent. But maybe his movies have some sort of message, what, I haven't a clue. In his latest movie Outrage, he utters 'bakayarou', like a chinpira, a good many of times, so guess it's some sort of yakuza movie.

So the "victim" and "witnesses" had all been drinking and drinking is a prerequisite in order to present yourself as a reliable witness. That's scary. Also, in Japan at least, if two or more altercations took place, and even if you were the initial victim, beating somebody up over something as minor as touching somebody, will leave you as the worser offender and lands you in deep doo. Ahum, the cops told me as much. It's a sad story, but still, personally I wouldn't have thought of killing myself after having been accused of groping.

It was probably the same kind of bike this sushi chef uses to deliver his fare, i.e. a Supercub, although police versions tend to be white.

I don't understand it, if Apple is so good, then why do they have such a small share of the market in comparison to Windows? And you can't blame Windows for all of the problems, it's the software makers that can't seem to get things compatible. Until this year, I paid for internet security and there were glitches now and then after updating. The paid versions also seem to slow things down. This year I bought a new PC with a McAfee trial version pre-installed. I got tired of it pretty soon and now using Security Essentials, which works just fine without slowing PC down and no problems to date. And it's free.

South East Asian foreigners, the dead guy and the culprit. But why on earth would you walk around with a knife?

And, she is wearing special socks that won't smell! Nippon no gijutsu they said on tv and added, with that sense of modesty I somehow mistakenly attributed to the people of these lands (before I came here of course), Japan contributed over 50% of the know-how that went into this space station. Somehow such claims, whether fact or not, always makes me cringe.

I don't understand why one would defend Toyota. They are just as crooked or not as crooked as any other car manufacturer, although on a personal level, you usually are being screwed by the dealer. Anyway, you have to ask yourself why Toyota has for years employed a couple of former NHTSA employees, who reportedly have successfully fended of impending recalls, saving Toyota a lot of money initially, but which could have saved lives. Now, one could blame these former NHTSA employees for misleading their former employer, but why would Toyota hire these people in the first place? No other car manufacturer seems to be engaged in this practice. Here is an interesting article about it:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=atXvi2msqPOM

Myeah, an 18 year old student arresting a cop would somehow seem more plausible and news worthy when taking into account previous incidents. Hiding in the bushes, eh. That's how we kids caught chickens on the farm. Not exactly coming at you with all guns firing. In the end though, cop catches bad guy. I need a dose of Prius or tuna right now.

From what I have read, abiding by these ICCAT set quotas has not worked. This whole ICCAT seems to be a waste of time. What I don't understand though, this is about a species frolicking around in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. It's not about every single blue fin tuna on the planet. Why aren't Japan and newly found friends not staying closer at home, i.e. the Pacific Ocean? It was also funny to see a new program this morning gloating about this "victory" while also questioning how much and where the presumably freshly handed out ODA (=bribes of course) was going to. Really! Well, I know where it's coming from, your tax money, stupid. And what deal did they struck with China? Heard in a back room: "Ah, yes China-sama, you vote for us on this tuna thing and we will vote with you on sharks"?

Well, interesting place for sure. I see that they changed their menu a bit. Before it read under "omakase": Whatever comes out of the trunk of our Benz, if you know what we mean, wink, wink. And planes can actually park in front of the place. That's a smart move. Nobody will notice all the Mercedes cars pulling up behind the building.

The owner is a Mr. Brian Vidor, born in LA. And, with $60 per serving, has probably only a financial interest in whale meat. That leaves the question as to how he obtained the stuff. I read that the restaurant staff suggested that the meat came from a Benz parked behind the premises. If true, this would be rather unusual to say the least.

Exactly, the US government is not engaged in designing and manufacturing cars and car related parts. Their only interest is keeping people at work. I am not American, but maybe these congressional hearings is the way they handle these things over there. If I recall correctly, these executives from these American car makers in deep doo were berated relentlessly in their own media and citizens. You won't see that here in Japan. The only thing you will see here on tv is a representative of a company handing over a pile of documents to some government official. Also, in the United States, even now, many Americans are making fun of their own car manufacturers, which by the way is not fair and not the reality. I have seen on a variety of new programs the words "it's Japan bashing" being uttered. The fact is that people died and that Toyota still doesn't know the true cause of this problem. Lentz said it himself. Sorry to mention it again, but we all know the elevator manufacturer that was basically run out of town due to 1 (nevertheless very unfortunate) death due to poor maintanance of a subcontractor, Japanese mind you. It went on and on and on, while it was later reported that the elevators from National, Hitachi etc. didn't/don't fare any better.

Yeah, but will they take any of us? I can't maintain such women, not even one I am afraid. Lately many of my dreams are shattered when I peek in my bank booklet. And what's with the kidney belt. I do seem to remember that these were in vogue with motorcyclists of days past, trying to keep their intestines in place while sitting on some thumping Harley or British two wheeler.

They even threw it off a roof and it still ran.

It was on Discovery Channel: http://www.scotandlinnie.com/top10motor.htm They made millions and the engines are of a simple design and simple is still best. In defence of Ducati, nobody wanted to lend their bike to have it thrown of a building.

Yes, it might be a backlash. I read about a Camry accelerating out of control and slamming into the rear of a Chrysler of all cars. And if that was not enough, this Chrysler slammed into another Chrysler! No, it wasn't racially motivated, since a Nissan car was also taken out. So 1 Toyota took out 3 of the competition. This should be investigated...

Anyway, since I have had quite some close calls riding bikes, I seriously wondered what this highway patrol officer must have gone through. These people are experienced drivers and I am sure he would have tried to cut the engine, try to put it into neutral or step on the brakes. I read this clearly explained article and then it becomes apparent, that nowadays this is not as straightforward as it might seem. I also understand now that that Audi incident was not due to just "stupid" drivers.

Toyota has taken a massive hit to its rep, due to reports of floor mat-related unintended acceleration, and the automaker’s subsequent recall. The headline case: a fatal crash on August 28th. As The LA Times reports, a “runway” Lexus ES350 slammed into another vehicle and embankment, killing California Highway Patrol Officer Mark Saylor, his wife, teenage daughter and brother-in-law. The Times raises an important point: ” . . . a close look at the Lexus ES 350 raises questions about whether the car’s very design may have compromised Saylor’s skills. One obvious line of defense is to simply shut off the engine, a step that may not be intuitive on the ES 350. The car has a push-button start system, activated by the combination of a wireless electronic fob carried by the driver and a button on the dashboard. But once the vehicle is moving, the engine will not shut off unless the button is held down for a full three seconds — a period of time in which Saylor’s car would have traveled 528 feet. A driver may push the button repeatedly, not knowing it requires a three-second hold.”

The Times points out that the ES 350 was a loaner; Officer Saylor’s car may or may not have had a push button start. What’s more . . .

That procedure is explained deep in the owners manual. In a text box labeled “! Caution,” Toyota tells owners, “Do not touch the ‘power’ switch while driving.” But under the warning it adds, “If you have to make an emergency stop, press and hold the ‘power’ switch for more than three seconds.”

So what about shifting out of gear, per Consumer Reports’ advice?

The other common defense tactic advised by experts is to simply shift a runaway vehicle into neutral. But the ES 350 is equipped with an automatic transmission that can mimic manual shifting. And its shift lever on the console has a series of gates and detents that allow a driver to select any of at least four forward gears.

The arrangement of those gear selections could make it difficult to shift from a forward gear directly into neutral in a panic situation, Toyota spokesman Lyons acknowledged.

“I think it’s possible to get the shifter confused, but I can’t be sure that’s what happened” in San Diego, Lyons said. “You’d be surprised how many people around here [Toyota] don’t know what the neutral position is for.”

Don’t know what neutral is for? How about the brakes?

The ES 350 and most other modern vehicles are equipped with power-assisted brakes, which operate by drawing vacuum power from the engine. But when an engine opens to full throttle, the vacuum drops, and after one or two pumps of the brake pedal the power assist feature disappears.

As a result, a driver would have to apply enormous pressure to the brake pedal to stop the car, and if the throttle was wide open might not be able to stop it at all, safety experts say.

When Audi got hit with sudden unintended acceleration accusations, the “step on the brake while engaging gear” requirement was born. One wonders how this Toyota situation is going to play out from a regulation point-of-view. Meanwhile, lawyers. Lots and lots of lawyers. Not because it makes sense, mind you. But because this is how these things always play out.

People in the know think she doesn't have much of a chance, but nevertheless, I think it's a very courageous attempt.

The miniskirt police at work.

http://www.letsjapan.markmode.com/wp-content/uploads/image/interrogation.jpg

What is the fun of looking at that little screen all day?

It just shows you that instead of the hassle of having to go to the hospital/police station over such a trivial matter, he could just have said "sumimasen" and get on with his life.

I don't know if corruption has anything to do with this, but really, do these police officers have no sense at all as to how to behave when on or off duty? Wonder why they choose to join the police force in the first place.

Is Google maps not enough? I managed to find the odd car riding around in Pyongyang. Anyway, it must be getting crowded above NK. Hope they don't run into that brick NK claimed to have put into orbit.

No, she is now being labelled as "Sakai moto hikoku". Which is better than just "hikoku" I guess.

Yukio's pigeon-toed judo stance is puzzling.

The pigeoness switched him off it seems. Anyway, they do look odd in this picture, due to the person who took the shot.