DiscoJ comments

Illuminations in Japan are not specifically connected to Christmas. They really don't claim to be either. This Nabana no Sato event goes on until May! It's a festival of light.

Today's snow wasn't that bad. It was basically like rain as soon as it hit the ground. No reason for an enthusiastic jogger to take the day off. But for not so enthusiastic joggers, e.g. myself, obviously running in such treacherous conditions was unthinkable.

Maria: There are plenty of men in the photos above. The Scream guys, the people in the long shot and those 2 cyclopes are probably men too.

“Doctor Strange” opens in Japan on Jan 27.

Awesome

Tangerine2000: Exports are up just because Brexit sent the pound to its lowest levels in decades. Is that really meant to be a good thing?

Kansai-style friendliness at work again.

Needs more 'Let's Go By Train' experience.

I'm sure the Japanese will be proud when their 'shokubunka' results in the extinction of the animals they love (to eat) so much.

CH3CHO, in the UK, cars will generally stop if you are waiting at a crossing. It's not a 100% stop rate but it's way better than Japan's ridiculous 8%.

It's not even required by law to stop at a crossing in the UK unless the pedestrian has already stepped out. It's just a courtesy that many many drivers will grant you out of politeness and consideration.

6.9 billion yen to 49.1 billion yen needs thorough investigation. No 'the exchange rate changed'-type excuses can cover such a ridiculously wrong estimate.

Everyone saying the police need to get in gear is right. According to the Japanese article I read on the issue, by law you are supposed to stop at crossings for pedestrians and apparently the penalties for not doing so are a (max) 3-month jail term or a 50,000yen fine.

Reading the comments section on another website, it seems most Japanese drivers give the same kind of excuses that 'Speed' (above) does. 'Cars in other lanes won't stop, so I don't stop', 'traffic will build up behind me if I stop', 'I'll get rear-ended if I stop', 'I can't tell if the pedestrian really wants to cross or not', etc.

It's just inconsiderate and against the law. Again if the laws were actually upheld, behaviour might change.

Yubaru - It doesn't matter if the driver knows the exact 'one-click' distance. He just has to know that coming to a lingering stop might get him an extra ~10% on a low value ride. That might not have been the case, but it's even slightly hard to imagine.

Yubaru - By taking a little longer to stop than is necessary. This is probably exactly what suspect thought the driver did.

Laguna - Disrespecting a passenger in that kind of way (especially as you know you'll probably never see them again) is not acceptable. Taxis in Osaka, Tokyo, etc. are not cheap in the slightest. The 980 yen journey here was probably only 2.5 km or something like that. Not exactly a tough drive, just about short enough to walk.

NOTE: I'm not saying the taxi driver in this case did it purposefully. And even if he did, it doesn't justify assault, but it's not right for taxi to try to cheat customers in that kind of way. There's a reason people are often advised to be careful/get prices upfront when taking cabs in certain countries. I wouldn't want to see the same for Japan.

My point was that it needs to be reported more, until people become more willing lend a helping hand. I know it gets reported on, but sometimes the background/causes are left unreported (in general there are many cases of events being reported on, but follow-ups are lacking) and there's always the question of whether relatives, family, friends, etc. could've done anything to help avoid it. Government programs are great if effective, but I think the news media could be a powerful tool.

I don't blame these people for trying to avoid rice, but specifically going to sushi restaurants, wasting food they specifically ordered and then (in some cases) posting proudly about it on social media? There's something wrong with the way some people think these days.

I can admit to leaving rice behind when it comes 'unexpectedly' (e.g. as a side to a main dish), but otherwise I'll just tell the staff to exclude the rice. It's not hard to do.

It should be reported. It should be reported more, especially in Japanese media, until people wake up and extend a helping hand. I'll wait to see if more details about this case come to light, but the pattern of ignored-bullying driving kids to suicide feels too common here. It's a waste of a life and 'easily' avoidable.

bullfighter: In Tokyo, do you really not see how many people break the laws here. Apart from that Meiji/Hakusan place, have you ever seen anyone getting stopped? Or even seen an officer on patrol?

Whether it's better or worse than some other countries is borderline irrelevant. The point is whether people here are driving safely or not. In my pedestrian experience in Tokyo, generally low speeds and reasonably cautious driving styles do seem to keep the accident rate reasonably low, but pretty much anytime I pay attention to drivers I will see crap like unsecured children, dogs on laps, people stopping in random places, red lights being run, smoking behind the wheel, using phones, overshooting/ignoring stop lines, probable speeding (not that I have a speedometer or anything though), etc. I can recall seeing someone getting pulled over once in my entire time here (near Iidabashi/Imperial Palace). It's obviously not the majority, but it's present and extremely easy to spot.

Cyclists are worse though. And probably the only reason there aren't more fatal accidents there is that most of them just ride on the pavement (also against the unenforced rules).

They need more Japanese flight attendants. The first (and last) time I used them I don't think there were any native CAs aboard (at least not in economy).

Agree with goldorak, I'd love it if there was some Eurosport-style coverage easily available here. In the UK, the BBC's main coverage is also just heavily focused on sports with heavy UK-involvement. The only major exception to that is in athletics, where the main races (e.g. 100m, relays, etc.) get reasonable coverage regardless of who's expected to win. But in fairness, in the past they have had extra streams available for watching 'non-major' sports live.

Eurosport was great though, non-biased coverage and (largely) non-biased commentary whilst showing a wide range of different sports, regardless of the UK's chances.

FightingViking: Well how would YOU like to be cramped in a tiny space with 7 999 other people ???

Haha, in Tokyo that's not such an uncommon occurrence. Hell, visiting that exhibition is a great example of it.

Amazon deserves whatever they get. I'll admit I do still use it as it's good for consumers, but I've had experience of how bad some of their business practices are, and they're also very famous for not paying their taxes in some markets and also taking ridiculously long times to pay their suppliers.

I'm sure this raid will result in nothing but this little bit of bad PR, but they deserve what they get, even if there are politics at play.

This event obviously has nothing to do with Pokemon Go, it is in its third year already and has been popular in each of those years. I find it hard to believe that anyone would go thinking it was linked with Pokemon GO. The event doesn't need the cross-promotion at all (and if anything GO players would probably pay less attention to the pikachus in front of them).

ThePBot: The 'sharing economy' is nothing more than misnomer these days. There's no 'sharing' involved. It's more of a 'person-to-person' economy or something.

The government just clarify/revise and then actually enforce an appropriate set of rules.

I've always disliked the way AirBNB encourages people to skirt/ignore the rule of law, but as it has clear benefits and is not about to cause the dissolution of society, I'd be okay with seeing it legalised. Until then, if the renters are committing an offence by letting tourists stay, and neighbours are complaining, then the rentals need to stop.

I've used an AirBNB once, in Hiroshima, and the place, a large house on the hillside facing Miyajima, really was full of foreigners coming and going at random hours. I think that I, and everyone else there at the time, were well behaved, but it was pretty clear that the owner was running a full-on guesthouse in an extremely quiet neighbourhood rather than just renting out an unused room or two. I don't see any real reason why such an operation shouldn't be subject to standard rules and regulations. 'It's cheaper' is good for my wallet of course, but still not much of a justification in a broader sense.

A cool iPad stand.

I've met that dog

Housing is like the one area where Japanese people often express some individuality. Fashion and cars? Not in my view. For fashion, you can easily group people by their broad style even if the clothes obviously aren't exactly the same. Yes, there's more than one style, but Perhaps similar things can be said of many countries, but I've found it much easier to notice in Tokyo vs. my home city of London at least (which has the benefit of a more diverse populace I suppose).

For the cars.. sorry but where do you live/visit? In Tokyo and in all the parts of Japan I've visited, excluding taxis, 99% of cars on the road have been white, grey, black or silver. I guess there's variation in type/model but I was shocked when I noticed the severe lack of colour. It's only really sports cars and other high-end cars where a risky splash of red or deep blue might be seen.

I honestly don't think Japanese people are 'naturally' any less individual than other nationalities (peer pressure and 'cultural norms' exist everywhere), but when it comes to appearances, there is a higher level of conformity. I mean, can't even one of the 'recruit suit' wearers in this country put on a blue shirt?

dcog9065: These days it's only the basement dwellers that don't know about the X-Men.

beowulf: I don't disagree with your overall point (and I really agree foreigners seem more interested in Japanese group dynamics than any actual Japanese person I've spoken to), but the is pretty representative of how Japan's job market looks from the outside. The same can be seen practically anywhere at this time of year. The pic is just 'newsworthy' because so many similar looking are packed into one frame.

Also, the thing with Japan in this context is that the black 'recruit suit' is not really a uniform in the sense that everyone has to wear it, but practically everyone does wear it. And, as can be seen in the above pic, most (women especially) will even do their hair in a certain way. I think it does say something about the importance (and acceptance) of conformity in Japan. Wearing that specific suit (with that specific hairstyle) really has nothing to do with the jobs at hand, which is why practically no-one continues to wear them past the first few months/year.