dolphingirl comments

The reason why some people live in fear is because their are so many people out there with gun!! The answer is clearly not more guns! Can't these gun fanatics see the faulty logic they are using? It's like saying their are too many fat people in the US and instead of trying to get these people to diet and eat right, let's just make everyone fat so it's all equal. Crazy and irrational thinking, right?

It has taken a long time for the US to dig themselves this hole and it will take a long time to get them out of it. But change can happen and it can start NOW. Imagine a country where every Tom, Criminal Dick and mentally ill Harry DO NOT have guns. Imagine how well Americans could sleep then. Imagine how they could feel REAL freedom and REAL safety.

It's just plain sad that there are so many fearful and paranoid people in the US who think they need a gun in order to feel safe and free. Really, what kind of freedom do they have if they feel they have to sleep with a gun next to their bed? I feel sorry for them.

Since when is it promiscuous for a woman over the age of consent to have sex? Such judgemental (and inaccurate) language in this day and age is the real shocker here.

Exactly! it's no wonder that fewer young women are having sex when they are labeled as promiscuous if they do have sex!! Seems like there are only two categories here; virgin and promiscuous.

I think, that the judges judgement was accurate. The reason being, that I think a birth certificate should contain the name of the biological parents, or nothing, if that information is unavailable. It is a legal document, and should be treated as such.

This has nothing to do with the birth certificate. It is about him being registered as the father. Lots of men are registered as fathers even though they are not the biological father.

The main thing here is Japan is STILL stuck in a world that is 20+ behind the rest of the world in many things. laws.. way they run the government.. etc.. This is just another check mark I can put down as Japan not growing or even contemplating the fact that world is changing... All I say is japan needs to grow up and stop trying NOT to change.

Spot on. Japan is definitely behind and will soon be left behind as the rest of the developed nations in the world progress with the changing times.

It seems to me (is it my own ignorance?) that too often in Japan judges just make a ruling on whatever their own personal opinions are, regardless of the actual laws or precedents in place.

Yup. That's about it. Along with being outdated, many laws are very vague with tons of loopholes. That way the 'justice system' and the authorities can bend them however they see fit.

I can't believe some of the ignorant and bigoted comments here. Get educated people!!

In regards to this article, first of all, he is legally recognized as a man and therefore should be able to be registered as the father of his wife's child. They can't pick and choose which men can be registered as fathers. Second, as another poster pointed out, why even bother with the terms 'mother' and 'father'? Why not just use 'parent'? Third, if this is what the couple wants, why should the government have any say in it? Funny how the family is their business when issues like this are involved but when it comes to child neglect and abuse or domestic violence, they don't want to have anything to do with it.

This was inconsiderate, selfish and arrogant. No doubt about it. All he was thinking was--I will play MY cool music and surely everyone will like it and feel relaxed like ME!

But honestly, the drug war has absolutely no moral basis and buckles under any logical assessment. If we're outlawing drugs based on danger and potential for abuse, we'd have legalized weed, ecstasy, and hallucinogens, and outlawed tobacco and alcohol.

Exactly! And then there are the legal prescription drugs that are commonly abused: sleep medications, codeine and other pain relievers, amphetamines...

Something is very wrong with the legal system in Japan.

This pretty much sums it up.

This is it for me and Japan. Ill put up with a lot of inconvenience and discomfort in order to live here with my husband, but this really is the last straw.

I feel the same way. It's really the principal of the thing. This country has some seriously screwed up aspects--the justice system is definitely one of them. The education system, the health system are also sorely lacking. Not to mention the threat of a major earthquake! I can no longer list even five things that I really like about living here. It's sad but true...

This shows the difference between the Western and Japanese view of marriage. In Western terms, most of these items would fall into the 'he must be a mature, independent, responsible, emotionally stable' category. ONE category. And the rest (like gambling, problem with alcohol, baggage) would probably go into the 'automatic deal-breaker' category. Then we have other common criteria like-- must be compatible with me, must be a good communicator. And finally we have more specific criteria like--must have a sense of humor or be intelligent or honest. Being in Love is usually a GIVEN.

In Japan, as Tina Turner would say--What's love got to do with it?

Just because more young women are not having sex, doesn't mean they are not interested in having sex!

Also, this decrease could be due to many reasons. Perhaps young women are more into their studies so they can get a good career. Or maybe they are more educated about sex and don't want to risk getting pregnant or getting an STD. Or possibly they are choosing to wait until they are in a solid relationship. Plus does Japan really want all their high school students having sex!

It cannot be assumed from this study that Japanese women are less interested in sex because the herbivore guys aren't interested in sex. Why didn't they ask WHY these women (and men) were not having sex?!

Bullying doesn't always manifest as fighting, it is a daily torment and often quietly done.

Very true. It can be hard to prove in some cases.

The focus should be on setting up bullying policies, educating children, parents and teachers on how to prevent and deal with bullying.

Keeping kids 'happy and interested' won't matter a bit if the child is not getting proper parenting. It all starts at home.

Romance is an art. Like many arts, it is also a means to happiness through creation. In the case of romance, it is the creation and maintenance of an interpersonal relationship, one which is in constant flux and endlessly interesting. Romance is the key to continued interest (and, by way of interest, passion)

YES!

more than half of the calls were made by, or on behalf of, people in their 20s.

Yup, it will be the young people who end up taking too much or using it incorrectly because they have little or no experience with any kind of drugs. But this happens with alcohol as well. How many teenagers have to go to the hospital to get their stomach pumped after excessive alcohol consumption?

Legalizing marijuana would quickly eliminate the need for many of these chemical substitutes. If it were regulated properly, there would be fewer youngsters able to get their hands on it and there would be labels stating the side effects. Plus hundreds of thousands of people suffering from cancer or other painful diseases could have access to an effective medicine.

merely their is not enough evidence to prove he commited the crime that would warrant further incarceration -- in plain English: we are pretty sure he did it, but we cannot definitely prove it.

This is the basis of any fair justice system. Innocent until proven guilty BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT. You can't just be 'pretty sure'. You have to be VERY VERY SURE. Clearly there is doubt here and it was right to release him. Hope they are doing more DNA testing of old cases to free others who are wrongly convicted. the justice system here sucks!

She should have been charged with obstruction of justice.

It does look like she may have killed her baby but if there is no proof, they cannot put her in jail for that.

Republicans like to trumpet "family values," but in the end it is nothing more than a dog whistle meaning anti-gay.

Exactly! Aren't 'family values' things like kindness, compassion, patience, responsibility, respect, diversity, etc...? And doesn't each family decide for itself what its values are? Gay people do have values, too! Like kindness, compassion, patience, responsibility, respect, diversity....

“Take those away, or take them for granted, and so many things can go wrong in a life. Keep them strong, and so many things will go right.”

Take WHAT away? Allowing gay marriage takes nothing away from straight marriage. It's not like a bunch of straight people are gonna suddenly think--Oh, great! Gay marriage is allowed!! Now I can marry my same sex lover!! --And suddenly the world will be filled with gay married couples.

Keep it in the bedroom, the same as (most) heterosexuals do.

First of all, the are not having sex in the streets. It's a parade for pete's sake!! It's all about celebrating diversity.

Second, most heterosexuals DO NOT 'keep it in the bedroom'. Heterosexuals talk about sex, make sexual innuendos, joke about sex, have TV shows with explicit sex scenes, have sexual content in books, comics, commercials, kiss, hug, hold hands in public EVERYDAY and EVERYWHERE. But somehow if a gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender person is expressing his/her sexuality in any way, they are being offensive. Can't you see what a double standard that is?!! You are being a homophobe AND a hypocrite so at least own up to it!

Wow! I am shocked at the number of poster who just don't get it at all.; all these comments like--You don't see heterosexuals parading the streets and flaunting their sexuality!!-- Gay Pride parade is not about SEX people, it is about AWARENESS and EQUAL RIGHTS for a minority group. Imagine if YOU were in a minority group and YOU were shamed into pretending to be something that you were not. Imagine if YOU were treated as a second class citizen and discriminated against. Imagine if YOU couldn't get married or see your partner in the hospital. Imagine if YOU couldn't even talk openly at work about your social life for fear of losing your job. Wouldn't YOU want to parade the streets once a year and try to protest against such discrimination and unfair treatment?!!

If you want to know someone's opinion about something, then ask that person what his/her opinion is. Everyone has had different experiences so why would you expect two people living in the same country, or even in the same area, to have the same opinion? Japanese people who are scared of foreigners obviously think that all foreigners are SO different from them that it would be like talking to an alien! We are all humans living on the same planet so we have WAY more similarities than we do differences. When it comes to the important things, we are really the same. Does it really matter that a Japanese mother puts her child's shoes in a bag? Why focus on something so trivial? As other posters have mentioned, it's best to appreciate differences but then realize how alike you really are!

And the best way to learn about cultural differences is to observe and experience another culture. Clearly you are doing that so why do you need to quiz your husband about what 'Americans' think?

...mean God!

Some people are saying that homosexuality is 'against nature' as if nature has some big plan for the universe. Oops, perhaps they actually mean! There is no plan and anything that exists in nature is natural. Just because a certain trait makes a species less likely to survive, doesn't mean that it can't or doesn't exist. Homosexuality has been around, in many species, for as long as heterosexuality. And probably in a fairly consistent percentage of the population. Certainly, if it were 'against nature' , or against Darwin, homosexuals would have died out long ago.

Excellent post timtak.

At the very least she should have been charged with abandoning a corpse and obstruction of justice. Did the police even bother to investigate further after they found out she had been lying to them?! Did they try to find out WHY she was lying? Did the mother give an explanation as to how the child had died? Clearly she had a guilty conscience and was trying to hide something. Way too little information in the article. It sounds like she got away with murder!!

Sure there is a possibility of an earth quake of such magnitude in the next 4 year, however there isn't any statistical evidence to points to it being a probable event

I think this is the point. A few months ago, they said 75%, then it was 70%, now they are saying 50%. Well, a 50% chance of something happening is only a maybe. It also means there's a 50% chance that an major earthquake WON'T hit Tokyo in the next four years. Plus, I'm sure they would give the same possibility for many areas in Japan.

it is time that people in this country become PRO-active instead of RE-active.

Well said!

why does these single ladies were only work part time?

Most of these 'part-time' workers actually work for 8 hours a day but get less than 200, 000 a month.

Frank Risso definitely said it best; and said it much better than the article did. Poor government, poor education and lack of people who want to make positive changes--these are BIG problems. I strongly dislike the word 'shoganai' because it basically says I am a powerless victim who has no control over things around me; therefore I will do nothing. Unless this attitude changes, Japan is going to find itself far behind other developed nations.

An investigation is currently underway to establish whether any illegal substances were mixed in with the herbs, TBS reported.

Yeah, and how about an investigation to find out what substance or substances in these 'herbs' caused the men to get sick. Sounds like they were doing a variety of this stuff and doing a variety of any kind of drugs, legal or illegal, is generally not a good idea.

Problem is half of all the people arrested in Japan are under 20. It's about time J-goverment change the law to age 18 as adult. In Japan, youth crime is not a problem relates to poverty. But rather you can say it’s more related to stress and developmental problems from children feeling they are not wanted or are lacking attention. Children have no time to play, they have no kids to play with, and they have no place to play. The result is that kids play alone, and this lack of socialization has a lot to do with the rise in crime by youth. It is becoming more and more difficult for kids to live socially, understanding the feelings of others, so they turn inward. At some point though, society makes it impossible for them to preserve their isolation and the result is a sudden show of emotions and eruptions of violence either verbal or physical.

I agree with most of your post--it's very likely that an increase of juvenile crime is due developmental problems in childhood. However, I don't understand the logic of saying that since there are more minors committing crimes, the age should be lowered so that some of those 'minors' will no longer be minors anymore. It's just moving a somewhat arbitrary line.

There is no proof that 18 and 19 year-olds in Japan are any more mature than they were before. Actually, the opposite is more likely to be true if there is indeed and increase in developmental problems caused by lack of socialization. If they are lacking social skills and the ability to feel empathy, then I would suggest that these teens are in fact getting less mature.

Why lower the age to 18? Because that's the age in other countries? Then why not 17 or even 16. Heck, at 14 kids know the difference between right and wrong. You do have to draw the line somewhere, though. But when you draw the line, you can't then say, well, but in this case, he should be tried as an adult because we feel like it. If you are going to decide on all punishments for minors on a case by case basis then why bother drawing the line at all.

It does sound like he is a sociopath or psychopath. And perhaps he can't ever be rehabilitated. But then probably 25% of prisons are filled with people who can't be rehabilitated. Should the government kill all of them too? And who gets to decide who can and cannot be rehabilitated anyway. It's not that black and white.

As other posters have stated, laws are there for a reason. Emotions should be kept in check.

Otsuki was originally given a life sentence. How can it be right that the campaigning of one man (albeit a badly wronged man) can overturn a court decision and send a man to his death? Either the court is allowing itself to be influenced by the emotions of the bereaved (thus negating any claim that justice is blind) or it is admitting that it made the wrong decision initially and that a member of the public with a vested interest in the outcome of the trial has greater judicial savvy or clout than the court. If as Judge Kanetsuki says, 'the death penalty was inevitable', why was it not passed at the beginning? How can it be inevitable now when it was apparently not inevitable 12 years ago? A court that makes wrong decisions (what court doesn't?) is surely not a court that should be handing out death sentences.

Well said, cleo! This whole thing just sounds wrong. Not only was he a minor, by JAPANESE law at the time of the horrific crime but there were also mitigating factors; he was abused and suffered a horrible loss as a child . (No, this in NO WAY excuses of justifies his actions but it should certainly go to how severe the punishment is.) Add to that the fact that the punishment was a life sentence until the father and husband of the victim seemed to have been able to get the death penalty on demand.

This is a revenge killing, as most death penalty cases are. Death penalty should be abolished and life sentences without parole should be an option.

In most cases, the child abuse was reported to police by hospitals after one or both parents sought treatment for their child.

In other words, they are basically only catching the worst cases of abuse (and probably only some of those), where the child has already been injured bad enough to necessitate a trip to the hospital. The actual number is likely way way more that. Usually it seems the police and/or child protective services KNOW of the abuse already but it continues anyway...until the child ends up at the hospital.

Other than doctors reporting suspected abuse, what are other authorities doing to protect children? Not much. They are still reluctant to get involved in 'family affairs' and parents rights still count more than the child's. Measures to prevent child abuse could be put in place too. How about more birth control, better educated parents, and trips to see children who are at risk?