Equality comments

the government thinks that they can stimulate the economy by increasing the sales tax

The government doesn't want to increase the sales tax to stimulate the economy - a strategy that has been criticized by leading economists - but rather to simply to increase its coffers. It not only needs this money to pay down the ridiculous amount of debt it has accrued, but to fund more 'committees' and 'working groups' for useless studies (i.e. more $$ for cronies) and to fund more projects, which increase their kickbacks. The J. government is unbelievably corrupt. Why don't we hear more about it? Because the Abe government has muzzled reporters with its new secrecy law!!

Yeah ... great idea. Let Iran continue to build the bomb and take away Israel's nukes at the same time. OH, I FORGOT, Iran's 'secret' underground nuclear facility and thousands of spinning centrifuges are simply to meet it's energy needs. Silly me ...

As polite as clerks are, most shoppers are just as respectful toward the hard-working individuals who are ringing their purchases up.

I suppose that's true if one considers grunts in response to questions being respectful.

Better coffee than cream at least.

No doubt they would have made off to the local yaoya-san to buy some bananas!

@Illyas - An argument can be made for polygamy, but after mentioning pedophilia, you lost all credibility.

I'm surprised that NHK (or any networks) covered the Yokohama rally at all. They'll soon get an earful from Abe's cronies!

The fight seemed a lot closer than that. In fact, after hearing the judges scores, most of thought that Pacquiao had got the win. The judge who scored it 118-110 must have seen a different fight than we did!

Good for him. I applaud his efforts to represent those who are on the fringes of Japanese society. It takes a lot of courage for him to interact with the general public this way.

Distancing themselves from sex, movies, beer, and romantic love? Those are four of my favorite things!

@kcjapan - For a person who murdered, maimed, and injured hundreds of innocent civilians? I would completely disagree.

Farmboy,

You should have read beyond the headline of the link that you included, since the story is about the defeat of a resolution to have nuclear inspections in Israel - through voting by the members of the IAEA, not about Israel itself refusing inspections.

Israel is presumed to have a large arsenal of nuclear weapons - nobody disputes this. The point that I was making is that Iran has consistently played cat and mouse with nuclear inspectors (evidenced by news stories in the International Herald Tribune between 2008 and 2011), despite signed agreements to allow them in. Former Iranian president Ahmadinejad, other government officials, and the Ayatollah's of Iran have consistently called for Israel's destruction, while Israel has never threatened any other nation, as they simply want to be left in peace. The wars it has engaged in have always been after the provocation of Arab, Persian (i.e. Hezbollah, Iran's proxy) or Palestinian attacks, kidnappings, and/or rocket fire. Israel has never threatened to use it's nuclear arsenal, which it is purported to have had since the 1960s.

By the way, I would fully support an agreement between Iran and the West that severely limits Iran's ability to develop weapon's grade uranium. Given its repeated threats of the past, I think this is reasonable. The agreement that was expected to be signed just before this one would have been just that, had Iran not backed out at the very last second. By all the accounts that I've read, the current agreement doesn't go far enough to limit Iran's nuclear enrichment capabilities.

I hope you can now better understand the point I was trying to make.

why has there been unprecedented inspections of Iran by the IAEA

Because Iran consistently denied they were enriching uranium beyond that which was needed for power generation (which was proven to be false).

One major question is why has there been unprecedented inspections of Iran by the IAEA but the strongest opponent of the deal, Israel, which has hundreds of nuclear weapons, has never allowed an inspection.

That's not true. Do some research.

@warispeace - Every time there is an article even remotely connected to the Middle East, you jump all over Israel with accusations and insinuations. Are you really that passionate about the Palestinian's cause or do you have another agenda?

The noise that blares from used-goods shops' trucks, campaign vehicles of government candidates, and hate slogans from nationalists are okay, but the noise from children playing outside isn't? Talk about messed up priorities.

al-Shabab, IS, and other terrorist groups that target innocent civilians are both maniacal and cowardly. It's hard to imagine that anyone could condone, let alone carry out, these mass murders.

I totally turned around a small, fledgling English school with the vision of turning English learning on its head.

Okay ... that sounds interesting. What is your new, inventive method?!

The Power English (PE) approach is communication based, getting people to speak and speak naturally.

Wow! You use the communicative approach, like 90% of North American ESL programs and about 2/3 of native English teacher led university and adult EFL programs in Japan! (Yawn)

Best to avoid all these chains if possible, or at least cut down on the number of visits.

I can't wait for the book and movie to come out!

"Our immigration policy is predicated on equality, which is guaranteed in Japan."

HahahahaHAHAHAHA!!!!

@kurisupisu - Quite a list of non-facts there. How about some sources to back them up?

bulldozing to death (literally ) international observers

You're obviously referring to the Rachel Corrie incident (who is one person, by the way, not "observers". The driver of the bulldozer testified in court that it was an accident.

torture of children

Now you're just being ridiculous. What's next, "serving Palestinian babies as hors d'oeuvres"?

Every time there is suicide involved, you have a good reason to believe that there is foul play involved. This leads me to believe that it was an inside job to distract attention from the media in which police was the perpetrator and out of a sudden it becomes the victim. The powers out there are dirty and do all kinds of things.

Either that, or

The officers' killer, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, committed suicide shortly after the brazen daytime ambush on a Brooklyn street. Investigators say Brinsley was an emotionally disturbed loner who had made references online to the killings this summer of Garner and Brown, vowing to put "wings on pigs" in retaliation.

Hmm ... I wonder which one is true?

Totally agree with randomenigma about the hypocrisy of the lawsuit. "Unfair Competition" is what most airlines should BE SUED FOR, given their collusive practice of jacking up airfares during peak periods. Not to mention the huge increase in ticket prices when oil has expensive, but no reduction in those prices since the price plummeted.

It would be better to package it as a volunteer experience, with a small(er) amount of money being paid out to cover expenses. Calling it a "Heavy Snow Region Experience Tour" seems pretty sly to me.

I'm not saying it's the woman's fault, but it's been my observation that many young Japanese women are too naive and trusting. They go overseas and if they meet a local (usually male) who speaks even a smattering of Japanese, they can rather easily get picked up

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Let's say that sentence is correct and/or is a genuine observational belief. Do you really think (in hindsight) it's appropriate to mention such a 'delicate' topic at this time when the news has just broke. Put yourself in the the place of this young woman's parents, imagine them reading what you wrote .....

I totally agree with you, Noob, and was dismayed (and actually a bit disgusted) to read what Underdawg wrote. The woman who was gang raped over three weeks may have been a bit too trusting, but what happened to her was NOT her fault IN ANY WAY WHATSOEVER.

Anyone not wanting to eat their cigarette alit, should better put it out in my presence.

I'm only going to places where smoking is not allowed...

Lucky for the smokers .... they won't have their lit cigarettes jammed down their throats by Ebisen.

We have a way to prove that we have nothing to do with the case without resorting to torture, as what the CIA does, [North Korea] said.

LOL Yeah ... I guess all the UN and Amnesty International reports, in addition to what dozens of escaped dissidents have to say, is untrue then.

The fact that anyone would believe the hateful lies from this 'writer' is sad in itself.

Classic quirky Japan! Love the blushing tooth as well. Nice touch. :-)

Amusing and well written article, plus the additional smile from choiwaruoyaji's comment. Glad I stopped by!

I agree with Southwest Yamatojin. Maybe if there were more than seven outdoor trash cans in the entire city of Tokyo, people would have a place to discard their garbage (slight exaggeration, but not by much)! The sarin gas attacks were more than 20 years ago, and there's still a paucity of trash cans in Tokyo. People can't be expected to carry their garbage around with them all night, can they?