Fair dinkum! comments

Unfortunately, I see this kind of 'deterrent' having no effect at all. The only thing it will do is alienate the J-cops even more than they are now. I am also curious to see how vigilant they are and how long this lasts. I'll give it a week at the most. Just this morning I saw a middle-aged freak at my station running around yelling abuse and giving the finger to no one. The saddest thing is, he looked just like everybody else and he was just ignored by passersby and the train guards. If Japan is serious about doing something for this problem people have to start taking notice and reporting these incidents and the police have to start taking action. All these freaks need to be detained and their mental state needs to be assessed before they do something on the scale of Sunday's atrocity. I caught a guy taking an upskirt photo of a high school girl at a station last week. However, there was nothing I cold do because due to way the law is, I would have been in more trouble than him if I tried to detain him. So, I had to settle for a bit of Janglish abuse and watch him walk away to do it again. I have no idea what the answer is, but is not token searches.

This event must bring about some awareness of the problems in Japanese society. The international news has proclaimed the offender to be a crazed comic and video game fan. One of the quotes from an international news site was, "He deserves the death penalty." Is this really the answer? The death penalty clearly does nothing to stop this kind of crime from crazies. He deserves help and the victims deserved to have his threats taken seriously. One of the international sites claims he mad a post on May 26th about and attack on June 8th in Akihabara. When will there be a serious attempt at policing and monitoring these websites for these suicidal and homicidal maniacs? If his threats were taken seriously yesterday may have just been another sane day in Akihabara.

I just watched the video of the arrest again and as much as the police did seem to be in control they also looked very complacent and were actually polite to this fiend. I know his treatment in Oz or the US would have been much more severe and the blood on his head would have been his own. He was also cuffed with his hands in front of him. I've never seen that anywhere else but here. It's very odd that the J-cops can be so polite to this guy, but they are complete a_holes when it comes to checking one's gaijin card for authenticity. There is no surprise the threats made on the website were ignored. This whole event is being ignored by staff of the Jp high school I work in. No comments what-so-ever!

These websites and many more like them must come under closer scrutiny in an attempt to curb this spate of violent and sadistic crimes. The suicide sites should just be shut down.

Yeah, very sad indeed. It is very easy to point the finger at the father, but it wouldn't be appropriate to do so. Kids will be kids, but then again, why were 5 and 6 year old kids playing in a river unsupervised. I won't even let my 6 year old daughter take a bath unsupervised. Maybe I'm just overprotective.

Aw c'mon rjd_jr, that was 70 years ago. I'm sure there are more pressing issues that need to be dealt with. Hopefully they can strike an agreement about whaling - The agreement being, no whaling in the southern oceans at all!

Baby hatches are a good thing for people who have the right state of mind to act responsibly, but there is only one baby hatch in Japan. Maybe they could franchise them and put them into all the 7/11 stores around Japan. Heck, we could even go one further and have 7/11 selling them too.

Jersey mate, suicidal people are twits. Most of them are just attention seeking selfish individuals. It is much easier to take your own life than to throw away a baby. I see no connection between the emotional states at all.

<strong>Moderator: Stay on topic please. </strong>

The old "I was drunk and don't remember" ploy. How many times have we heard that this week?

As sad it is, this kind of atrocity happens in every country in the world. There is no easy answer. The mother was obviously sick and distressed. Until the mother is found it is impossible to speculate on the circumstances or reasons for the disposal of this baby. I'm not defending this woman's actions. I'm just pointing out that jumping to the wrong conclusion and generalizing this as a Japan specific problem is wrong!

<strong>Moderator: Readers, please stay on topic. Whether or not this happens overseas is not relevant.</strong>

This offense carries a maximum of 15 years jail in Australia, however, this guy probably won't even get fired! I think a suitable punishment would be to leave this guy in a room with the extended family of the little girl he abused. I'm sure they'll come to an understanding.

And, the beat goes on and on and on!

Government data showed at least 84 such suicides throughout Japan in May. Police have begun cracking down on popular websites that give specific instructions for mixing the chemicals and encourage suicides.

Ummm.... What exactly do they intend to do? There have recently been a few countries that have banned access to certain websites within their country, China being one of them. Why doesn't Japan do the same? That would seem to make sense to me.

Ummm.... is this an attempt at justifying the profound emotional immaturity and instability of most Japanese males?

It hasn't worked!

No Stranger! The Norwegian and Icelanders are allowed to hunt whales under agreement with the IWC as it is a major food source in those countries. However, I don't understand how they are allowed to sell the meat on the international market.

ihope2eatwhales - I hope you do get to eat all 80 tons of it. I just hope you are still able to place pointless posts on here from your hospital bed in the toxicology ward. I little bit of lead goes a very long way. ENJOY IT!

Now Australia and New Zealand are trying to push their own "anti-whaling" agenda under the guise of the IWC.

Not so much 'under the guise of', but with very little assistance from.

He couldn't have hit them so hard, or they would be dead. Children are little, so hitting and killing them would be easier than with an adult, because children are smaller and more fragile, and adults are bigger so actually damaging an adult with the car would be more difficult than with children of this age that are smaller and easier to break the bodies. So, he couldn't have hit them too hard. Maybe foot off the gas? Or pressing the break?

Are you serious? Which parallel universe are you from that makes any sort of violent action against kids acceptable? In Australia he would also be charged with 'using a vehicle as a deadly weapon' and would face ten years in jail for that alone. This ingrate will get off with a warning by pleading temporary insanity (since birth).

Yeah, kids will be kids. It is unfortunate this poor little boy is dead and it is a little unfair to place all the blame directly onto poor parenting, however, if they were conscientious parents they would not have been in a comic cafe in the first place. They would have been at the park watching him learn and grow. Sad!

Shaken is cheap! It costs around $1,000 for two years. It costs around $6-700 per year to register a car in Oz although, there is no road tax on top of the registration. And, of course, no parking fees.

Oh shame! Yes, the aftermath of the atomic bombing was so terrible. Wouldn't be more relevant to make a documentary about why the west was given no choice but to carry out a major genocidal attack on Japan? I do not condone the use of the A-bomb, but the reasons for its use were very clear. History can't be changed, but let's not forget the lead up to the bombing.

rjd_jr - Whale meat, does a body good.

Are you for real? Isn't the IWC's main point to stop 'commercial' whaling? How do the northern Europeans get away with commercial whaling? And, you are right! Australia will never stop its war against whaling.

What normal person would eat this highly toxic garbage? What kind of a person would give it to their kids? Ummmm......Japanese, right?

Yeah, by the description in the article it is a standard drain that appear all over Japan and most are uncovered. I've always wondered what legal grounds I would have if I or one of my kids fell into one of these causing injury. Could the local council be sued for neglect?

Owning cars in Japan is very different to the west. It's actually difficult to find secondhand cars in bad condition due to the abundance of newer cars. If a secondhand car is deemed to be a shocker it is either scrapped or shipped OS. Buying a new car in Japan is a con. If you pay 4,000,000yen for a new car, by the time you have driven it around the block a few times it has devalued by at least 25%. Keep it for five years and it is worth around 15% of its original value. Buying secondhand cars is dangerous unless you are sure what you are doing. For example, you could buy a nice economical 9 year diesel van with low klm's for around 250,000yen only to find out you can't get shaken for it in the area you live. There is also a fairly large proportion of 'cut and shut' secondhand cars for sale. This used to be popular in Oz during the 70's, but it was banned, although it is still done in Japan by less scrupulous dealers. Then there is parking, which can be a killer! Before you even consider buying a car check into parking in your area. Not only for the price, but also for the availability. My friend had to park his car one station from his house and pay an extremely large monthly rate for his trouble.

In my opinion, unless you really need to own a car in Japan don't. It's not worth it. Renting cars is a much more economical way to go. Leasing can be good also, although, you are virtually paying the car off for the time you have it and unless you are self employed there are no real tax breaks to gain, so your money just goes down the drain.

These parents will not be inline for the 'parent of the year' award. I do feel a tad sorry them, but mostly for the little boy who now has no future. Two year olds are like lightening, which is even more reason to keep a constant vigil watching them. Just because anybody can have kids doesn't mean everybody should!

What kind of comment can one possibly post about a story like this? It's just despicable! I hope the police have given him the phone book and rubber hose treatment.

I'm not sure if incompetent is the right adjective. I'm sure they must have quite a high level of competence due to their strict training, however, there are words like, diligence, conscientiousness and common-sense that do seem to be lacking in the police force.

Such a waste! Just another victim of this epidemic. I wonder how long it will be and how many more teenagers will take their own lives before the Jp Gov. decides to take real steps to address the problem of teenage suicide and suicide in general. 30,000 suicides a year and most of them teenagers is something you don't see on the tourism advertising. There was some laimo jumped off the Musashino line this morning, just to add one more to the total.

I have no idea what kind of toilet this guy has, but I know I can't flush anything bigger than a wad of six tissues down my toilet. That means, this demented twit has had to cut her body into pieces half the size of a fist to flush them. The police searched this guys apartment twice while the remains (or part there of) were still in the apartment, but they didn't find anything. Either this guy is a magician or the the key-stone cops have been at it again.

Freddy Cruger

1 million yen worth of poison has been taken off the streets of Japan by an honest person.

They were not on the streets. They were planted in his luggage by a law enforcer. I wonder how happy your ending would be if it were your suitcase RomeoRamen11? This whole case stinks (like pot)! He should be fired and the entire agency should be reprimanded.