FineDiner comments

Such is the power of alcohol. If only he was stoned he would have looked at the night sky all night and written poetry for her.

I read that their fans compared him to Ronaldo at Real Madrid in terms of star-pulling power. Yeh, riiight...

If only he was high on some Hokkaido herb he would have been driving half the speed and all would be alive. They got it wrong don't they.

Oh yeh, and wait for the first of China's seven million troops to turn up.

This height excuse is baloney. The best national team in the world (Spain) is a bunch of shorties.

More viruses than you could poke a stick at inside THAT building...

I am sure it can speak better English than most of the Japanese English teachers I have met.

No, for 2 simple reasons. 1.They had them already. 2.They do not deserve it, with a overtly racist Governor like Ishihara at the helm.

Saw this on the news last night. He is not even being charged for murder, merely bodily assault causing death??? Another innocent victim of alcohol.

Slaves in Suits.

The sooner these 2 fogies cark it, the better off this country will be.

If only he had lit a joint and smoked it before the meeting he would most probably come up with some creative and positive input to put towards the economic crisis. Japan once again shows its drunken immaturity on the world stage, and meanwhile uni students are horse raped for having a puff.

In perhaps 20 years I think that the whole state will be uninhabitable because of bushfires, drought, heatwaves, lack of water (presently Melbourne is on a 150 litres a day water limit). These ongoing problems are not going to go away as global warming continues its impact. Combined with a city (Melbourne) completely lacking in infrastructure you can class Melbourne as one of the first unlivable cities to occur in the world due to lack of foresight from governments and global warming problems.

Legalize it.

So, we have to constantly be on the lookout to give up our seat for more than 30% of the population. We may as well not sit down in the first place then. Give us a break.

Looks like they just committed chikan.

pretty ugly if u ask me.

Pot will continue to gain popularity in Japan especially among university students in the future and not because of any cool image portrayal, because of university students growing up and smelling the flowers. That is, they are discovering not only is it a relatively harmless drug when consumed in small to moderate amounts, it also has less side effects than alcohol, and makes one more relaxed in today's stressful world and of course does less social damage than alcohol and tobacco. You would all be surprised by the amount of Japanese aged in their 20s and 30s who consume pot these days.

The X and Y generations are basically catching up on the West's 60s and 70s university drug use and experimentaton. As Japan is behind the West in most social norms by 20 to 40 years (take smoking in cafes, the use of technology in education, making people wear seatbelts in back seats of cars, the number of women in top managerial posts or parliament among many other things) it is just Japanese society growing up.

Less RACISM! Racism is still racism no matter how softly it is portrayed, whether it be from an obachan, policeman or ryokan owner. My father has had personal experience of not being allowed to stay in a Ryokan, so he had to stay in a tacky business hotel in Takayama, great tourism expereience that was...

Time for Japan to get a new coach.

Not to mention thousands of restaurants in Tokyo where you can walk in a pay 500-1000 yen for a satisfying meal and good service. In London or Sydney a min. $20 will get you a basic, possibly crud meal with bad service.

Tokyo is not expensive if you are sensible with whatever money you have.

Take 5 examples. To go 5 stops on the tube in London is 1200 yen, in Tokyo it is about 200. In my hometown Sydney, tobacco is $10 a pack, here it is under 300 yen. A bottle of Absolut vodka in Sydney is $50, here I get it for 1500 yen. Childcare in Sydney is on average $100 a day, that equals about 200,000 yen a month, in Tokyo it is 20,000 yen. My very local fruit and vege shop,(it depends where you live in Tokyo) is on average 20-30% cheaper than if I was shopping in Australia.

As much as many foreigners here gripe about Japan and its problems(myself included), there are many advantages of being here, one being the opportunity to save money here compared to in our home countries where inflation, rents, utility costs and most others have soared in the past 5 years. Otherwise I would not still be here.

forget about it, just like the Japanese forgot about the Comfort women.

whats the big deal, I have been selling my nude pix on mixi for ages...