forinagai comments

Wow...a whole 71 bicycles! Just outside my local station...an area of 5m X 5m can hold about 150!!

Still, I suppose it is a good start. To have such an area in downtown Marunouchi.

I bought my Lumix camera (Japan model) here in Japan...from YD....menu's in Japanese and English.

How to say Laphroaig ...sounds like LaFroy..g....Ah the Gàidhlig (Gaelic)

Muslims - the new 'baddie' in movies. I think if you let Hollywood influence the way you view the world, then your view would be kinda effed... huge meteors falling to earth, nuclear holocaust, huge monsters in downtown NY, planes crashing, killer machines, the list is endless.

In the words of Alfred Hitchcock, 'Don't worry about it, it's only a movie.'

shogun36 - the only reply I'll make to your comments is: ... People - reflect on what you write. Try to imagine your kid being in that position - have a little decency for goodness sake!

Stupid, idiotic comments to the effect of 'he should toughen up/be a man/was a thug' show absolutely no understanding of this story and why people feel the need to kill themselves.

A kid died/felt the need to kill himself. Simple 3 letter word. Sad.

Many of the distilleries in Scotland are owned by Japanese companies - is it possible that some of the techniques used in Scotland are brought back to Japan?

I don't know much about whisky and single malts, but I do know that many Japanese blended whisky brands contain malts from Scotland.

shogun36 - what a cold, heartless statement. So, you feel you have enough info from this article to judge him to be a 'punk' and not being enough of a 'man'? Idiotic statement.

hoserfella - where does it say he was a bully??

What unbelievable insights people seem to have here!

I, too, hope it was an accident, but part of me thinks otherwise (given what little info we have in this article).

My thoughts go to the parents and any of this boys friends.

Like the soles of his shoes! Look like little faces!

What is it about snow that people love? It's cold, wet, and ... and cold!

But I still love it!

Now there's a good case for court sanctioned sterilization.

Poor little mite ... I hope he gets real love in his life from now on.

So it's an 'unforgivable outrage' then it's kinda going to be difficult to resolve the situation. It is, afterall, something that cannot be forgiven.

Ah yes, the Shukan Post. That world famous magazine known for its incisive insight into world events. What a load of carp.

As much as I liked sumo ... a long time ago. This could at least be one nail going into the coffin. A few more nails are needed before the public get totally peeeed off.

I wonder how the guy was caught. Any word on who informed the police?

I still think most guys would be 'guilty' of being turned on had we access to young girls (15 or over) adult photos. Morally wrong/legally wrong ... just the 'human animal' in us all.

Actually age of consent for sexual activity according to Penal Code article 177 is put at 13.

He should be able to write whatever he wants.

The question is ... Should people buy his book?

I'd be interested to know what happens to the monies raised from the sales of books by criminals. And, yes I know he hasn't been found guilty.

The law is a bit of an ass.

It might be ok/legal for me to have a girl-friend who's 15, do 'lewd acts' with her. But, if I took photos, that is then illegal as she is now an underage nude model?!?! Hmmmm....

Seeing that the age of consent is 13 in Japan, what's the problem?

Perhaps it was the fact that he 'paid' for the girls to do this. That's where guys like this make mistakes ... paying for it.

I think there are a lot of hypocrites making comments here. Are nude shots of a 15 year old so bad? How about a 16 year old? At what age does it become okay? If photos were of someone who is 'legal' but the intent of the photo is to appear younger, is that wrong? How many men would be turned on by those photos.

I honestly don't see the problem here. It's very much a grey area ... not clearlt black and white.

Judge Dread from the original 2000 A.D. comic.

Come now ... let's not call a spade a digging implement. A 'leisure' hotel?!?! Looks like the industry is trying to re-brand itself and move away from the 'lurv' hotel label.

It's nice to see that business is rising and maintain strength in light of the ups and downs of the economy ;)

They can 'companion' me anyday ;)

He was one very small cog in a large machine. If what you say has any truth to it, then the US government at the time was just as guilty.

BTW - nothing wrong in sitting on a 'priority seat' as long as you give the seat up to someone who really requires it. And nothing wrong in using an iPhone/pod - as long as it's in 'airline mode' and that you are only using the media-player function.

soreleftarm did exactly the right thing. Doesn't matter male or female, but being passive in this situation was the right thing to do. Of course, the natural reaction is to punch or to use some kind of physical restraint. That would have been the wrong thing to do.

Punching or 'physically assaulting' the man would have been seen as a serious escalation by the police - not something you'd get deported for, but would entail some other penalty.

I too was involved in a similar situation in a station. I punched the guy's chest and sent him reeling, luckily for me that was the end of it. I told the story to some colleagues (non-Japanese) and they said I was right in punching him in order to defend myself (he grabbed my suit and ripped it). Also told the story to Japanese friends - completely opposite reaction. I was so wrong, lucky not to have been arrested. An eye-opener for me - just goes to underline the fact that we are culturally different in the way we deal with things.

Soreleftarm - thank you for giving us your version of events and giving us the real story behind the headlines. Good luck in the future and don't let this happening put you off Japan.

How would allowing everyone on the train to talk on their phone (most of them shouting) be a positive change in society?

There are lots of 'rules' (manner or otherwise) that the biggest majority of people follow.

Please don't link 'apartheid' with every 'rule' you disagree with. There's nothing wrong with being courteous to your fellow commuter.

Legal age in Japan - 20

Well, we do seem to have a lot of amateur doctors on here today who know a lot about alcohol poisoning.

Please do a search and you'll find what too much alcohol does to the body, not just vomiting. As can be seen from the article, acute alcohol poisoning ain't no laughing matter. Her death was totally preventable and not accidental. Her behaviour and the behaviour of those around her helped bring about this death.

Just wondering at this time of year ... are there any figures kept of those admitted to hospital or deaths caused by alcohol poisoning here in Japan?

RIP and sympathies to her family.

Kim who??

Japanese reality TV...perhaps the best in the world! US reality TV...some good, some great, some amazing. British reality TV...some great, some amazing. ROTW...no idea!

Of course, those comments were written with a heavy hand of sarcasm! Most 'realty' shows featuring celebs are truly awful. Some shows...cops, etc can be quite 'fun'.

News?! The girls knew what was happening. They had a choice to work there or not. This sounds very much like sexploitation. But just who is being exploited? I wonder if the new 'tooters' restaurant will be raided. After all, aren't they doing something similar...sexploitation.

As speculation seems to be the in thing - I think the biker was wearing shorts, t-shirt, wasn't wearing a helmet and was going way to fast - perhaps he was drunk? I absolutely do think the driver was most probably drunk, either messaging on his phone or changing a CD - either way he probably didn't see what hit his vehicle.

Drivers in this country need to be more careful.