Fredster comments

So much for the typical over the top comments by Donovan - saying that they could beat ANYONE at the WC was just asking to be taken out by a team with a bit of talent, a LOT of desire and karma on their side... I guess the flip side of his comments should have also been that "we could also just as easily get our asses-kicked by any backwater country that simply wants it more than we do"....

Revenge murder (?) on a 56 year old male teacher who had been on medical leave with an "undisclosed" illness for 2 months ????? THAT makes the imagination run wild without more details...

Sorry, to be a little more clear...

What's wrong with APPLE doing that ???

I certainly don't think that is the ONLY reason but it begs the question.........

allowing Flash in iPods/iPhones would allow folks to acquire content without iTunes.

What's wrong with that ????

So let me get this straight....

This "investigation" seems to amount to them talking to a bunch of litigation attorneys - most of which have met with failure when suing Toyota ???

Pot calling the kettle black ??????????? Sour Grapes ???????????

Pierre Gagnaire collects Michelin stars the way Tiger Woods collects girlfriends: widely, impressively, and in great numbers.

Who is this guy - Leno ??

What an absolute "ASININE" comment... Try being a little more original & adventurous Steve and pick something a little more relevant or contemporary to Japan instead on going for the formula joke that EVERY other writer and comedian has already done !!! Perhaps you could come up with something original that included the DPJ or something...

The rest of the article reads well but the first line made me want to hate it... C+ at best... BLNT...

In the later part of the 20th century the glutenous market called America got suddenly turned on to the healthy ( & cultural ) habit of eating Sushi... No one could get enough and in many cities that fastest growing segment of the food services industry was in Japanese cuisine...

Now after some 25 years of ravenous consumption of Tuna by the Western markets of America & Europe suddenly it is time to tame the Evil Empire of Japan for dwindling the Bluefin Tuna to the point of extinction ??????

Seems to me there wasn't a problem with the Bluefin until Westerners got an appetite for it !!

My condolences to those whose lost their life and those who now have to deal with this grief...

75% chance that seat belts - lack of use thereof - is a complicating circumstance in these deaths...

I can not tell you how many times everyday I pull up at a light here in Japan behind some woman in a mini van with kids bouncing around unrestrained in the backseat like it was the moonwalk with the DVD player on the dash playing either a TV drama or a cartoon - just makes me shake my head and say a little prayer for tragedies just like this one...

About a month ago I almost got sideswiped taking my wife to work in our car when the girl next to us - watching morning NHK drama at 08:15 on her bypassed Navi - while putting on mascara with a cigarette in the same hand - misjudged her cigarette - smashed it into the headliner - sending burning embers all over her which sent her careening through 2 lanes of traffic - luckily saw it as it unfolded and managed to avoid her - - JUST...

The real crime would have been that if I was hit by her I would have likely been found 50% at fault from the get go and would have had to defend myself in the eyes of my insurance company...

Toyota's own union... Are they liars too?

"LA Times" piece = = = = > Nuff said...

Although I understand and can see how the whole floor mat thing can happen - these reports of a Phantom Menace pushing the pedal by itself are just ridiculous...

I get the car accelerating of it's own accord via an electronic fault but the idea of the car's gas pedal depressing itself - in spite of the fact that there is no type of servo or mechanism to facilitate this is far fetched to me...

Stuck by the floor mat or not - the pedal won't go to the floor unless someone pushes it there to start with...

Of further background interest to this story...

US Sec of Transport LaHood told an investigating committee earlier this month that:

Three quarters of the reports to the auto-safety regulator were received in the past four months as Toyota City, Japan- based Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, recalled vehicles for defects that may cause sudden acceleration. The agency said it is normal for complaints to jump after recalls are announced.

Toyota’s 2,600 reports of unintended acceleration in the past decade are second to Ford Motor Co.’s 3,526, according to Transportation Department data.

Great! Jail time! Wish we would lock up more illegal activities by Japanese in America.

Did it say somewhere in the article that the culprits were Japanese ???

I know it's a Sushi restaurant but in Canada for example probably 50% or greater Sushi restaurants are owned and operated by people of Korean descent - on the west coast anyways...

I checked the "Hump's" webpage but it left no clues...

Addendum...

I should state that I do believe that this problem IS happening - somehow or someway...

But I also believe that in the high litigation environment that is the USA there are a LOT of people who are finding this as a convenient culprit to blame for their own shortcomings...

As example - about 10 years ago the Public Transport Authority in a major city in the US staged a fake bus accident and then asked the public that for ANYONE who was on the bus to come forward and report any injuries that had sustained - - if memory serves correct they had something like 500 people show up with a full range of maladies including broken bones and psychological damages...

We already now have the "Toyota Defense" being used or sited by Litigation Attorneys...

I wonder if Gilbert has ulterior motives for coming to such conclusions?

It's called "Look at ME - Look at ME... Aren't I smart..."

What he "discovered" was that if you "short circuit" a Toyota Engine Management Control Module by introducing extraneous voltage from "outside the system" that you can trick it into not reporting an error code..."

His discovery - in of itself - does noting to prove the cause or supply a plausible culprit for unintended acceleration...

Simply put - his findings showed ONLY that - - - - under conditions that could not be experienced under normal operation of a Toyota vehicle without an outside source of "electronic sabotage" ( for lack of better terminology ) - - -- the ECM would not register a fault code or failure in the system...

He extrapolates from his findings that "If you can trick the ECM into failing to produce a fault code - you CAN NOT rule out that the phenomena isn't really happening as a result of a system malfunction"...

You can make all the analogies you wish about this but it still proves nothing AFAIC and if you read Toyota's response as above you can see that they feel the same way - intentionally ZAPPING the ECM is a moot point - unless you are suggesting that in ALL REPORTED CASES in the US the cars were zapped in someway by a flux capacitor or a lighting bolt or something which just happened to mask the problem at the very instance of UI by not producing a fault code... Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

Even if Toyota could reproduce this phenomena that Gilbert discovered ( which other independent industry experts so far have said that they can't BTW ) it still does nothing to identify or call into question the cause of the problem...

Who was the flag bearer this time?

Mao Asada...

This Kiwi is a nutter and this stunt to keep the SS'ers in the news will only serve top polarize many Japanese into thinking that "we shouldn't let those nutcase terrorists push us around" - regardless of their support regarding the whale hunt...

The biggest problem is that the SS'ers keep on having to up the ante in order to keep themselves front page news...

Unfortunately there will eventually be some loss of human life if this situation continues to escalate because the SS nutters likely feel that is a fair price to pay for this jihad...

Perhaps, regardless of any of your individual ideas or ideals on this issue, the constant escalation and subsequent voyeurism by the rest of us here should be curtailed...

The Japanese MOF will NEVER stop whaling because of what the SS'ers are doing - if anything it will simply strengthen their resolve to continue these activities...

Two things are abundantly clear to me after watching the video footage shot by the crew of the Shonan Maru No. 2 that is available to see on youTube...

Immediately prior to the collision the AG goes from NOT being under power ( as can easily be determined by seeing that no wake or prop-wash is being generated by the AG ) to being under what would appear to be FULL FORWARD power ( as evidence by the sudden and substantial prop-wash generated by the AG )

If you wait till the VERY end of the video you can easily see that the Shonan Maru's Prop-wash trail clearly shows that it was Traveling in a Port-ward direction AWAY from the AG ( as evidence by the wash that trails away from the SM to it's rear port side ) In other words the SM was turning to the left to avoid the AG

Regardless of anything else these two facts - in of themselves - are enough for anyone to be able to determine the cause of the collision...

Insurance Claim & Propaganda Fodder is my guess...

Cheers,

Obviously nobody here lives in Hokkaido... The weather was quite bad here during the NYE to 2nd stretch and there was well over 15 cm of fresh in many locations with high winds and severely limited visibility...

It is HIGHLY likely given the conditions and on those roads our there in the sticks that the snow was deep enough that nobody would have seen him in the first place and the concept of the second dragging is quite understandable if the person who found him and went to report it didn't even move him off the road... If it were a car I can't see how it would happen without notice but a couple of trucks is infinitely more plausible...

JT... A time of the incident would be helpful to the lynch mob here..

Saki Fukuda, center, with the Oscar Promotion Beauty Corps

Who is the one in the "center" when there are 6 people in the shot ????

Nominations were due on Feb 1st - that's 11 days after taking office ???????????

Not to shabby given that it took God 7 days to create the heavens and the earth.......

4 years from now he may be deserving of the prize - but for the time being it's just an insult to the multitude of worthy nominees who have actually done something already...

smithjapan

... Japan and SKorea are not that much 'older' in terms of maturity; and both hide under US defense....

So is the solution then for Japan to get out from under the US nuclear umbrella by simply trashing their own pacifist constitution and developing the means with which to properly defend themselves against the threat of Nuclear confrontation ????

Heavens knows they have the tech available and the funds to do it faster and more effective than either of the 2 Koreas...

I just think that this is just one of those "BE careful what you wish for" situations... No US big brother means Japan has to arm and defend itself and as a long time resident here I have to admit that I might have to reconsider my choice of where to live if the Jgov starts building such TOYS...

Disgusting and a ridiculous disgrace... These girls have NO say in what they wear so I can only imagine that this tragedy is the result of some misguided "Fashionista"...

Perhaps this just a way to garner press coverage - good or bad doesn't matter - for a institution that has seen it's day in the sun and is having a hard time to get wealthy patrons to support it ?????

Someone PLEASE change this girl's handlers - stuff like this only accelerates the downfall of such "Contests"

HEY there Boys...

Tiger's focused but he's also a consummate professional...

FWIW... as of hole 15 Ryo is currently ahead of Tiger by 1 stroke at -1 with Tiger even through 15...

That can change quick of course but I have to give props to the kid for not falling apart in the presence of Tiger - like a lot of other seasoned pros do...

Cheers,

Just read the photo credit....

Find it hard to believe that this photo came from Reuters - it doesn't even come close to their standard submission criteria...

Not sure what - if any - protocols there are for Photos on this site.. I am a credentialed working photographer based here in Japan - I have sent email to the Japan Today on three separate occasions in the past asking how I could submit "public interest / spot news" photos to them - for free - and NEVER even got a reply...

I guess you just need to know someone - but the quality of spot news photos or even feature article photos is sub-par to a small town weekly in the US or Canada...

Frankly, I think that they should leave the celebutaunts out of the process...

It is a crying shame to think that - after all the millions of dollars and hours that go into an Olympic Bid - somehow in the end it comes down to Obama or anyone else showing up and securing the winning bid...

IMO - As none of these politicos will have anything to do with the games except for what photo-ops are provided to them they should stay out of trying to sway the process - - - the selection process has gotten way out of hand in the last decade with all the STAR power at the presentation and votes...

Kick backs and perks used to be the controversy that secured winning bids - now appears that it's who rolls out the biggest line-up of celebrities...

Cheers,

On a side note, why does it mention her as his "wife" and then mention an impending wedding ceremony? Aren't you called a "wife" after a ceremony?

Here in Japan you are not "married" until you file your paperwork / license at the local Ward Office / City Hall...

It is commonplace for people to be "officially" be married and then plan a wedding / wedding reception at a later date that may be more convenient for guests etc or at a better time to facilitate a honeymoon...

For tax purposes some get married ( paper wedding ) just before year end and then have a reception in the spring so they can have a nice honeymoon...

Cheers,

Being the eternal optimist allow me to inject some good news....

At the least "Gone are the days" of burying your head in the sand and deferring losses to future fiscal repercussions - similar to the way the big J banks did with the un-collectable loans that turning into a snowball rolling downhill.....

By realizing / owning up to these current losses now they at least allow themselves to "bite the bullet" and move on to - hopefully - a better forecast for the year coming...

Sad as it may be for stockholders to see it is better to fess up and move on to either fixing or evolving their business models to adapt to the new marketplace than foolishly ignoring reality...

Well... Windows user since 3.1 and have been using Mac for less than a year....

All I can say is WOW... I should have ignored the scaremongering from Microsoft many years ago and given Mac a try...

I thought the transition would be soooo difficult but the entire OS seems so intuitive... I still have 2 windows machines - gathering dust - and will switch my entire future computer hardware purchases over to Mac - where I can run windows as well btw for those 1 or 2 programs that don't have a Mac version...

"Seeing is believing" and "Trying means Buying"...

Win 7 is going to be the best windows ever but it will still only be a Windows version of OSX from what I have seen...

Cheers,

it's hard to ignore the plight of millions of suffering N Koreans...

Actually it's not hard at all - when you are dealing with a petulant child you sometimes have to show tough love - - time for China to ween this retarded cousin of the tit...

It's really shameful when you consider the 1,000,000 TONS of fuel in return for shutting down their nuke facilities and I assume that now that the oil has been delivered and or the cold hard winter is over that they are reneging on the deal...

Frankly, all this has done is thrown egg on the face of the US and others intent on placating China's "non" stance or their retarded cousin...

It would be nice to think that China is at least a "little" embarrassed over arm twisting the US to soften their response by using T-Bonds as leverage so that NK would play ball with them but I highly doubt it as they seem quite smug these days... It does seem obvious that even the Chinese leadership has underestimated the mental retardation at the helm of the NK ship...

All that's left now is public ridicule and chocking the very lifeblood out of every last one of Dear Leader's followers until somebody over there comes to their senses and euthanizes him for the good of his own people and the stability of the region...

Everybody - for the most part - seems to be getting along not too bad these days in and around Asia ( excluding civil strife ) except for that "fly in the ointment" called North Korea.... Perhaps in a few years they will be calling it "Parking Lot B"