frenchosa comments

As a teacher here, I noticed that there are some students who naturally have dark brown hair, and I see some with slightly wavey hair too. Not all Japanese have straight black hair.

My daughter is a Boy Scout in Japan. She loves it, and done a lot of cool things in places that I have never knew. It is good to see that Japan is ahead of America on a social issue for once.

Something like this would be good for high end bicycles. Some thieves can crack a lock in a few seconds...

Yaburo wrote

Damn, 75 year old "principal"? Sounds to me like she should have been "retired" a long time ago, I am willing to bet she is the owner.

Yes, many of the private kindergartens are run by wealthy people who have an extra lot of land which they built a school on. Usually the principal is the owner, or a relative.. Usually they know nothing about teaching kids, nor do they care. They act like their kindergarten is their castle, and everybody must bow down to their wishes. More often than not, they pay their young teachers peanuts and overwork them, so they will quit. Then next year they will have new batch of teachers to exploit.

If you have kids, try to put them in a public kindergarten. Usually the teachers are experience, get a descent wage and likely be there for more than one year.

It happened to me in China during transit. From the airplane a bus picked us up, I got out and the staff kept on pointing to different ways... suddenly I found myself outside of the international terminal... had a fun time getting back in..

Hiking in Japan is almost exclusively on marked trails, so its generally very safe.

Having hiked a lot, there are always patches that you have to be careful and have steady footing. Japanese mountains are very steep compared to the ones I climbed in New England in my youth, (even the small ones) One slip and it could be your last.

In the mountains trails can easily be damaged by land slides, or typhoons. What was once a marked trail, may no longer be that way.

I am thinking of going back to Yakushima and I did a little research after I wrote my last post. it looks like all of the huts on Yakushima are free with no staff. I have stayed at three of them, they are more of emergency shelter than anything else. No water, or toilets inside. It was dirty and had a few mice that would try to nimble at your food. I would much rather have a nice piece of grass to pitch a tent, but there wasn't. Luckily when I went there was no one else, so I pitched my tent inside the huts. it solved the mice problem.

Just watched the video, I amazed that there was only one death.. I guess it hit more of the top of the bus. RIP to the accident victim.

kohakuebisu The question that remains is whether the people running the hut knew they were going down the closed trail and how strongly they discouraged them from doing it in the rain.

Over fifteen years years ago I hiked across the island and the huts were unmanned. Maybe things have changed

I trekked Yakushima two times, once alone and a second time with my wife. On second time we did a stream crossing and that was very difficult, we used ropes to get across.

Sometimes the conditions in nature can get just too difficult. In Hawaii on the Na Pali Trail I hiked six hours with about 45 minutes left to hike. The cliff side trail got too dangerous to pass. I ended up turning around and hiking back another six hours. You got to respect nature and know your limits.

Great for two-thirds of the year, but I wouldn't fancy it from June to September. Don't think anyone would want to sit near me, either!

If you have access to a shower it isn't all that bad. I enjoyed biking in the rain more than taking a crowded bus and than transferring to a train. If you have multiple transfers, chances are that if you commute by bike it will be very similar in time. If you have the right gear, riding in the rain is fun because there is way less people biking than normal.

Just because the people around him think he is disturbed does that give society the right to lock him up because he seems off?

I wrote get the help that they need, this doesn't equal getting locked up.

man -- who has a history mental illness

If mentally disturbed people don't get the help that they need, bad things can happen.

Not that they should use their own cars, but people shouldn't use public transportation when they are drunk... They are a nuisance to others and crimes like this can easily happen... How about taking a taxi or riding a bicycle...

Cortes Elijah,, So you think the woman deserved to get mauled?

I think Jalapeno was saying that the lion was doing what it natural does, and doesn't need to be killed for doing something that comes natural to her.

The problem in this accident is zoo safety. One small lapse of safety can cause a death..

Aly, If the animal is too dangerous to be around humans without a cage then maybe have a sancuary where people can do a safari from the safety of a bus....

I think last year there was someone stupid enough to open their window to take pictures of some big cats... ended with real bad results

@A Realist: I am also stunned by this as well. Most people on this site can be assumed to live and work here yet have such hatred and spite for the country, it's astonishing they can put up with such presumably miserable lives. Very disturbing to know that randoms walking around on the street are so full of anger

Just because some people voice concerns about certain policies of a government doesn't mean we hate the country, or walk around miserable.. I in fact love many aspects of Japan.

Didn't Japan grab Hokkaido from the Ainu and it wasn't formally a part of Japan until 1868. So, Japan lost those islands in 1945, which means that they had the islands for 77 years..This is about the same length that Russia has had them. When a country goes to war to try to expand their boundaries and loses, there aren't going to get much sympathy from the world community.

Not here to argue the rights of getting an abortion, but if the aborted fetus is considered a corpse and she is getting charged with abandoning a corpse, shouldn't someone be charged with the murder.....

Girls.. if your bf says he he doesn't like condoms.. tell him you don't like the feel of unprotected sex, nor the feeling of an abortion..****

Smokers can even light up on the grounds of schools and hospitals.

I am not sure this is true now, especially for public elementary and junior high schools. Teachers must leave the school grounds if they want to smoke in the city I work for. Also, I see many smokers outside of hospitals in Osaka, so I don't think you can smoke there either.

They should make protest at the Olympics... they will get noticed.... I doubt the problems will be fixed by then.

miyakojimadan, I live in Nagarahigashi 2, too. Where exactly did it happen?

About two months ago a young house wife jumped from our condo... She hit the roof of the bicycle parking area and bounced off. My wife saw the ambulance take her away, not sure what happened after to her.

マニーはマニー

Is this how to say "Manny being Manny"? When he was with the Red Sox he was one of the greatest hitters when he applied himself... At the end of his career with them, he didn't do that so often. I bet he wish he had those years back.

And you wonder why this country has a problem with people over working??

The Emperor has served Japan well for many decades, it time for him to a normal 82 year. My father is about the same age, his official duties are now exercising, watching TV, gardening, and playing with his grandchildren. Give the poor man a break.

A bet a lot of people make an income, and draw a paycheck from supervising the Emperor's duties. I bet most of them don't have his best interest in mind.

On my way to work I cross a zebra crossing with a big blue pedestrian crossing sign overhead. It was me and a man about eighty years old at the curb.. nobody was letting us pass, so I got a little aggressive and stepped out a bit. A taxi had to jam the brakes a little and sneered at me... I pointed to the blue sign and sneered back... while this was happening another car from the opposite direction.. just zoomed bye... This would never happen in the States...

My mother in America after hitting the hospital brick wall while failing to brake, got her license taken away. She has been struggling with diabetes and has had some pretty bad highs and lows. She is also struggling with depression and alcohol for the past three years She is only 77, but she shouldn't be driving. She has been trying to get her license reinstated... The scary thing is on her good days,, she seems very normal and with it. So on one of those good days she could easily convince the registry of motor vehicles... which scares me because she has so many bad days.

I like them both.Squat toilets are good when you are ready to let loose. Sitting toilets are better when you can take your time.

I go out and drink to excess once or twice a year, before I do it, I make plans before hand so I will not be driving. No excuses, any policeman who endangers society needs to be fired. Hit and run deserves jail time.

never stop at pedestrian zebra crossings. I could go on and on.

Last week I saw a car come within a few inches of hitting a mother and her obviously handicap child trying to walk across a crossing. To stop would at most take 10 seconds to do... The police should put cameras on on these crossings and fine people who obviously don't care for other people's safety.

Maybe if Apple's cables and chargers weren't defective, there would be a less of a need to buy them. Their cables are prone to fray and they charge high prices to replace them. There should have been a recall on them.

He deserves some jail time.. selling just a few high end bicycles can quickly add up to a price of a car. The police should check his internet sales and see if there are any other stolen bicycles

Special needs kids can be a real handful, but if you can't handle it, get a new job.

Sadly, many of the special needs teachers here have no training in special needs and were only put in that position because they can't handle a normal class

Emperor Akihito is about the same age as my father... my father got to retire at age 60 and for the past few years he has had to take it easy... I can't imagine my father doing what the Emperor has to do. I say let the man rest.