Posted in: Ikebukuro fatal accident puts spotlight back on epileptic drivers See in context
Epilepsy medication, like most medications that affect the brain, are slow-acting. On average they take 2 weeks to reach the desired level, and then a daily "maintenance" dose is taken thereafter. Skipping on day's medication would NOT cause the person to suddenly have a seizure if they've been under control for 9 years. The police have obviously misunderstood the doctor or the doctor doesn't understand how the medication works - this being Japan both options are about equally likely.
The reason here is simple. He drove for 7 HOURS!!! He was exhausted and fell asleep.
No magical thinking required here people, just a simple case of the typical Japanese "gaman" attitude instead of a little common sense and saying, "I'm tired, I should take a 30 minute nap before I drive so that I don't drift off and accidentally kill some people".
Experience in Japan has taught me that the vast majority of Japanese drivers are driving exhausted and this is probably the number 1 cause of accidents in Japan - but there are major cultural barriers to giving common sense advice like, "If you can't keep your eyes open then you really should pull over and have a nap"
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Posted in: How come Japan's opposition parties can't mount a credible challenge to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its junior partner, the Komeito Party? See in context
Japan is all about "normal".
If 49% of people complain about something they're trouble-makers.
If 51% of people complain about something then it is "normal" and this thing had better change.
Japanese politics runs the same.
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Posted in: Man whose electrified fence killed two men commits suicide See in context
The recommended voltage for keeping out deer is 4,000 volts, because deer have thick coats that protect them from minor shocks. 440 volts for a deer fence is nothing.
The police's questioning seems to revolve around whether the farmer cut his own fence and put the end in the river to shock people. ... which is just dumb on so many levels.
Firstly, why would the farmer have to cut his own fence? He surely has enough cable lying around to run some to the river.
Secondly, if the farmer knows enough about electricity to build his own electric fence then he probably knows that putting a cable in the river is stupid, because water is a poor conductor of electricity because the water itself doesn't conduct electricity only impure material in the river and because of this the electricity tends to jump around in a box-like pattern much like sheet lightning. As a result he wouldn't be electrifying the whole river, or even a strip of the river (unless it was narrow enough to jump across), just a small square portion where the cable was.
How that many people got injured? I'd say it was probably an accident. One swimmer swam into the very small electrified area, got into distress and other swam into the area to help them. ... Of course after the second person got shocked someone should have realized it was something to do with the area and that the people would drift out of the area because of the river's current and so it was a better idea to go a bit downstream and retrieve them.
How did the cable get cut and in the river? Maybe some malicious soul with a poor understanding of electricity did it? Or someone wanting to help themselves to some free veggies did it unknowingly? Or a bear cut it (a bear's claws wouldn't even feel 400 volts)?
But "questioning" some old man to death? .... there really needs to be an inquiry into exactly what happened in that interrogation room to make his health so poor and him commit suicide.
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Posted in: Sasebo girl who killed classmate sent to reformatory See in context
The presiding judge said the girl, who suffers from an autistic disorder, lacks any sense of morality and that sending her to prison would worsen her mental condition and make rehabilitation more difficult, Sankei Shimbun reported.
Autism in no way means that people lack a sense of morality. Their moral sense is a little different in that they place more emphasis on consequences than intentions - and to me this is entirely logical. The consequence of an action is demonstrable. Intentions are just stories people make up after the fact to justify why the consequences aren't their fault. In other words, regular people tend to swallow the b.s. lie while autistic people tend to hold people accountable for their actions. ... which would make Jesus autistic "By their actions shall they be known".
The level of ignorance in Japan about the mind is simply staggering.
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Posted in: American Toyota exec released without charges See in context
So she gets to walk away, but will probably be on the first plane back to the U.S. probably as a result of a combination of pressure from the U.S. Embassy and Toyota.
Justice? Apparently it doesn't live in Japan.
And all the rest of us foreigners?
Her arrest, a big embarrassment for Toyota, highlights missteps in its effort to diversify and become more international in its corporate culture.
... yeah, the implication here is that all foreigners are druggies. Thanks Julie, you've made it much more difficult for any other foreigner to get promoted to a senior position in a Japanese country and thoroughly reinforced an existing glass ceiling.
She gets off free, all the rest of us suffer for her criminality. Real fair.
-1 ( +6 / -7 )
Posted in: Man held for abandoning body of woman he met on suicide site See in context
Now here's a good use for drones, patrolling areas like this for people about to commit suicide. Possible arm them with little darts full of prozac.
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Posted in: Flags stir intense emotions, but meaning depends on beholder See in context
People love a piece of cloth? How incredibly shallow.
If you love your country then work hard for it, volunteer, vote responsibly and try to make it a better place.
Flags are just the lazy man's way of saying, "Look what a good citizen I am!!!" ... and that's where almost all of the slackers stop.
Ask 99.9% of these flag-lovers to volunteer down at a food kitchen for an evening or get off their lazy butts to go and vote and you'll get a 1001 excuses.
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Posted in: Which beaches would you say are among the best in the world for surfing? See in context
Gold coast, Aussie Oahu, Hawaii (although a big part of the appeal is the culture and ambiance) East coast, South Africa
Those are my top 3.
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Posted in: They send their cars over by the millions, and what do we do? When was the last time you saw a Chevrolet in Tokyo? It doesn't exist, folks. They beat us all the time. See in context
Ever tried to park an imported car in Japan? Good luck, most of them are simply too long for the tiny kei-car sized parking spaces.
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Posted in: 5 tips for succession planning See in context
With all due respect "Dale Carnegie Training Japan", you cannot have succession planning without an integrated strategic management function, including a strategic human resource planning function.
What you've described in the article above is not succession planning, it is everyday HR - and finance-led HR to boot, which is a common mistake.
There's so much wrong with this article that I could be here all week, but suffice it to say that trying to summarize something as complex as integrated strategic HR management in a short article is always going to fail, because you have to make things so simple that they're untrue.
Perhaps if this was a series of articles, dealing first with how to set up a proper HR department it would have been better, but as it stands you've tried to leap in at the highest and most complex level of HR and as a result you've ended up delivering bad advice.
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Posted in: 10,000 textbooks recalled over 3-armed girl illustration See in context
Made in Fukushima?
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Posted in: Police raid Toyota offices after arresting U.S. executive See in context
Hamp is guilty as sin.
The drugs were hidden in a box labelled jewelry. She knew they wouldn't be allowed. She knew they were illegal in Japan. She tried to hide them.
These are not a box of tylenol, they're opiods, as in made from opium (or in this case a synthetic opium). These are major-line painkillers used for things like post-operative patients. They're highly addictive and if Hamp was importing large quantites it would suggest that she's an addict.
Whether she has a prescription in the U.S. is actually completely irrelevant. If she wanted to bring them in legally she could have filled in the correct paperwork and bought in a short-term supply. But its clear that wasn't going to be enough for an addict, so she wanted more. A LOT more.
As for raiding her Toyota offices, it is just logical. You have to check all the places she might stash stuff.
...and despite her being guilty as sin, completely dishonest and a drug adddict she'll probably just be deported back to the U.S. where her money will buy her a few weeks in a drug rehabilitation facility.
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Posted in: Has China learned how to build the perfect U.S. spy? See in context
The U.S. relies on lie detector tests? You mean those tests that have been shown to be less accurate than a coin toss?
... and then whines when their tests fail to detect spies?
Oh my. Mind you, this is the same nation that is aggressively anti-intellectual, where a large portion of the population believes in creationism, and denies science and technology with the fanaticism of a Luddite.
Are we even surprised their security systems are full of holes? They're probably designed by someone who doesn't "believe" in firewalls and belongs to the Church of Wishful Thinking.
Honestly USA, you reap what you sow.
-1 ( +0 / -1 )
Posted in: MERS sparks mask rush in Asia, but are they effective? See in context
Chikv - I agree that the correct type of mask, correctly fitted, used for a limited time and then disposed of in the correct manner is a useful tool in controlling the spread of disease.
I think that HaroldBloodaxe's point is that none of the above apply for the way the vast majority of people use masks in Japan. They wear the wrong type, worn the wrong way (e.g. as a chin-strap), for too long, and then don't take care when removing or disposing of the mask.
In short, the way that almost all people in Japan use masks is largely useless. Its like expecting a condom worn on your hand to help prevent STDs. It might, by accident, be helpful, but in the vast majority of cases it won't be.
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Posted in: 15,000 women surround Diet to protest new security bills See in context
The draft legislation would broaden the remit of Japan’s well-equipped and well-trained armed forces.
... well equipped? Only for self-defense. This may seem like a small distinction, after all a gun is a gun, but the bigger equipment, like the Aegis, is only really useful for defense.
And well-trained? Again, for self-defense, search and rescue, and disaster relief. Last time I checked these weren't the skills you needed for war.
This author needs a reality check.
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Posted in: SDF said to be rife with bullying, mental illness and suicide See in context
Is that bullying, or discipline?
... what sort of idiot has to ask this question? It isn't either, it is common assault and whoever did it deserves to be arrested. The military is NOT a magical zone where the normal laws do not apply.
All the medics could do for him, supplies being short
So they're abusive AND incompetent? ... seems about right.
Maybe he’s simply a man with a grievance sounding off
And this is the tin lid on the kettle. Is this reporter too lazy to request some proof, like medical records? We deserve better reporting than this.
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Posted in: Pinched pensions limit Japanese consumer clout See in context
"with savings of 20 million yen or more"
That's actually peanuts. Retire at 60 with 20 million savings to support (one average) one man for 10 years (if he dies at 70) and one woman for 20 years (if she dies at 80).
That's 20 million for 30 years to supplement their pensions, only about 670k a year.
That's not good.
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Posted in: Flight attendant sues JAL for 'maternity harassment' See in context
Steve CrichtonJun. 18, 2015 - 07:05AM JST Your decision to have the child love. Sorry. Stay home and look after it. I am sure there is a pretty young girl waiting in the wings. Pardon the pun.
So men can be single and sleep around having unprotected sex, but women can't? .. because there is a man involved in this somewhere who's not living up to his responsibilities as a father, a man who's a manager who's denying her work, and another man who's so blind to the discrimination he thinks it is funny to jokes about it in a public forum.
... all these men should have their reproductive rights removed... with a pair of rusty scissors.
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Posted in: Kamikaze survivors debunk stereotype in stories of sacrifice See in context
JeffLeeJun. 18, 2015 - 05:39AM JST A tragedy there was basically no dissent among the Japanese people at the time, and no one stood up to the madness. The lesson from this should be: don't keep silent if you think your govt is in the wrong, regardless of what nationalistic pressures are at work.
Sure, because that would have changed everything... just look at Ferguson.
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Posted in: Flight attendant sues JAL for 'maternity harassment' See in context
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare plans to make workplace harassment of women who are either pregnant or within the first year of child-rearing an illegal act and therefore punishable by law.
Oh jeez! Does the MHLW even know Japanese labour law?
雇用の分野における男女の均等な機会及び待遇の確保等に関する法律 Article 9 (3) Employers shall not dismiss or give disadvantageous treatment to women workers by reason of pregnancy, childbirth, or for requesting absence from work
It is clearly illegal! The PROBLEM is that there's no punishment laid out in the law... in other words the laws for protecting women have no teeth.
What frustrates me here is that this woman is clearly in deep financial distress and her company doesn't give a damn about her or her baby. This could easily have ended in tragedy.
The death sentence for whatever misogynist is responsible for this! And no, that's not an over-reaction. Do it once and they'll learn damned fast. One misogynist dead is a small price to pay for women in Japan finally being treated like humans.
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Posted in: Which martial arts would you recommend to someone wanting to learn a means of self-defense? See in context
StrangerlandJun. 14, 2015 - 08:29PM JST Except that it's not. It's fact that the jiu jitsu players and wrestlers won pretty much every time.
I've heard this argument before, and the bottom line is that the rules and environment in MMA strongly bias the results of the tournament in favour of some martial arts.
The closed environment of the ring favours martial artists who want to close and clinch, while the prohibition against disabling or strikes that cause serious harm means that the person closing just has to put up with a couple of strikes (which are NOT by the rules allowed to disable or cause serious harm), so they tend to win.
It doesn't mean that jiu jitsu or wrestling are better martial arts, just that they're better in that particular artificial environment. Why don't you try those jiu jitsu techniques in a kung fu pole garden and see how kung fu quickly becomes the "best" martial art?
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Posted in: Report says rich nations face rising risks of cyberattacks See in context
Because robbing from the poor is so much harder and less rewarding than robbing from the rich.
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Posted in: Man jailed for life over Kashiwa stabbing rampage See in context
Takei told the court he was responsible for all four attacks, but his lawyer said he was suffering from schizophrenia at the time.
... at the time? Schizophrenia isn't like a cold or 'flu that you suffer from for a few days then "get better", it is a very serious condition that requires continual medication, normally for life.
But why wasn't this guy getting the care he needed? That's two lives to add to the bill for Japan's continued ignorance and denial of mental illness, the killer and the victim.
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Posted in: U.S. anthrax samples shipped to Japan in 2005: Pentagon See in context
akoppaJun. 13, 2015 - 10:13PM JST No news here. It is vox populi that US sends biological weapons all around the world. They did since Nam war.
Vox populi? The voice of the majority of the people? I think not.
Most U.S. citizens have no idea what their government is up to thanks draconian secrecy laws that are some of the strictest in the world.
Of course U.S. citizens are mostly to blame for that, what with their politicians routinely lying to them about hugely important matters and the U.S. public expressing their displeasure by voting them back in again.
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Posted in: U.S. anthrax samples shipped to Japan in 2005: Pentagon See in context
“There currently is no anthrax—activated or inactivated—in Japan at this time,” Warren said.
And we can trust him because he'd never lie to us, right? Right?
Yamiko OtokawaJun. 13, 2015 - 05:39PM JST The USA ratified the Biological Weapons Convention on Mar 26, 1975. Can anybody explains to me why the US Pentagon has shipped deadly biological weapon like the anthrax bacteria to countries which have US military bases ?
Because the experimentation is too dangerous to carry out in the U.S. where their taxpayers and voters might be killed.
... isn't it so nice being the US's "ally"?
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Posted in: Which martial arts would you recommend to someone wanting to learn a means of self-defense? See in context
1st place - Track and field. Because running away if always a good first option, especially in Japan where your opponent is very unlikely to have a gun.
2nd place - The fine and ancient art of screaming "HELP!!" really, really loudly. Because this is Japan and in most places a police box will be within shouting distance or some nosey obaachan will call them if they aren't and your attacker knows this. Trained help will be there in minutes to firmly say, "Stop! Or we will be forced to say Stop again!!"
3rd place - Any of the "sports" martial arts, like karate or judo. Because they don't focus on killing your opponent.
4th place - Aikido. Because while it is the most gentle way to take someone down it also requires at least 100 hours of training before you can execute any of the techniques with confidence and skill in a high-stress situation.
5th place - Any of the "real" martial arts, like krav maga, kung fu or wing chun. Because they teach techniques that can and will kill, and some who's looking for self-defence classes is already afraid and may use them.
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Posted in: Buddhism, bombs and blouses: Japan's versatile 'washi' paper See in context
There's a lot of very cheap washi-style paper coming from China and competing internationally, or at least so I hear the paper makers complain every time I visit our local washi village.
I find it a little ironic because, according to local legend here, the washi-making technology originally came from China to Japan.
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Posted in: Taking aim See in context
I bought an air gun automatic pistol at a shop as an accessory for a Halloween costume about 7 years ago. It looked the part, metal with most of the details right and a detachable clip that held the compressed air supply and small (maybe 4mm diameter) ball bearing rounds.
I didn't load it for the Halloween party, but a few months later I found it again when I was cleaning, filled it with compressed air from a can and decided to fire a few rounds into a cardboard box.
... at a range of about 5 meters the rounds went through about 3mm of cardboard and right out the other side with enough force to mark the plastic shelves I had balanced the cardboard box against.
I unloaded it an discharged the gas in the clip. It was a bit too powerful.
These compressed air guns are no joke, especially when loaded with metal rounds. If they can go through 2 x 3mm sheets of cardboard with enough force to still leave marks on plastic then I have no problem with someone saying they could kill if someone put the round into an unprotected eye or other sensitive point.
-1 ( +1 / -2 )
Posted in: Airline industry proposes perfect-size carry-on bag See in context
Don't bother buying new bags, in a few years the airlines will have decreased the size to the same size as the image... if you're viewing on your iphone screen.
This is just another move by airlines to cram more people into the same space. Mooo!!!
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Posted in: How corporate publishing often ruins the Japanese classics See in context
By the same token anyone who is a "native" English speaker is judged to be good enough to teach English in Japan... sigh same problem, different face.
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Posted in: Trump, Swift join Super Bowl party as Chiefs chase 'three-peat'
Posted in: Trump, Swift join Super Bowl party as Chiefs chase 'three-peat'