gaihonjin comments

Everyone who wants to learn something important about Japan needs to see the video for themselves if they haven't seen it already.

All four of the guys who said they'd walk look like they haven't slept in the last 40 hours and appear to be very, very nervous, like prisoners in confession videos who know that, off-camera, somebody very nasty is waiting to do awful things to them or their loved ones should they not follow the script.

Adjusted for inflation, $800,000,000 in 1965 was worth $6,020,820,512.82 in 2015. Journalists, when reporting on this issue, should make this distinction.

Ali KhanSEP. 15, 2015 - 08:41AM JST if the local people do not want the base why anyone impose on them, is it not a clear occupation?

Okinawa is part of the nation of Japan, so how could it be occupation? The national government gets to decide how to protect the nation, not local governments. That's the same in any country.

This is a terribly undiplomatic move by the UN Sec-Gen. Ban, should he attend at all, should do so as a private citizen. If the UN Sec-Gen. were not such a politically impotent position, I would be even more outraged.

I hope he likes helping prop up the CCP as they roll tanks again through Tienanmen Square.

Seizing the Kurils after Japan's defeat was pure opportunism on the part of Russia. It is tantamount to theft.

One would think the Russians would have been satisfied with their crushing of the Japanese Imperial Army at Khalkha River.

The elite of the elite celebrate 25 years cohabiting at the public's expense. Congrats!

People really carry a lot of cash in this country, don't they?

Mar044 09:05AM JST

Japan has changed

Japan has certainly changed. The Japan of today is forgetful, unsure and feeling the sting of lost pride at having been eclipsed economically by it's gigantic neighbor, the very same country that Japan has long denigrated as being unable to catch up.

Another way that Japan has changed: It is slowly, quietly backsliding into government secrecy, militarism and a less-free press.

Bertiewooster said,

Okinawa does NOT want yet another base

First, Okinawa is not getting another base. The base that Okinawans had complained was in a populated area is being moved to a remote location.

Second, yes, Okinawa is being made to take most of the US military personnel and this is nothing new. Tokyo doesn't give a damn about Okinawa, it probably never did.

Civilians were made to stay on the island and dig military bunkers, serve as conscripts and the lot for the Imperial Army and Navy rather than having them evacuated from the island. As a result, it is possible that even more ordinary Okinawan civilians died than military personnel on either side during the desperate battle that followed, but nobody knows for sure. Their lives were, in the eyes of Tokyo, "sacrificed" so that mainlanders could live. A nasty, brutal truth.

I can only imagine the furor in the mass media had a black host stood there in his tighty-whities. You'd never hear the end of it! Sad, but true. Hollywood isn't exempt from old-school racism.

"Royalty" in the twenty-first century should be only used ironically, as in, "He thinks he's royalty." Someday these anachronistic privileges we bestow will become tawdry and insufficient; we will shrug off the last chains -- those in our minds.

The Suupa Tamade LED screen to its right predated it by more than a year and has been pretty eye-catching. The new sign is pretty nice, though, and helps it push the marketing of the Dotonbori area as one of Japan's must-see tourist areas.

It's funny to read some people's comments about how they can understand wanting the inserts on CD's as opposed to viewing them online.

When CD's came out, one of the most-often voiced criticisms was that LP jacket art would be missed. Indeed, if you've ever seen a beautiful fold-out LP jacket or perused the inserts say, of a Led Zepplin IV LP, you know how insubstantial the tiny illustrations on a CD jacket seem in comparison.

Birds of a feather flock together. Lie down with dogs, get fleas.

In all fairness, they don't really seem to live lives of luxury.

Thanks to the tireless efforts of the Imperial Household Agency, you don't know a thing at all about how they live their lives! The Royal Family sits atop one of the vastest fortunes in the world! Have a look at how the occupation decided to not meddle with the fortunes of the Emperor stashed away in Swiss bank accounts in '46! They are quite loaded, my dear, and precisely how that massive wealth is apportioned is something that you, I nor anybody but those lucky enough to be born into one of the several families under the auspices of the IHA!

I like pictures of the Royal Family. I wish they would publish a group photograph of them all together--every one of the people living the life of the ultra-wealthy, all publicly-funded by the taxpayers of Japan. Let's see pictures every one of those folks that lives a life of luxury, all for the accidental fortune of being born into a certain family.

Smart on the public relations arm of the Imperial Household Agency to dress them up like ordinary Uniqlo-shopping commoners for the photo-op!

Ms. Bush is an enigmatic talent with a stunning voice and creativity that broke new ground in the 80's. Glad to see her once again take to the stage. Now, where to find video of this performance?

Sad for Brazil that their moment to enjoy their national sport together is instead so unnecessarily divisive. There should have been more opportunities for everyone to enjoy the games, not just the wealthy.

SCAP65JUN. 11, 2014 - 08:49AM JST

If things ever get nasty with China, America is thousands of miles away and can walk away without a second thought, or even ally itself with China.

This shows how little you understand geopolitics. The USA is not "thousands of miles away," the USA is everywhere. The USA is a global power. In fact, it is the preeminent global power. It cannot walk away from a China/Japan conflict today any more than it can pick up Alaska and put it down off the coast of Washington state. Furthermore, there is zero chance that the USA will sever its commitment to Japan, the most critical strategic partner the USA has in the world.

There is a mistake in this article. Amamioshima is not south of the Senkakus, it is well to the north and east of the Senkaku islands.

Song is terrible. Some people are entertained by anything.

The case has proved embarrassing for the National Police Agency (NPA) after it emerged that officers had extracted 'confessions' from four people who had nothing to do with the threats.

This is the most important information in the article.

The National Police Agency should have their feet held to the fire for extracting (presumably while the accused was under extreme duress) FOUR false confessions.

Excellent move by the Obama administration. Demonstrate that industrial cyber-espionage has had a quantifiable effect on US industry and you can operate from a position of strength against Chinese efforts to steal their way to industrial greatness.

ReaperIncMAY. 14, 2014 - 08:49AM JST

The sentiment of the elderly, such as in the picture, is also one that is understandable, survivors of the last war know its horrors and want to prevent repitition at all costs.

Pretty sure that those pictured are either boomers or born in during the end of the war and have no memory of it. Those who may actually recall the war are in their eighties and few of the actual veterans are able to get out of the house much if they are alive at all.

From what I've heard, Shinto weddings are very reasonably priced and brief. The whole thing is over inside of a half an hour.

Alex EinzAPR. 23, 2014 - 10:37AM JST The sooner he gets out of here ,the better, he is a public servant and as such should be the lowest social priority.!

Diplomacy is one of the most important roles of the POTUS and Japan is one of the USA's most important allies and closest friends. This trip will be worth more than photo ops, it will help to further cement the partnership between the USA and Japan.

Obama can't catch a break, even with one of the USA's three most important geopolitical allies. Unfortunately, they'll get away with it, too, since right now the US needs to have Japan remain firmly in the sphere of the USA.

The trump card for the United States will always be security, but since the cost of losing the bases in Japan is so high the USA will never abandon Japan to China and Russia.

While the current administration has been lacking in bold, decisive moves in foreign policy since the killing of OBL, sometimes that is the right choice.

With Russia heavily committed to both Syria and Iran, the current administration has to move adroitly as to avoid embroiling the USA in another fruitless war, this time a proxy war with Russia. Some politicians seem to be quite satisfied with the three trillion dollars and many lives wasted on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He clearly broke the law. Will he go to jail?

onomatopoeiaAPR. 03, 2014 - 12:29PM JST Not sure who the 'we' is that you are referring to, but in actuality, methamphetamine was first invented here in Japan and used most extensively by the Kamikaze and Nazi troops during WW2.

Amphetamine and methamphetamine were used by all sides in the second world war. German tankers, US long-range bomber pilots ("pep pills"), Japanese troops...in some respects, WWII was the first "speed war."