gaijintraveller comments

This is news not because of animal cruelty, which the police tend to do nothing about, but because the police took action against animal cruelty.

Is America the best choice for a world leader? Is America even a true supporter of democracy? America seems to have rather a long history of overthrowing democratic choices and replacing them with dictatorships that favour America and American businesses.

The world should not be lead by a country that has so rarely lived in peace with the world, a country that is nearly always at war.

Biden's support of Israel emphasises the need for a new world order.

I am not against women working. I support women have equal rights for employment. I am against the unintended consequence of women's liberation: women having to work to allow the family to pay the bills.

Women in the job market has allowed many companies to employ two people for not much more than one.

What is the percentage of doctors who believe antibiotics can cure a cold? What is the percentage of doctors that frequently prescribe antibiotics for a cold? What was the percentage of doctors that frequently prescribe antibiotics in the days when doctors rather than pharmacies sold directly to patients.

In Japan patients generally do not question the doctor's decision. I can remember taking my girlfriend to a hospital quite a few years ago. She had been bitten by a mukade and had a swelling for several days. The conversation with the doctor went like this.

"Can you give us some medicine for this bite, please?"

"Yes, I will give you a prescription for some."

"What are these pills? What kind of medicine are they?"

"Antibiotics."

"Is the bite infected?"

"No."

"So why are you giving us antibiotics? Will they do anything if the bite is not infected"

"You said you wanted medicine, so I am giving you medicine."

"Well, we don't need it if it won't do anything."

I have since found an excellent doctor nearby who is careful not to prescribe unnecessarily.

Mark, as far as I can see there is a lot more similarity than difference. The only real difference I can think of is that you won't be accused of being anti-semitic if you criticise North Korea.

Most Android smartphones have many apps that cannot be uninstalled without rooting the phone including the keyboard app and location services which could be considered spyware. This seems to be no problem to the major phone companies here as they do the same thing with their own apps as well. There is too much rubbish on smartphones that cannot be uninstalled by anyone who is not an expert.

Cut taxes and increase military expenditure. It sound like Reaganomics. What will the result be? Even more inflation, the aim of Abenomics?

What is hitting people hardest is the weak yen as so much necessary for daily life is imported. When the yen moves from the 100 to the 150 yen to the dollar increasing wages from 1,000 to 1,100 per hour will not solve the problem for those at the low end of the pay scale, and I can't imagine 10% pay increases happening anytime soon.

How about asking Google to call Japan Nihon instead? After all that is what Japanese people call it.

It seems like a fair comment. GBR48 is correct. However, every time someone criticises Israel, they are accused of being anti-Semitic, which is considered not acceptable even though anti-Islamic is considered acceptable, at least in many Christian countries.

Last night on the news I saw that a quite a few Jewish Americans are criticising Israel. Can they be Jewish and anti-Semitic? Hopefully this will help to clarify the difference between being anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic.

During the covid epidemic when no tourists were coming to Japan and the government was heavily subsidising hotel stays, I stayed in a hotel near Gotanda Station. One night there made me extremely itchy.

Yes, there were bedbugs in a Tokyo hotel. I would not be surprised if they are still there, but for obvious reason I have not been back to that hotel.

Is this to discourage tourists from travelling to popular destinations with their Japan Rail Passes or is it to discourage other people so that they can get more tourists with big bags on the trains? Surely the times when trains are most crowded are weekday rush hours. How about discouraging travel on trains during the rush?

Regarding the litter problem problem, how about reinstalling the litter bins that have over the years disappeared?

TaiwanisNotChina, the NPT-violating country in that area just happens to be Israel. If you delve a little deeper, you will find that Israel also supports terrorism. It supports terrorist activities in Palestine. There are many terrorists living in illegal Israeli settlements inside Palestine.

I just noticed a good design feature of the white one. The switches are on the front. My rice cooker has the switches on top. Cats sometimes jump on top of it and can turn it on when it is empty. I therefore have it plugged into an extension lead with switches so that I do not have to pull the plug out of the wall every time I turn it off. The problem is the clock often needs resetting if the timer is to function correctly. This seems to be a common problem with Japanese design as the same problem exist with my gas heaters. Also, the sockets in the wall in Japan lack on-off switches.

To adjust the texture of rice I adjust the quantity of water. My rice cooker has menus, but does it make so much difference if it is cooked for 59 or 61 minutes before switching to keep-warm mode? I don't notice the difference.

There more important questions that are not answered. Will it cook Thai-style sticky rice, which requires soaking and then steaming? Will it cook rice that is toasted brown on the part the contacts the bowl the way Iranians like it? Will it make black garlic? Actually, probably the most important question is how do you make black garlic in a rice cooker.

It supports Bluetooth audio but does it have a headphone jack socket? If a smartphone is too difficult for users, I suspect bluetooth device might be, too. What about the keyboard? Do you remember what a pain those keyboards were? They were horrible. You had to press the key so many times, for example six times for a capital I.

The only good feature seems to be the ability to add a strap as it is not necessary to add a case to protect the screen.

Previously, the Japanese government did not get involved in establishing animal welfare rules, instead leaving it up to industry groups to write their own.

The article also says the government is not establishing rules, just guidelines. This is just tatemae to make Japan appear to be in touch with world standards.

Garymalgren, I doubt you eat truly raw eggs. Japanese eggs are pasteurised before they are sold. If you don't believe me, do a quick search. You will be surprised.

I thought sashimi should be made from sea fish as freshwater fish contains too may parasites.

"It is obvious that Israel has a right to defend itself and its people in accordance with international law."

It is equally obvious that Palestine has a right to defend itself and its people in accordance with international law.

And the big question is is Israel's response in accordance with international law? We can also ask if Israel's actions in Palestine including Gaza over many years are in accordance with international law.

It is surprising how patient Palestinians. It is less surprising how this has encouraged Netanyahu and the Zionist right to further provoke Palestinians, to send armed forces into the holiest of Mosques in Jerusalem, to allow a government Minister to deliberately provoke Palestinians by leading armed forces into that Mosque.

The people to blame for this invasion is Netanyahu, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and their associates. Hamas were pushed over the edge.

Hamas will not be destroyed by Netanyahu. In fact the opposite will happen as Netanyahu bombs will recruit more fighters for Hamas.

Is it true babies were beheaded? It seems likely it never happened. Denials are starting to come in. It is certainly true that women, children, babies are blown to pieces along with their homes.

It is unfortunate many people, people at a festival have been killed, but violence breeds violence.

There are many good Jewish people in Israel, and they have been protesting against many of the actions of Netanyahu's current government. It is unfortunate that they have to suffer along with the Zionists and other extremists.

The ballooning scandal has marred the Olympic image in Japan, denting Sapporo’s bid for the 2030 Winter Games.

So what is the message the suspended gives out? I believe it encourages more bribery. It clearly say, "Get the Sapporo Winter Olympics for Japan. Go ahead and bribe. If you get caught, all you will get is a suspended sentence."

Of course he is guilty. Why do I say that? Because he is a gaijin and the other person is Japanese. Yes, that is why he is guilty.

At least, that is why he is guilty or will be treated as guilty by the police. This may not be fair, but this is how it works in Japan. Remember the police are Japanese and speak Japanese. Some speak English quite well but most don't.

The marine was intoxicated, but what about the other person? Why are we not told whether he was or wasn't intoxicated?

What is assault in Japan? If you just touch someone, it can be construed as assault. You don't even have to push.

I am not American, I do not want the US military over here, but I think the guy should be given a chance. There are Japanese who dislike gaijin, there are Japanese who like to bait gaijin and insult them. They may be a small minority, but they do exist. They are often drunk or in drinking areas. They could even be yakuza. We don't know.

Police said the suspect allegedly grabbed a 43-year-old man by the chest, and threw him to the ground.

I found this interesting. He did not bop him on the jaw. Did he actually throw him to the ground judo style or did he just push him away because he was getting too close and was the other person so drunk he fell to the ground?

How many of the 80 were working in yakuza-owned establishments? The answer seems to be zero because were are told they were arrested on suspicion of prostitution for allegedly soliciting customers on the streets. Is it not equally against the law in yakuza-owned establishments? Does anyone else suspect they were arrested for being freelancers instead of choosing to work for the yaks? Would it seem possible that the yakuza complained to the police about girls working the streets, and the police obliged by arresting them?

It was a pain when I upgraded from Windows 7 to 10 to remove as much Edge rubbish as I could. I set my default browser to Firefox. Then Windows Upgrades started resetting my default programs to Microsoft one. I had to search to find a way to control Upgrade so that it didn't change my default programs. I also dislike Microsoft's other defaults such as Photo Viewer.

I thought Bing had gone the way of Internet Explorer. It should.

In some countries there are squat toilets but no toilet paper. A spray or other source of water is provided so that the user of the toilet can wash his/her bum after use.

I wonder if all Japanese know how to use these toilets as they have become a bit of a rarity.

We have a choice, the rest of the world doesn’t. That is the great thing about the US, freedom of choice.

Yes, America has choices, great choices. Some of my friends had to choose between going to Vietnam to kill or be killed and going to Canada. The wise ones chose Canada.

It seems only three countries now use the imperial system, America, Liberia and Myanmar.

Ask an American which is heavier, an ounce of feathers or an ounce of gold? If they tell you they are the same, you can tell them that they do not even understand their own system.

An ounce of gold at 31.1034768 gm is heavier. Feathers clock in at a mere 28.3495 gm.

As Brits know, American pints are undersized pints. This is even worse in Japan where they include the head as part of your pint of beer.

Because America is right and every other country in the world is wrong.

At least that is what Americans think.

Someone mentioned wood, specifically 2x4. Does 2x2 = 4, 3x2=6? Actually, in the case of wood sizes the answer is no. Go to a lumberyard or home centre and check. The sizes are nominal, two inches and four inches was originally supposed to be the size before planing.

Mark Today  08:27 am JST

Mr. Ghosn is INNOCENT until proven guilty like any other accused or suspect. Till then he is a free man.

In Japan this may be true in theory, but it is not true in practice. Once you are charged in Japan it is very hard to prove innocence. You will at least be required to admit guilt to be released from custody.

Do you really believe that only 1% of those charged are in fact innocent?

Why are the police doing this? Are they doing it to protect yakuza income, the profits of bars and cabarets that make money from prostitution?

I have often wondered who keeps the streets of Shinjuku safe, the police or the yakuza. I have come to the conclusion it is the yakuza. They want to keep the streets safe so that people go to the area. They can then be directed to bars and cabarets which are not safe, which are yakuza-owned, which overcharge and rip customers off. It also wondered if the police and yakuza have a working relationship, an agreement that if they, the yakuza, avoid certain action, they will free to act in other areas.

In this case I imagine the yakuza complained to the police about the freelancers and demanded they take some action.

Does anyone else have similar thoughts?

And what does "In principle" mean when referring to law in Japan. In principle it is against the law to sell alcohol or tobacco to a minor. Have you ever met a Japanese who waited till 20 to drink, who never drank as a first-year student? I think that explains the meaning of "in principle" in this context.

"In principle" means in fact the law has no real meaning.