GaroJ comments

It's a 'murder of crows' and an 'unkindness of ravens'. Both birds get a bad rap.

The crows that hang around the trees in the Hama Rikyu gardens near Shiodome were fantastic. 'Majestic' is right (but 'spooky' is not wrong..).

A murder of crows?

Also, the backwards peace sign in England doesn't seem to be that huge of a deal anymore, my husband did it all the time, as a lot of black American men tend to do and no one seemed to be offended. Maybe they chuckled a bit on the inside, but no looks of shock.

If it's an obvious/known foreigner and the context was understood, I might not react to it either. It's hardly an instant cause of offence but it is something visitors/immigrants should be aware of.

I think this list should include the hissing sound most Japanese men make when thinking or pondering something.

I hear that just as much from women and it is massively annoying.

On the news programme I watched (which was on TBS), they showed some passengers saying that the driver was screaming about the brakes. Unless they were all lying to cover up for him for some reason, there was an actual problem with the brakes. In addition to that, they were on a slope heading towards a t-junction, hardly the kind of boring stretch of road you'd usually associate with dozing off.

I'm surprised there's no image to go with this article. News cameras were on the scene fairly quickly it seemed.

I'm okay with this article. It's not the same type of boring 'newbie discovers..' and it's something that foreigners actually should be aware of before coming here.

Personally, when it comes to work, I keep almost everything truly personal completely private, especially medical issues, as I know that pretty much no-one there can be trusted to keep anything to themselves. It's gets quite aggravating sometimes how... 'talkative' some of them are.

When was the last foreign language blockbuster 'Zen student'? For England and the US at least, foreign movies definitely remain a minority interest, even if their popularity has grown. And I say that as someone who has no problem at all with watching subbed French, Spanish, German, Chinese, Japanese, whatever, movies.

I don't think there's anything wrong with Christmas costumes at Halloween. Isn't it the North Americans that led the way in making Halloween about all costumes rather than those specifically Halloween-themed? I prefer the more on-theme costumes in principle but this kind of thing is fun either way.

glidingneedles: Even if Psy was the most popular artist in Korea, he may still turn out to be a 'one-hit-wonder' in the rest of the world.

Regarding the whole looks thing. I've met multiple fit and attractive women here with foreign husbands/boyfriends. The whole 'it's only the ugly women who with them' nonsense is the kind of typical misplaced Japanese pride/xenophobia that people on this site usually complain about.

The 'problem' with Japan is that Korean stuff isn't so new or special to them. It doesn't have the novelty factor in Japan that it does in other markets,

Sorry, I meant 'how many obvious foreigners'..

He was probably hired because of his name. There's no way it's just a chance thing. I mean, how obvious foreigners (i.e. black, white or obviously non-Japanese Asians) do you usually see working in convenience stores.

Surely it's Haruka Kojima.

Shouldn't 'ugly' guys be on this list?

Everybody needs to lighten up. He played and sang a song on a train that was stuck. Life can be a little more fun if people could appreciate a little spontaneity from time to time.

I'm sure everyone agrees with this in principle but that doesn't mean it applies to this situation.

This guy was probably just trying to promote himself and thanks to the massive amount of views on the video, he probably has.

Colin Farrell.. Emma Thompson's father...

The film must be heavy on flashbacks for that to work.

The writer was just making a joke. Maybe not a very funny one but hardly worthy of the outpouring seen here.

The staff had been prepared to use deadly force if necessary, zoo director Jim Breheny told a televised news conference.

On the man I hope.

Why should it be removed? Especially now, why should it be removed? It's its very existence that those crazy people were using as an excuse for their behaviour. I doubt many, or any, of them have actually watched it so what difference would removing it make?

They'll just double up (or worse) on guardmen and other jobs where people are basically paid to stand around.

I've had some experiences similar to papasmurf's. If they ask you a personal question, ask it back and then see where the conversation goes. I find that a lot of the Japanese people I've met (at least the ones around my own age (28) or a little older) usually have something interesting to say about their marital status, especially the unmarried females so it's not a bad conversation starter.

The lady looks like she's enjoying her day out of the rest home...

Way to jump to conclusions!

I doubt she would've said she was happy with the career change if that were the case.

Once you do PORN, no decent Japanese TV station, etc..will ever employ you.

I know of at least one porn star who later went to star in a children's TV show (in a costume that showed off her cleavage no less). (Carefully) look up Nao Oikawa to see who I mean. It's not impossible and there's no guarantee that a TV station would hire someone in any case.

So will people stop watering the cement in front of their houses?

They'll just do it with a little less water

Even the website doesn't detail the location and it looks like the application deadline has passed. I would've liked to watch it at least but it seems they're trying to make it all exclusive.

I do hope they're 'aligning' to BA rather than JAL.

Roppongi, says the tabloid, has become even more dangerous than sleazy Kabukicho. Hey, Gov Ishihara, Nikkan Gendai suggests—before you pitch hosting the 2020 Olympics, how about cleaning up your city?

Yeah, I'm sure London, Rio, Istanbul and Madrid have no issues with violent crime.

She wasn't even the oldest member.

Oshima, who just won that election is older than her and even she's not the oldest member.