h0nz4 comments

Posted in: Is the all-you-can-eat KFC buffet in Tokyo really as good as they say it is? See in context

Been there last weekend, the endless waiting aside, it's a "try once" experience at most.

I must admit, I don't particularly like KFC, especially in Japan. The chicken is extremely oily and kinda gross.

I managed to sample 3 pieces of chicken, a few pancakes, a bit of the other meals (random Japanese buffet, completely unrelated to KFC), salad, desserts. There was no mash and no gravy, as expected.

It was... ok. The best thing was the unsweetened rooibos tea which helped me to survive the whole ordeal.

I was stunned how some nimble girls went to town on a full plate of chicken each. Japanese folks seemed to really enjoy the whole thing. I'd just go to any KFC to get those few pieces of chicken that everyone goes for anyway and save some time and money.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Posted in: Meta wants industry-wide labels for AI-made images See in context

My Instagram feed has been flooded recently with AI generated ads featuring politicians or actors promoting some BS financial platforms or online casinos. Interestingly enough, reporting those ads as scam or misinformation or any other malicious category does not anything and all my reports are closed without taking sny action. So FU Meta, it's all about money in the end, innit.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Posted in: Should you drive through a red traffic light like this in Japan? Confusing road rule explained See in context

It's interesting because in Europe, afaik only left or right arrows are being used. When either is lit it means a right of way through the intersection – usually for cars turning left to exit the intersection (when driving on the right side). When an arrow is lit in a combination with a red signal (usually the right arrow), it means one can proceed in turning but has to yield to traffic coming in the cross direction. So the case presented in this article is a bit weird to me.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: Portable handheld microwave shoots to the top of our cooking gadget wish list See in context

Some time ago I watched James Hoffmann's review of the Makita battery-powered kettle and coffee brewer. It's a cool concept but a bit silly. Considering the amount of batteries one would need for these devices and charging them daily – aside of those actually used for power tools. Also I have not seen a construction site without any electricity.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Posted in: 15 people injured in 20-vehicle expressway pileup in western Japan See in context

@StrangerlandJ it's not a Japanese problem but it's most certainly a problem in Japan, yes. Sorry to break it to you.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Posted in: Domino’s Pizza Burger? Chain teases customers with promise of a new menu item in the works See in context

Domino’s Pizza holds the top spot in terms of market share in Japan

This says it all about the state of pizza in Japan.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Posted in: 15 people injured in 20-vehicle expressway pileup in western Japan See in context

@0rei0 roundabouts work and are safer than stop sign or traffic lights, that's a fact. Europeans know that and so you'll find them everywhere.

They would make the traffic more fluid, slow down and stop the issue of red lights. Nearby my building, there's a busy stroad, where the traffic lights are also every 200–300 meters or so. Yet this does not stop idiots speeding through a red light only to stop a bit ahead anyway.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

Posted in: 15 people injured in 20-vehicle expressway pileup in western Japan See in context

@Strangerland nobody said it's ONLY in Japan. But it's definitely true that it's very common in Japan.

You see people running red lights every day, it's that common. Indicating before actually turning also didn't make it to Japan, not sure if people want to save their indicator light bulbs or what.

I strongly stand behind Japanese highways being dangerous by design in many places and also Japanese drivers not knowing how to drive on them. This despite all the training and having to sit through info sessions when renewing a license.

If Japanese police, for a change, did something about enforcing the traffic laws, the situation might look a bit different.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

Posted in: Escalator etiquette See in context

Getting off a train at busy stations, there usually forms a massive line waiting towards the left of an escalator while the right side is either fully empty or some folks walk up. If all the people split and went up in 2 lines, to the full capacity of the escalator, the total throughput would increase. Yes, a few people might be held back for a bit but the majority of people lining up for quite a while would be better off.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Japan has stopped printing its current yen bills; Mt Fuji only element to be retained in new set See in context

Garypen

It would be a lot more annoying to accidentally pay 30,000円 for something that cost 3000円, which is the point of the two different fonts.

I thought the same but I then I don't think that's a problem. The current notes both use "1". And I never saw this on any other bills either. Bad design or not, till 2024 we'll be even more cashless so...

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Posted in: Japan has stopped printing its current yen bills; Mt Fuji only element to be retained in new set See in context

I can get over the fact they use I000 and 10000 at the same time. I reckon in must be on purpose but still a bit annoying when they are next to each other.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Posted in: Japan eyes lifting of pre-departure COVID tests for inbound vaccinated travelers: media See in context

To be honest, things would be way simpler if Japan dropped the requirement for their very own Certificate of Testing for Covid form. It was quite a challenge for me to find a place where they were comfortable to sign this piece of paper. Especially as the system in EU was set up to take a sample (not necessarily in a hospital or by a doctor), send them to a lab, lab putting the result it into an online system, you getting an SMS/email.

Now it's even more difficult as many of the collection spots have been closed in EU (PCR tests no longer required) or run only on a limited schedule so it can be very tricky to get tested in the 72 hours window and get the required JP confirmation.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Posted in: 2 dead, 7 injured after bus-car collision on expressway in central Japan See in context

Japanese expressways are like a mad computer game. Many extremely short merging lanes with poor visibility. My favorite is when the exit/merging lane is on the right (in the middle), that I never experienced before.

Also Japanese truck drivers are the worst. They pummel through traffic carelessly, way over their speed limit; those scare the sh*t out of me.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

Posted in: Injured motorcyclist returned to accident scene after hospital refuses to take him due to positive COVID test See in context

I can't imagine in Europe an ambulance would take someone to a hospital after an accident, they'd say “sorry mate, can't take you” and the ambulance would drop them off back where they came from. EMS in Japan works so strangely, it's scary to think I might need it one day.

20 ( +36 / -16 )

Posted in: Tokyo Olympic aftermath still being untangled a year later See in context

I fail to understand why after seeing how the Tokyo games ended up, Sapporo is like: “hold my beer…”.

I think it's one of the Japanese virtues. How to take the tax money and waste it in the most creative way.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Posted in: KDDI mobile service failure ends after 86 hours; minister criticizes company's handling of disruption See in context

They do not report on it properly here (not sure about other news pages) but KDDI has been releasing technical information about the problem and following up with post mortems. Just because people don't understand it does not mean they are not open about it. Gotta love the IT pseudo experts in the comments here.

https://xtech.nikkei.com/atcl/nxt/news/18/13237/?i_cid=nbpnxt_ranking

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Posted in: Road in Chiba plagued by accidents involving shutterbugs seeking 'Chiba-fornia' shots See in context

This just confirms people are mental.

I'm wondering if police does show up sometimes to fine those illegally parking and regulate the situation. But I guess they might be busy being too hima for that.

Thanks god they didn't come up (yet) with the even more creative solution of cutting down the palm trees, that would surely solve the issue once and for all.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: Only 30% of Japanese drivers stop for pedestrians at crosswalks, survey says See in context

I think generally drivers in Japan are quite well behaved. I'd say it’s more common for them to stop when it’s a narrow 2-way street rather than on the wider ones when cars go faster.

On the contrary, in Europe I’m used to sometimes letting cars pass first not to block the traffic (e.g. a car turning from a main street would block the right lane if they let me cross the side street) and cross after them.

In Japan they mostly stop to let me go, I show them to go first, they don't go, things get awkward, I do the typical Japanese crossing while running move.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Posted in: Japan says ties with Taiwan are only unofficial See in context

To use the words of the local government, I find it extremely regrettable how we ended up in a situation that so many countries are so heavily invested or reliant on Chinese economy that they need to tip toe just not to hurt the feelings of CCP.

Taiwan is one of the great examples of successful democracies in this region, being progressive on many fronts, yet it struggles to get the recognition it deserves. It's especially sad in the case of Western countries.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Posted in: Man arrested after pushing over woman and her 2 children on bicycle See in context

Many people in Japan are not aware of the laws regulating cycling, they just follow what other people do. Ironically, if you know and follow the law, you can end up in some dangerous situations – imagine some cars not following the traffic rules and driving randomly.

People do use sidewalks a lot and even the narrow ones which should not be used unless the bicycle is walked. Many times they pass pedestrians super close at high speed, this is very dangerous for everyone involved. Empirically, mothers on the big and heavy mamachari are by far the worst offenders, high speeds, sidewalks, going though interjections without stopping, even dashing through red lights—absolutely don't understand how they can behave in such way with children on the bike.

My reaction to the article: I don't like the bias in Japan of emphasizing “unemployed man”, this by default makes people see him as a weirdo and probably a bad person of some sort. If he really pushed them, he’s an a**hole, no doubts. But I also see how the mother just passed him very close, maybe he did a step aside (happened to me few times) and almost got hit by the bike passing near him. Just saying… objective reporting…

4 ( +9 / -5 )

Posted in: Unused Valentine’s Day chocolate recycled thanks to Japanese food waste reduction service See in context

@Mickelicious exactly my thinking. Ingredients imported into Japan … in the heart of Belgium … whaaa? The idea seems really nice but this somehow doesn't make sense to me.

Also, and this may be the European in me, I hate how normal it is here to not provide proper information on weight/volume. Here they say one bar is 14x7cm. Umm sooo it’s like 60g? 70g? A bit expensive sustainability, innit?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: Shinkansen ice cream sales suspended on board train; sell out online See in context

Didn't know that being super hard is a sought-after quality for an ice cream. Learning something new every day.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Mos Burger adds sliced bread to their menus See in context

Right, because there obviously is a shortage of this type of a toast bread in Japan. I’ve become allergic to “shokupan” after several years living in Japan. I crave proper, tasty, nutritious bread.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Posted in: Japan to hold 1st competitive cybersecurity talent search See in context

@yildiray Agree the factor of a human error – be it caused by carelessness or the lack of education and awareness – is no different to other countries. However, perhaps a bit more than abroad, I am running into web interfaces to projects with very restrictive policies (in the bad sense) on what your username or password can be. It’s not uncommon to be able to select max 12 but usually 6–8 characters as a password [0-9a-zA-Z], pretty much a lack of 2FA, if you are lucky you get one-time passwords sent to your phone or email. Makes me wonder how old the infrastructure is and how safe the data in store is.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Trump supporters rally in Tokyo See in context

Find it rather amusing people in Japan are rallying for Trump. They should better be rallying for some of the issues in their own country which is slowly but surely sinking.

8 ( +10 / -2 )

Posted in: Police ask public not to use 110 number for non-urgent calls See in context

Not surprised in a country where every public toilet blasts at your in a cheerful voice how exactly and correctly you should be using it. Where explanatory stickers are pretty much everywhere on everything. You don't need common sense in Japan, it’s been taken care of it for you.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Posted in: McDonald’s Japan updates children’s Happy Meals to be more inspiring and nutritionally sound See in context

How about kudamono, fresh fruit for children?

In a country where a whole family ceremoniously snacks on a single apple?

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Posted in: McDonald’s Japan updates children’s Happy Meals to be more inspiring and nutritionally sound See in context

“We made it so that dads and moms who are primarily concerned about their kids’ growth and development can choose the perfect Happy Meal set to put their minds at ease. And above all else, we made it so that children can eat their meals with gusto. We’ve prepared an extensive menu for you to choose from while taking nutritional needs into account and giving children the chance to grow and develop.”

Nice try right there. Parents who are primarily concerned about their kids won't feed them McDonals in the first place. Some kinda sad salad and corn'n'peas won't cut it. It pretty much resembles the terrible US school lunches.

It’s like the BS line from KitKat aka “we made small a wee bit smaller because people are crazy worried about their calorie intake.”

For some time, many consumers have said they are concerned about calories and want to hold back on their sugar intake," the company said. "From September 2020, we adjusted the recipe to switch part of the sugar to soy milk okara powder etc., and changed each serving to be bite-sized so that people concerned about calories can easily enjoy it. In the case of the standard ‘KitKat Mini’, the weight was reduced from 11.6 grams to 9.9 grams.”

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Posted in: Blossom Harmony Hibiki is Japan’s newest must-try whisky See in context

but what makes this new release so special is the fact that it will now be available in 350-milliliter half-bottles so you can enjoy it “more easily at home”

What kinda BS marketing line is this? Does it mean you will get less to make it more affordable or what?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: Personal info of 9,500 COVID-19 patients in Fukuoka Prefecture leaked online See in context

The male recipient of the email contacted the prefectural task force on that same day, which allowed them to revoke his access to the data. However, the countermeasure was ineffective in preventing information leakage since the document could be viewed by typing the URL into a web browser.

Don't quite understand the last paragraph of the article. If it’s a document in a file sharing system and you send a link to it by an email, then either you can revoke the access to that link or not. Wondering what exactly they revoked.

If it’s a publicly accessible file and the only limitation is that you either know or do not know its URL, that's a gross negligence.

Saying that, mistakes do happen and the email sent to a wrong address is not an issue here. The system in place seems to be the real problem and quite likely a desperate lack of IT education for public servants – a systematic issue then and not a failure of an individual.

8 ( +8 / -0 )

Recent Comments

Popular

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites


©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.