Hans comments

Seeing that ½ the Gobi desert is split nearly equally between Mongolia and China it’s kind of interesting that Japan press releases say China and it’s a natural occurrence unlike smog.

American and Korean press also blame China.

The amount of whataboutism and deflection of blame on the Japanese in the comments, and in every article vaguely related to the war, is saddening.

But about others ? You don't celebrate when you were the aggressor normally. It was bound to happen and can only blame themselves.

This is a day to remember the dead, and people are already using whatboutism to deflect the blame.

Let's not forget the Tokyo firebombing killed far more people.

As usual, the anti-Japan uses whatboutism to deflect the blame onto the Japanese.

I think the reason so many people react strongly to stories like this is that they are used to perpetuate the idea that Japanese were the victims in WW2. 

The Japanese were victims, as were every other party in the war. It is the anti-Japan users who use whataboutism to deflect all blame onto the Japanese. Hypocrisy.

Zoomers use the word "stan".

After that, in recent years, former Prime Minister Abe and former President Park Geun-hye decided to establish a comfort women's foundation and donate 1 billion yen from Japan, and an irreversible agreement was finally reached, but Moon Jae-in ruled it out.

It is hypocritical of South Korea to demand money when they were the ones who cancelled the foundation started by Japan.

K-pop is shallow, artificial, and conformative. J-pop at least has variety if you look beyond what's on TV. When I lived in Korea, I hated walking into a restaurant and hearing about bodies and daddies.

I used to listen to K-pop. It is samey and mass-produced, and the industry is rife with sexual favors and gapjil. I don't listen to it anymore.

Besides apparently no one here speaks Korean so their opinion of "k-pop" is invalid.

It feels so good listening to good korean music, old and new, every radio station is a new discovery.

As someone who has listened to K-pop for over 15 years, it all sounds samey and mass-produced, not to mention the gapjil and sexual favors in the industry. I quit supporting it years ago.

BTS. What have you done for me philately ?

Try enabling a culture of gapjil and sexual favors. I quit listening to K-pop ages ago and am never going back.

I can see why K-pop and BTS are popular. Our kids can listen to in their own time but not in our car, or family TV time.

Not a good example, as K-pop also has its share of sexualized music videos and lyrics about bodies and daddies, to say nothing of the gapjil and sexual favors in the industry.

Hopefully no Korean activists will embezzle the money from this fund like last time.

@nondualism

To answer your question. Yes. Korea hands down.

I was about to say that. It still has a problem with hidden camera porn.

Does it talk about the gapjil and sexual favors plaguing the industry?

The K-pop industry is infested with rape and sexual favors, and the amount of gapjil puts even black companies to shame. I quit supporting the industry long ago.

reminiscent of conbini lately, whereby one has to 'engage' with the screen-machine, making purchasing anything very labour-intensive for the customer.... while staff stand by watching and giving instructions..... no wonder goods are so expensive! seems inefficient to me.

You clearly know nothing about working at convenience stores.

Shameful and hypocritical industry plagued with gapjil, sexual favors, and racism. I stopped listening long ago after the music video by Red Velvet that had pictures of the atomic bombing in Hiroshima and 9/11.

https://aminoapps.com/c/k-pop/page/blog/hiroshima-bombing-and-9-11-attack-in-red-velvets-new-mv/obId_uWNDwNkpwVaEXavj3bBDBBeL

Jeepers. What whale meat tastes like is completely irrelevant. Stop the slaughter, Japan and Norway.

Better add South Korea to the list, while you're at it.

"A loophole allows South Korean fishermen who “accidentally” catch whales to sell them legally, helping support a thriving industry in certain towns."

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/south-korea-whaling-bycatch

Korean girl bands look good and sound good, ie, are musically proficient. They look like women - as opposed to children -- and can swivel their hips and sing in multipart harmony.

I'm no fan, but it still means the Koreans are easier to look at and listen to than J girl bands no matter your nationality -- unless you're tone deaf who find children sexually attractive.

Too bad K-pop is plagued with gapjil, rape, and sexual favors. I stopped supporting the industry long ago and never will again.

Seems like fun and games until you learn about K-pop's relationship with gapjil and sexual favors.

Even the South Koreans don't bow this low.

Check any interaction between the Moon administration and North Korea.

Japan is already far, far above her natural carrying capacity in terms of human population.

Someone has never taken a train five stops out of Tokyo.

I sure do miss tasty, healthy bread. Japanese “bread” sucks.

Yes, I miss grease-covered Twinkies and oil-soaked garlic bread.

A crooked tooth looks child-like, as in pre-pubescent. Creepy, if you ask me. The female K-Pop image, by contrast, is about young adult women.

K-pop is about gapjil, rape, and sexual bribery. I'll take crooked teeth over all that any day.

@Speed

I'm not a fan of forward and especially backward facing seats either. Going backwards makes me fill nauseous. 

Most likely, you can switch the back of the seat so you can choose which direction you face. It’s the same with other trains in Osaka and the shinkansen.

Naruto is by far my favourite anime and has a special place in my heart. So I naturally started to watch One Piece ......and gave up by 200th episode. SO MANY FILLERS!

You should read the manga. There are no fillers (Well... unless you count the Foxy Arc) and the pacing is way better.

It’s too bad that a lot of people can’t get past the cartoony character designs. The world building rivals anything on western TV. I heard someone describe Oda as having the imagination of an elementary schooler and the storytelling abilities of Tolkien. And despite the childish gags, when the story gets serious, it gets genuinely emotional. Every time a character’s backstory starts, I get ready for heartbreak.

I quit listening to K-pop after the Red Velvet music video that had pictures of 9/11 and racial slurs. Also because of the toxic fanbase, plastic surgery, blackface, gapjil, suicides, rape, and sexual bribery. The whole culture is sickening.

It's not the fault of Korea if they are better in marketing themselves compared to Edo-jidai Japan when it comes to pop culture.

By marketing, you mean spamming unrelated trends and comments on Twitter with fanvids and looping music videos on YouTube while you sleep to increase views?