HaraldBloodaxe comments

I think people who do this are pitiful, tedious and irksome. They get on my nerves.

But I know people like you regard yourself an angel and Japan evil, and never stop harassing Japan

And there it is - the lamentably predictable appeal for victim status. Pathetic.

If this disgusting act were not being carried out for no other reason than greed, despite a mendacious claim to "culture", then civilised people couldn't complain.

If you insist on committing disgusting acts, you're not the victim when people are disgusted by them.

If it started in the 1969, it's not culture.

If you have to hide it from your own citizens, it's not culture.

If you ban photography and filming of it, it's not culture.

This is simply a disgrace. Japan should be ashamed.

they enjoy it every much as bit as you or me

No doubt. Sitting in an office while your kids are at Daycare sounds really festive.

Wow, look at that - a country where politicians face repercussions for committing crimes.

Wouldn't that be nice?

I like Christmas.

When it's done properly.

I seem to remember, when thge case was made to increase the amount of tax we pay on everything we buy, that the revenue was needed to service the debt "We have to get the debt under control" they said.

I don't recall being asked to stump up so Abe can get his chickenhawk wet dreams off the ground.

Giving this government more tax revenue is like lending your bank card and PIN to a crystal meth addict.

It doesn't matter how much they say they're cutting costs. Once this show is over and everyone in the insiders' club has taken his slice of the pie, they can just burn all the accounts like they did after Nagano and nobody will ever know how much of OUR money they pocketed.

I'm wondering how an unemployed person would be able to afford any other course of action. Have you seen the cost of a funeral here? It's extortionate. Does anyone know what the procedure is if you're bereaved but without millions of yen to throw at a bell-ringing monotone chanter and a new name for the deceased?

Anyone stupid enough to pay 660,000 yen for anything without even seeing it first is asking to be bilked.

Nonetheless, you can't hep wondering why the Agency was so clement in its retribution. Someone got a piece of the pie, mayhap?

kawabegawa - you took the words right out of my mouth.

I wonder if there's any concrete involved in these spending plans?

When the J-Gov says "Fiscal spending" it translates to Yakuza construction contracts and the related kickbacks to the OldBoys in back offices.

15 seconds into that video I developed diabetes. What a pile of cack.

Because there is an inherent need here to either infantilise or sexualise - or do both simultaneously - absolutely everything.

The Abenomic miracle triumphs yet again.

This is an interesting choice of words for the headline. If we read the article, a more accurate phrasing would be:

"Abe sends nearly a trillion more of taxpayers' yen to his buddies at TEPCO and their yakuza partners, while Tohoku victims continue to live in sheds, forgotten".

I'd like to see proper transparent accounts for this white elephant, given that my grandchildren will still be paying for it.

But let's face it, the books will all be burned like they were after Nagano. We're just the piggy bank for the criminals in charge.

Oh, whatever could be done to decrease this debt? Concrete isn't free, you know.

Another new contract, another round of kickbacks, another layer of amakudari.

Don't worry, people of Tohoku, we'll get back to you about 2022.

Has Mori handed in his resignation after mishandling this even worse than his risible tenure as PM? Don't be silly, that would require accountability and honour.

Precisely. He's going to bow, she'd a few crocodile tears, take a gigantic severance package and stay out of sight for a few months before starting a nice new well-paid sinecure.

There is no accountability for the good old boys in Japan Inc. not a trace of honour, either.

IDK

What a truly dreadful picture. Is this the best JT can do? Maybe if they'd allowed foreign media in, someone might have got a decent picture.

mukashiyokatta - you were saying?

It doesn't matter. It really doesn't matter.

I thought we were broke?

Still no doubt there will be all due oversight to make sure this money is properly used, and none of it disappears into the pockets of corrupt politicos.

I'm probably worrying overmuch. Whoever heard of bad governance in Laos, or Cambodia, or Myanmar? The very models of immaculate trustworthiness.

Hawkeye - or is even correctly punctuated.

A lot of chaps I know say their wife became middle aged immediately after giving birth. Aprons, hand held over mouth whilst peering anxiously at supermarket produce, permanent exhaustion when with husband which only seems to lift during hula classes or ikebana coffee mornings.

Futons must be better than mattresses. I make it a rule to always conduct my life in the manner people who didn't know better did ninety years ago.

That's why I sleep on a futon, smoke fifty a day and keep my perishables in a wooden box with a block of ice on top.

OK, so I have a bit of a cough and all my joints ache, and I wake up covered in dust and cockroach turd, and I have explosive diahorrea all the time, but so what? Traditions must be preserved.

The old ways are the best ways.

There used to be a British "comedian" in the 1970s who did a similar schtick: "What about them blacks/ pakistanis/ chinese, eh? They can't talk right, can they? There's one in our chippy, he says 'you want foken tray?' I says 'you'll get a foken smack in the mouth, you'"

Bigots used to love him. Most people considered him foul.

Do the same routine here and it's the unique Japanese humour, and if you don't lap it up it's because you're not culturally sensitive enough.

Bet you a pound to a penny she has a false nose on by the end of next month. Because, you know, them foreigners, they've got big noses, haven't they? Have you seen 'em? Big noses, them foreigners, haven't they, eh? And don't they talk funny?

Oh my, how hysterically funny. I must grab a needle and thread to sew up my split sides. A one-trick pony - I can't wait to see her doing the same schtick on every "variety" (good job, Misnomer-Man) show every night for the next six months.

Nearly as good as that bloke who said "Gets" and pointed at the camera.

The day laughter died, Japan was taken in for questioning.