HBJ comments

The boy needs to man up. A cup? My dad used to use a leather belt, stick or any heavy object.

Sounds like you should've 'manned up' a bit more. What exactly is manly about taking abuse anyway?

Go and have a walk around a park on a Friday night in any Western culture to see what the alternative looks like. Cheap booze, cheap drugs, cheap hookups and anti-social behavior like only teenagers can! Then ask yourself again if you think bukatsu is a bad idea, never mind the levels of obesity and game playing either!

How does having or not having bukatsu affect the cost of alcohol, drugs or hookups?

I'd argue that mandating extracurricular activities in many western cultures would likely drive many teenagers to start using alcohol and drugs.

Optional: Yes.

Mandatory: No.

You’ll notice that the number of “yes” responses gets progressively higher as the respondents’ ages go up.

Erm...No it doesn't.

No talk about the import of decent quality cheese?

Now that is a disgrace.

Bring back Liz Truss!

I hope my company doesn’t go this route. They still use fax machines so hopefully that’s a good indication.

Maybe, unless they decide to start faxing your salary to you.

So this has been going on for months now and all that time this guy has just been sitting there in silence presumably hoping people just won’t notice his ties, and attendance at meetings. Bizarre.

"I deeply regret that my attendance at several meetings of the organization has resulted in giving credit to the said organization," he said.

What does he think happens when a serving lawmaker attends several meetings with an organisation? The ignorance, or sheer contempt this guy has for the Japanese public, is staggering.

I notice he doesn’t regret attending the meetings, just that it gave credit to the cult of corruption masquerading as a church.

Ex-Tokyo Olympic executive to be investigated over fresh bribery case

And the rest...

Does anyone seriously think that this guy just suddenly became corrupt in his mid 70s when given the role of Olympic executive?!

These people know exactly what to do, and how to do it, because they've been at it for decades.

What, oh what, makes Kishida think this ploy will suddenly succeed?

It isn't intended to 'succeed' in the way a qualified economist would judge success.

It's intended to keep a certain group of individuals wealthy and in power.

When you understand that, it's easy to see it has succeeded every time.

Working in the same industry, I’m not at all surprised! ‘Gifts’ are par for the course to reinforce that ongoing relationship.

The Unification Church, Dentsu, and the LDP are all peas from the same pod. Japan inc. is rotten to the core.

“Once you start down the dark path of stealing raincoats, forever it will dominate your destiny” - was apparently his statement to the arresting officer.

Aoki, which makes cheap suits, was a surprise pick to create the team outfits. 

It certainly was. Nobody knew that a brown envelope could contain so much paper.

Step 1: Turn off all vending machines.

Step 2: Turn off all neon signage.

Let's see what the reserve supply capacity is now.

It really is time for the LDP to change the name of the party to something more befitting if its actual beliefs and actions. There’s not a lot of liberal or democratic about it.

I’m sure he doesn’t remember what he ate for lunch never mind what bribes he received or what other corruption he partook in.

Half of Japan's ruling LDP lawmakers had ties with Unification Church

And the rest.

This comment is totally unfair towards the Japanese people.

The actions of any government or official organization or military shouldn't be used as a degrading representation of the the entire population.

Remind me again, who elects the politicians?!

Government is a reflection of the people - especially when the same party with the same general principles have held power for generations.

alleging that Kasai had created a “toxic atmosphere” in WHO’s offices across the Western Pacific.

Kasai doing his best to spread Japanese working culture around the world I see.

Wasn’t the law changed fairly recently meaning the wife (or the non working spouse) is entitled to more upon divorce? The non working spouse is no longer trapped financially in a relationship they might want to leave. It takes a while for people to realise this, especially older generations.

Monkeypox challenge for Japan is not just disease but stigma, too

In a country where stigma can come from the audacity of requesting to take one’s paid holidays, or one’s mandated maternity or paternity leave, or even simply not wearing a mask when walking alone from the parking lot to the office, I’m not really surprised that contracting Monkeypox would put a black mark next to one’s reputation.

Japan loves to assign stigmata.

Boy, THERE is a happy couple....

Utterly depressing, isn't it?

I bet they converse using slightly stern voices too.

A smile and a bit of charisma can go a long way.

Of course he did! They are all tainted with links to the UC in one form or another.

Even if there is a single LDP member out there who has had zero interactions with anything to do with the UC, and received no financial donations or assistance etc. they are still tainted by their ongoing association to the LDP.

The LDP is showing on a daily basis that it’s rotten to the core and anyone who continues to be associated with it should be considered part of the rot.

Meanwhile, the number of Japanese who went overseas in July numbered 277,900

They do realise that most of these Japanese people are coming back and re-entering Japan, right?

This ongoing limit on inbound tourism, and the hoops needed to go through, is inane.

No wage hikes in the ‘good times’ because companies need to be cautious for possible future ‘bad times’.

No wage hikes in the ‘bad times’ because of the ‘bad times’.

Who knew that more natural immersion in a language would see positive results?!

This is absolute common sense that I, along with others in my area, have been pushing the BoE for for more than 10 years - to no avail I might add.

This shows it can be done if people are willing to make the ‘difficult decision’ to try.

Taro Kono, a minister in charge of consumer affairs, said Friday that his agency plans to set up a committee to look into complaints from people falling victim to spiritual sales.

Kono’s grandfather was elected at the same time as Abe’s grandfather (Kishi). Hatoyama’s grandfather too. As the UC was getting its claws into the LDP, these people were ‘at the scene of the crime’.

There is no way people like Taro Kono should be involved in any committee looking into issues linked in any way to UC. Anyone that might have historical familial ties to the main root of the problem should be kept well away.

Let me guess…it’ll end up being someone with a tie to the UC.

Rotten to the core

Secretary General Toshimitsu Motegi and Vice President Taro Aso retained their posts.

So Kishida is saying that Taro Aso currently doesn't have, and has never had, any connection to the UC?

Seriously?!

This is Taro Aso, the perennial mainstay of Japanese politics, ex-PM, long-serving number 2, and a cabinet minister who has served in the highest posts for goodness knows how long.

Are we being asked to believe that he has achieved all this - maintaining his power, gaffe after gaffe, and incompetence after incompetence - without any backing or connection to the UC? The same UC that has effectively been funding the LDP and the majority of its politicians since time immemorial?

Come off it.