hereandthere comments

creative reporting seems to say "We will make $9 billion less than last year" so for example last year profit $109billion, this year $100billion... so a $9billion loss... yeah right.

there are a few huge country music festivals here in Japan... love to see the locals in cowboy boots and hats.

why do all these solutions never address the fact that these "kids" want to access these sites...

oh yeah, kids would never do that, it's the evil internet forcing them to seek out those links.

maybe JJ needs to learn Japanese and get out a little more... this article is not very informed to say the least.

there are live music clubs everywhere, big and small... If I wanted to play every night I could with out an afterthought... maybe he is too much of a "pro"... the "scene" does work a bit different here, but not so much that you are locked out...

that one guy has some really short legs....

Bill, now that you have vented... do you feel better?

WHO says swine flu pandemic is imminent

Let's panic!!!

"Merde!, Swine flu!" - Inspector Clouseau

you can call me "Al"

maybe the title should be: "Dealing with sexual harassment, as defined by your home country and it historic and cultural mores in the workplace in a country you chose to come to, which if you don't like you are free to leave."

the "Claire" example, seems to be a normal business situation in Tokyo for sure, and where is the harassment?

“President Bush has left President Obama a hard hand to play: an economy in crisis and a budget in deep deficit, in deficit this year alone by $1.752 trillion,” said Rep John Spratt, D-S.C., chairman of the House Budget Committee.

Member of the Budget Committee since 1995 and chairman since 2001... Bush's fault, yea right!!! buhahahaha

so he is giving up the "hope" and focusing on "change"?

He said the money would be used to buy up and rehabilitate vacant homes, and provide loans to poorer and middle-income families to help with home assistance.

isn't that what lead to housing slide in the first place?

I don't think the "news" ever made any money for newspapers... it was the advertising that brought in the money. In the "information age" seems all the newspapers have the same info... that which is now online, what's missing is the local news... with the exception of murder and mayhem very little local news has been printed by my "hometown" newspaper in years.. that includes the online service.... that and most of the "news" seems to push certain political slants... I suppose TV "news" is the same.

I have no problem with them returning a portion of my tax money back to me... returning my tax money to those who don't pay taxes, well that is another story... but this is Japan.

“By August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end.”

... so if someone attacks that week, the US will just give up the fight on the 31st? hey, that is great news to know!

The $1.75 trillion deficit projected for this year would represent 12.3% of the gross domestic product, double the previous post-war record of 6% in 1983

ah, change we can believe in! awesome!

was the author drinking with Nakagawa when he wrote this...

On Wednesday he moves to Arizona for the unveiling of a program to help millions of homeowners fend off home mortgage foreclosures.

are these the same people who should not have gotten the mortgage in the first place?

What victory? None of the senators even knows what's in the "stimulus" bill...

well at least now they can claim they voted for the bill before they read it...

at least they made it to a hospital.

On Monday, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn warned that protectionist policies such as the ‘‘Buy American’’ provision do not work and will be harmful to the economic recovery.

it not the "harmful"-ness... it is illegal, thanks to those wonderful free-trade agreements... like NAFTA...

seven straight nights at Tokyo Dome

just to prove there is no recession... in J-pop.

But Obama cautioned again against expecting instant results: “No one policy or program will solve the challenges we face right now, nor will this crisis recede in a short period of time.”

looks like he misunderestimated himself.

Should fit in with most English learning topics in school.

yes uhh we can, because uh we uhh are the ones we've uh been uhh waiting for...

also issued new ethics rules for his administration but those rules did not include intentional tax evasion, or foreign payoffs in the form of "donations" to "libraries".

The second order will set up a study of interrogation methods that could be added to the Army manual, including some that may be more aggressive than those currently permitted.

would forcing the "detainees" to listen to the poem, and benediction from the inauguration be tantamount to torture?

Acknowledging the historic nature of his inauguration as leader of a nation with a deeply troubled racial past,

ok, can someone name a country in the history of the world that hasn't?

sarcasm is so lost on this site...

Solar cars... should work great in places like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, and Kuwait ... where they are really needed.

Should work about 3 days a week in Tokyo... except for the rainy season of course.

Associated Press writers Dheepti Namasivay in Paris, France, Frances D’Emilio in Rome, Italy, Shawn Pogatchnik in Dublin, Ireland, Robert Barr in London, England, Kristen Gelineau in Sydney, Australia, Denis Gray in Bangkok, Thailand, Dikky Sinn in Hong Kong, China, Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines, Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Biswajeet Banerjee in Lucknow, India, and Yuri Kageyama in Tokyo, Japan, contributed to this story.

how many AP writer's does it take to write a New Year's article?...

that's a sign of hard times...

and JAL responds by raising international fares... makes sense

That’s how you win a modern war. By fighting the war on want. the article address the 'war on terror', not war in general... seems the war on terror is fighting the "want"...

The enemy:

wants to kill people who don't believe their interpretation of islam, including other muslims.

wants to impose it's governmental and legal beliefs on the whole world by threat of death.

wants death to America etc....

based on the authors "bio" he certainly is not going to be critical of his "keepers."