Hiroicci comments

"4. I would want him to quietly and attentively listen to my complaints about daily life."

Then they don't listen to men when men ask the same of them.

"A Japanese government-backed researcher"

Any independent researchers, anyone???

When will they realise that it's their interests to see Japan's economic recovery??? Give Japan a weaker yen at around 100 yen to the dollar and let J companies and consumers take back their confidence, and they'll buy MORE goods from the US and the rest! Didn't they see how tight Japanese purses were with 70+ yen to the dollar? This is because many Japanese were worried about their future job and income prospects. Let them have less worry and spend!!!

For a long time, the US lived with 100 yen to the dollar and the EU, 130 yen to the euro with no complains. Why the fuss now???

What not many politicians understand is that the weaker yen could be in their interests.

It's not only the short-to-mid term exchange rates that encourage companies and consumers to buy their goods, ie, they don't buy foreign products just because they are relatively cheap. They also think about the long-term economic or financial situations that might occur. The current J economy is in deep s**t, and many people are, therefore, afraid to spend. They just don't feel secure about their jobs To change that psychology, the economy needs to pick up. For the economy to pick up, the yen has got to fall further down. Then many Japanese consumption minds would say, "Spend!", and buy their products, however more expensive they have become compared to 3 months ago.

So let them feel better and more secure first! Although it has declined, this is still the third biggest economy in the world. They still have the economic power to make them laugh aloud happy.

I don't understand. Apparently, the yen's rise to 70+ was way too high for Japan, and it has fallen to a more manageable level. It should go down to 100 yen to the dollar, as I heard that that's comfortable enough for many J goods and many other countries managed to live with that value before. So why the fuss? The yen is still higher than it should, and the US and Germany are already yapping.

And most of these guys usually claim that Japan should go nuclear and test the bombs...

Now who can deny that this is a serious containment of China by the countries that see it as a threat to their own interests?

Japan, or, more like, Abe seems to be ready to do more of this chicken race.

On the other hand, China is also to blame. It has pushed Japan too hard. Japan won't give in easily this time.

This is one of the expensive political antics that only the right wing Japanese support.

The zebra was even walking and talking with a staff member!

Watch the video! During the drill, it doesn't run, go wild or escape! It is caught talking with a staffer again!!! No motivation whatsoever!!!

I can hear the person in the animal say, as he/she took off the costume: "I hate this shit job!!"

Most of the convenience stores used to sell (not really quality) coffee. I guess it didn't work, as many Japanese prefer to buy canned coffees at the store. I don't see why 7/11 is trying that again.

I wish there was a data comparison between Japan and other major countries.

The NPA said the number of arrests was 27 more than in 2011 and the most since 2002. The number disciplined was 91 more than 2011 and the first time since 2004 that the figure exceeded 400.

Well, this tells little, because you might want to suspect that their illegal actions were probably condoned or not just reported. How do you expect us to believe that what happened a lot in 2012 didn't happen much in 2002, 2004 and 2011???

Two minds are telling me this:

1) It was right that he came home. He really didn't have to put up with this. 2) Racist harassment occurs everywhere, even in countries where racial awareness in football is high. Slovakia, unfortunately, isn't one of them. What did you expect???

Why not give the job of making history textbooks to scholars from other countries that would have far less prejudice on a nation's history (though, admittedly, there couldn't be a totally objective history textbook). The job should go to, say, the French, the Fins, the Hungarians, the Bolivians or the Kiwis.

“This doesn’t mean we will reject them and create something new, but it may be necessary to add forward-looking expressions,” he said.

Oh, yes it does!

Forget about football. What team sports are the Chinese good at??? They can't work together, except when they protest against Japan, and that's their national character. One Chinese colleague put it to me, "You can't keep money and glory all to yourself in a team sport, which the Chinese generally hate."

Many football experts have been saying, "Oh, China will be a big footballing nation someday," for about 20 years. They haven't delivered the goods.

OssanAmerica, there were some cases in which some banana heads set fire on a Chinese school or harassed the Chinese from their cars, but most the Japanese played it cool, as if to say, "Go on, smash things up, China, and let's see what sorts of idiots you will make of yourselves shouting like that."

What's China gonna do about the nationalists that it agitated against Japan??? I guess that China will have to continue its fiery rhetoric against the Japanese not to look tired in all this.

It's right for the gov to set an inflation target, but it's wrong for it to tell the central bank how.

This is the day part of the central bank independence was eroded.

Now the ball is on China's side.

If it takes military action, it might be embarrassed by the US and Japan.

If it doesn't, it'll be seen "scared" by many of its own nationalists.

Besides, if China moves, it'll be a clear message to other Asian countries that have lad disputes with China that they need some strong allies (Japan and the US). If it doesn't, they'll see the whole thing as just bluffing by China.

Having said that, I have to say that there was the Philippines and China confrontation a few months back, in which both sides retreated a bit.

Ignoring China's bluffing and propaganda was the best, just as the DPJ did, so that China would have looked like a mad man shouting in the street. Japan shouldn't have become like a cheeky little kid screaming, "Bring it on!", behind the Big Brother, the US, who must also be embarrassed by all this.

These remarks are unneeded. The gov should have ignored all the bluffing from China.

"I said what I personally believe."

So every time he looks at sick old people, he feels this way, but he didn't have a chance to say this until yesterday, huh? As deputy prime minister, he feels that way but shuts up and deals with the ageing issue rather reluctantly???

Aso san, you're a politician, and you should know there's an argument as to whether politicians have a private life or not. This is a REALLY poor excuse.

The politicians aren't too far away from those who should hurry up. The LDP dons are quite old as well.

This depends on what you get from the paper. If it's Daikichi (that tells you're a very jammy dude), you shouldn't do this, because you just leave your luck there.

Anyway, I'm gonna go and tie my enemies to shrine bars then...

It was China's interest to see the DPJ in power, as they are always generally liberal on this issue, but they pushed the party too hard and made them look too weak. The LDP in power is the result.

I find elevator girls weird (and sometimes attractive) myself.

Without Ricky Gervais as host, very few people seem to have cared about the ceremony itself anyway.

The first poll means little, especially in Japan.

Give him half a year, and we'll see his "real" popularity or, rather, the typical Japanese tendency to get bored with their leaders quickly.

A year later, who knows, we might see Mr Aso move to his old house again!

A canny move from Mr Abe, because the Internet - by which I mean "Japanese websites" here- is full of nationalists and right wing people, who like to bang on about Korea, China, job scarcity, money and so on. This way, Abe san can do his populist bit.

Whether they'll vote for them is another issue though. According to a survey I read a few months ago, these are the same people who don't bother to go to voting stations but would rather stay in front of their PCs and discuss politics for the future of Japan.

You could do better with charts and figures, Japan Today.

A cancer patient given shots of heroin.