Hiroicci comments

I'd say you get tired of bending it after doing it 10 minutes and showing it to 10 people.

Who drew up the guidelines? Why did the companies accept the terms, if they felt even a bit that it would be extremely difficult to finish it in time??? Did the gov and the companies discuss the difficulty? Are all these a good excuse for that sloppy clean-up work???

As long as the Japanese think that the old Imperial Army is the best mental education somewhere in their mind-set, which says that sometimes the physical punishment is the only way to educate, this sort of punishment will be repeated by those in power.

The teacher is still 47 and, therefore, has never experienced a war, but I believe that he learnt that sort of thing was great through his own sporting experience.

Don't you have a better picture, Japan Today??? We can't see its whole body.

The market expects to see looser money to flow, as Abe seems to be putting up his middle finger at balancing the budget and aiming to let it flow a bit more. It should be nothing compared with if he'd restructure the whole economy by junking useless gov projects, cutting spending and balancing the budget.

What is it? More bond issuing, construction, government projects, and less independence for the central bank???

Welcome back to 1975.

It is highly probable that most of his family or blood members agreed to let him stand. Otherwise, he would have been stopped by them.

The same people will happily contribute to his funeral arrangement. If so, it won't be burden to them.

It's his money, it's his decision. He'll die penniless but happy even if he does, or, considering his courage, I guess he'll live to fight another day.

Reckless for his age? Maybe. I just think that he was exercising his democratic right to stand for election in a country that was becoming undemocratic, racist and corrupt in his eyes though. Or would an old person not have that right or just have less of that? How sad it is if you think all old men SHOULD only save their money, sit down with their descendants, watch sumo, have no ambition but think about which coffin to choose.

The only choice left for him - not to die, at least, for a while.

"I don’t care if I die in the forest near Mount Fuji and just turn into soil" - Great quote. At his age, he has no illusion about life and death.

“I ran in the election to prove my point."

Respect, great granddad!!!

To be fair, no police officers, Japanese or otherwise, would give a toss about your bags being snatched. They'd make a short report at the police station and ask you to go away.

The only difference is that, quite often, the Japanese police know who the bastards are and where they live, as they are typically repeat offenders, but do nothing about it. That's negligence, I guess, in anyone's book.

Very unfortunately, with the pro-nuclear LDP back in power, the TEPCO top monkeys will be safe and we'll see another electricity price hike so that TEPCO can pay back their compensation. We'll hear less of it as well.

I will be really gutted with the voters, if they send the LDP back to power, which is highly likely.

Admittedly, the DPJ are ineffective and amateurish, whereas the third force parties are unelectably nationalistic. But are the LDP a logical conclusion for them??? They remain unreformed and keen on state level corruption. Their economic view is still "issue bonds and dig holes." With Mr Stomachache in premiership, other Asian countries, mainly China and the two Koreas will see more chance to get upset.

OK, see you in "Corruption, Corruption, Corruption" Monday, next week!

I find the whole thing a bit too much, but I commend the city officials and the city big wigs, who are usually stubborn and conservative, for this very bold decision.

Shady practices...

Is there anything un-shady at TEPCO???

The only question you want to ask would be, "What's next?"

What are you fussing about, guys? Moderation is always the key, as you know. Nowhere in the article does it say, the more you drink, the healthier you get, does it?

You can challenge the findings if you like, but, remember, so-called "facts" as you know them are often dependent on what research results you read or turn to. Bring your "facts", and they'll do the same. In that sense, your "facts" can be as good as theirs.

It's a party season, so why not just follow your judgement and enjoy your beer "moderately"??? Just have fun, talk about this topic for a couple of minutes and forget about it.

Or sue the researchers for lies, as you have access to better "facts"???

Well then, Ladies and Gents, TOAST TO OUR HEALTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh I thought lots of maintenance work has been done on the tunnels and the bridges for years and hasn't really spotted a major problem with them. Now the experts, esp. the Transport Ministry, are saying that they may be dangerously old.

Besides, there are older tunnels and bridges in good condition in the world. Is it possible that those we have in Japan were constructed improperly???

Artistic expression???

It's just the Gungnam style, isn't it?

He's always been a right wing man, but he's trying to sell his "right-ness" to the voters more than ever. I wonder if he's been pushed by other right guys like Ishihara and Hashimoto, attempting to "out-right" them. It's a "how conservative can you get" contest.

We should mourn the imminent death of liberalism.

Ishihara is an old fashioned nationalist, whereas Hashimoto is a neo-con guy (although his cultural views are those of old conservatives). They won't get along.

There's not much that Japan can do to combat deflation now. Many Japanese consumers are worried about their job situations, which stops them from spending more. Besides, with the EU economy f-ed, the US' slowing down, and China refusing to buy from Japan, there's been less demand for J goods.

Here are the dilemma that Japan faces:

Further deregulation might create jobs but would lower the prices down further;

An attempt to balance the budget and correct the national finance would make the yen stronger, pushing the prices further down as a result of cheaper imports and job disappearance.

Abe doesn't get these. He still thinks that issuing more bonds and spending more on public works would kickstart the moribund Japanese economy.

Good! He's making himself more unelectable! Way to go, Ishihara!

Japan has the weakest national squad ever without Darvish or Ichiro.

Kamei proposes good policies, but few people love his arrogant personality.

Go, TOTO! No one will complain about if their bottoms cleaner, in principle, will they?

Abe san is just a coddled rich boy grown up to be half a man he should have become. He'll bottle it in the middle of heat. As I understood from his last PM job, he'd never gone through rocky hard places of life. Someone else had cleared them for him. Gordon Brown, who was as unpopular as Abe, had more guts to see his term out.

Nationalist? It's like a rich school boy trying to look bad on a motorbike that his parents bought for him.

I wish Ishihara got out of his old conservatism and embraced a new conservative attitude, by which I mean things like, smaller government, useless public work scrapping, free trade promotion, radical tax reviews, tough but friendly diplomacy, respect for human rights, more international cooperation, and so on, as an alternative to the amateurishly liberal DPJ. Then I would take him more seriously.

Typically, this kind of nationalist party has no serious economic policies or ideals, because many old nationalist leaders in Japan really focus on politics and have little knowledge of economics or economy. They don't have economic advisors around them, either. Top economists are more or less liberal, believing in fewer regulations, good international relationships, better corporate governance, the central bank independence, and so on. These guys will have none of them.

I'm sure these guys will bring nationalism into international trade and macro/micro economics, promoting, "Buy Japanese goods, chuck imports." Protectionism will be their trade policy. As for domestic economics, they might promote state capitalism, through thicker links with the major companies and subsidies.

I admire Ishihara's determination though. He's ok when he exercises it against the ever-powerful bureaucrats and pusillanimous politicians.

If his determination is used for some nationalist causes, it'll bring us utter disasters.

Can't we have a determined liberal leader???