Homeschooler comments

I would say the question should be more how can Japan sort out it's dangerously inadequate out of hours medical care system, and scarily inept ambulance service.

Get seriously ill on a public holiday or out of hours, and your chances of being treated are woefully low. Ambulance crew here are little more than taxi drivers, and often can't even get their patients into a hospital willing to treat them.

Within reach from Tokyo, Owakudani is rather lovely, Xeno. Nikko is also fun. Ild also put in a couple of days at a good resort onsen. I liked Kusatsu onsen, the food was nice too.

The classical period of Japanese history is loosely parallel to the middle ages, Cleo, is it not? When lay people talk of historical periods, they go to what they know, which I suppose in this case is not Japanese history.

Kyoto is lovely by the way, and you don't need a lot of money to enjoy it. A car and guidebook is enough. As always in Japan you don't need to spend a lot of money to eat well, though a decent hotel was at least as expensive as you would pay in Tokyo. Personally I prefer temples and castles to shopping, but either way, it's very beautiful outside of the city centre.

I honestly have no problem with a few magazine covers with adult women dressed in bikinis. I guess I don't frequent places with anything harder than that on show. I do have a problem with people blaming young girls for what is either bad upbringing or poor choices, and demanding the rest of these girl's lives is ruined to teach them a lesson. I think life has already taught them some pretty tough lessons.

Oh, and for what its worth, not ALL parents are good parents and I have never defended mothers who let down their children. These teenagers have been let down, and their mother's need to take a good long hard look at how they raised their kids.

To compare presumably adult women, who chose to pose skimpily dressed on magazine covers, to underage girls working in the sex trade is a little naieve, don't you think?

No Marie, you give yourself far too much credit, Im not morally outraged at women posing in pretty much what my kids can see on the beach, whereas I AM very much so, by underage girls working in the sex trade, and being put into a very vulnerable and potentially dangerous situation, at an age where they should be in education, or training to make themselves a good life. I do find women who end up posing in those magazines to be very sad, and disheartening, to be honest.

I suppose if they pay tax, you wouldn't much care how they earn their cash....after all noone shanghai';s those poor victim men and forces them to pay girls for physical contact.

Take me through the logic, tmarie. Just say you are right, and these girls, these human beings had been raised to be nothing more than prostitutes, how does that make them to blame? Their parents, the school system, Japanese culture, I can see how someone would blame them on taking an innocent child and turning them into a whore.

To blame the child herself, for having the bad luck to have been born into a family which did not nurture her, and, as you say - raised her to be a toy for men in return for cash, well that seems a little crass to me.

How do they know what they are doing is wrong, if they have been "raised to see men as cash machines"? Surely an upbringing so deficient, does not give them self awareness.

These girls are victims, so far as I can see, and their home lives need investigating. I don't know what you were like as a teen, but i sure as hell made some very very bad choices. Teenagers are well known for making considered decisions, and to suggest the rest of their lives need ruining because of poor parental supervision, lack of self esteem, and making a bad choice, is, well harsh.

All I ever see in the combini on the front pages of magazines, as I pass them, are girls with no nipples or bare crotch on show, in fairly revealing outfits. Gives me the perfect chance to say to dd, ah, how sad those girls are doing that job, and my son looks the other way. I am his mother, after all. I dont ever stand in front of the magazine stands looking at them, so its not an issue.

Marie, I dont think you and I have any common ground at all, fwiw.

I really don't understand the logic of charging the underage girls. They were exploited, have been let down by those protecting and guiding them, and then abused by the men who paid for their "services". The girls do not need to be stigmatised, they need their self esteem boosting and some decent career and educational guidance. The johns though, they DO need to be dealt with by the law.

Porn is porn, Marie, as long as my husband doesnt bring it into my house, its none of my business what people do, as long as everyone is of a suitable age.

Zichi there is no point preaching humanity to those who are so devoted to money and only money and so passionate about preserving only what is theirs. Perhaps those who are so antisocial should live in a tax haven or make their own brave new world society somewhere, just don't expect me to play any part of it.

Can you imagine the conversation? "Well Mrs Tanaka, you were a stay at home mother, you raised four children, and have 12 tax paying grandchildren, but you didn't work after they were born? Well you certainly didn't pay into the state, and you were a bon bon eating loser. Im make my apologies, but Im afraid I will have to insist we no longer give you your heart medication. Now now, don't cry, its for the good of Japan. Say goodbye to Grandma, kids."

Taxes paid go to all manner of things our family doesn't benefit from - military spending, health care for people who smoke themselves silly, payments for people who don't work, public schools. That said the taxes are paid and we vote for whichever party is most suited to our views and needs. Yes SAHM's get pensions and healthcare, and their husbands pay into the system, as we all do.

How infantile to single out stay at home mothers, when there are all manner of things taxes go on which do not benefit you in particular!

It also is not even of passing importance to any other woman if other women stay home, nor is it acceptable to characterize them as "bon bon" eating idiots. People scrimp and save and do without in order to stay home with their children, to live their lives as they wish to live them. My husband adores me, and appreciates the fact I've raised his children, that I educate them, that I clean the home, cook his suppers, that I'm the backbone of the family and am content to live my life in this role.

The old school feminists have a lot to answer for. If certain western women are happy with their lot as worker bees, then fabulous, all power to you, but you have no right to be so rude about women who choose a different path. I am highly educated, and have not been in paid work for ten years. I am content, happy, productive and loved, and if other western women who have chosen another type of life are as happy as I am, perhaps they would be less critical.

Running down Japanese women, or mothers who choose to stay at home doesn't make you more desireable or better. It just makes you look bitter. I think its partly due to the fact that Japanese women age wonderfully, are desireable, slim, gorgeous, and not totally bought into the lies of modern feminism. Its enough to put any western woman's back up and start to justify why their husbands should have married them!

It is none of my business if someone else wants to get married or not. Its a matter of personal choice. However, the mantra of live and let live doesnt seem to extend to stay at home mothers. SAHM's don't "leech" of their families, they input into family life in a way which is not financially compensated, but if no less valid as a life choice, providing the person they marry is on the same page.

I detest this behavior in non Japanese females in Japan, which consists of being very derogatory about Japanese women, and anyone who has not made the same choices as they have, in what appears to be an attempt to make themselves seem more special, valuable and generally morally correct in comparison.

Live and let live indeed.

That was really lovely. I wish them a really happy life together!

While I wish this evil old man never gets to see the light of day again, this is Japan, and its highly unlikely. He hurt himself which will be enough for the useless system here, and no doubt will express his "regret" and justify taking a young life and walk away with a caution and a little time inside at the most. RIP little girl.

Well at least they are admitting there was radioactive contamination. We have moved on somewhat in that regard. I suppose we should be grateful that people are still not being labelled hysterical panic-mongers.

If they go ahead with the restarts, and there is ever another nuclear incident in Japan, then I do not want to hear one complaint from the people. Not one sob story, request for aid, or hour long tv show about a family missing their dog/farm/house. Not one. It's their choice, and if they make a deal with the devil, they had been be prepared to stand by it.

Japanese rarely adopt, this poor little girl will most likely spend her life in institutions, knowing her mother threw her away.

Even a "distressed teen" should have had the sense to leave the baby somewhere safer, even if they didn't have the ability to sort out an adoption. The "mother" must be totally lacking in even basic human decency, and if they do find her, she should be punished for what was a heartless act of child abuse.

I just don't see how its possible to remove all the guns even there was a ban put in place, or tighter controls. From the UK which has stringent controls you can see with Dunblane and the case in 2010 in Northumbria (I refuse to name these men and let their names live on), gun control does not stop a determined and intelligent person from committing mass murder.

If someone is bent on mass murder, high tax on bullets wont stop them. The only way I can see to make things any safer is to put better mental health care more easily available, and making it a hell of a lot easier to have someone put in secure care.

It is very unlikely in the US they will ever be in a situation where they even need to worry about a crazed gunman, Cos. These incidents are rare in the US.

I home school for different reasons than safety from these rare events, but they wont be going to out to school in the US until they are ready for college, so even with relocation they will not have to worry they will ever be in the exact same situation.

The fact that shootings of this kind are rare in the US is not a lie. People would do well to calm down, respect the depth of this tragedy and stop using it to pursue their own agendas.

I sat down with my children and explained this was a very rare event, and mass public shootings/school shootings are uncommon in the US, and that Japan, where we live has gun control laws. They wanted to know what to do if it did happen. I told them to play dead, stay very still and dont move until someone you are sure is a good guy comes for you, but that it is incredibly unlikely that they will ever be in that situation.

The whole thing is horrible, but no less horrible than the civilians and children that die in US sponsored wars worldwide, and I dont see anyone rending their clothes over lost Iraqi child, or Afghani child lives.

Do not mention his name again. Do not show his picture. Do not refer to him in any way. No immortality through infamy. The media are culpable insofar as they play to the drama-vampires. Enough.

May those little children rest in peace and their parents find the strength to carry on.

Lucabrasi, I've not got much time to reply, but I absolutely would NOT stop a child to alert them to the fact they had dropped this mythical ticket in a train station. I would, however, tell a railway employee who I saw dropping the ticket and hand that ticket in. It is not safe to talk to child you do not know, you could either scare them, like this man clearly did when he spoke to the girl to "ask directions", or else someone could mistake your helpful act as something entirely different.

Its not a lot to ask that people supervise their children, walk them to and from school, just like millions do in countries where they do not leave the safety of their children mostly to chance.

If they are still in elementary school they ARE still young children. This is Japan, but Im sick to death of hearing how things are different here. Yes, different, but not different in a good way. Look at that case of a 3 year old being taken care of by a five year old, and the little kid getting run over and killed in the street. That is a prime example of this malignant neglect of children which is pervades throughout Japanese society. Children are children, and Japanese child is no less worthy of needing of support and supervision than an western child at that kind of age.

Being alone in the streets at a young age is not a sign that Japanese children are somehow more capable than those from the west, it is a sign that Japanese parents need to be a whole lot more responsible.

We are talking about an elementary school children, who need and deserve supervision, not the over 11/12 year olds who are more capable on every level of caring for themselves for short periods of time. See if a school in America or the UK would let a child make its own way there and home by themselves at this stage, it just would not happen because people are aware of the risks to little kids.

Do you seriously think that small children should be thrown out to fend for themselves? I see it so much here in Japan and its dangerous for drivers and small children playing in the streets, it causes situations like this, and other situations which small children are just not capable of handling alone. They are not mini adults they are children and need to be taken care of properly. Clearly some posters just do not understand that. At least I won't be the parent bemoaning my child being taken by a freak, or run down, or causing problems for others, because I know where they are and what they are up to. Its called parental responsibility. You let go gradually, not cut the cord and throw them out to sink or swim.

So if you saw an elementary school kid drop a train ticket on the platform you'd say nothing? Not the kind of world I want to live in....

Actually I would like to live in the kind of world where young children are not left alone, and have a carer with them at all times. If this little girl had been dropped off and picked up from school then her mother could have given directions to the man, instead of putting him at risk of being suspected of being someone "undesireable" and her daughter at risk of danger from a stranger.

An elementary school kid should not be getting on a train alone in my opinion. Unfortunately we do not live in a country where parents supervise their young children in public.

Avalon, if a child drops something in a road, let alone a child without an adult, the safe thing to do is to treat it as lost, and not go back to retrieve it and risk being run over. A gewgaw on a bag is not worth the risk. Perhaps it would have been better not to talk to that child, and encourage them to go back into the road!

I do not leave the safety of my children to chance, young children should be accompanied, and if the child is still in elementary school they are just that - young children. It is naievety to believe that all adults who approach young children are safe and mean no harm. The danger from strangers is not lessened because of other valid risks! Any adult who talks to a child they do not know knows they are breaking social norms by bothering that child, no need for outrage, it is not something they should be doing in the first place.

No adult, male or female should be talking to or approaching any unaccompanied child in the street. It was deeply suspicious that he chose to ask a child instead of an adult, and this girl is to be praised for her sensible reaction.

A bit of self acceptance, a lot less vanity and superficiality and a little more emotional openness would go a long way to making Japan a lot happier place for all concerned.

Oh I understand the culture here perfectly well, doesnt mean I have to assimilate or agree with the way things are handled with here, or the drive towards total conformity.

If standing out in some way, if being an individual is seen as a bad thing, an opening for bullies to take advantage of, then it is absolutely society and teachers that need to change not the child being victimized.

As for Yanki young people being nothing but a drain, the ones I know pay their own way in life, are decent enough parents and seem a lot happier than their "normal" counterparts.

Tragic. All the quakes can't have helped the structural soundness, lets hope other tunnels are checked swiftly, and there are no more tunnel cave ins.