IloveCoffee comments

"Workers with low performance levels deserve to be discriminated against in the context of capitalism."

That's true. If he chooses to hire an incompetent Japanese over a more talented Chinese just because of his ethnicity, his firm will suffer the consequences as somebody else will hire the talented Chinese and get ahead of the competition. This is how the free market punishes people who discriminate on irrelevant basis. I even doubt Chinese students will choose to stay in Japan, as China is currently a world leader in AI while Japan is on a 3rd world level as described by Masayoshi Son, who is Korean by the way, and i bet this Ass. Prof. wouldn't want to hire him either.

Osawa also wrote that the university is "controlled by the authoritarian Chinese Communist Party."

I've always wondered how can someone so utterly delusional and brain dead be in such a high ranking position? Then again this is not unique to Japan. Back in the early 1900s, some of the leading proponents of eugenics and scientific racism in America were all well known and respected scientists and people from academia.

The only reason France was ever able to become a high-income nation is because of US loans and political support during the 70s and 80s. Thanks to the US support, they had a long period of economic growth, which ended in the early 2000s. Now that all the support and loans are gone, the French are gradually going back to their nature of being a centrally planned socialist society. Macaron is a political prostitute who will sell his own mother to stay in power. Some of his advisors are pushing for free market reforms, but the communist populace won't allow it, and Macaron will do anything to please them. I bet in the next presidential elections, either another extreme socialist will win, in which case France will become the next Italy, or a right-wing nationalist will win by blaming all their problems on the EU and immigrants. What a mess.

That statement couldn't be further from the truth. 2000 years ago, Yamatai, which later became known as Yamato was not even established yet. According to historians, Japan as nation-state was established during the Meiji restoration. Before that, there was no such thing as Japanese identity. Throughout the entire history of Japan, the archipelago was divided between many States, that had their own identity, religion, King and often even ethnicity. Evidence for this is the fact that, many States were sending tributary gifts to China in exchange for support. The gifts, often golden plates, were not signed as "Nihon", but as the name of the State or the King of the State. Unlike China, there never was a single State that would conquer the rest and unify the entire archipelago. Yamato was a confederation of States that got together to become more powerful, similar to the EU. However, again, unlike China, the Emperor and the Yamato elites did not had actual power, the clans, or the States had all the power. Hokkaido and the Ainu were not subjugated by the Yamato people, but by Matsumae clan, or Matsumae State which is located on modern day Aomori. Kingdom of Ryukyu was colonized by Satsuma State in modern day Kagoshima. According to historians, if you traveled back in time before the Meiji, and asked people, nobody would've identified as "Japanese". 2000 years ago is when the modern Japanese language was beginning to form. Certainly not all States shared the same language for a long time, and certainly not the entire Northern Japan, North of Tokyo before at least the 10th century (roughly year 1000-1200). Many historians have said that, the name of the Yamato capital "Nara" comes from Old Korean "Uri Nara" which means "my land". Of course many modern day Japanese historians deny this.

@M3M3M3

Apparently you didn't watch the Ghosn press conference where he outlined his side of the story and obliterated all the charges against him. You keep citing and quoting only the Japanese prosecutors side. Ghosn explained that no compensation was given to him. They charged him for not reporting compensation that was never given to him in the first place. He even showed several documents proving it.

I watched the whole presentation. He obliterated all the charges against him, and this whole case. He strike me as a very smart man. On the other hand, i can understand why Nissan decided to do what they did. The French State, which is notorious for being cunning and nationalistic, would have had more power over Nissan with much less share than Nissan itself. They probably felt this is unfair, and that Ghosn was behind this, since he is a French citizen. Nissan wanted more autonomy, wheres Renault wanted mergence, Ghosn tried to appease both sides, but the Nissan people didn't trust him. They used a backward and flawed judicial system to their advantage to get rid of him. I really hope Ghosn finds a way to clear his name in a court of law. He is a very talented man. Let's also hope this case leads to a positive change for the Japanese legal system.

I hope he doesn't get suicided.

When i was still learning Japanese, one thing that i hated is when Japanese people were trying to speak too politely with me, and using words and phrases i couldn't understand. Instead of just saying something in a normal way, they would go out of their way to use the most difficult word they can think of just because it is polite. In reality, they made it worse for me to understand what they're saying.

My opinion is that either Trump ordered the assassination of Soleimani to get the attention off the impeachment, or he wasn't actually asked about it, but informed only after the fact, and is now trying to save face by pretending he was in charge of the killing. I think it was last year when John Bolton and his people went behind Trump's back and made decisions on foreign policy without even informing Trump. I have a feeling something similar has happened again. People who want to see Trump gone from office made the decision to kill Soleimani, and then informed Trump after the fact to put him in a tough situation. Somehow i doubt Trump would have ordered the killing of Soleimani. I think he knows that that would provoke a conflict with Iran, and that is the last thing he needs right now. He won the elections because he promised to end the wars. Does he think he is going to win the elections now by involving the US in another war? I think either he wasn't told about the attack, or he is thinking that, by escalating the tensions with Iran, that will help him with the elections somehow.

A French minister, meanwhile, said France "will not extradite" Ghosn if he arrived in the country "because France never extradites its nationals."

Don't believe them. The French will betray Ghosn in a hearbeat. Imagine having French and Lebanese passports, and choosing Lebanon over France. That says it all. Even French citizens don't trust France.

@M3M3M3

They are not hypocrites, because they don't think Ghosn is guilty. A thief most of the time admits what they did, and it's not something unbelievable, because it happens all the time, that's why people want to see the thief punished, even though they know he probably won't be. The case of Ghosn is different. People do not trust the judicial system knowing how utterly corrupt and backward it is, they don't trust the circumstances, and the whole case seems like a set up. The way Ghosn was treated, and the way the whole case have played out so far only reinforces the idea that the system is very rigged, and that Ghosn is unfairly accused. This has nothing to do with common law vs civil law. It has to do with a very rigged and backward judicial system that is based on guilty until proven guilty policy. There are countless books and documentaries written on this topic. Perhaps Ghosn did not know just how corrupt the legal system here is, perhaps if he did, he wouldn't have taken the job. Most Japanese people in my opinion do not trust their legal system either. Most people know how corrupt the system is, that's one of the reasons people don't trust the courts, and very rarely resort to courts to settle their disputes. They would rather take matters into their own hands, and resort to street justice, as we saw with the Kyoto arson. There is a reason for that. By the way, it is not an "anglo common law", the common law comes from Germany, and the US legal system is very, very, very different from the one in England.

This is absolutely ridiculous. How is that even hate speech? I see much more vile and nasty insults against Koreans on my twitter literally all the time. Example: https://imgur.com/a/ysTve4g

You don't have a right not to be offended.

If they want to tackle the discrimination and hate against Koreans, they should do an information campaign and educate people about misconceptions. Banning people from literally expressing how they feel is not going to make them stop feeling that way. If anything, it will drive them underground where they will breed more easily.

This is just yet another manifestation of the Japanese way of thinking - if there is a problem, ignore it. They think suppressing a problem will solve it. No.. They do nothing about actually resolving the issue. The way to resolve the issue is by TALKING about it. The last thing you wanna do is suppress it. Government cannot make a society civilized. Civilized people make a society civilized.

In her speech, Sturgeon will reiterate she will only seek to secede from the United Kingdom through a properly agreed referendum.

"We understand that a referendum must be accepted as legitimate, here in Scotland and the UK, as well as in the EU and the wider international community," she will say.

Why? Why not just start rioting on the streets, burning cars, destroying public property, attacking the police, setting people on fire, and waving the American and French flags while calling for the tyrannical Nazi English government to obey your ultimatum for full independence. Oh, right. That's only allowed for enemy countries. Never mind.

I recommend you to read a few books from Amelie Nothomb about her life in Japan.

Nothing to do with NGO, a sincere love of Japan but a knife sharp critic of the Japanese male dominant society.

Do you not understand that in some countries that are ranked above Japan, women get stoned to death if they get raped, or get whipped publicly for going outside without their man?

Again, i am not saying Japan doesn't have problems with women rights, they definitely do, but you have to put things into perspective. Compared to countries like America, Japan is definitely lacking behind at least 50 years, but compared to many other places ranked above them, Japan is definitely way ahead. Like i said, Japan is a very traditional place, and they still have the old traditional gender roles. Females have expected role to play in society, and so do Males too. Males do the work, and bring home the money, while Females clean the house and take care of the kids. Everybody has their own expected role. It's a traditional society in many ways, although it is changing rapidly, everyone can see that. Especially in big cities like Tokyo and Osaka. One difference between Japan and some of the countries that ranked above is that, in Japan there is no institutional discrimination against women, it is a social one, while in other countries, it is an institutional one ingrained in the State law.

The question I have is why isn't Yokohama trying do this as well, seeing how it is Japan's second largest city after Tokyo?

I am guessing it's a cultural thing. Osaka people view themselves in a very different way than people in Yokohama. Osaka was historically a very significant place, and they still carry a lot of that confidence in them and view themselves as an important player in Japanese politics. While Yokohama is the second largest city, they are mostly seen as Tokyo's pet town, as a lot of people in Kanagawa commute to Tokyo for work during the day. Osaka is also the second largest metropolis in Japan, while Yokohama is part of Tokyo's metro area. Osaka pretty much made Tokyo what it is today. They gave them their power, and now they're gonna take it away from them.

People from countries who score badly on things like this usually say that.

Well, I'm not Japanese, and Bulgaria ranks 17th, which is higher than Switzerland and UK. I always try to be objective, and my opinion on these global organizations come from actually studying their methodology and looking more deeply into the rankings than what is shown on the surface.

I still remember last year when Transparency International, whom i trusted until then, put Bulgaria in a list of countries where journalists have been killed for political reasons. This happened literally the very next day after a journalist was found dead. Literally nothing was clear about the case. Investigation hadn't even started yet, yet TI already "knew" the truth. About a month later, they caught the murderer, and he admitted that he didn't even know she was a journalist. It turned out that it had nothing to do with her profession, yet Transparency International STILL did not remove BG from their list. A lot of people complained about it until they eventually removed us from the list, and few months later put us back on it again for absolutely no apparent reason. This is when all my trust in them was lost, and i became enormously skeptical of these rankings. I don't trust anything until i personally do my own research on the topic.

Their terminology is also telling. I can't remember which organization it was, but i remember looking at a ranking that had placed Turkey as part of "Western Europe". It's pretty clear that they just replaced Western bloc with Western Europe and couldn't even tell the difference. This is how mindless they are.

Another BS ranking by these global self-proclaimed professional organizations. If only people took few minutes of their lives to study just how rotten these organizations are, they will never believe one again. The methodology is BS. It's not like Japan doesn't have gender issues, but to say they are less "equal" than countries with sharia law is ridiculous to put it mildly. To me the way WEF organizes and categorizes the world into regions is what instantly discredits them. Japan is a very traditional and conservative society. They still have similar traditional gender roles as America did in the 50s and 60s. Things are definitely changing for the better, but it will take at least 1 or 2 more decades to see significant change. 5/6 years ago women protests or women activists was something unheard of, today it's the norm. When you are one of those bureaucratic faceless NGO's, your main concern is keeping the money flow going. You just have to keep producing these meaningless papers with no concern for reality. This reminds me of Saudi Arabia becoming member of the UN human rights council. This is the level of mindlessness of these big bureaucratic organizations.

The bureaucratic tapeworms will do anything to stop this from happening. LDP special interest factions will also probably oppose it because they don't want to give momentum to the idea of decentralization. If Osaka manages to pull this off, it is likely that Nagoya will follow. The last thing the LDP clan chiefs want is power taken away from them. Osaka once again leading the way for change.

How could this finding sensational?

Because the Japanese nationalists deny that Comfort Women were forced into prostitution - something this document proves. All Empires had brothels, but there is a difference between organized sexual slavery, and a volunteered prostitute.

As for paying off 'debts', that's the same tactic used to keep trafficked Eastern European women in sexual slavery today.

Is this also the same tactic they use to keep trafficked Western European women in sexual slavery?

Govt. logic: We don't want you to ruin your life by using drugs which we deem bad for you, so we will arrest you and ruin your life to teach you a lesson.

Not gonna happen.

Why not just give schools the autonomy to decide on their own working conditions instead?

@showchinmono

Which part of this text was the admission of guilt? There is nothing in this text that contradicts the official revisionist narrative.

いわゆる従軍慰安婦問題は、当時の軍の関与の下に、多数の女性の名誉と尊厳を深く傷つけた問題でございました。

First it says ''so called Comfort Women'', meaning, ''there aren't really comfort women'', second, it says their dignity was hurt under the Japanese military, again, a typical Netouyo would look at this and say "i completely agree. They were either sold by their parents into prostitution, or they were well paid prostitutes". "It is regrettable that the J-military had to recruit these women, it must have been humiliating for them". There is no mention that they were COERCED BY THE J-MILITARY INTO SLAVERY. That sentence is missing. Again, context is what matters. Also, Koizumi did visit the Yasukuni Shrine multiple times.

SKoreans should not expect Japan to apologize in the 1st place then.

I think most of them just want an honest recognition of history more than anything else.

Is there anybody here who has lived in Japan for more than a year and seriously believes Japanese people are good at "solving real-life problems"? I don't know what those tests measure, but it isn't "real-life problem solving skills" for sure. These tests are useless.

@extanker

There should be a word for people like you. Actually there is, but if i use it, my comment will get removed. Listen, you apparently do not speak Japanese fluently, and you don't have a good understanding of Japanese culture. Read the texts in Japanese, and you will see that there is no admission of guilt. Japanese culture is all about context. Every word matters greatly. These apologies are crafted carefully as to convey one meaning for the international audience, and another for the domestic one.

I am not saying all of these apologies are fake, some were descent, in particular the Kono statement, but like i said, they were buried in a mountain of revisionism and denials. You can't possibly expect Koreans or anybody to take these few descent apologies seriously when they are followed by decades of non-stop revisionism and denials. Often the people who make them are themselves members of Nippon Kaigi. Imagine a German PM apologizing for the war, but later visits Hitler's grave, and is member of Hitler was a hero association. Would you believe anything that guy had to say? And furthermore, Japan is currently engaged in a worldwide crackdown on comfort women statues. You seriously believe someone who feels even a drop of regret or remorse would so fanatically pursue and even threaten other countries to remove all statutes and mentions of comfort women? Even the current PM himself have said comfort women were not sex slaves, and now you expect me to just believe he changed his mind? Don't make me laugh.

You know very well that there is hardly any Japanese politician who doesn't believe in the revisionist narrative of their history. Their actions speak louder than their words. In Japanese culture, apologies aren't what you think they are. Apologies are just formality here. People think as long as you say "i am sorry", you have done your obligation, and it doesn't matter whether or not your actions align with your words. That's the general culture, and that's part of the reason why nobody trusts each other in Japan. People lie to each other, and expect others to lie to them. Apologies mean nothing to people here.

Prof Ahn of Seoul University questioned 50 former CW and concluded that their testimony as "not credible".

Well if that's what Prof Ahn of Seoul University says, then it's settled.

@oldman_13

The vast majority of Japanese politicians are members of Nippon Kaigi, which a revisionist organization whose main stance is that Japan liberated East Asia, there were no conform women, no invasion of Korea, no nanking massacre and so on. Literally hundreds of J-politians have visited the Yasukuni Shrine, and dozens of high ranking politicians have made incredibly insulting comments towards Koreans, the ex-Mayor of Tokyo, the ex-mayor of Osaka, the ex-mayor of Nagoya, the current Prime Minister, as well as at least dozens of other LDP lawmakers whose names i won't be bothered to google. Meanwhile, there has never been a single South Korean politician to my knowledge that has ever made any sort of disparaging remark towards Japan.

As for your list of apologies, i have already addressed this many times before. These are not apologies as they do not contain any admission of guilt. They're a wordplay of carefully crafted "expressions of regret" that "something bad happened". And furthermore, for each of these non-apologies, there is a disproportionate number of denials. The current PM of Japan have even said that the government does not stand with the Kono statement.

@OssanAmerica

If you think that a 14 year old girl will voluntarily become a prostitute, you need to check your head. And if you think that all Dutch, Australian, Filipino, Indonesian, Korean and Chinese former Conform Women would lie in such a consistent way, then you are hopeless. I would love to see you face any one of these women and say to their face that they are lying. Do you have the guts to do that?

This is beyond ridiculous. Getting offended because somebody asked you to apologize. The hypocrisy of the Japanese politicians is astonishing. They insult the Korean victims all the time, calling them prostitutes and what not, visiting the Yasukuni and worship these brutal criminals who slaughtered Koreans, and now they have the nerve to get offended because a Korean lawmaker asked their Emperor to apologize, making it look like a huge unspeakable crime. These Koreans have no manners and are so rude asking our Emperor to apologize for colonizing them, meanwhile J-pol. saying things like "our solders had to rape their women to relief the stress".

My favorite Japanese name is Mori (森). I don't know why, but i just love that name. Maybe because my favorite color is green, and i like forests, and the name reminds me of both.

You have to admire the South Korean civil society. Japanese people have a lot to learn from them. In fact, some of the Japanese anti-Abe movement people do cite Koreans as a good example quite often on Twitter.

The biggest source of discrimination against ethnic minorities in Japan is the government itself and politicians. They are the ones that fan the flames of discrimination against ethnic minorities. Why not make a law against politicians' speech instead.