Posted in: Rally for Senkakus See in context
@mtngal:
Um, that may be true if you live under a totalitarian government, but in a democracy? not so much (thankfully).
Did the protests everywhere stopped the US and the 'coalition' from the shockandawe show in Iraq and Afghanistan? Nope. That just proves my point. China is not the only one doing it. There are a few textbook cases in current news. When a power is rising, it'll feel it can do whatever it wants. And it will. And remember China had a good few milleniums and a couple hundred sh!tty years. They were at the top once before in this part of the world anyways, and they want that spot once again. If only the Japanese had a time machine to go back in time and instead of invading China, they worked with China to kick out the Western imperialists which was the main Chinese goal at that time. Chinese kids would be learning Japanese in school right now and look up to Japan as a great big brother or at least significant and trusted partner instead of learning about Japan as a hated enemy to this day from CCCP sponsored and produced patriotic true historical weekly drama series bs. I know, I live in China and my wife is Japanese. But you know what, what we're talking about here is not even news here. Perhaps I live in the boonies, but still...I think a lot of people are making a big deal about this incident and people in China, the everyday folks anyways, just don't care. It's just a couple slow news week, people. The next major environmental disaster will make all this disappear. So move on, nothing to see here.
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Posted in: Rally for Senkakus See in context
This reminds me of all the peaceniks and libs protesting back in '03 to try to stop the Iraq war. People, hippies, antiwar-riors, there's nothing you could do to stop a major power to do what it wants.
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Posted in: How the iPad won over an unbeliever See in context
I was holding out for a second gen iPad but my parents came visit and bought one for their grandkids. I call it the family computer. A 5, heck, a 2 year old can pick it up and use it pretty much right away. I'm not gonna get into a Mac vs. Win debate here, but to those that's saying the iPad doesn't pack enough power in there and how you can get a full win7 home os on a net book, well, I hope you're happy with yer net book. Anyways, my fave apps so far: VLC Player, PvZ(buy something else if you value your free time), Xe currency converter, goskywatch(it's free, get it and be blown away even if you're not into astronomy), airvideo(you do need a pretty powerful computer for this one but it's great for those with 16g ipads), vnc lite(will upgrade to the full version, it's cheap and does what I need) and Bookman for my books and comics(PDF, cbr, cbz, rar files). There's tons of apps out there and while a lot of them are total time wasters, there are also lots that'll make your life easier and make waiting in line/traffic more bearable. But don't get one now, wait for the second gen, I promise you it'll be better in a lot of ways, ok, maybe you won't be able to jailbreak it right away......
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Posted in: America feels ready to snap See in context
@whitepocky #
What an absolute idiotic comment that is! Are you seriously suggesting that America has contributed more than the ancient Romans/Greeks, and closer to date, the Chinese, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, French and British, to name a few. The way our society runs today was pretty much orchestrated by these countries. E.g. The Dutch created the banking system as we know it today, along with the first publicly traded shares of the Dutch Indian Trading Company. Don't even consider comparing America to the Britain in the way it managed to ascertain it's authority under it's empire.
With the exception to some of the excellent products to come out of Silicon valley, I'm struggling to find anything that America does exceptionally well, bar being a hypocrite! #
I'm talking current era, as in the last few decades or so. The article deals with the present, not ancient history. For one thing, without the US, we won't be arguing this on the internet. I'm not saying they only contributed positively, that's why I said both good and bad, eg. Vietnam War, Hiroshima, Agent Orange, the CIA etc etc. I'm not daft, ya know, there's 2 sides to a coin. And don't insult me again online. If you like to, set up a time and place and do it in person. It's easy to be brave behind a monitor and keyboard.
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Posted in: America feels ready to snap See in context
America will pull through like she did before. As much as I 'hate' the US, that country has contributed more, both good and bad than most countries on the planet put together, to the world. If America goes, it won't bode well for the rest of us, believe me. As many crazy, greedy idiots there are in the US, there are also almost an equal amount of decent people who care enough and want to make a positive change to the world, environment, social condition etc. It's their government that's the problem, not the people.
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Posted in: Marijuana discovered in apartment after reports of fire See in context
If it was a Yakuza grow-op, the cops would not come near it with a fireman's ladder. And correct me if I'm wrong. According to popular rumors, Hokkaido is full of the good green stuff. Why is this man growing? That's like bringing sand to the beach.
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Posted in: China overtakes Japan in 2nd quarter as world's No. 2 economy See in context
@Branded "A "chunk" ytou say ? Is that how you'd describe China's 1.3 trillion gdp to Americas "14 trillion" ??? And those were 2009 figures- when the global economy had all but froze up ! As for the rest of your post- petty attempt at America bashing. Like China doesn't have pollution problems ? Home to 12 of the 20 dirtiest cities on the planet. Nuclear armed North Korea in their backyard, a disenfranchised work force, an economy that could swing either way- depending on how much the yuan is allowed to freely flow, an under current of social angst brought on by communist ideologies... I could go on, but I won't. I"ll just tip my hat to the chinese for passing up Japan in record time- now the rest of Japan and it's inhabitants must chew on the fat of reality... China is #1 in Asia."
Won't disagree too much with you there. But I wasn't to 'bash 'merica', so quit twisting your panties into a bunch there.
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Posted in: The Hafu Project: Exploring the question of what it means to be Japanese See in context
If I was a mixed race, I'll be pretty pissed off if I was called a hafu, wtf is that supposed to mean, half full glass or half empty glass? Hafu load of bricks? Hafu is degradatory and it conjures up words like half-caste, half-breed which are not good words in the English language. Dabaru sounds obese and full of cholesterol choking bad things that is bad for your heart and arteries. I suggest the name 'combi', 'kombi', or 'combo' for combination of 2 or more races. My 2 yen.
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Posted in: Business caters to sexual needs of disabled See in context
9,500Y for an hour? That's for, er, ahem, digital assistance, right? Wouldn't the 'helper's' wrist get sore? I mean, who goes for an hour.
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Posted in: China overtakes Japan in 2nd quarter as world's No. 2 economy See in context
@Branded: I don't think China wants what most of what America has, Gulf oil disaster, Iraq, Afghanistan, war with the Muslim world(China already has Xinjiang), broken economy, Sarah Palin, after effects of 9/11 etcetc. China wants America's wealth, and that's pretty much it, and China already has a chunk of that.
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Posted in: China overtakes Japan in 2nd quarter as world's No. 2 economy See in context
@Sarge: I think with this year's census, it should hit 1.55 billion or thereabouts. Unless we run into a zombie apocalypse. Sorry, cannot help that, just finished reading World War Z and the epidemic started in China. Sorry for being off topic, but you guys got to run out and get this book right now, if you haven't read it already.
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Posted in: China overtakes Japan in 2nd quarter as world's No. 2 economy See in context
Japan's population might be among the world's richest, but definitely cannot be counted among the happiest. Living in a concrete box, being bullied at work/school, pressure from peers/parents/family, mounting debts, lack of real entertainment are not psychologically/mentally sound practices for living. Wakarimasen is right, most Japanese I know are not rich. In fact, the struggling poor I've seen in Japan are living a worse life than the poor I've seen around the world. The working poor in Japan are lonely, not to say the middle class and the rich are not. In fact, Japan is a lonely place. I guess that's why my wife refuses to live there. And also, the thing is, living in China, we make about 4 times of what we make in Japan, and we get to save about 25-30% of our income because stuff is not ridiculously expensive. We weren't struggling in Japan, but we weren't on our way to getting rich either. The average 'middle' class of China that we've seen is also a lot wealthier than their Japanese counterparts. There's the flashy new rich, and then again, there are the old families that had kept their wealth for hundreds of years. And the middle class here do spend a lot of money, and they do not really care about prices. We know, cause we're in a business that charge a lot of money for things they cannot make themselves, yet. So yeah, good for China for becoming No.2. It's a good number for now.
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Posted in: Obama says Muslims have right to build mosque near ground zero See in context
I'm all for the construction of a Yasukuni replica in Nanjing too, but I think that'll run into some problems....
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Posted in: Man arrested for beating 5-year-old daughter in Wakayama See in context
I've seen my share of abuses in Jp. Not just against children either. One of my traumatic moments was when I was hanging out with a friend of my wife's, a Canadian single mother of 3. Her boyfriend wanted to go out, jumped in his jeep, realized the gas tank was empty, freaked out and ran into the house, grabbed my friend, shook her while screaming at her, then pushed her to the ground. As he was leaving the room, he picked up a big heavy leather boot in the doorway of the house and chucked it as hard as he could and the heel hit this poor woman squarely in the face. I was effing shocked to say the least. He then yelled at me and told me to the out of 'his' house that the woman is paying rent for. So I left, shaken. What could I do? I'm only a gaijin in that country, so my words, opinions and advice would count for nothing anyways. Why do women and children have to put up with such crap in Jp? It's the worst of any country I've been to. If the above mentioned incident had happened in Canada or the States, the cops would be paying buddy a visit. But it's Jp and it's the man's right to beat, abuse and leave the wife and kids behind with little or no consequences. Japan makes me ashamed to be a man knowing what men get away with and the women and children pay the price of their f**&-ups.
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Posted in: Listerine liquid toothpaste See in context
Japanese people have bad hygiene? Holy mother of all cows, what planet are you actually from?
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Posted in: Al-Qaida plants flag, burns bodies in Iraq attack See in context
@Sarge:#
Why? The previous U.S. administration is the one that liberated Iraq. The current administration is the one that you are so sure is going to have more violence and an overthrow of the elected government happen on its watch. #
Sarge at 02:59 PM JST - 30th July
Are you phocking kidding me? The US liberated Iraq? The Bush administration liberated Iraq? I want to smoke what you're getting high off from. Well, actually not really, I think it's turning your brain into mush.
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Posted in: The shrinking state of Japanese salarymen's pocket money See in context
Among the middle class people I know in China in the 25-40 age group for men, the least of what they spent for personal a month is about 100,000JPY per month. And that's if they got 'nothing' to spend it on. I've noticed Japanese are becoming better 'savers' than Chinese. Or the Chinese middle class just got more money to blow.
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Posted in: Police arrest more than 600 at Toronto summit See in context
That's why the poor stays poor. Instead of trying to figure a way to fight the system without personal loss, they go ahead and butt heads with the hired goons of the rich, who came from the ranks of the poor in the first place. Sometimes, you just cannot blame the powers in control sometimes, people are just plain dumb. If you cannot beat 'em, well you're doing something wrong, cause there's a lot more of the underprivileged. People, you got to get your act together, else you'll end up being their slaves. Not that most of you are not already..
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Posted in: Thinking outside the base regarding China See in context
Elephunk, let me grab you a parachute and some guns. I'm sure I can arrange for you to be dropped off somewhere in China and maybe you can update your daily blog on how you're kicking the PLA's arses, k?
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Posted in: American man on solo mission to kill bin Laden detained in Pakistan See in context
Man, how much dumberer can you get? Read the news, not Fox news, Osama had been dead since '01 from kidney failure. Some people would believe any propaganda fed to them like chicken in a factory ready for slaughter.
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Posted in: Why Japan matters: iPad mania, cloud computing and social intelligence See in context
Yo Marc, Apple fanboi much?
Imo, Microsoft has a better infrastructure in place to go cloud. Google would place second cause it's only got phones and soon maybe a tablet, while MS on the other hand has the Zune, Xbox, phones by a hundred companies, Hotmail(if you still living in the 90's), MSN, Live.com. If only MS figures a way to tie it all in. Or even Sony which has a whole bunch of devices they need to tie into a Sonynet of some kind. But then their UI sucks. Apple is a closed environment, a blessing for some and a curse onto others, then again there's jailbreaking. But as for Apple ushering in the era of cloud computing, yeah, sure, get rid of the "Connect to iTunes" for all the iStuff, make mobileme free or cheap, it won't get far. Apple would have to play catch up to Google and MS in this department. However, they are building some huge server complex in NC or somewhere, so maybe they do have something up their sleeve. Plus they the Steve Jobs and he's been known to do sh!t like raise the dead ie Apple Inc. since '99 or so. We're a Mac household, but I'm putting off getting an iPad till g2, possibly with a front facing camera(don't really need it), Retina technology, longer battery life and double the memory for the same price. Oh and maybe true multitasking.
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Posted in: N Korea accuses South of faking warship sinking See in context
Koreas, you make me laugh till I snort kimchi through my nose. War in the Korean Peninsular? Inevitable.
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Posted in: Anvil: Yes, they’ve quit their day jobs See in context
Anvil rocks. Much better than any of the girly boy bands that Jp is coming up with these days. These dudes might not have become the next Pantera or whatever in their early days, but they have a billion times more interesting story than any of the hip hop/new age/studio promoted 'musicians' that's been making the rounds the past few years. Who's Anvil? Jeez, buddy, did you just get out of diapers or been living under a rock in the desert? Sheesh, kids nowadays.
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Posted in: Ragtag military left to defend Japan on shoestring budget See in context
Japan is putting money into it's robot armies. I just have this feeling the Japanese are not just going to stand by waiting for an invasion to happen. They've got to be working on something. Armies that don't need to be fed or trained. Wouldn't that be awesome? Come WW3 and Japan unleashes it's real life Gundams and killer drones that can transform from plane to a bipedal bot. I can dream, no?
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Posted in: China is doing very nicely for the moment, thank you See in context
China is doing well on the surface. Everything in China is about face, even if you have to lie about it. Saving face is paramount to China's relationship with the world. The problems that China faces and will face in the future pales in comparison to what the west and Japan is undergoing now. Pollution, water shortages, population unrest, ethnic/minority strifes, protests, riots against everything from work conditions to Han oppression. These are just a few of the many, many problems facing China now and well into the future, and a lot of these problems cannot be solved by economic clout or political influence. When the people are pissed off enough, China(the party in control anyways) would collapse like the house of cards that it is. And this is coming from someone who's spent a third of his life in China up to now, have heavily invested in this place in terms of energy, money, resources and know how. As a foreign born Chinese who had high hopes and aspirations for what the future holds for China, I've also seen what could and possibly would bring China to it's knees sometimes in the next 20 years. The way things are done in China are a lot more unsustainable than any other places in the world. Most of the people cannot think for themselves, only regurgitate whatever instructions is handed down to them. How do I know this? I hire uni grads, while their higher education is supposed to give them a headstart in terms of being able to think ahead and outside the box, it's the opposite. I had more luck with creative thinking working with uneducated peasantry. Seriously. For those who think China will lead the world or that this is China's century, have a few more tainted gyozas on the CCCP, drink some DDT-added baijiu and open your eyes, really open your eyes.
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Posted in: Magazine airs anxieties over China's burgeoning economic clout See in context
China will buy up Japan. It's that simple. You have no understanding on how rich a tiny part of the population of China is. Let me put it in rough numbers, off the top of my head, which could be more accurate then what is officially reported or polished up by the news. 50% of the country lives in poverty, I mean poverty. I see it everyday on the way to the market, going to the phone co. going out for dinner. 30% are somewhat better off than the bottom 50%, but like the bottom 50%, they came from a poor socio-economic-educational background so upwards mobility besides what they're taught to do or taught themselves to do, is somewhat limited. One in a billion stories like the guy who founded Gomei, equivalent to best buy in the us, who went from rags to riches, starting out selling shoes he got in the cities and hawking them off back in the countryside, are just that, one in a billion. I've countless people here sweated, bled, cried to not a soul paying them a second of attention unless they're in somebody's way. 15% are 'middle class', and at this, their incomes varies widely from Western standards to Western millionaire standards. Usually, the aforementioned group come from old families and old money. Whatever old families mean, you know. Most of the people I know here in China belong in this socio-economic group and I can definitely tell you they're not short of anything from money to property, women, booze overdoing everything etc. These is the kind of people the world sees as Chinese tourists when they go visit another country. And the last 5%, well, they're like the unimaginably wealthy, well connected politically and econonmically. They have a hand in everything from the plastic crap you buy at your local 100Y shop to stealing american space tech secrets to constructing railway in Zimbabwe so they can help themselves to the local resources. You think Bill Gates or some UAE emir live in style? They ain't got nothing on these people. The Chinese are smart, they make a lot of crap for export and domestic consumption, but they also know quality when they see, taste and feel it. And they want it. Japan is the closest place(Korea notwithstanding) that is quality. The water, the onsens, the hitech co's, the 17th century banking system which the Chinese would love to overhaul, efficient train system, scientific r&d etc. Not to mention the women. I know some of you have been in jp for too long and one too many relationships with perhaps the wrong type of gal with daddy issues or whatever, but almost all my jp relationships including my wife, mother of our 3 kids has been stellar. Course it helps she's from Kyushu and not a major urban hell. Cannot say that about the chinese girls i've dated. Have you ever seen a beautifully made up(not my type) woman in reasonably fashionable clothes, evidently well bred and moneyed, step out of her husband's benz and proceed to do a farmer's blow on the street? Yeah, if you date Chinese girls, you might have to put up with that, but hey, that enviro friendly, right, like Priuses? Ok, ok, I'm not saying that every Jp girl is the perfect image of etiquette and all things nice, fluffy and pink, but Jp girls are a lot more, you know, classy. But to each their own. Damn, that is a long rant, is there a word limit to comments?
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Posted in: Banking with the dinosaurs See in context
The first time I tried to cash traveller checks in Jp back in 96, it took at least 3 of the teller ladies to go over, scrutinize, fill out forms, verify with the old geezers in the back sitting on their hands pretending they're working. Almost an hour later, I got a couple hundred dollars cashed. Same thing happened a couple days later at another bank. And no, this is no some random inaka village in Shikoku, this was in Tokyo. Hate to think if I had landed in Takamatsu or somewhere like that back then without a yen to my name. But I'm sure some nice Jp people would take pity on me and put me up. Yeah, in this case the Jp consumer loses. China, a different story. I don't have a bank acc. here in China cause I keep all my cash in the house, but I used to have one and every time I had to deal with the banks, it had always been quick efficient service. Like getting tc's cashed out in 5 minutes when there's no line ups. Or depositing a few tens of thousands of rmb(yeah, they max out a 100rmb) in under 10 minutes. Or sending money from one bank to another acc. in another bank in 3 minutes or less. Yeah, I guess it's because they have like 1.5 billion people, so if the banks are slow and the Chinese love their cash, there'll be riots at the banks and the CCCP would fall. On the other hand, my Canadian bank, rbc, has probably the easiest online banking I've ever used and they send out all my new visa cards ups no charge and they gave my Jp wife an extra platinum card when I requested even though she has no Cad. status since we've been living abroad since we were married, compared to when she tried to get me a yamada electronic store mastercard as her spouse and they refused because I was a gaijinsan and hence cannot be entrusted with a holy grail jp credit card. So yes, the banking system in jp is backwards and if somebody like Bank of China gets there, with no minimum in your acc. like citi or hsbc, they'll clean up. It'll be ironic when foreigners start changing their money in Jp at the BOC branch instead of a Mitsubishi bank or something. The 711s I've never tried, but hey, I'm there to buy necessities like high calorie soft drinks and cigarettes, wat, I can check reward points on my visa card while I'm there, great thanks. And yes, I'll grab that 3rd Kirin too while I'm at it.
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Posted in: Idle JAL See in context
I do wish Chinese airports has these, e-kiosks that work and friendly attendants to assist you. We flew from Kunming to Chongqing and back yesterday to get a passport for our little girl at the Jp consulate. Early flight and the airport was swamped, total chaos in every direction. While waiting for our flight, we found and ate breakfast behind a security/info counter that's left unattended. Several passengers came up to us and asked us for directions to checkin counters, which security gates for which flights like we worked there or something, so in obligation I pointed them the right direction. Ah, only in China you can do this without getting arrested or thrown out of the airport. Sorry if this is off topic, but just want to say how good it'll be to have these lovely young ladies and working machines to help you smooth out check in when flying with an infant and armful of luggage.
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Posted in: Man arrested for punching 6-yr-old girl on Hyogo street See in context
WTF? Six year old? Girl?
This must be one tough dude. If it was my little girl or even my boys, I just pray the jcops get to him before I do cause I'll be surfing the net for good CIA 'convincing' techniques.
I'm all for teaching kids basic attack deterrence skills like screaming, or carrying an air whistle or the good ole' classic of a quick jab or kick to the jewels. Short of that, maybe have 2/3 parents walk the kids home part way everyday and install cctv cameras(well hidden, but monitored, of course) in dodgy areas.
But basically, it boils down to the fact that a few males out there lacking whatever they're lacking, love, trust, intimacy with the other sex(or not), human connection that are committing horrible crimes like this. I truly believe most JP dudes are really decent human beings, it's the few rotten apples that's giving jp a bad name.
I hope the little girl gets well and healed soon.
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I love this Keep ruining the country.. Not anymore.
Posted in: Trump keeps tariffs drumbeat going, with autos targeted next
Posted in: Europe will not be part of Ukraine peace talks, U.S. envoy says
I had the same feeling when one day I decided to just clean my house and throw away stuff except…
Posted in: Trump administration fires CDC 'disease detectives' as bird flu fears rise