Cameron comments

Good news! I have been very low carb since 2000, testing various foods on my body and always being aware how they affect me. For me, no high carb foods (rice, bread, potatoes, pasta, pizza crust, corn, pumpkin, milk, fruit juice, beer) works excellent for me. Ordering “teishoku” without rice has always been possible here (less strange looks now than before), but to have a donburi without the rice is something I look forward to! It has been about 20 years since I last ate a donburi.

I am very happy with the system here. I have never had to be referred for a test, only to wait three to six months for a slot. Neither have I ever had to pay through the nose for an exam or operation, nor had to battle with private insurance companies to have coverage honoured. Costs are going up, admitted, and the older doctors tend to have a high sense of pride, but all aside it is not a bad system.

@8T: Outdated perception. Things have changed dramatically in the 30 years I have been working in Japan. Now my bosses leave before me, even when I need their advice or approval to move something forward. The trains going home get crowded now beginning about 17:30. It is a huge change.

If the drivers are 52 and 62 we can’t use the age card on this one. That is terrible!

Decades ago I gave an old friend in the countryside here a woodpecker wooden knocker akin to that from my homeland. Everyone loved it. And he installed it himself. Just like our PM. Nice to see him doing something perfectly normal.

They must have polled girls who frequent Harajuku and Takeshita Doori. They forgot to add the hue of lipstick that the young men there wear these days.

My previous two companies shifted from cool biz to full casual (no ripped jeans, no shorts, no sandals, no tshirts). And of course as adults we are expected to have sense enough to dress appropriately when meeting clients. I hope cool biz disappears I ESPECIALLY hope 28C recommendation disappears. That is way too hot to be sitting in an office full of computers and printers. Unless we are allowed to wear shorts, sandals, a t-shirt and hang a security towel around our necks.

Forty one dead. Wow. What percentage of the total roster is that, I wonder?

It’s great to see that they can also retire the formal wear and dress down a bit. Wouldn’t it be fantastic to see them walking around in jeans and running shoes?

Here in 1989 I was an English teacher and I made 150,000 per month.

The future is beginning today. That or The Invisible Man

Wow! This looks really delicious! I am afraid of lining up though.... I might become emaciated and dehydrated from the GW tourist lineup wait time.... I hope they carry this over after GW.

It took me a while to see Sadako in that photo. Her hair is so black I didn’t even see it!

I guess Sadako should ante up her #metoo list so we know who dunnit and we can shame them.

When the catch the suspect, that person will likely claim, “I didn’t intend to hurt any one.”

I guess if it shrinks to one, and the son doesn’t have sons (for whatever reason), then once again the government will likely consider allowing women to rule. That would rock.

I am currently reading The Expanse series of incredible Space Opera adventures. It is several hundreds of years in the future and humans live out in the stars. One major base is deep in Luna (the moon). Maybe this crater creation is the beginning of the reality of us moving beyond our current boundaries... exciting!

They should start referring to The Tokyo District Court as The Tokyo Dizzy Land! They keep putting Ghosn on a barrage of sickening rides.

I work in the Shinjuku/Ikebukuro/Ueno/Harajuku/Omotesando areas and if anything there are more and more consumers already “breathing life” into the economy. Stores and streets are jam packed with people and although a good many may be tourists from abroad, a lot of Japanese is spoken.

I will be traveling to Hokuriku for four of those ten days but could not get a single hotel in Kanazawa for even one night. Everything was sold out months in advance (unless I wish to front ¥50,000 for one night which I do not). I will be begging, borrowing or stealing a cardboard box in which to sleep. I imagine the heat generated by the multitude of tourists “not spending their money in a depressed economy” (hah!) will warm the surrounding air enough to keep me warm through the night.

One has to admit that it does seem unusual that Mrs. Ghosn left the country so suddenly (on a hidden passport), and then returned so suddenly. What actually went on in between? The prosecutors are speculating wildly. Unless of course, they have spies abroad and moles everywhere.

But all that has to be done, and it has been done as evidenced by this English translation news feed, is to plant the seed of doubt in everyone’s mind regarding Mrs Ghosn, and when it comes time to testify, the jury will already have been poisoned. Unless of course, they have pre-selected the jury in advance and cloistered them all away for months so as to prevent everyone from being biased by all the news feeds...

If the reporting is accurate regarding, “no fire was being used at the time”, then this is both horrifying and bizarre.

These news reports are getting longer and longer, however content is mostly just previous news appended nearly verbatim into the latest report. The article then appears to have substance; however the new content can usually be found in the first one or two paragraphs.

Isn’t there already a gambling “issue” in Japan with pachinko, mahjong, horse racing, keirin, and other forms of frivolously squandering one’s money? Not enough I guess. Let’s add a casino and say we are being proactive by suggesting everyone consider thinking about trying to possibly find a way to potentially prevent addicts and underagers from participating....

Wow! So I could totally reform/renew my tiny Tokyo flat every couple of years and have new designs and colours? What an intriguing concept. That thought had never occurred to me, so from my perspective the concept is very innovative

Leasing automobiles has merits, why not furniture and white goods?

Grey today, green tomorrow.

Lets keep an eye on this concept.

I wonder if grab will buy Uber Japan like they did in Asia?

We shouldn’t say “ban” driving. We should consider “revoking their license”. This most definitely would prevent them from driving as it would be a criminal offense to be driving without a license.

Of course going through the official channels is a requirement and most likely a rigorous driving check to determine if their reflexes are up to par or not.

After my father had a stroke in his late 70s he still insisted he could drive. But my mother took his keys away and had to persevere with his frustration. Finally there was an opportunity for him to prove he could still drive by taking a specific test. He failed. Twice. So they revoked his license and told him that if he could pass the test then he would get it back. He couldn’t do it so gave up.

We are getting there. Slowly but surely. I am glad to hear this. I hope the patients are followed over the next 5-10 years.

I think that Rakuten (a Japanese company) and Yahoo Japan (a Japanese company) will also fall within this discussion? Let’s not play the mind games of Japan Companies or Industry trying to figure out Global or put pressure on them to get an advantage, shall we?

We will probably see Mr. Hagiuda’s resignation in the news very shortly...

She was wearing shoes..... then the investigators will likely look for foul play because had she committed suicide, she would have left them by the pond.... uh huh.

I visit Inokashira Koen often. It’s a great 90 minute bicycle ride, and the park with the big, central pond and the lovely old castle ruins (hard to see them though, because it just looks like hills) are very relaxing. Several geocaches there as well. All in all a very nice park.

How many times have you been seated on a busy train and the seats next to you remain vacant? 

Maybe those people smell bad? There have been many times a person (Japanese as well as foreign) has sat down next to me on the train and smelled bad. I got up and left. Should I claim smell harassment? Or should they claim they were discriminated against by my olfactory senses? I don’t see that as discrimination.

As as others have said, people need to stop tilting at windmills so much; just live your life, and stop pointing your finger at others. The other three fingers are pointing right back at you.