inakaRob comments

"[Japanese] companies to boost wages" Easily the funniest thing anyone has said in the year 2014! Just yesterday JapanToday posted an article on the continuing rise of "black companies" in Japan. If ANYTHING, less and less full time positions are being handed out, less benefits, more hours, more forced unpaid over time.

I sold my car and moved closer to work so that I can walk or bike. More expensive place... but the money I save! They say the average american spend 15% of their income on their car. In Japan I was EASILY spending 25 to 30%. TWO sets of tires (that were more expensive domestically than the exact same ones in USA.. made in Japan). Gas that is 6$ a gallon. Car tax. Shaken. Car insurance. On top of that rage inducing terrible idiot drivers. Driving in Japan. NO THANK YOU!

My job made me sign a second sperate and supposedly legal contract that said if any students found out about my tattoos I would be fired on the spot. I wish I could sue them for being so arrogantly stupid. I am already looking to take my masters degree and decade of experience somewhere else.

"Abe urges business leaders to increase wages" Oh. Somebody help me off of the floor. I can't stop laughing.

and only one of the many reason my wife and I are on the way of this country and tests and/or money first education system.

"Guarantee that when it is released in Japan NK will threaten Japan and no cinema will show it."

It's not getting a theatrical release in Japan.

I thought I was a Grinch. Wow now I realize I have tons of Xmas spirit compared to these true Grinches. My Japanese wife LOVES Christmas.

Uber?

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”

― Mahatma Gandhi

Sorry. I don't belive any of it. Not because I am an avid vaper who likes vapor. But EVERY SINGLE other scientific report 100% directly contradicts this report. Do one second of research yourself. E-juice the stuff in e-cig is made up of ONLY 3 things. glycol, glycerin, nicotine. glycol and glycerin is in basically every single thing you eat that comes in a package or box. Everything. They are probably testing Japan only e-cig. Who knows. I import mine, just like anyone who knows two things about e-cigs.

What a joke. Just trying to keep Japan Tabaco from loosing anymore money.

All someone needs to is say they e-cig are "eco" and then Japan will be 100% for e-cig and buy them in droves.

I have been saying this for a decade. DON'T buy a post 2001 honda!!! I am one of Hondas biggest fans. Owned 3 Hondas and Honda is showing signs of becoming a great car company again. But I would not buy a post 2001 except for the s2000. After 2009 I can't recommended a single car or bike they make. I made the stupid mistake of not taking my own advice. I bought a 2007 Honda motorcycle. It was horrible. My 1992 Honda motorcycle was far better, and I don't mean in 1992. I mean side by side in 2014.

I just want to add some more ACTUAL facts to this. 5% is the single HIGHEST in the world! On contrast in the USA it is around 1% of the population. 2 to 3% is considered terrible. 5% is the highest tin the world. Epidemic level bad. Think about this for just two moment. A country that doesnt even have legal gambing, yet has the highest gambling rate in the world. How are people not screaming for revolution of this culture of this society of this country? I am just a visitor. My friends and I, and all of you here on JapanToday, we see what needs to be changes with Japan... yet they all sit idly by. The one protest Japan even had in the last 30 years was to stop nuclear power.... which should be coming back on-line in the next year or two. Oh well. I guess its back to the booze and pachinko.

(satirical overgeneralize here) Japan covets their rice and beer above all things. They will never open either market.

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way it's animals are treated.” (possibly Gandhi but this is up for debate)

here is an idea. Stop letting a dinosaur run your company when yous main focus group is 60 years younger than your entire think tank staff. Artists that offer digital downloads for a few dollars, RadioHead and Trent Reznor/Nine Inch Nails come to mind, are making TONS of money. Seriously look at the people who turning the music industry on its head. A 19 year old KID started napster and music was never the same again, for better or for worse. A bunch of 70 year old dudes are not going to be the ones to figure out the next magic formula.

@smithinjapan I agree with you and even gave you a thumbs up. But are you surprised? All of you are silly! Japan is not the UK, they are not the USA, they are not Canada. Japan is ranked VERY low on the democratic freedom list. Freedom of press, freedom of politics, freedom of economics. In reality Japan is very low in terms of REAL freedom compared to other industrialized nations. Freedom in japan is a total illusion. People are safe. People sadly equate safety to equality. At this point don't all of you realize that the majority of people who realize what is going wroing with Japan are people liek you and me.... people who have come from more truly democartic nations. Do you have any idea how many posts Japan today has deleted of mine every time I bring this issue up. Freedom of press does not exists here. Just by typing this I am sure they will delete this comment. If you read this I am sure if will not be here the next time you check.

I just went to Taiwan. I thought how strange it was that red corral and red corral jewelry were so poplar and so openly sold and touted as a popular Taiwanese jewelry. Of course there were signs that say "buy now! it is illegal to gather any more red corral so the prices will go up and up". I knew in the back of my head that was a lie. Stories like this prove that new batches of red corral are still very much being obtained.

"Tomita sounds and acts like typical Japanese who are involved in scandals or commit wrongdoings, this is to deny, deny and deny."

yeah. but why do they all break down and confess. It makes no sense!!! so many criminals in Japan would so easily go free if they simply did not confess their crimes. But only two things happen in Japan when it comes to ANY crime. Confess. or Deny, deny deny, confess. I makes ZERO sense. but good for us! Cause they all get caught in the end. Murder conviction in the USA stands at 20%!!! Murder conviction in Japan stands at 90%+!!!

agreed. sounds like this might be a DOUBLE Darwin award. One for death: seriously just let go... pretty simple. And one for Dumbest murder. Seriously: don't drive when someone is clinging onto the car, or at the least STOP when you realize you are KILLING THEM! Hey I could be wrong... but from the amazing reporting of this article that's all we can assume from it.

Shame on ANYONE who buys an animal from a pet store. Such ignorance running rampart. The people that spend 200,000 yen on a little accessory have no idea the horrible things that go on in these Japanese pet stores and puppy mills behind them.

I can't eat 20 peices of sushi. I find that INSANE!!! I am stuffed at 10-12. At kaiten sushi, 5-6 plates is my average. 7 I feel six. How can any one eat 20 pieces of sushi. Surely he has smaller "meals".

Papigiulio: That is a REALLY good point. Cause..... Actually half these guys are the bad guys and half these guys are the good guys. So... What are they trying to say?

Yeah Stallone has not only been caught red handed with steroids he has 100% admitted to using them AND advocates their controlled use along with HGH. But who am I kidding. Do you really think any of the stars, the production company, or even the media firm that owns ALL media related to this movie gave permission to do this? Of course not.

Besides. Talk about missing the bigger picture completely. How many people have died or have been hospitalized in TOTAL because of these " quasi-legal hallucinogenic herbs."? Judging from the article published here, less in the last 5 years than ALL the people who died in Tokyo alone last MONTH from drunk driving!!! But who are we kidding. alcohol, getting smashed, and even drunk driving are socially acceptable so... nothing will ever be done about it.

why did they have to shoot and kill the animal? Animal control has ZERO means to non-leathly trap and contain an animal and release back to the wild? For a nation which is heavily influenced by Buddhist culture and ideals they treat animals like crap!

What! What? " the Merries brand is also produced in China, but parents there don’t trust the diapers, especially with the proclivity of knock-offs to emerge for any popular brand no matter what it may be."

Okay... they don't trust the Merries diapers sold IN store. BUT they trust the supposed black market diapers sold in back alleys and street corners.

onagagamo: agreed. Muto is big, but he has super high body fat. He is consdiered the big muscle man in Japan, but if you actully look at him he has tons of fat on his body. A big 'ol gut. The rock is about 7% BF give or take his current role/training. I would not be surprised if Muto is 15%. He has some big muscles, but big fat too.

Kinda hard to sympathize with a society that does everything it can to ensure its demise.

Not really news. Shocking, but this happens ALL the time. There are stories of the wrong leg getting amputated. Just google it. Something like this probably happens once a month in Japan. Not sure why this made the news. Most of the time it's settled out of court in a settlement.

Like so many other things in Japan, the mentalilty of dinosuoars. Japan used to look foward, many times in their history for better or for worse they enbraced change, the future, and the best of what other cultures had to offer. No more than ever they are so desperately trying to hold onto the past. The golden age of the post war Japan. That is long gone and over and this current thinking will and IS leading Japan down and down.

smart idea? NO! its completely backwards. The can RETAILS for 125 yen. That isnt what he pays for it. He can sell it for 120 and still turn a profit. The time and effort he spent doing this is not worth to two or three yen per can he would loose. ALSO having some 5 yen coin haphazardly taped to a can would probably scare more people than attract. So sales would probably be less. There are plenty of drinks that retail at say 120, but plenty of owners put them "on sale" for 110. They still make money. This guy would have been 1000000 times smarter putting this can "on sale" for 120. Sales attract people not a drity coin tapped to a can.