InTheKnow comments

Perhaps what is needed is two separate industries. Real English language schools for teachers who are serious about teaching and students who are serious about learning English. And cultural exchange centers where Japanese people can go to chat with foreigners.

We already have the latter. They're called 'English Cafes'. Sometimes 'Gaijin bars' too.

JT has not mentioned the state concerning GEOS,which has been wimpishly avoided.

Well stated. This should be a page one news item for Japan Today, yet nary a mention of it yet. The Let's Japan forum is awash in ongoing (all bad) developments.

Don't they ever suspect something? They aren't buying them with that 700 yen/hr part-time job. Good to see the parents caring for a change!

Don't break out the champagne yet. I think there are still the 90% of mothers here who do little or no follow-up when they see their daughters sporting LV, Chanel, etc. Sad, but true.

The difference being, of course, that in the U.S. (I don't know about other countries), phones are typically assigned to a specific desk/person

Forget differences between countries. In ANY country, when the senior manager tells the newbie (repeatedly) to answer the phone when it rings and they don't, you get rid of them. If the newbie can't accept direction from their boss, they need to look for another job. I am surprised this is a problem in Japan, of all places: ignoring one's senpai and getting away with it and giving some backtalk to boot. Next!

Rinko is shocked so much that she loses the ability to speak

A dream situation for some husbands.

What kind of nutless pussies are 'managing' these offices in Japan? Try the U.S. work approach: if these young dolts still refuse to answer the phone after a couple warnings, you roll out out, "It's just not working out for you here. I'll get you a box (for your things)."

"sayonara", social kills-lacking Kenji....

No way could a human being fall for this!

But you would be wrong. I used to tell students here that before NOVA I drove a shinkansen. More than one said, "Really?" and they were serious.

Never mind that they don't let Japanese women drive shinkansen, much less a gaijin with 'the shakes' after too much Kirin the night before.

A man in his 60s told police on Monday that he had been swindled out of 4 million yen by a man in his 80s pretending to be his brother...

Let me get this straight--I've read this three times-- he realized later he didn't have an 80-year-old brother? Or he didn't recognize his voice? Either way, this idiot deserved to have 4 million plucked from his dumb ass.

Why the worry? A little WD-40 spray in and around all working parts of the accelerator pedal and all connections with it should suffice.

I'd trust a high-milage suspect Toyota before I would a new, fresh-off-the-assembly line American POS. And I'm American.

Where?! Answer now, please!

craigslist. 'top', 'bottom', and otherwise.

“Sex with a Ginza lady is a dream come true,” says one soapland operator.

I nearly spat out my coffee when I got to that hilarious quote. Paying for sex with a whore with the likelihood of contracting STDs or worse, who maybe has a high school diploma.... Ginza would be my last stop to drop 10,000 en or more.

I look for this to cost a lot cheaper in the U.S.. Japanese consumers have been obscenely overpaying for years for their own country's digital cameras. Apparently they don't mind doing that.

Deaf or not, she's a hostess! Shouldn't the headline read "brain-impaired Ginza hostess"?

'cute, yet mature'. Give me 5 minutes with her over coffee and conversation and I'll offer another opinion. No doubt her favorite place in Japan is Disneyland and there's a Hello Kitty trinket and Pooh dangling on her keitai.

Since when can you check into a hotel without pre-paying for one night and/or have your credit card on file? A hotel that lets this go on for 36 nights deserves to be stiffed. And as for a foreigner getting equal consideration.... I'll let you decide. Please tell me this woman is in police detention until the bill is paid in full.

'glamorous'? Hell, no. Regarding that photo, this Anna is a woman? I'm not buying it. It's a guy with a terrible wig.

Not to mention all the women I do see going into men's bathrooms in really busy station so they don't have to wait in line for the women's. Next time I will report them and see if the woman is arrested.

"all the women"?! I've lived in Japan for more than ten years and I have never-- never-- seen that happen. In this culture, I question whether you have either.

The only smart ones are those choosing NOT to have kids, or limit themselves to one.

More babies?! yeah, that's the answer. We need another generation of people that can't find a job, much less a full-time job, with which to support themselves. Japan is shedding jobs like crazy, a trend that isn't going to change. Who is going to take care of these jobless societal leeches once they are out of high school? Japan painted itself into a corner long ago and now they're scrambling for an answer-- even a stupid 'answer' like having more babies.

'not allowed to take a lunch break'. Impressive "luxury department store" she works for.

He said that marriage is the most important work of one’s life.

LOL! This will be his third marriage. That comment is a slap in the face to his two ex-wives. I wouldn't expect him to retire and grow old with this third wife, 20 years his junior. Aaah, celebrity life.

If we put dogs down for biting people, even tiny lapdogs would have to die.

Sorry, but I'm OK with that.

He told police that he had “set them free to hunt.”

American lawyers would have a field day (and a big pay day) with this case. Here, I reckon each kid will get 10,000 en and an apology because, you know, 'shou ga nai'.

How do the police go from arresting you for a 1600 en theft to, "We have a search warrant for your home and car."

She is either the best shoplifter ever or Japanese shops have the worst surveillance ever.

need to lose the protective napkin

With such a messy sandwich, it's a sanitary napkin. ;-)

MosBurger is overpriced. I'm glad "talent" was in quotation marks for this photo caption; it better reflects reality. I have no problem with 'observer' or 'mindless commentator', but talent is often overused.

As I have said many times, the major disease in Japan is the plague of Kawaii.

Japanese say 'kawaii', I say 'kowai'. Let's call the whole thing off.

I want him to do a documentary on American obesity next!

Surveys show that the cinema-going public will not pay to see releases filmed solely with the use of wide-angle lenses, which the cinematographer would need for filming obese Americans. As an American, I can say that.

This type of behavior is not specific to just "japan".

No, but the outcome is: the woman will get custody of her child, do little or no prison time and the man will maybe serve a little time. There is no national register of convicted sex offenders in Japan. Also, merely possessing child porn is still legal in Japan. That is specific to Japan.

I'm sorry, why is the chapatsu, dim-witted bimbo 'tarento' (and her actual talent is~?) standing next to the unkempt, smirking homeless guy in need of a haircut? At the TSE no less. I'll translate the sign: "Starting December 5, we will both work for food."