intlobserver comments

This unilateral decision by the IOC really pissed me, a non-Japanese, off, let alone Ms. Koike, Chairperson of the host city.  This IOC head, how did he get elected anyway, was so impolite, rude, unprofessional, having no common sense at all.  Such an important decision should have been professionally released through a joint communique at an official press conference with the mandatory presence of both Ms. Koike and the IOC head.  However, this coward guy did not have the courage to face the lady representing Tokyo, the host city of the imminent Olympics, so he chose to stab behind her back with stealth announcement out of nowhere. 

Sorry, IOC, without the work and money of the host city, now Tokyo, and previously, Rio, London, Beijing, you guys would be just a bunch of cap-in-hand mendicants.

You guys up here, who think the IOC was caring about the athletes' safety, think again.  The IOC is actually worried about the resolution of television images of the marathon if filmed at the early hours in Tokyo, when the temperatures are in the 20s, more than good enough for any marathon, but it will not be as bright as they want to have the ideal images for their max TV ad revenues.  Money, money, the IOC head and his underlings care about their money, their ad revenues. 

OK, if the IOC wants to move the marathon to Hokkaido, then let them go there and prepare everything by themselves.  The Hokkaido people don't have to bother.  It was Tokyo, not Hokkaido, that bid for the Olympics, anyway.

Beer? How much can this size of a grain of sand help reduce the colossal mountain of over 25 billion dollar-deficit per year Korea just cannot not help but bear in its trade with Japan?   Why not have the guts to boycott the far higher priced Japanese machines or industrial equipment?  Oh, they do know if they did that, the Korean economy would collapse before their next pay day. 

They would stay home and drink nasty beer during Olympic games from TV

If they boycott using Japanese cameras and studio equipment, all their TV stations will shut down, and they will just listen to the Olympics on radios!

"Without Ghosn and Renault Nissan would have died a slow death a long time ago, short memory or selective thinking?"

Well, Nissan just needed a gaijin, any gaijin, at that moment, who had a thick face and the guts to fire people to cut costs. A French grape grower could have done what Ghosn did, with less fanfare though. 

Ghosn did not come to work for Nissan for free. He was hired and paid one of the highest salaries in Japan to do what Nissan instructed to him to do and meet the goals Nissan required him to meet. He did a good job as a top employee, so Nissan gave him several raises - good for him (but he turne too stupid later not to know how to enjoy his fortunes!). Had he failed to meet Nissan's expectations early on, Nissan's Board of Directors would have kicked him out and let another lucky gaijin in (from those standing on their waiting list). 

About Renault? Charitable savior or opportunist loan shark? It seized the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, a dramatic investment move that saw it run faster than Germany's Mercedes,   to own shares of Nissan.  Renault has been repaid handsomely by Nissan's superior technologies and products. How many cars can Renault alone sell in North America per year, anyway, compared to the some 1.3 million cars Nissan has been selling every year in the US alone? 

Difficult to believe... Sound so much like China...

All they want is Nissan's technology which Renault and Fiat both wanted.

And, when the partnership was consummated, they as a government can step in any time and become a part of it again.

Nissan should never consider such a partnership again.

Rightly so, may Nissan keep them (Renault & Fiat) salivating for Nissan's tech from a safe distance!!

And Korea raises tariff on Japanese imports in return. Since Korea runs a trade deficit against Japan, it is Japan that comes out worse in any trade war with Korea.

@Samit Basu: That "trade deficit against Japan" is actually Korea's biggest vulnerabilities in any trade war with Japan. Koreans mostly buy Korean consumer goods, not Sony TV or Hitachi fridges, so why does Korea collectively always run a ridiculously staggering annual deficit close to 30 billion US dollar against Japan? Korea Inc, chaebols are the major buyers! Top Korean companies like Samsung, LG... are not yet technologically capable of making the most advanced components in the products they export to their overseas markets. They cannot help but buy from Japan! While Korea itself relies on its exports to sustain its economy, Korea bitterly has no choice but rely on Japan's technology and components to sustain its exports!  So if Korea raises tariff on Japanese imports in return, Korea will badly hurt its own exports. Dare Korea do that? Even worse, if Japan bans all exports to Korea altogether, Japanese companies will lose some money but will still be fine, whereas Korea's exports will suffer immensely or even collapse because they cannot churn out finished products to ship overseas. Nobody will want to buy 80% of a Samsung smartphone or 90% of an LG TV. 

This is not my fantasy, I knew about this reading the Korea Times just last year.  Korea itself is aware of this. So yes, Japan has so many powerful leverages!

and where are the "Japan meat is best quality" better than other countries, critics now!?. how many livestock outbreaks is this now, ive lost count!?

This has nothing to do with meat quality, which is processed from healthy livestock.  Diseased livestock cannot become meat because it is eliminated for human safety.  There is no meat to compare here!

Anyway, it was so far not too bad an ending.  The host was not harmed, or the intruder was neither injured nor dead.

Two or three comments on-topic above!

OK, nandakandamanda: that's the point! Other federations were irrelevant to this article. This is not the World Cup. We were enjoying the Asia Cup, and the tit-for-tat deviation  started off when the guy, who is always talking s.it about Japan sneaked in, manipulating the joy into belittling the country with the generosity of sheltering his existence. I don't know where he is from or what kind of biological form he is in; he seems to have the privilege of being harbored in Japan but apparently shows utter ingratitude to the land: he is S.it in Japan, since he is always talking s.it about Japan no matter what.

And yes, looking forward to enjoying the final of the Asian Cup!

Being at the bottom means Canadian football is superior.

Therefore my statement is both accurate and relevant.

The above makes sense to me!

Comparing Canada’s confederation ( CONCCAF ) to Japan’s ( AFC ) makes sense

Nope! Neither COCCAF nor AFC can play soccer! Either Canada or Japan can. Your argument is completely flawed because you made a false generalization, which is too inclusive and inaccurate. AFC has about 50 members, many in good shape, may others aren't. AFC itself? Well, be specific to make sense! UEFA in good shape or bad shape? Bad question! France and Croatia are in good shape, but Italy Germany aren't. The defending world champions were defeated by an AFC's member not long ago.

Before calling somebody else's comparison "flawed and useless," make yours flawless and useful. Here's a rule of thumb relevant to both elementary school kids and adults: when comparing a sport performance, use a subject that can play that sport or that you can play the sport with.

What? Record sales and only 3.9 million vehicles?  I had thought they were at least twice that figures; no wonder they need Nissan.

kwatt

2020 should be called off to show the right thing to the world.

Tokyo made the best bid and got it. Period. I am sure people all over the world will watch the 2020 Games. But if you don't like it, you personally can call off your biological vision of it by shutting your 2 eyes and blocking your 2 ears to prevent the sight and noise of the "unfair" Olympics from spoiling your pure soul.  Hold your standards high by not going to see any games live or turning off your TV during the Games in 2020 to live up to your "nobility!"

Why France? Why this time? Why didn't any other country discover anything? France is not the only member of the IOC. Why did France wait until now after Ghosn had been arrested?  What if Ghosn had not been arrested?  There is too much coincidence to not doubt the French's motive!

I just simply want to buy a really good bicycle.  Can China show me one that I would be impressed by?  Oh, I also want a real good ballpoint pen.

How is a 13 y/o still in elementary school...

Try reading the sentence again.

Simon g: a certain guy is just linguistically incapable of understanding certain words. Highlighting in bold alone was not enough; you should have explained what "under" means, not to mention the so much longer and far more complex phrase "under the age of" making it all too hard for the guy to comprehend.

Saigon?? What century are you living in?

So you think you know more than the local people there? You think you know all the nuances related to the traditional name "Saigon" that still lives on and will live on?  I have traveled to Saigon several times and talked to numerous Saigon people, so I'm afraid that you seem to know what you don't really know about.

macv

those N Koreans have a lot of nerve wanting to protect themselves from other nations aggressions. please remind me how many nations N Korea colonized how many millions did it butcher rape kidnap and slave labor work to death? the temerity

Totally anachronistic, if you are linguistically capable of understanding this word.  Are you still living in your great great grandpa's time?

Not until China can convince me to buy a ballpoint pen it completely makes.

Looks like the bunch of bashers on here had a good day laughing huh?  But do they have logical brains to figure out that in the event that the TOP OF THE WORLD quality of MADE IN JAPAN products does not meet Japan's highest local standards, it is STILL on TOP OF THE WORLD? Why all the noise and who cares?  Especially when it comes to such hi-tech products as carbon fibers or cord fabrics produced by the renowned Japanese firm TORAY, all the European firms from England to France, Germany, to Italy and the rest, which are NOT technologically capable of manufacturing the same products, will always be happy to procure these MADE IN JAPAN products. Without the Japanese carbon fibers, how would the European automobile firms boast that their super cars have ultra solid carbon fiber bodies?  Top of Japanese quality? Marvelous, they yell.   Bottom of Japanese quality? Still great, they say. Just Japanese quality, please, any quality, the Euro guys insist!  It's because their super cars have sturdy bodies thanks to the Japanese carbon fibers, which have truly lived up to their TOP OF THE WORLD reputation.  What if a European car firm refuses to buy Japan's carbon fibers? Well, it just cannot boast its car bodies are made up of carbon fibers!   Last year, when a rich client requested Rolls Royce to add carbon fibers to the body of his Phantom, Rolls Royce panicked and asked for an extra charge of just 5 million dollars! Why? Just to scare the client off.  Rolls Royce was afraid of losing face if it confessed it would have to buy carbon fibers from TORAY or MITSUBISHI.  Lucky for Rolls Royce, though, the client was rich but not super rich, so he backed off.  Had it been a tougher client who would not care any price tag, be it 5 million or 50 million dollars, just carbon fibers, Rolls Royce would have had a nightmare inventing another scare!

fxgai:

The stock market didn’t let them get away with it.

Opportunities to buy dips! Put your irony aside and act fast before the market soon changes its mind with an upward reverse.  The world's never-ending hunger for the Japanese superior quality will soon shrug off these trivial bookish discrepancies. (Learn from how western markets disregarded TOYOTA's so-called acceleration safely bluff bluff something back in 2010.)

Bob Sneider:

No: it's the opposite: all these local internal scandals of Japanese quality make "American and European quality" look "bs"!

Not meeting the Japanese internal standards, Japanese quality still has been dominating the world; Boeing airplanes built by Mitsubishi have been flying strong! Not to mention space rockets, International Space Station, etc.; global press would be shut down without Japanese cameras; Japanese cars and motorcycles have been on top of all others: look at the facts in the US and global trade; etc. & etc... If Japanese quality were not superior nor reliable, Earth's people would not have bought them, placing them above all the western stuff.  

Japanese quality by default has been this great, making one wonder upon reading this news: if their products do meet THEIR OWN Japanese standards, Japanese quality will dominate what? THE UNIVERSE! 

Except a few western opportunists like you on here, Bob, can seize on this opportunity to blow off your stifled inferiority complex built up over all the years.

These fishermen are not losers.  Losers flocking together here are those whining parasites sticking to a host country while barking against it all the time. The fishermen in this article are winners, knowing how to both make a living while preserving their respective traditions and conserve the natural resources of the sea.  And no, I don't think the Danish police will be kind enough to let the hypocrite thieves sneak in and make what would be Denmark's the Cove.

Mlodinow: you sound too simplistic and gloating too!  Did you read the whole article? Or if you did, were you able to comprehend what was written in there? The CEO did provide a strategy, of course not detailed business plans due to technical confidentiality.

Alex80 I basically agree with you about all the Koreans' obsession with Japan that you have noticed, because it's what I have noticed, too. I haven't seen the movie mentioned in this article, but I have seen a Korean soap opera ("The Race" or something like that). In this soap opera, they (Koreans) keep disparaging Japanese cars and implying that Korea makes better cars than Japan! I was surprised to hear that they dared say Italy envied Korea. Industry-wise, the Koreans still have so much to learn from and catch up with Italy and Japan.

Mitch Cohen

OK, let the word "occasionally" be dropped, what still holds is that

Out of the top 50 highest grossing films in Korea of all time, NO OTHER FILM is as big a hit as the defeating- Japan “Myeongryang” (“Roaring Currents”) - IMPRESSIVE!

Mitch Cohen

True, occasionally there have been other Korean hit movies that are not about defeating Japan. However, all of them, including the ones you mentioned, are second to "Myeongyang." The fact that

“Myeongryang” (“Roaring Currents”) attracted 13.62 million viewers as of Saturday after 18 days of screening

says it all. The Koreans these days still buy into the 'feel so good' sentiment of beating Japan, which has provided them (Koreans) with strong doses of stimulants along the way toward where they are today, when it still feels damn good for them to see their "unconsciously superior" neighbor (Japan) beaten somehow.

Asian2014

ASEAN countries have a great working relation with China Don't drag us into the picture

"Us"? Who are you to claim "us" here? You appear more like a Chinese, who does not even know what ASEAN means. Are you talking about the Philippines and Vietnam, the two big nations of ASEAN, who are fighting the Chinese invaders at the moment? Or are you talking about Myanmar, another big nation of ASEAN, who two years ago slapped China on its face by diverting to democracy and opening to the West?

Mitsuo Matsuyama

Countries like Singapore, Vietnam, The Philippines and other Asian nations moved on and now have good relation with Japan.

I totally agree with you.

I am from one of the countries you mentioned above, and, yes, it is plainly obvious that our people today, must be 90% at least, truly love Japan and greatly appreciate what Japan has done and contributed to our country's development in the last few decades. I have heard about what happened in the war from my grandparents, but we, especially our parents' generation and my generation, as well our government, recognize the significance of Japan's contributions to our development. The majority of us feel grateful to Japan.

Sounds cool. But so what? How big a deal out of this? What else can the Koreans do? There are still tons and tons of machines from heavy construction equipment to cars to machine tools to almost any real industrial front, Japan still leaves Korea smelling smoke in its wake.

Snubbing is one of the typical childish behaviors any kid shows until it's truly grown up.

Let's restrict the coverage of news here to that by TV because I was talking about only TV news in Japan and referring to only TV news in my country (I didn't read newspapers to get sports news). And yes, I watch, and have watched for a decade, TV in the Japanese language on a daily basis together with my Japanese family, especially NHK, the Japanese type of national channel - proud, enormous, and of arguably regional or international stature. The whole experience is in Japanese, and thus so Japan-focused in every aspect. Of course, the sports players do nothing wrong. In fact, I like many of them. For example, I've been a fan of the Japanese national women's volley team for 10 years, a fan of both the Japanese national men and women's soccer teams since two world cups ago, and especially I have been a fan of Mao-chan since her first skating competition in her junior years, and I was upset with her inability to participate in the Turin Olympics back in 2006. I've been following Mao through her glories, which were dramatized in part by her duel with Korea's Kim Yu Na. I've been checking on Mao in her slumps, too, and been relieved to see her persevere and triumph over her struggles into this Sochi Olympics. That means I have watched enough Japanese TV in the Japanese language to see a consistent Japanese pattern of who and what is covered, which is governed by their interest in and mentality of "our boys and girls only" and which cannot be said "isn't intended." Some scant, really SCANT, mention of other foreign guys is occasionally added so long as it does not seem to disparage the home boys/girls. That's why we don't see on NHK and et el nowadays what we saw around 2005-2008: limited coverage on Kim Yu Na. Back then Mao apparently was better than Kim in terms of techniques and winnability, so Kim was mentioned as a backdrop to Mao's implied superiority (Kim was almost always a runner-up to the champion Mao for about four or five years at world championships and Grand Prixes). Since Vancouver Olympics up to now, however, Kim, the world's figure skater most worth watching, has been almost no where to been on J-TV. The unsaid reason: Kim has become so invincible that she would make Mao and other J-female skaters look bad in the local viewers' eyes. That's said, I still hope that this time in Sochi Mao will deliver and land clean on her triple axels - her key to upsetting Kim; it's Mao's last chance for an Olympic gold.

In addition, if one watches closely, eg. volleyball games on J-TV, one will notice another funny thing about J-TV: they never, never, ever dare to show a slow-motion replay of an umpire's dubious call in favor of the J-team or against foreign team. For example, if a ball appears to be misjudged to be in for the J-team and the umpire's decision is protested by the rivals' team as an out ball, and J-TV is not confident that the ball is actually in, then it will never show a slow-motion replay of the ball. But J-TV will be very quick to show a slow-motion replay of a ball when they are confident that the ball is in or out in favor of the J-team. I can tell with a 98% probability of accuracy whether there will be a slow-motion replay after a protest. I have been laughing for years at this consistent pattern of behavior unique to the J-TV corps.

Again, the J-TV aside, the Japanese players do nothing wrong; they are always nice and professional. I love them.

Pukey2

The whole sports segment on the NHK news should be called 'how our boys are doing abroad'

I can't agree more. And it's not only about sports, just anything else. For example, in the last few days, the local TV channels here from NHK to blahblahblah have repeatedly aired the duos of home teen ballet dancers who just won first (the boy) and second (the girl) prizes in a contest held in Switzerland. The only foreign factor known was Switzerland. That's it. I have happened to see this same news over and over and been left wondering again and again who the Japanese boy and girl were competing with and who the other medalists (non-Japanese of course) were. This type of news coverage would have been unthinkable in my country. But, yeah, this is Japan, so I guess I'll respect their Japanese way!