inverse comments

Net cafes, manga cafes, cat cafes, and now nap cafes. I propose inventing a new word to replace "cafe" because surely no one is going to these places for just a cup of coffee. The article above didn't even mention drinks!

why is the whole panti photo thing a big deal anyway.. cant see anyones face anyway... if its something that bothers you that much, dont wear ultra mini or wear hot pants under it like most people do, guys dont wear huge see thru briefs on the street do they... the whole attention on the subject makes no sense whatsoever

Oh, victim blaming I see! How about instead of telling girls what they can and cannot wear, how about telling dudes to stop being creepy perverts?

I dislike the word "half" in regards to people (especially children!). "Half" insinuates that a person is not "whole," and it comes across negatively. If I had to choose a word to describe a person's heritage, I'd use the word "mix" or "mixed race." It seems more positive.

In general though, I find it unnecessary for people to constantly point out someone's race and/or heritage, especially in public. I feel sorry for kids who will have to grow up always being an "other."

There are PLENTY of female stalkers too. (Anyone read the old Gaijinpot forums before they shut them down? You'd have a field day with all the stalker stories there, too!) They aren't mentioned because of a stigma against men who report abuse and violence from women. Women also perpetrate these crimes with quite a lot of frequency, but they are underreported!

Great info Lunchbox, I had often wondered that myself.

We evacuated as a matter of precaution because the ground floor of our house was flooded in the tsunami two years ago...

Good! Lesson learned! Even if it was an inconvenience to evacuate in the middle of the night, better safe than sorry!

Japan, the land of passive aggression! The police didn't need to be involved. If I were this homeowner, I would've simply waited for the rice cooker's owner to come back for the rice, and say, "Hey uhhh... what's going on here?" Then once you've got the full scoop (ha), decide what to do. I bet if he had been asked to knock it off, he would've. Obviously the guy's down on his luck if his power's shut off. Now he has a criminal record too. Great.

Why nobody pressed "Emergency Stop" button when someone fell unto the track?

Because this wasn't at a station. It said it happened between Nakayama and Kamoi stations. This was at a road crossing.

Am I the only one who finds it alarming that most of these anti-theft signs basically say... if you steal, we'll murder you? WTF?

Good job! What a hero.

Hopefully this helps ease some international relations. I'm so sick of hearing Japanese people hate on Chinese people just because of the tired Senkaku debate. Why can't we be friends?

I've never been to this particular lake, but... really? It's a lake, not a hazardous ocean current or a rapid river. Did she expect that no one on board would be able to swim?

So people on here who say that only Japanese mothers are crazy are brainwashed.

This just proves that it doesn't matter what nationality you are. It's Japan that makes you crazy! (I kid, I kid...)

I would think that he may have thought twice if he would have believed that the people were able to defend himself with a gun vice not having a weapon to match. No guns allowed, and yet we still have violent crime.

Pro tip: READ THE ARTICLE.

No one died. No one died. Whether or not he would have "thought twice" about it or not, if guns were involved, they would be reporting the body count, not hospitalizations. Gun freaks sicken me.

I shudder to think how lame the opening ceremony is when they focus on the 'best' popular music Japan has to offer. Vomits.

Well, that will be the music of the day seven years from now. Maybe all the AKB hype will be over and done with. Girls can't stay 19 forever.

McDonald’s seems hell-bent on making the people of Japan fat.

Wow, slippery slope much? :/

Let's also put it into perspective. Japanese McD's large size is still the size of an American medium, and that price doesn't include refills, which many American fast food chains do. There is still the option of Coke Zero and other diet sodas. Also, just because all drinks are ¥100, doesn't necessarily mean that everyone will get the largest size. Personally I can never drink a lot of any soft drink, so even when they run these campaigns I still get medium.

at that age it doesn't make sense why he would do this accidentally. This was either suicide or murder.

Though I wouldn't rule those out entirely, remember that kids do crazy, unexpected things all the time. As adults, it's easy to say "that doesn't make sense!" but kids see the world in a different way than we do. In any case, RIP.

My fiancée and I go to the neighborhood Kappazushi once a week. It's pretty tasty, and at ¥105 a plate, both of us can eat our fill of decent sushi for less than ¥2k. However, we have never even once pulled a plate off of the belt. Like this article suggests, I use that as a display case. When I see something that looks good, I just order it off of the touchscreen. Usually only a minute later, it reaches our table in that plastic shinkansen.

Sometimes I watch those pieces of sushi on the belt go around several times. I pick out something distinctive about a piece (a conspicuous clump of rice on the plate, or an oddly shaped piece of fish) and look for that piece when it comes back around again. Often times I'll see that same plate pass by us quite a few times before we leave the restaurant. So, how long has it been sitting there before we arrived? Hmm, yeah, no thank you.

Fuji TV reported Monday that the man, who has been named as Yuji Yagi, was arrested Sunday on suspicion of violently shaking his baby daughter’s head at their apartment in June of last year. The girl was taken to hospital unconscious and eventually passed away in December.

Whoa whoa whoa. The incident happened last year... it's March now, why such a long wait to start investigating?! Hope he doesn't have any other kids.

However, in Korea, sitting in “seiza” is known as the “prisoner sitting style” and is widely considered a way to bring your guests much pain.

The Koreans have this one right! Wish Japanese people felt the same way.

Personally, I love riding the women only car. Witnessing that awkward moment when a man steps onto the train, rides for a few minutes, looks around a bit... then you see that look of shock and horror upon his face as he quickly shuffles out to the next car. Makes my morning, honestly!

Can't they trace those things?

The song is OK, but the video is what makes it really hilarious. It's catchy. I agree with the "school kid jealousy," thing too.

But let's face it, this is a fad! In 6 months no one will be playing Gangnam Style anymore.

Not only that, it's bad for their foreign customers, too! Before you could just point at the picture of what you want on the menu. Pointing up at the board won't be so easy anymore. Not only that, but on the reverse side of the Japanese menu, they have an English version. Not that you'd ever need it, since every menu item has a picture next to it...

If they wanted to speed it up, why not just have a couple extra staff hand out menus to people waiting in the line, like they do at Starbucks?

If he is an addict, a slap on the wrist will do him no good.

Marijuana is not addictive.

Wrong country, kid! You need to be vacationing in the Netherlands, not Indonesia!

I'm a teacher -AND- I teach young children. Oh, and I have tattoos.

The kids don't know. No one at the school knows. Guess where it is? It's on my wrist! I wear t-shirts in these humid summer months, too. I just wear a watch and no one's the wiser. Personally, what I do with my body is my business. I suppose if I had knuckle or neck tats, that's quite a bit more aggressive, but I have yet to see someone in Japan with those kinds of ink...

For the record, parents and other teachers say I'm great with the kids. Am I gonna burn at the stake? Guess I'll stay away from those Osaka gov't gigs.

"Otaku light," huh...

I think I know exactly what you mean. When I was teaching, I met a young man who was cute, had a nice job at a company and was, well, a big dork. Er, I mean, otaku light, I guess. When I was in high school, I used to like anime, so our conversations were almost entirely about anime. Granted, I haven't watched any since that time (oh my, about 10 years ago...), and yet he knew every obscure title I mentioned. He was a really sensible guy, and I think that any lady would like to have him as a husband.

These days, I think it's better for gals to go after reliable, faithful guys. The "Three Highs" might be nice, but I think I'd rather go after a regular guy. Even an "otaku light." Yasukuni said it well, "In the end, you have to live with the person."

God, buddha and ladies work in mysterious ways.

Worship them and you'll have a happy life? ;D

Question is, what are they gonna do with the dock now that it's washed up on the beach in Oregon? Looks pretty big...

Legalize it and tax it!

I don't care what other people do to their bodies. I just hate it when I sit on the terrace of my favorite cafe enjoying nice, spring weather and someone's smoke wafts into my iced coffee set.