Jannetto comments

If the age of consent is indeed 13 or 14, but you don't get to be an adult till you're 20, that has to be one of the widest discrepancies going. In most countries "15 will get you 20" - but you're an adult at 18. Not sure what that says about Japan, or even where I'm going with this. Lock em both up anyway.

400 sheep? I have no idea how many cubic meters a sheep needs, but that must have been one big truck- though if they're on the way to the slaughterhouse, I guess they stuff em in.

but the sheep, I feel so bad for them. It’s horrific, it really is.”

but I bet you'll still enjoy a nice lamb chop....

I wonder if Japanese "scientists" will begin a sudden "research project" which necessitates hoovering up millions of tuna to investigate the phenomenon. To eliminate waste, the remainder of the tuna not required in the research could be sold on as food.

LOL Ivan.

Glad to see the quoted expert is called Fisher.

Any witnesses? Very fishy...

Aw, back in the cooler - wonder if he has a mitt and baseball? The only infection they're worried about him passing to his cell mates is Breakout Fever. Guards better watch out for signs of tunneling. Waiting for the movie...

But what puzzles me most is the fact that there were no visible injuries. If a 10-9 y.o kid doesn't want to die, he would put a hell of a fight. Especially if there are two of them. Especially in a car.

We don't know the time of death, but my guess would be that she took them out there in the night, since they weren't missed till school time- if they were even half asleep they wouldn't fight. So where was dad?

I knew one person who took her life this way & not being a strong drinker, she had a couple of glasses of wine before the act (but after sealing the room) - we assume she wanted to be unable to fight back. I think it's Singapore where charcoal is under lock & key in stores, to stop people loading up for suicide attempts.

And I have to agree that age 28 with 3 kids from 6 to 10 is a pretty stressful situation - was no one looking out for her? Sasoriza did qualify the no education comment with "If"... but it's a reasonable guess in Japan.

Poor kids & poor granny & teacher who found them.

I think when Daijoboots said sloppy, he/she meant the writing, since s/he goes on to point out that Kyokutenho is ranked rather lower than the article says.

Anyway, well done that old guy, nice to have a different winner.

Apart from honouring the victims, which can be done regardless of whether a matter is "settled" (!), isn't another point of these types of tributes to make sure that history doesn't repeat itself??

Oh wait, if it never happened, it can't happen again. Silly me.

Well said Al Stewart - everyone has the right to remember.

Paul Watson may be the face and (very loud) voice of Sea Shepherd but as netninja points out, the movement is much bigger; anyone - including the whalers- who thinks they won't be active while he's in jail can think again.

Not sure what is meant by the northwestern Pacific- isn't that where Japan is anyway? Would be interesting if they stayed in their own territorial waters... part of SSCS's argument has always been that the Japanese hunt in international waters. Awaiting developments on this one.

The Spanish king's hunting trip was big news - though not in Japan it appears- mainly, as Cleo says, because he's prez of WWF Spain. There were calls from to step down from WWF but he apologized, so that's OK. Sounds familiar...

“The government considers it is hardly adequate that in the current circumstances, Queen Sofia take part in Queen Elizabeth’s jubilee,” a spokesman for the Spanish royal household said Wednesday.

Adequate??

Can't believe he hasn't been hit by a boat yet... still, he's obviously an artful dodger.... swim far little pengi, swim fast!

Agreed, David- no one noticed??? And unless the three of them were locked in the house 24/7, surely she had chance to sneak some food? Or even steal it, if he never gave her any money. Or just get the hell out. It really beggars belief that it could get this far without either her taking action, or anyone noticing. Did she not have a single friend or relative? Or a phone? Did the kid ever go out to play? Hope JT will continue to cover this, too many unanswered questions.

If it's a witch hunt, you're going to burn at the stake, oh flame-haired one. Or in hell. She's a witch! Burn her!

Children are innocent without any biases unless learnt from family.

well said. Some years ago I heard a 10 year old girl asking her uncle if he was married - he said "Yes, I'm married to John" - she burst into tears and wailed "But you didn't ask me to be a bridesmaid!"

Maybe the gays in Japan don't have anywhere else to have a ceremony so they're stuck with Disney, poor people.

Yasukuni's right, that first week of school in April is particularly ugly. I used to work in Waseda & had the misfortune to be back this April. Nothing's changed - gotta watch out for the platform pizzas...

Also the younger students are underage drinkers... shocking, I never did that....

Well said, Zichi. Any WW2 vets still around must be pushing 90, I doubt if they're in a fit state to protest anyway. When a UK royal (forget which one- Charles maybe) attended Hirohito's funeral, Brits were very upset. He pointed out that he was doing so out of respect for the millions of Japanese born since 1945, who have nothing to do with the war (their dads and ojiichans are another matter...) - actually it may have been the Duke of Edinburgh, though that seems unlikely. But yes, it's a long trip for two frail old folk, I guess they and Madge can compare ailments.

Looking at the pic- his table is a very natural polystyrene box. Still, the sea is full of those, probably a native species.

Tokyo learning from Beijing - about how to spend millions on an event nobody wants, tarting up the capital & bringing in crowds it can't manage, while ignoring the genuine needs of the people in the provinces...

As has been pointed out, having a kid at 50 is irresponsible - if the child is lucky enough to be healthy, it will end up caring for its geriatric parent(s).

However, I have a friend in her mid 40s whose 4 kids are aged 6 to 22- guess which one has Downs? The oldest one, born when mom was about 23. Go figure...

Yet another... and we had dinner last week with a 78 year old friend who lives alone, she reckons she can go 3 months without hearing from her kids & grandkids, who don't live far away. She's had strokes & seems very confused at times- luckily she has the money to pay for a home help, though she wasn't sure how often - but as far as I can tell, if she keeled over, she would only be a couple of days before being found- though that's not much use if she dies in that time. I suppose if she missed karaoke night her friends might check on her.

I tried to ask if she keeps an up-to-date address book or contact list, both so her family could be traced and in a worst case scenario, friends like us would be notified. It was pretty depressing & there must be the potential for hundreds of people to end up like Mrs Saito of this article. Poor lady. When they said no one had been able to contact Mrs Saito since November, yet they found her body in February, you have to wonder. Gaijinfo's suggestion is one worth looking into.

If the bodies had begun to decay, to the point making ID difficult, didn't the cops notice anything malodourous? Then again, answering my own question, noticing things is not their strong point.

So why is Charles Manson in prison

Did you read the article? If the quote from Manson himself doesn't tell you, get hold of the excellent book "Helter Skelter".

At Osaka Castle a couple of years ago you could "Try on Samurai Warrior Helmet and Battle Surcoat" then in bigger letters "Taste a little Samurai Warrior".

Years ago there was an ad for eikaiwa courses stressing the importance of good pronunciation. Each example had an illustration of an eager Japanese being polite and a horrified gaijin imagining the suggested scene. Airport scene - Japanese saying "Have a nice fright"; office scene, businessman saying to foreign guest "Please shit here" - yes, with little thought bubble over gaijin's head showing him on the toilet... this thread could run and run....

Australian resources, including coal, are in big demand from developing countries such as India and China as they build power projects to fuel their fast-growing economies.

so they can build more factories to produce more cheap crap that no one really needs back to the west & then we can get upset about a trade imbalance we've helped to create. And they will provide 1000s of jobs- to women and children who'll work for a few dollars a day. Nice one Oz.

Hope he swims to Taiji and teaches the dolphins some escapology. Swim far, little penguin, swim fast!

That should keep a few more sweatshops going.

Doesn't matter if they were finning or not- if you read the article it says:

violating a ban on shark fishing,

hence they got fined.

Been following this story in the media, not hard to find if you're outside Japan. It's been in some environmental stories, but seen it mostly as a human rights issue- held without trial. Epic fail, J Cops.

he breaks the laws of the host county

if he'd broken the law, he'd be found guilty. And you mean country, not county, I take it.

It wasn't one guy's word against the other's either, there were witnesses whose testimony was far more credible than that of the "victim". The judge was spot on.

Are the dolphins still being killed and eaten? I thought it had been stopped.....

are you kidding? Over 600 so far this year, though that's fewer than usual thank god; there is so much meat stock piled that more butchering would be eve more absurd than it is already. Between the mercury and the lack of demand, we can but hope that the end is in sight for the hunters. And yes, watch The Cove, great bit of movie making.