japan_cynic comments

Clearly, Tokyo is actually the best candidate on offer. It's a terribly expensive way for a handful of politicians to feel good about themselves though.

Well it's not "salary" if it is overtime and allowances. Sounds like they are still getting their full salary for doing nothing, just not topping it up with overtime. On ¥20m per year, cry me a river.

Running is best in the cold. You'd not see a group like that in August! Japanese winter season is actually pretty awesome for running - bright sunny days but not too hot.

Though that looks more like a (bad) fashion parade than a run, to be honest. They seem to be barely walking.

Stay inside, people!

The fact is, whether the JGovt or WHO is correct, the paranoid scaremongers have always been completely wrong.

Where traffic volume is low they are hardly necessary.

The interesting point here to me is that he obviously thinks of culture as some ossified edifice that does not change, evolve, and adapt over time.

Which is (a) clueless in itself, if you consider how Japan (and the rest of the world) has actually changed over the last few decades, let alone longer, and (b) infinitely depressing, that he thinks Japan is incapable of ever changing.

Crazy stuff. It's not like the west where a new injection of cash might have some effect. Japan has been awash with this sort of stimulus for decades now, it's just lining the pockets of the yazuka. No, scratch that, it's filling the pockets of the yakuza.

Frungy, are you saying that it's illegal for someone to download an app or a movie in their home country, then travel abroad and use it/view it when away from home? I think that is obviously not true, but it seems to follow from your claims.

Watch out for the numerous fraudulent iTunes gift card sites though.

I've got no problem with this, so long as they spend the money sensibly. Close up, it's an ugly smelly mess.

Um, the govt has imposed 5-10% pay cut on all its workers...I'm earning less than I was 5 years ago.

Love the great microbrews in Japan. Hate the xenophobic protectionist taxation that prices proper beer out of the reach of normal drinkers.

The only person I see whining here is VRWC. The rest seem to just be getting on with it...

Sure, I agree that I don't have the "right" to these services. Nevertheless, if I can get the service, I don't see that any significant harm was done. I understand that you don't think I should do it. That's fine, I'm sure you do things that I don't think you should do.

No, downloading without paying is not stealing, it is copyright infringement. It's not the same thing at all, for all that some posters try to pretend it is. Stealing takes something away from its rightful owner. Copying may represent a loss of income or value, but in many cases it does not. If someone copies this comment, there's not much I could do about it.

VWRC, I was specifically talking about the case where there is no option to pay.

It's not taking, it is copying. There is a large difference in law (and for that matter, ethically). There is no loss to the copyright owner.

More likely, it is blocked because no-one bothered to get the rights, because the market was too small. I pay when there is a reasonable mechanism to do so, but if there is not, then my viewing via vpn CANNOT be doing anyone out of any money, because they are not prepared to sell the content to me..

You can buy US iTunes gift certificates on ebay, although there are plenty of fraudsters around. And you can just make up a US address for registering.

um...a keyboard?

As far as I can tell, Japan has been living on funny money for decades. Glad I'm not going to be here when the cows come home to roost in the fan.

A decent ramen is a tasty meal. But what's with all this "regional variation" guff? Japanese food hardly changes from one end of the country to the other.

Mind you, you could say the same about architecture or scenery, so maybe it's meant to be ironic.

Even greenpeace can't pretend there are ill effects when there aren't actually any ill people. At least, not for ever.

Of course there are negligible health effects due to radiation around Fukushima. All experts have known this right from the outset. Moderate doses of radiation really aren't very dangerous. But there's a huge industry built around scaremongering and paranoia.

Wow, would take quite a leap of imagination to conceive of an innocent explanation.

“We did not intentionally burn down that cabin to get Mr. Dorner out,”

No, they burnt the cabin down to kill him.

It's typical Japanese evasive bafflegab. Could mean anything, actually means nothing.

I see some (few) tins locally, but never fresh. Stupid waste of govt money, but it's not my govt, and in fact it's not really very much money.

Um...probably because the NPP was built right next to them? I bet it was farmed land long before there was any nuclear power.