Jason Gomez comments

Because she's gaijin

If this were the case, she would live her life proudly and point two middle fingers at Japanese society and its habit of bullying/shaming women for having the gall to do so.

Not gaijin, at least not when it comes to socialized behavior. Very Japanese of her to play along with the shame game.

Japanese society DESPERATELY needs a female pop star in the vein of a John Lydon.

Like, if they screw up, to totally go the other way and tell the media and management to toss off.

Media are always unable to avert their gaze from a trainwreck, and a pop star who wont play the contrition game would make a KILLING by being rebellious.

Even a male version who takes their violence/drugs seriously would be profitable.

Celebs will take drugs because they want to. Society cannot stop this with laws or group shame. One of these celebs should speak a real truth such as this.

there has been an app in Japan for YEARS.

its called Yarokere. Got it just after 3/11.

When I was a smoker, I would go to a small local park in Yamate-cho, Yokohama - a very wealthy/nice neighborhood, and sit on the benches for hours playing my PSP, always at night.

I have had policemen roll up on me while doing so, as long as I had my ID card on me, there was NEVER a problem. Of course, I wasn't making a whole bunch of noise while doing so and that may be the deciding factor here. Still, couldn't help but think that it was some local resident who saw me and would call the police because of the gaijin sitting there.

That being said, there was more than one time when the policeman would stop his patrol and let me show him the games I was playing. Usually Madden amefto or Grand Theft Auto, Vice City Stories... Cops would get a kick out of me playing GTA, would even let them play with me for a bit...

Much different in the US, where they shoot first, simply for being a minority in the area....

funny enough, I kept hearing Basil Poledorus in the strings. It was a beautiful score.

my 2nd home.

"It about time yokohama put a roof on their dream stadium to protect the history of the stadium. This is a very important historical building concerning social history of Yokohama. This would also be a bonus for the 2020 Tokyo games"

This stadium, first built by Americans after WW2, was the original site of a stadium named Joe DiMaggio Stadium and has hosted such Baseball Legends as Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. Both of these baseball players have engravings of them, one at each fair pole.

these burgers are FOUR DOLLARS with fries in 'merica.

no mention of the cannibal acts committed by Japanese Imperial officers at Chichi-jima against America airmen, yet his visit to Yasukuni honors those same men.

Acknowledgement of generics is NOT enough. Specific apologies and renumerations are required by Japan's neighbors for peaceful relations going forward, but Abe has too much national pride to commit.

Ill met by moonlight...

The Foreign Ministry’s budget for propagating its official views on history and territorial disputes was raised to 52 billion yen ($438 million) this year from 2 billion yen last year to “correct understanding by the international society,” the ministry says.

that statement says it all. not to correct MIS-understanding.

for any U.S. Marine, Tarawa is not, nor has it ever been forgotten.

people get so up in arms over the two hydrogen bombs, yet the real destruction came from the American firebombing campaign that preceded it.

More people died in Tokyo than in Hiroshima/Nagasaki combined.

There is not one peep of uproar over those deaths, so the commenter who tried comparing the New York attack is simply wrong.

No apologies are needed, that is why both Japan and US are such close friends. Japan saw America forgive it, first hand, through occupation. There was no mass revenge killing in the years between 1945-1950, even though there was an entire conquering army on Japanese soil.

This is the main reason why Japan doesn't harbor resentment in the way the Palestinians do over Israel. We did not restrict Japanese movement, commerce or life the way the Israelis do. There was and still is a dangerous segment of Japanese population who are violently Anti-American, but the handling of these people did NOT interfere with ordinary Japanese citizens lives, like it does in Palestine. America offered a hand up, not a shove down.

In short, there was forgiveness on both sides because there was a genuine attempt by both sides to move past and grow successful together.

Must be a Tanto sword. No full length katana will allow for multiple stab wounds.

I imagine the man stabbed his stomach several times in quick succession.

lol. apparently, "Hands up" has a different meaning in Japan.

Interestingly Feng Shui(original Indian now Chinese) and similar methods have proven themselves across the globe and millenia.

Sun, wind, water exposure, etc

The Indian version, Vastu, has been around for quite some time and while I believe both versions to be claptrap, I would never deign to disparage someone else's system of faith beliefs.

That's what they are, after all.

"What'll happen if, after Putin is shirt-fronted by Abbott, he judo-flips Abbott?"

He will be shot dead by Commonwealth Police.

sad. Its been reported that Malcolm Young is suffering from dementia. There is no "get well" for him. That being the case, a THANK YOU is definitely in order. Go easy, Malcolm.

black widow bite necrotized a 500 yen coin sized area on my mom's leg. Not fun.

she is my aunt by marriage. bye aunt yoshiko.

Considering Softbank was brand new in the mobile market when the iphone was released, and also considering the fact that they have offered the iphone since the first iphone, including them in your criticism seems a little misplaced.

your last point is incorrect. Iphone was not released in Japan until the 2nd U.S. model, (Iphone 3G) was produced. These were both released on the same day in July 2008. The original Iphone was released in 2007 in the US.

as for all the arguing over which payment system is better? I loved my Suica/Pasmo card for its convenience. Rarely used EDY on my PSP, lol. Too clunky. Apple will sink or swim in the NFC market based on what it integrates as far as the daily lives of Japanese, ie. suica is used EVERYDAY. Without integrating these functions into the Iphone NFC, it will fail in Japan. People may buy the Iphone but the feature will go unused. Apple will realize this after 6 months then make changes.

Weren't eunuchs generally liked and trusted by all the power brokers in the Ottoman caliphate?

Yes, they were. Until they came into power due to their perceived harmlessness and proximity to the Caliph. Then they were treated as less than human.

funny that one cant be perscribed opiates from a doctor in japan but one can go to the nearest drugstore and buy BRON, which has a chemically altered form of codeine (an opiate) in it. Wouldnt the chemically altered codeine be considered a dangerous drug based on the same line of thinking? It is an altered form of a drug which is already illegal in japan, the exact same thing as Spice type products.

Oh well, it wont matter in 10 years. The US will significantly alter their drug policies on a national level, which will lead its allies to follow suit. I am truly amazed the Japanese populace has taken such a social turn towards MacArthur laws, considering they were initially put in place to control the natural social activities of occupied. Lol.

joiceRoro,

the order of release for those Disney animated films that gave rise to the rebirth of Disney Animation is as follows:

The Little Mermaid Alladin Beauty and the Beast The Lion King

Those 4 movies in 3-4 years resureccted the old fashioned Disney animated film for its last hurrahs before being killed by its brother, pixar.

That Steve Jobs, such a destructive force.......

in Soviet Russia, 110 call YOU!

seriously, one time prank calling 911 is a crime in USA, plus they charge you hundreds of dollars for sending out police, fire, ambulance and throw a thousand dollar nuisance fine on top of it.

this is in addition to being placed in cuffs and taken to be booked into jail, which now always involves a prison style buttcheek search and more money for bail and a lawyer.

land of the free, home of the pile-on....

It does say en masse, but that doesn't really mean at the same time.

o mi god! thats EXACTLY what it means. All Together. If you dont collapse at the same time, you dont collapse all together.

also, if you dont collapse at the same time, why would those who collapsed after the 1st person ALL congregate to collapse in the same area?

Common sense isn't so common anymore.....

i wonder if any of my japanese reading friends could tell me WHERE in yokohama this occured?

it is sad his name is being shattered throughout the news and pretty much disqualifying all his musical brilliance up until now. But rules are rules and he knew what he was risking. Why doesn't he just get drunk off his rocker and then wake up in the morning with RedBull.

whats really sad is that the japanese public think this is unique. I will guarantee that every entertainer, in and out of country has used illegal drugs in the past and most probably use now, just not every day.

the judgements coming from japanese society are laughable. In every other country in the world, entertainer gets arrested for drugs, sales go UP!

If i were him, i would bald face admit both the use and posession. It would be the most punk rock thing to do. Can you imagine the conniption fits that would occur in the houses of media and government. The police are gonna stick it to him anyway. May as well try to affect change....

He said that five million Indonesians had become drug users or addicts “as a result of drug crimes like those committed by Corby”.

really? i suppose those 5 million or so addicts and users have no concept of personal responsibility......

blaming a surfer who smuggled some personal use for an entire nation's drug problem just shows how ignorant prohibitionists can be...