Jason Lovelace comments

Nice to read some good news and a missing child story that has a happier ending.

For once, it is good to read a story that has a happy ending! I'm glad to hear that Yamato was safely found. It's an answer to prayer!

My parents would, and did, on occasion, start to drive off when my brother or I took too long at Wal-Mart, and we would always run after the car, but they'd stop and let us in. I always felt bad when this happened to nmy brother and Mom or Dad would start to drive away, because he'd always run after the car, crying for Mom and/or Dad to wait. I can't imagine a parent doing this in the mountains, late at night, in the rain, to a young child like this. It was hard to watch when we were at Wal-Mart or Kroger, knowing Mom and Dad would stop, but to see the same, to know the same was happening to a little boy outside, in the harsh weather, in a forsted mountain road? It rips my heart out and I'm not even there. I think that my wife would knock me for six if we did this to one of our nieces or nephews (and my conscience woujld be roaring at me if I even thought of trying this). How cold and heartless can a set of parents be towards their child? So what iof he was tossing rocks at cars? There are other means and forms of discipline, even if he was a screaming Harpie in the car later. Were I the authorities, these parents would be brought up on negligent abandonment. The daughter needs to be sent to relatives' care TODAY!

Nice photo...

Nice photo...

People who disagree with Mr. Trump either have their own jaded agenda or have not heard him speak, listening instead to distorted and out-of-context sound bites. Many have done similarly to past GOP nominees.

I passed them out when I lived in Japan and had no problem having them. I would also keep one in front of me to remember the person's name, but usually didn;t have to do such after awhile. It's a good custom....

There is discipline and there is abuse. This constitutes as abuse, if it really happened. The fact, however, that nobody's been able to find this little one for quite awhile, now, leads me, personally, to speculate that the male and female birthers (can't call them parents) are hiding something. I hope the boy is found and found to be in good shape and otherwise in a healthy condition.

I hate bullying. I dealt with it for three years, from the 8th through to the 10th grades. This story hits close to home, for there were times I wanted to take my own life. GOD give comfort and peace to this young man's family, and may the bullies find justice.

murder victims' families and survivors, that post ought to state...

"A lunatic with a gun is much more dangerous than a lunatic without a gun."

Tell that to the murder victims' and the survivors in Osaka and Akihabara. I'm sure they'll completely understand.

I think he'll do well if he is elected. I like him better than the career politicians that are running and the ones we already have in office...

Messed up! And our school was on lock down because of this. Prayers for the families of those who died.

nigelboy --- There's not one word of apology in that document you linked. Glad that Japan has learned its lessons form the past. Glad that they - the government - recognize the pain and suffering caused. But recognition doesn't equal an apology. Try again, sir. With regards to the Diet having no authority in statements, their declarations of war against their neighbors and the USA seemed to mean something, as did the prime minister of the time, and his cabinet, and the emperor approving such. If it meant that much that all were involved in the process then, it should be happening now with a documented, formal apology.

Back@home --- Irrelevant to the subject at hand. I am well aware of Japan's safety and the greatness of their cities. I lived there for twelve years, and enjoyed every minute of it. None of that has anything to do with Japan's need to draw up a document of apology to her neighbors by her government, have it signed, and formally delivered to each and every pone of the countries that felt the boot of Japan's Imperial Military during World War Two. And with all due respect to nigelboy, he answered nothing, provided nothing, and proved nothing.........which is what Japan's singular government officials' words of "apology" pretty much are: nothing. And the correct spelling is, with all due respect, "smear". When a nation is basically brutalized to the tune of nine million of its citizens being murdered, I can understand the tensions that arise when a neighboring nation - the one that did the brutalizing - simply refuses to even recognize her part in that brutalization, let alone apologize for it.

You know, preceding an offensive statement with 'no offense' doesn't negate the offensive statement. ---Strangerland

If my statement was SO OFFENSIVE, Strangerland, why does absolutely nobody really care what I stated, and, in fact, has received three "thumbs ups"? And who made you THE Discerner of what is and what isn't offensive (I'll answer that one: NOBODY)?

And I stand by my statement: a lot of these topless women should keep their tops on; a lot of the men, too.

DaDude --- There are reasons I don't go to nude beaches. The examples of topless people in these photos are but one....

Jason, Japan has formally apologized according to its manners and protocols.

Nothing will even satisfy the Chinese, that's the whole point.

It's just a (smear) campaign. A propaganda war. ---Back@home

Japan has apologized according to its manners and protocols? And you seriously expect the rest of the world to accept that as legitimate? Germany went far above and beyond the scope if its protocols in its apologies to its neighbors, and has been lauded for doing so. What about Japan? Still scorned by the rest of the world for her veneration of war criminals in Yasukuni and absolutely no documented apology whatsoever from the Imperial Japanese Government. As far as a sear campaign, why does it always come to that sort of nonsense? You do realize, don't you, Back@home, that China suffered under Japanese occupation? Historians Anthony Beevor, John Keegan, and others have tallied Chinese deaths at the hands of the IJA at nine million. And let's not even get to the topic of Nanjing and the massacre and orgy of blood that the IJA engaged in there. I think with nine million of their people being slaughtered in less than ten years, the Chinese have a legitimate beef and right to have "nothing satisfy them", short of a documented apology, drafted by one or both houses and signed by the Prime Minister, Cabinet, and Emperor. Korea, Philippines, Indonesia, Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and India deserve similar. And really, that's all that these governments want: an official document of apology, drafted by the Parliament, and signed by the same offices and Imperial Household that signed the war declarations nearly eighty years ago.

Keep telling yourself that Japan has done its duty and apologized. As long as a document of such drafted and signed by the Imperial Japanese Government remains undelivered, Japan's "apologies" are simply hollow words and spitting in the wind. Japan should take her cue from Germany, adult up, and do the right thing. Really.

Glad to know that nobody was hurt.

When I lived in Japan, I always took NyQuil, PowerStick or Degree Antiperspirant, Tylenol, Theraflu, and Mom's homemade baked goodies. I'd often bring some handmade items from home, also, to give away as gifts to friends and students...

I, personally, think these look better than the previous, Gothic-looking ones posted some time ago.

Just me two yens' worth...

No offense, but some of these topless women in the photos need to keep their tops on. The topless men, as well....

Keep it classy, J-Law!

Yes, yes, YES, let's add to the already overcrowded court dockets by blaming the bar owners for being business-people. Let's further add to the dockets by adding passengers in cars driven by the intoxicated. While we're at it, why not blame car makers whose cars are driven by drunken drivers? And why not blame, also, the alcohol manufacturers? And why not blame, too, the glass-making and aluminum-smelting companies that help make the bottles and cans of the alcohol consumed by the drunken drivers? And why not blame the tire companies that put the tires on the cars driven b drunken drivers? And why not add to the list of blamees the headlight makers of and for the car companies of the cars driven by drunken drivers? After all, each and every one of these entities had some hand in helping that drunken driver hurt, maim, and/or kill someone when they got behind the wheel.

Here's a novel idea: WHY NOT SIMPLY BLAME THE DRUKEN DRIVER HIMSELF OR HERSELF???

Yes, yes, YES, THAT'S what we SHOULD do! After all, personal responsibility is still that: PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY.

The REAL question is when has the Imperial Japanese Government ever FORMALLY apologized for the war (I'll answer: NEVER)?

Singular "apologies" by singular government officials on foreign soil don't count as apologies by Japan, especially since every time singular government officials "apologize", the J-Government not only distances itself from such "apologies", but it also demands an "explanation" from said singular government officials who made the "apology" in the first place when s/he comes home.

The Article Headline SHOULD state "63% say Singular Government Officials of Japan Should Stop Apologizing" (because they should: their "apologies" are basically meaningless)....

I'm stunned that the J-Women's team lost here at home. But, then again, they're not playing their usual volleyball pansies opponents like Sri Lanka or Tonga: they have REAL competition this time `round (is it just me, or does the J-Women's volleyball team remind anyone else of the Kameda brothers, and their "title 'defenses'" in Japan? Maybe its just me).

Wasps are no joke! They're basically hornets on acid and steroids. Only thing worse than them are killer bees...

Dre's nothing but a two-bit opportunistic thug. He's gotten his fame and wealth off the backs of others. If he owes anyone an apology, its the estate and family of Eazy-E....

What did the Peoples Republic of China do to defeat Imperial Japan? ---YuriOtani

They let the Kuomintang and Chiang Kai Shek take the brunt of the Japanese Imperial Military's assaults, while they set their bases in the northeastern part of China, allowing themselves to take as few casualties in the war as possible. On the one hand, it was a brilliant move to insure their survival. On the other hand, it was wretchedly cowardly and lily-livered, as the CCP shed no blood and did next to nothing to help defeat Japan, aside from promising not to attack the KMT while hostilities persisted with Japan. While the KMT took the fight to the Japanese, with the aide of the other allies, the CCP basically sat back and watched it all happen. Basically its the same that Russia did in the Pacific Theatre (but for better reasons on the Soviet Union's part: they had the wrath of the German Wehrmacht to deal with)...

This display by Beijing is propagandist to the hilt. I'm not at all surprised that Russia and Kazakhstan are taking part. Both the CCP and the USSR did very little to bring about Japan's defeat....

Expressions of “deep remorse” over the conflict are not the same as an apology --- especially a signed, documented one, drafted by one of the houses of the Diet, signed by both houses and the Prime Minister, and sealed by the Emperor, which could then be sent to every nation that felt the boot of Japan's Imperial Army and its aggression. An "expression of 'deep remorse'" is a good place to start, but my belief is that this is where it will end, tragically enough...

My Korean Grandmother, who is above the age of eighty, likely went through a lot. She tends to pray a lot for the people of Japan, however, as does my Korean Mom. This is a bit extreme....

Hope he heals and recovers fully....

The Uber Nationalists in their buses dress like this person in the photo. I've seen them in Ochanomizu speaking about how Japan really owns the Korean Peninsula and parts of China and how the government needs to revoke Article 9 in the Japanese Constitution and go and retake these areas, how the Emperor needs to be worshiped as god. That's about what this person in this photo causes me to think. Does he have the right? Certainly. Is such in good taste? No. Silly, this person is, and probably uncaring what anyone else thinks.