jazz350 comments

I have used Canon for decades and glad to hear the shift back to Japan.

The executive director at Inter-brand should be presented with a pink-slip, pronto!

I taught English at the 6th grade in the Elementary school as a volunteer for three years in addition to two kindergartens. The kids at the kindergarten were the best as they had no inhibitions with the pronunciation as opposed to the problems faced by children in the elementary school. Right off the bat I refused to use any of the official English textbooks as they were really bad. I just taught them practical stuff that they could use everyday and helped them in building up their confidence.

The entire system is terrible and the bumbling bureaucrats have no clue. If Japan is to transform itself, then English should be made into a Second Language, and the Government has to create the entire ecosystem-- teacher training schools, libraries, newspapers as well as TV programs , the whole works. English should begin from kindergarten through to the University, there is no other way. But don't hold your breath.

Nissan has lost its way, except for their sports cars, the rest are just plain vanilla, utterly boring. They have lost their mojo. Hopefully they revamp will lead to more exciting cars.

There are Ama san still plying their dangerous trade in Mie Prefecture, around Toba as well as the island of Kamishima, they harvest awabi and sazae, the latter has only a two month window to make sure they are not over-harvested. Most of the women that I saw were over 65 and one lady in Kamishima is 80 years! I believe the younger generation does not want to follow in their footsteps.

As many posts suggest, IAEA 's existence stems from nuclear power, without this they dont have a cushy job. While they were quick to pounce on Iraq and Iran they have done precious little to alert the entire world to the major crisis that has been unfolding at Fukushima since March 2011. They have completely turned belly-up and covered up the dangers in Japan. They have never issued any alerts or exact radiation numbers for cesium, strontium 90 that have been leaking inside and outside the plant. Their inspectors seem to be yes-men under the leadership of a Japanese guy with close links to the Japanese Government, otherwise he would never land this job. In November, the nuclear rod bundles have to be removed from reactor #4 , a slight mis-step, and the demon of radiation is going to flood the atmosphere.

Despite the ongoing catastrophe Abe wants to sell nuclear technology to India and countries in the middle east. Has the world gone mad?

Too many dumb top executives in Japan, the names of many Japanese cars are a clue to their stupidity. So, Vanilla Air , no surprise !

Are there any CarNav systems in English, this has been a perennial problem for foreigners in Japan.

Uniqlo was in denial for several months and were forced to join because of the pressure from many quarters including social media. Shame on Uniqlo!

The entire fuel surcharges and baggage fees levied by many airline is a scam. Airlines must be forced to show the total price of a ticket so customers are aware of the inflated costs.

Japan is doomed if they open up the health insurance industry to wean away from their Universal coverage. The vultures are ready to pounce on this juicy market. TPP supporters have not read the fine print and the people will pay a very high price in the future, especially the generations to come.

I have had great trips on ANA and JAL, but their fuel surcharges are way too high. As passengers pay the fuel cost why does the ANA gripe about fuel costs? On another note I flew Delta to JFK and their service and food is bad. On top of that the Delta flight arrives at a shoddy ex-PANAM terminal which is on par with a third world country, what a shame! Delta is also ripping passengers with their their exorbitant baggage fees.

Is Uniqlo part of this group or is it still staying on the sidelines while it makes more money off the back of the poor workers in Bangladesh?

This guy is a jerk and he has exhausted his political capital, there is only one way forward for him and that is downward! Hope he can take Ishihara with him.

Boycott Uniqlo till it falls into line with establishing safety measures as well as higher wages for the workers in poor countries.

Manmohan Singh is an un-elected Prime Minister of India. He has never stood in an election and gets through the back door being appointed to the Rajya Sabha or Upper House of Parliament. He is currently trying to get re-elected posing as a resident of Assam, a state where he has never been a resident.

Japan should not sign a nuclear deal with this guy as his administration is probably the most corrupt since India's independence. He is a weak leader and merely a stooge of the Congress Party. I think Japan should strengthen its ties with India and help build up it's woeful infrastructure provided the India Government clears all the hurdles and adopts a transparent "no corruption' policy with very stiff penalty clauses for any delays in executing a project as such the Mumbai-Delhi Freight corridor or the Bangalore-Chennai corridor.

Wipeout, you have not mentioned the flight for 49000 yen, if you mean the fare to Hong Kong, then it is advertised at 18,000 yen, a far cry from the figure you quoted as the final price. Please clarify.

I get regular email alerts with their so-called "low fares", this is a lot of hogwash and they should be penalized for false advertising and wasting our time. The fuel surcharges and taxes almost triple their so call low fares. The Government should force all airlines to advertise the entire cost of tickets inclusive of fuel surcharges and taxes, I think Singapore Airlines has this laudable policy.

We need AirAsia in Chubu to fly to international destinations to avoid the Narita/Haneda hub!

Japanese children must be taught English right from kindergarten . I teach kindergarten kids and they are quick to learn and have none of the standard pronunciation problems associated with kids in 5th or 6th grade in the Elementary schools. The English text books in the Elementary school are pathetic and they should be confined to the dust-bin!

Kids have no contact with the English language from Grade 1 through Grade 4. There has to be a continuity all the way to University. Japan has to create an ecosystem where kids have easy access to English clubs, story books, TV programmes, debates etc , so that it will be easy and natural to communicate with each other. Thus, emphasising English at the University level is far too late as the bad habits have already set in and hard to change.

The TOEIC and TOEFL tests will achieve little as they are merely standardized tests, and a money-making racket ! The TOEIC tests are beyond stupidity and yet students take them in order to enter University.

The taxes as stated by VicMOsaka are astronomical. Check the costs of car ownership all over the world and then compare Japan. The Government has wasted trillions on nuclear research, dams, cushy jobs for its bureaucrats and extracting the money from car owners is the 'low-hanging fruit'. Shaken system is the worst I have ever seen and I have lived in Germany and the United States.

China is an immature nation and they have a long way to being accepted as a responsible power. The want to acquire territory on many fronts, on the west with India, and in the east with Vietnam, Philippines, Brunei, Taiwan and Japan. They exhibit an arrogance as their economy has grown but once a recession hits the country the tables will be turned against them.

I agree, bears should be re-located to the forests not shot by hunters.

China is very much a copycat and Japan should never part with their research and technology. It doesnt matter how large their market, in the long run Japan's long term interests must be protected. China is getting too big for its boots.

As Alex Einz said the German Customs are "ignorant and overzealous", and I had a very funny experience with German Customs in Frankfurt ages ago. I was carrying a small pack of a special potent chili powder in my checked baggage, and the Customs asked me to open it. I told them that it was potent and I did not want to open it . But he persisted, probably thinking it was drugs. I told him he can open it himself, and he did, then I knew what what was going to happen! He bent down and took a whiff of the chilli powder and screamed and ran as fast as he could, shouting a barrage of expletives at me. I was cleared and I ran out of Customs, found a quiet corner and started laughing hysterically!

Shame on Germany. They got a lot of bad press around their world for their ineptitude. Hope their Customs Agents and Supervisors are shunted to Siberia for the coming winter!

In a US Senate Foreign Relations sub-committe meeting, Kurt Campbell, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs said that according to the 1960 Treaty between Japan and the United States, Japan is the administrative authority of the Senkaku Islands and the US is obliged to come to the defense of Japan if these islands are attacked in a dispute, he quoted from Article 5 of that treaty.

So this throws the Chinese claim to the islands to the winds. It will be interesting to hear about China's reaction to the 1960 treaty between Japan and the United States. The ball is in China's court.

Meanwhile I hope Japanese industries wind down their business in China and move to the other countries in Asia, where they do not have any disputes. Chinese policies do not bode well for the future.

Old wine in a new bottle. What a shame, just changing the sign boards and you have a "new" regulatory agency. I read that 350 staff from the old agency will retain their former jobs in the "new" agency. Who are the top honchos of the NISA and have they been taken to task, that is arrested and their pension entitlements withdrawn. Is there any accountability? I guess that will never happen in the nuclear industry as they make money going up or down. Zero nuclear is the only way to go.

My wife is Japanese and computer-savvy , she said the way of registering an IPhone/IPad with SoftBank to use their free Wifi was pretty confusing and a bit complicated involving serial numbers of devices and so forth. I cant read Kanji so it would be impossible for me!

Absolutely, shut down all the automats and vending machines as well as all the unnecessary garish lighting in buildings and public places, mandate energy efficiency in all sectors, recycle bottles and ban all cans and the country can manage without nuclear reactors.