Jeff Huffman comments

Posted in: Japan considers prioritizing Olympic athletes for COVID-19 vaccination See in context

If Japan hadn't been so slow to address CoVid, they could be where the US is - on track to have everyone (provided they are smart enough) vaccinated by the beginning of the summer.

16 ( +18 / -2 )

Posted in: Miniseries 'HodoBuzz' explores dark side of Japan's media industry See in context

Lazarus KnowsToday  10:22 am JST I really want to watch this.

No you don't. It's horrible. I suffered through four episodes thinking that maybe it will settle in. It never got any better.

8 ( +8 / -0 )

Posted in: Chinese city tests millions amid fresh virusoutbreak See in context

WakarimasenJan. 13  03:14 pm JST more evidence that this virus is by now endemic in the world and that relaxation of restrictions will lead to it reappearing where it was previously considered gone or at least under control.

Lacking vaccines, yes. China's medical talents are nowhere near those in the U.S. and the EU. There are three vaccines with 90%+ efficacy currently being deployed in the West and the US has three more in trials.

P. SmithJan. 13  05:01 pm JST China’s country, China’s culture, China’s decision.

No. It's a pandemic meaning that international cooperation is paramount.

China has been lying since the first recorded outbreak. Common sense tells one that the Wuhan lockdown was too little too late and that the virus had spread throughout the country.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Posted in: Have you lost any income because of the coronavirus? See in context

zichiNov. 30  06:20 pm JST

bass4funk 

Actually, business has been booming for me, so as bad this virus is supposedly, it helped increase my traffic flow now that so many people are locked indoors.

which people, Japanese are locked indoors?

Good question. Not aware of anyone anywhere being "locked in."

9 ( +10 / -1 )

Posted in: Japan pledges $720 mil for Afghan reconstruction at int'l conference See in context

There will be no peace in Afghanistan until the Taliban are destroyed, so save you cash Japan.

1 ( +5 / -4 )

Posted in: Koike says Japan can host Olympics despite virus spike See in context

Japan's virus spike, if accurate, is nothing. There are counties and cities in the US and UK with more new daily cases that the whole of Japan.

If Japan were grossly under reporting cases, you still wouldn't be able to hide the increase in hospitalization.

-10 ( +4 / -14 )

Posted in: NiziU, Babymetal to perform for 1st time on NHK's 'Kohaku' music show See in context

SpeedNov. 17  06:37 pm JST ****The music extravaganza will be held without an audience for the first time due to the coronavirus pandemic.

I don't think they got the memo. They haven't had an audience for years.

You'd think so. But is this is the case, why does it continue?

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

Posted in: Rolling with it, Keith Richards is chilling in the garden See in context

JimizoNov. 13  09:57 am JST I wanted to know more about the making of the albums.

Given the amount of drink and drug over the years, he likely doesn't remember a lot before 1976 or so.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Is Joe Biden's election as U.S. president good news for Japan? See in context

Aly RustomNov. 9  07:57 am JST

No. Bad for Japan. Under Trump, the LDP looked downright respectable. Now with a decent man in the White House, the LDP will go back to being seen as the backward idiots that they are

That's what I was thinking. Regardless of its relationship with the U.S., it's up to Japan to make the tough choices regarding the modernization of agriculture, embracing renewable energy, fixing the nonsensical way so many companies are structured and getting rid of all the geriatric deadwood in companies and the government.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Posted in: Johnson Town: Japan's own little slice of 1950s America See in context

". . .  feels like walking through the sets of "Leave it to Beaver" . . ."

No. It looks like a company town for a mine.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: Two men rob bar operator of ¥4.2 mil at his apartment See in context

They're called credit cards. Use them.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Posted in: Do you support the government's call for companies to take an extended holiday over the New Year period until Jan 12? See in context

Luddite No. Enforced time off doesn’t help but allowing people to choose when to take their holidays will help stop the usual crush and crowding during Japanese public holidays.

Yes. Japan will never be a "normal" country until it allows employees to schedule their own holidays. Seems to work just fine in the rest of the industrialized world.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: Japan often feels like a country that rushed to embrace an exciting high-tech future decades ago, and then abruptly stopped when boom turned to bust in the 1990s, leaving islands of older technologies like stranded relics. See in context

Septim DynastyOct. 27  05:08 pm JST

Aside Horiemon, the billionaire Tadashi Yanai fiercely criticizes the oyajis and encourages young Japanese entrepreneurs to find new opportunities in Asia instead. Yanai is also pro-China and pro-SEA, who believe both entities will far surpass Japan and East Asia in the future.

I think it's best to stay away from the Chinese Their idea of a joint-venture is still to steal the technology and then cancel the arrangement.

SpitfireOct. 27  04:30 pm JST At that time also iMode was the best mobile phone platform and Japan didn't want to share it with the world.

Shades of the Betamax mistake.

Nobel laureate Shuji Nakamura also encourages Japanese innovators and scientists go out of Japan ASAP if you want your talents being treasured. Most the US in this case.

Yep. Most of the Nobel Prizes award to Japanese have been for work done abroad, mostly in the U.S.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Posted in: Ginza subway station in Tokyo renovated to show elegance See in context

The opposite of elegant. If they wanted to make the station look more elegant, they would have recast it as it's Taisho-jidai self - the Japanese take on Art Deco.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Posted in: An ill-fated Aichi couple's last ride to Chiba See in context

"She died of shock from gunshots to the head and neck," . . .

". . . died of shock . . . " Bad translation or . . . ?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Do you think remote working, where possible, improves productivity, creativity and staff retention for a company? See in context

It's very much an individual thing. My wife is putting in more hours working from home. I think in a family situation that it must make it more difficult to maintain separate work and home spheres.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Posted in: Teetotallers emerge from the shadows in hard-drinking Japan See in context

Japanese aren't hard drinkers. It just seems that way because they get drunk so easily.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: U.N. failures on coronavirus underscore the need for reforms See in context

1glennOct. 2  06:40 pm JST I don't see how the lack of cooperation is the fault of the UN.

The failures can be placed at the feet of the governments of Italy, Spain, France, the UK, the US and, of course, Mainland China. The UN does not have the power to make any of these nations do anything they don't want to do.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: Afro-textured hair in Japan: Decolonizing the Afro See in context

This isn't new. 30 years ago, or so, you would see Japanese "rastas" with dreads and BMW T-shirts with ghetto blasters thumping out reggae in Harajuku and elsewhere. They looked just as ridiculous as all the white boys and girls with dreads. One of the oldest and best clubs in Roppongi used to be Java Jive. It was, when it first opened some 30 years ago, the only reggae club in Tokyo.

Vanessa CarlisleSep. 14  03:24 pm JST

Glad to see there are no serious attempts to make the accusation of "cultural appropriation". 

Accusations of "cultural appropriation" generally skate on thin ice and are sustained only if there are sufficient numbers of people choosing to be offended. This probably rises to that, but it's more insidious than what is usually attacked in this way. Than tanning that often accompanies the braiding is just high tech black face.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: Japanese drama set in New York is your next binge-watch series See in context

You can take a Japanese production company out of Japan, . . .

Watched the first two episodes last night. Boring, poorly acted and poorly produced. They are also guilty of the bad "travelogue" plot device as characters easily traverse two boroughs, Manhattan and Brooklyn, in no time at all, apparently via Doraemon's Doko Demo Door.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Japan considers offering COVID-19 vaccines for free to all residents See in context

GoodlucktoyouSep. 3  08:37 am JST Anti-vaxxers are as ignorant as anti-maskers, and a danger.

There is no solid evidence of mask effectiveness.

Yes. That's why no one wears one during invasive surgical procedures.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Posted in: Japan considers offering COVID-19 vaccines for free to all residents See in context

". . .  considers . . ."

Why do they even need to consider?

If efficacious vaccines exist, everyone should be immunized for free. Check that: I guess if you are making pot fulls of money, you should pay.

-13 ( +2 / -15 )

Posted in: K-pop's BTS first all-South Korean act to top U.S. singles charts See in context

gokai_wo_manekuSep. 1  04:58 pm JST Why didn't any of the Japanese boy bands of the 80s, 90s, and 2000s make the charts overseas?

Demographics. At the last census, there were as many South Korean emirge, most who have come to the U.S. since the 1980s (1.3 million), as there were the total number of Japanese-Americans, the vast majority of who trace their American roots since before WWII. Japanese haven't emigrated anywhere, really, since before WWII.

Anyone who has any background with Japanese community groups in the U.S. can testify to the fact that assimilation is pretty much complete. Most Japanese-Americans don't speak the language and have never been to Japan. This help explains why SMAP was never popular in the U.S. Besides the fact that they were/are horrible.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Posted in: Are you an anti-vaxxer? See in context

MariaAug. 31  09:18 am JST I am not, but I would not agree to mandatory vaccines against the flu or any of these new viruses.

Then yes you are an anti vaxxer.

-4 ( +4 / -8 )

Posted in: Japanese grandmothers create 'Monkey Busters' group to fight primates with airguns See in context

geronimo2006Aug. 31  09:27 am JST I'm a bit surprised they allow airguns like that one that looks like an M-16 in Japan.

Replica airguns are a huge business in Japan.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: Do you think climate change could be a driver of infectious diseases by bringing long-dormant viruses back to life? See in context

Pukey2Today  07:18 am JST Snow melting in Siberia can release god knows what from the soil.

Actually, we don't need God's knowledge. What melting permafrost is releasing all around the Arctic is methane and CO2 that have been captured in frozen peat since the last ice age.

PaulToday  09:39 am JST Ebola being a perfect example, it came out of the forest due to logging.

No. The first human afflicted with it was either bitten by a bat or got it from eating bush meat. Whether there was logging in the area is immaterial.

https://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/about.html#:~:text=Scientists%20do%20not%20know%20where,being%20the%20most%20likely%20source.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Posted in: Do you think climate change could be a driver of infectious diseases by bringing long-dormant viruses back to life? See in context

Do you think climate change could be a driver of infectious diseases by bringing long-dormant viruses back to life?

Globalization in general is the common pathway. Mosquitos bearing Nile Fever, the Gypsy Moth, the "Murder" Hornet, Zebra Mussels and the Solomon Island Brown Snakes are all examples of invasive species that didn't get where they are as pets.

New Zealand's natural landscape experienced almost wholesale transformation after European colonists started to take control of the islands. This has been going on for centuries.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/ecological-imperialism/8DDFF91CBE5BE025471C0E7622E16D1C

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Do you think climate change could be a driver of infectious diseases by bringing long-dormant viruses back to life? See in context

DirkAug. 24  03:29 pm JST What a nonsense question; viruses aren't alive to start with

What a nonsense response. If they aren't alive how are they able to mutate?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: Neil Young sues Trump campaign, deriding use of famous tunes See in context

rainydayAug. 5  12:42 pm JST The discussion above is actually an over simplification of the legal situation. Young holds the copyright to his work, but he has also licensed it to the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), which in turn licenses it out to various parties who want to use it.

This depends. ASCAP is just a clearinghouse convenience for artists. You can have it set up so that the copyright owner still has a say over who will be permitted to use the song.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Posted in: Do you think herd immunity in a country can curb the coronavirus? See in context

LudditeAug. 3  10:30 am JST Johnson and Cummings decided to go for the herd immunity approach in the U.K. 

Don't think they even thought of that. They were just bumbling along as has been Trump. They just couldn't be arsed to take thea leadership on this.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

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