Joe Blow comments

Princes Harry and Andrew can both go off into exile in Canada. The Firm doesn't likely want them around.

It’s starting to reach the point of diminishing returns with so many tourists visiting Japan and crowding places, especially the clueless, loud and poorly dressed Chinese and Americans.

Yes, its entertainment, but still think this self worship is overdone. So many awards ceremonies now. And the actual events get ever more mutually ma**urbatory.

Exactly; it all just strikes me as one big "who cares".

How about making a new sci fi movie based on an original concept rather than just trying to milk a narrative that is more than 40 years old and ran out of creative steam about 35 years ago?

George Lucas in 1976: I have a script for a movie.

Everyone else in 1976: This script is terrible.

Everyone else in 2019: How can we keep milking this thing?

There are plenty of children who are in orphanages not being treated with respect, love and kindness during their stay which can be a life time. Once they become of age get tossed out with a brown paper bag of items and told good luck.

Take care of the children who are alive now and not worry about creating more. Once you take care of the ones in the orphanage and really care talk about how to make more.

Why not both?

The last thing a country the size of Japan needs is MORE humans. This is a good thing.

Have you been to the inaka lately?

The last thing Tokyo needs is more people. The last thing the countryside needs is everyone fleeing to the cities.

RIP.

Please visit Sendai, btw!

If Warren and Sanders are jurors in the Senate trial then how can they comment on the trial and with a biased opinion? I believe this is a form of juror misconduct and makes them ineligible to serve on the jury.

Look for McConnell to punish them, and others, for this.

I can't quite figure out why Republicans are against impeachment, given that they would end up with President Pence - all of the retrograde views with none of the drama. But I guess if you're living in Jonestown, only Jim Jones will do.

Because it looks bad politically?

Imagine if Biden, with VP Warren wins, and is removed from office and Warren becomes president. Sure, women will be happy, but will the party as a whole?

Well, maybe, Biden is terrible.

He will be impeached, but then, rightfully, exonerated by the Senate. And then win in 2020. This whole witch-hunt only makes his chances of winning higher. I thank the Democrats for this boost to his re-election campaign!

Boom! All of this!

Trump 2020!

It became a battleground for everything except trying to make a good movie.

Sad junk; watch the originals!

If it works and gets the message across, who cares what the medium is?

"Don't shoot the messenger" is apparently not common sense anymore.

This is one of the things I dislike the most in Japan, everything HAS to be "kawaii".

One of the things I don't miss about the US is the lack of enthusiasm for characters and mascots. It's so boring.

So cute!

I don't get this obsession of breaking apart tech. These are companies with potentially the lowest barrier to entry, it's just that most business are not as efficient and worse for the consumer, but there is no lack of competitor sites you can visit. Why punish companies that are doing things well?

On the face of it, the argument (from Warren, for example) is that big tech is abusing antitrust laws and creating virtual monopolies and then using people's information willy-nilly. However, that's the 2D view of things. In reality, the government doesn't want to compete with tech for information and power; it believes tech should be subservient to government intelligence gathering and act as an arm of "big intelligence", if you will.

At the end of the day, these tighter regulations are for one thing. Japanese tech companies are slow to evolve and are losing ground too quickly to outside firms. So these laws are to help give them an advantage.

There's actually nothing wrong with protectionism. It's a bit corny, yes, but it's better than one's economy being taken over.

Of course, there's a lesson here: why are Japanese companies slow to evolve and what can they do about it? But, I fear the older gen guys running these companies don't know or don't care and will keep doing the same thing until they're gone.

I find it strange that English proficiency (whatever that means) is still a part of general requirements for university entrance.

It's interesting that English levels are still so low in Japan. But then, it goes hand in hand with how successful nations have treated English-speaking media, especially movies. Countries like Japan, Spain, France, Italy, etc. all dubbed English movies for years. And English is still relatively poorly spoken in these countries. However, countries like Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Finland, etc. never dubbed films and people there are almost entirely fluent in English. Many of them are more eloquent than native speakers, even. The big exception here is Germany.

Anyway, something to think about.

My hometown in northwestern Pennsylvania is a shell of its former industrial glory with population going down to maybe 10,000 after a high of 30,000. We can blame internationalization and de-industrialization caused by highly competitive Japanese manufacturers. I go back from time to time but certainly do not shed tears. It is actually quite boring and most people seem to drink a lot. I would never encourage my government to pour money into that place. Move forward to the future...

Well with that attitude they'll continue to vote Trump. That's why they feel let down and left behind; nobody wants to invest in western PA.

Things are changing in PGH though.

There will often be much deeper causes for crime than a lack of empathy for the victims.

Generally speaking it stems from broken home situations.

My number one question is Why did she consult with a teacher (school) instead of the parents? I don't believe it is a school matter.

That's the mentality in all of East Asia seemingly; everything is the teacher's problem and fault. Add in the home room system and teachers are inundated with parents and students pestering them at all hours with every single one of their little life problems. Because asking the parents might make them lose face.

Sad!

Pushing for impeachment from Day 1 has been the true danger to democracy.

It sets a terrible precedent and threatens the entire experiment of self-governance. The Democrats have hit rock bottom, but the silver lining here is that impeachment is only helping Trump.

Revenge of the Sith All the new SW material combined

Do the right thing. Impeach the con man. Make it official for the history books.

Are you guys dense? The House can vote all they want, it doesn't mean anything as it will die in the Senate.

The precedent they're setting is that the opposition party will just impeach the sitting president from here on out because they're from the other party.

It makes our entire government look like a joke.

Food art =/= food.

Sorry, but not diverse enough for me.

The Japanese don’t send their child to bed without supper or to just go to your room. They lock them out of the house. This can be child abuse - neglect and emotional abuse if for long periods of time and in cold weather.

Will locking children out of the house be prohibited in the future? Probably not. It takes the death of a few victims before it can become law.

TBF, all of this stuff builds character and makes one tough. The MMA fighter Lyoto Machida, whose dad is Japanese and a karate teacher, would force his sons to sit seiza on the dojo's wooden floor if they were bad. One time he got into a serious fight with one of his brothers when they were about 10 years old and their dad locked them out of the house for a night. AFAIK they formed a bond that night sleeping on the sidewalk and never fought again.

Anyway, since when did a woman wearing glasses ever put off a prospective customer?

"Men don't make passes at women in glasses."

Well done her, but as a matter of interest how many of her crew are female?

It's never enough for progressives.

If Trump is endorsing a candidate you can be sure HE IS A CROOK.

What is Corbyn if not someone who hasn't successfully become a crook yet?

Read 'Animal Farm' kids.

I've never seen a Japanese man over fifty without at least one giant mole/skin tag/aging spot on his face. Why don't they get them lasered off?!

I've heard mixed things about lasers and age spots. I've developed one on one of my cheeks and it bothers me, not sure if lasering will be worth it, though.

I might try some whitening creams first, plus sunblock more often.