Kabukilover comments

Typo: People come and go and nothing ever changes. In the LDP scandals come and go and nothing ever changes.

Reminds me of the movie The Grand Hotel: People come and go nothing ever changes.

It was a burning of the Koran that made the poet Heinrich Heine remark, "When people start burning books they end up buring peope.*

Set-ups like this one is not simply a local irritation. It is a ubiquitous blight. Where or not you wish to patronize someone's food is beside the point.

A democratic monarch meets a Castro-like dictator. It is possibly soothing. Whatever is wrong with Vietnam things are better off than when the US was dropping napalm on babies.

Musk is another example of capitalistic alienation from things capitalists own and do not understand.

I agree that history must be remembered--for the future as well as for the past.

Let this sink in:

""Separate ceremonies for those massacred in the aftermath were also held in and around Tokyo. Koreans and Chinese people were killed by the military, police and vigilante groups amid false rumors that they planned to stage an uprising or, in the case of Koreans, that they were poisoning wells."

There is more to this. Much more.

It is a general truth that autocratic leaders appoint lesser people as their followers. Often they employee idiots. Medvedev is an idiot.

"Any encroachment on Poland's borders would bring Russia for the first time into direct conflict with NATO."

If Putin knows what Medvedev really means and has any brains left he should be having laundry issues now.

In order to avoid mix-ups, "Medvedev" is a common Russian name like "Smith" or "Jones." "Medvedev" derives from "bear." Before Christianity Russians worshiped bears.

Moving either to the country or moving to the city offers advantages and disadvantages. In the end it is a matter circumstances and how you feel about things. There are no super fast times in the countryside. You may find that some credit cards don't work. You likely end up buying train tickets with real money instead of debit cards, Taxis will likely prefer cash. If you are a gaijin you'll be gawked at some point. All will depend on your job and the people you fall in with.

I lived in Inaka for a number of years. The thing I loved most were the spring flowers. It seemed that every few days there would be a whole new rash of flowers. I liked the quite nights and the darkness. There were a lot of historical landmarks in my area. We also became close friends with quite a few people--friendships seemed easier to find than in city life (though, mind, we had and have lots of city friends.

What we missed was fast trains, certain consumers goods and cultural events.

Going into the countryside is great or it can be not so great, depending on a long of things.

We have masks. We have used gallons of alcohol. We have the jabs. We've sequestered And we still COVID-19 and an emergency on our laps. What haven't we done right?

I am at a loss. What more can we do?

My wife and I have followed all procedures: sanitation, eating at home, the jabs, and sequestering except when shopping and going directly to work by car. All our travel is by car--no public transport. We haven't gotten COVID-19. Are we just lucky?

I'll make a guess. Public transport is likely a culprit. On trains and buses people crammed together like canned sardines. Forgetting any social distance. Cheap eateries where people crammed elbow to elbow is a very likely culprits: cramming and mask removal.

If anyone wants to put all the blame on foreigners, let us have the statistics. How many foreigners living or visiting Japan have brought COVID-19 from abroad or caught is in Japan.

The real reason for arms buildup: More death for the warfare state or what President Eisenhower called "the military-industrial complex." The U.S. is a miserable country because of this. Japan can go the same way.

Regarding Taiwan, consider this from Wikipedia: "On January 1, 1979, the US established diplomatic relations with the PRC and recognized it as the sole legitimate government of China; at the same time, it continued unofficial relations with Taiwan within the framework of the Taiwan Relations Act."

Presumably, the U.S. threw Taiwan under the bus. Yet Taiwan is thriving. Aside for the Chinese fire works for Pelosi display the People's Republic has left Taiwan alone.

More arms for Taiwan and Japan will likely not budge the balance of power. But the profiteering Military-Industrial Complex is sure to degrade the living standards of the people. The U.S. is a case in point.

"Work intense, long hours or lose your job" says Musk. What will be the outcomes? Lots of screw-ups. Haste and exaustion make waste. Pressure effects people differently. Some people thrive under pressure but many more can't--and get: nervous breakdowns, error cover-ups, screaming matches, nervous breakdowns, heart attacks and sudden death. In a situation like this there is no time for brainstorming and trial and error. There is no question that Musk is worse than useless as a leader. Ever had a boss or teacher from hell who does not really know what he is doing and refuses to listen to you? That's Musk. Good luck.

Diagnosis, re Mayo Clinic: elementary incompetence.

From Japan Today of a few days ago: "Japan's 8th COVID wave could surpass previous wave's peak, say experts. Nov. 10  06:47 am JST."

I'm not relaxing just yet.

Whatever COP27's drawbacks are--and there are many--at least these people are aware the the Earth is in peril.

"What about the Olympics ?"

Yes, that's right. The Olympics made COVID a gold medal winner. It spiked during the Olympics. Suda chortled that the Olympics was not to blame but the likelihood was that it was to blame--if only from the crowd overload.

We in Japan did everything right for the most part and yet we are being hit with a new wave of COVID. What is going wrong?

This is what I we're learning from the above article: The primary sources of infection as of now are in Tokushima, Miyagi, Fukui and Hokkaido. These are all provincial prefectures. So its seems, the large urban areas not newly affected. One would think that the most densely populated urban areas would be getting hit, but that is not the case right now.

I hope that doctors and nurses with vaccines are on their way to the above mentioned prefectures. Possibly fast action could stop this lasest COVID development.

The article above this one reads "Japan reports 81,401 new coronavirus cases." This should worry would-be foreign and Japanese about becoming tourists in Japan or anywhere else. If you can believe what the Japanese press is saying you need to admit that the pandemic is still on and all of us need to watch out.

Tell you what. When you are just asking Ukraine, 1glenn, just ask Taiwan. Taiwan is technically not a U.S. protectorate. China claims that Taiwan is a part of the People's Republic of China. China has vowed to "reclaim" Taiwan. But Taiwan is still free. Analogies only go so far, and many are fallacious. As is the "Just ask Ukraine" analogies.

The Suda desire for an arms buildup is as much an internal political issue as anything else. Suda and the LDP are trying to reverse Japan's lost cause when the peace Constitution replaced the disastrous Military state. The LDP of Suda and company are trying to roll time back to a time of presumed military glory.

When you are considering Ukraine remember Pearl Harbor, which was that beginning of the end of Japan's military state.

The LDP is set to be penny wise and pound foolish. If citizens and residents will face a 9600 yen bill for a single COVID shot many will not be able to afford it. The penny is likely to engender a new sub-pandemic. It will hit the poor first and then work its way up to the better off.

The LDP government out-spent QE2's funeral with Abe's lavish funeral. But suddenly the same LDP government becomes parsimonious in regard to ending a necessary free service to inoculate the population against COVID. Disgusting.

Quote from above: "Until the late 1980s, the Federal Communications Commission’s Fairness Doctrine required traditional licensed broadcasters to offer competing viewpoints on controversial public issues."

Note: The Fairness Doctrine was abolished under President Ronald Reagan. In that way the yahoos of the right-wing gave the U.S. Fox News.

Political violence from the right-wing is not new. The 60's was a blood decade of assassinations political left-wing leaders and civil rights activists.

Police murders of Native Americans, African Americans and Hispanic-Americans are ongoing. (The FBI warned over a decade ago that white bigots were infiltrating American police forces.)

The difference now is that the bigots now have a culture hero, Donald Trump, to egg on the violence. The spirit of Trump egged on the bigots in the right-wing violence in Charlottesville and again immediately after Trump lost to Biden. The bigots mourn the Trump lost clause in the presidential election as the bigots have mourned the lost cause of the Confederacy for other a century a half.

I fear another "lost cause" is instore for the U.S. if the Democrats succeed in the coming congressional election.

Kishida's so-called urgency to increase military spend is mindless and is the very thing that could get Japan into an unwanted and unconstitutional conflict. I would urge Mr. Kishida to take a valium and trust the Japanese war renouncing Constitution.

Arms buildups encourage more arms buildups and that is how wars begin.

China and North Korea saber-rattle but remain cautious. The U.S. is cautious as well. Japan's Article 9 of the Constitution has kept the nation away from armed conflicts since WWII. Kishida's less than intelligent leadership could cause serious trouble.

Theee are religions and there are businesses and political cults disguised as religions. The Moonies are a business. You give them money and they give you good vibes. (You may want to read the satirical novel Erehwon by Samuel Butler in this regard.). Cults like S.G. are both into money and political power.

The Moonies, however, have a special place in the world of mendacity. They impoverish people. They are tricky. They are devious. They are (let us say) less than honest at times.

Keep in mind that there are religious crooks all over they world.

It is abuse and exposes the speaker as a bigot and a first class dolt.

Putin is getting more unhinged as the war turns against him and Ukraine scores both moral and tactical victories. Thousands of young Russians are fleeing the draft. And you can be sure there is discontent at the top are well as among ordinary people. Putin was once a welcomed salesman for Starbuck and McDonalds. Few if any Russians have faith in him as a dictator.

So is this murder because of bureaucratic denial of medical care?

"Kishida's apparent nepotism may shake cabinet further." There is nothing "apparent" here. Japan's government is now blatantly a dynastic family business. Shake the cabinet further? Let us hope it will be like an earthquake that knocks this poor excuse for 19th century plantation down flat.

The American military bases pollute. It's established. But the tragic story of Okinawa is special.

The independent kingdom of Okinawa was invaded and politically and culturally trashed by the Meiji government.

In World War II Okinawa lost the largest of citizens of any prefecture. The Japanese high command demanded Okinawa's citizens commit suicide rather than surrender.

Okinawa must live with pollution and destruction of its land because of the U.S. military.