Karen M. Henton comments

Cleaning up after oneself is fine, just don't be a show off.

Love George Takei. Saw him in '76 at the Star Trek 10th Anniversary Con at the Philly Sheraton. There is serious, sometimes deadly discrimination against LGBT here in Japan that uses GBT (not L) celebrity men on TV as a smokescreen. Almost as bad as the legalized anti-LGBT situation in Hong Kong. Glad George is over here.

Good article. Points well taken. The issues surrounding safe food / water from ANY areas in and ALL prefectures neighboring Fukushima need to be kept on the table. The Japanese government and TEPCO have lied and backtracked after the fact too often to be trusted. Unlabeled food sold with deep discounts are unacceptable yet continue to be sold. Radiation can be measured, and reports must be checked regularly. US government / BBC reports have been forthcoming as far as the Japanese government has allowed them to see. Until I see more forthcoming / clear reporting on the Japanese side I'll continue to get all my food / water from sources in the cleared southwestern part of Japan and from overseas.

This one was the strongest in Tokyo's Chiyoda ward, right under the Emperor.

No WONDER Michelle didn't join her husband over here in Japan last week. Sheesh.

Nice one for China.

I don't know what this author / the Japan residents up in here are saying ( or sippin' on) but I've always tipped here in Tokyo whenever I felt like it. Taxi drivers, restaurant waiters, spa staff, whoever. I don't tip most of the time, but on occasion, and I'm met with eager acceptance. My pizza delivery guys see my tip and get happier than dudes lining up for weed in Colorado. Been like this for 30+ years. I sometimes use that 50 year old Torasan expression 'Keep the change' (Otsuri iranaiyo), altered to sound more polite.

I know somebody who tried teaching him English many years ago. I need to sign that petition.

The English in these Japan Today articles is indescribably wrong.

I want to thank people commenting up in here and on Twitter, for giving me more insight into how white people in today's 21st century react to one instance of stereotyping that targets them and manages to reach a worldwide audience.

I don't see the comedy at all in Ambassador Liu's analogy. The Harry Potter series of books is not what many post World War II people would call a 'children's series' -- those who have read it know how deeply it delves into the creation of various forces that combine to create a diehard evil. Those familiar with the story behind the book Protocols of Zion know there is nothing to laugh at when it comes to taking a peaceful work and changing it into a catalyst for enslavement, brutality and war. Those who have read or seen a television adaptation of one of China's greatest masterpieces, Xi You Ji (Journey to the West), know what the Ambassador means when he speaks of deep remorse and penitence. The actual piece for the Daily Telegraph is well written and I consider all points well taken. I am looking forward to seeing the film Ambassador Liu mentioned, Railway Man. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/10546442/Liu-Xiaoming-China-and-Britain-won-the-war-together.html

Germany has done way more than Japan in atonement for it's deeds in WW II. At the layman's level, I have friends from all over the world who have been on various tours throughout Germany, both private and group tours, who have remarked on the many ways both the government agencies and individuals have demonstrated the will to condemn the aggression and suppress attempts to revive it or whitewash it. I think a good part of the blame rests with the decision makers in the American government at the time; they allowed a considerable amount of what the Japanese officials they put in place have managed to get away with today.

These kinds of things happen all over the world. I remember a recent one where a New York man, whose wife went 'missing', had his kids taken from his custody, and when the social worker came to his house with the kids as part of visitation rights he somehow let the kids in first, shoved the worker away and closed the door, then proceeded to kill the kids and burn the house down killing himself in the process. No custody laws can stop someone crazy, but concerned voters and lawmakers who make it a habit to regularly update / amend the laws can greatly reduce these cases.

HOUSEWIVES?? Still stuck in 1960 I see. If this government agency insists that it takes 500 'housewives' to inspect something rather than 500 men and women from all walks of life (including homemakers) who are concerned about food safety, that means they are finding ways to allow the deception to continue using as thin a layer of grandstanding to the contrary as possible so the people can blow off some steam and settle back into eating whatever the industry dishes out. I'd even go so far as to suggest the ideas for grandstanding are coming from the perpetrators themselves, complete with bribes.

Cool. Instabuy.

For some years Tokyo pools have been asking all people to cover their tatoos with body tape, and I have seen the Meguro outdoor pool staff offering tape to people coming to swim. There are recorded announcements sometimes, and from my experience very helpful, courteous staff offering body tape. This has been happening as the body art trend gained steam worldwide over the last couple of decades. Trendy Japanese people have been getting tatoos too, particularly in places where they don't show when wearing a business suit, but a good number of others have been getting art in very visible places as in western countries.

The issue of tatoos runs deep in relatively isolated Japan, but the upside is young trend conscious Japanese are fighting back. As for the onsen hot springs, I suggest the Maori lady wear a mask when bathing. It can cover her lips and chin with no problem, and she can breathe fine through it. My suggestion is that she visit her local tourist information center, or call them (they have English speakers) and have them call the resort they are planning to visit to ask if there are any rules against her bathing with the lip and chin tatoos. If so they can ask if she may bathe wearing a mask. If not then she should ask the tourist info staffer to speak to the manager and register a formal complaint in light of Japan's efforts in realizing the 2020 Olympic games, hang up the phone and move on to a friendlier place.

I'm with JeffLee. I save up and go to Thailand once in a while for a REAL doctor's assessment. I like the Bumrungrad in Bangkok. Japan is still stuck in a feudal mentality with lots of hangover from the Mad Men days. It's a system that stemmed from Mad Men trained Japanese doctors after the war, and with the training came all the misogynistic, white male worship that made up the lives of the Mad Men back before Martin Luther King marched in Birmingham. Now it's the Japanese male and female doctors who were trained by the Mad Men trained Japanese male doctors, and as there weren't any civil rights marches over here it's a right kerfuffle. I seriously doubt this woman's daughter in the article above really got a decent assessment. A doctor or clinician gets a certificate to practice ONCE in Japan and is never evaluated, questioned or checked afterwards. Women get fed all manner of old wives' tales and 200 year old advice while being expected to pay from their salaries into an insurance system that covers everything for men including viagara but leaves them to pay for their own gyne and breast exams. 'Free' clinics offer substandard checkups with inexperienced clinicians who have no idea what they're checking half the time. The woman in this article should not confuse the excellent options offered by the NHS of the UK with the system here in Japan. The differences are not just cultural, there really are mental and legal limitations on the care here that denies girls and women professional care, and denies everyone access to the latest treatments available.

Without a national and local system to maintain / publicize an abuse hotline and shelter, Japanese women don't even have a buddhist temple to run to these days.