KariHaruka comments

I don’t know the last time you went, but to my huge surprise, 80% of the people at the onsen I visited last month in Yumoto, Hakone, were foreigners.

@Rakuraku

I won't discredit your own personal experiences. But I've recently visited Tenzan Onsen in Hakone (January), Kusatsu Onsen (February) and Takimotokan in Noboribetsu, also in February (I am limited to tattoo friendly onsens due to my tattoos). And I can estimate that the majority of bathers were still Japanese, with very few foreigners.

The one exception that I could think of, is Hokeikyo Onsen on the outskirts of Sapporo. Which is often packed with foreigners, and an onsen that I intentionally avoid.

Each time I visit an onsen (I am the bad foreigner!!), I'd estimate that 9 out of 10 bathers are Japanese.

But, sure Japan. Let's go ahead and blame foreigners and over tourism once again... What will foreigners be blamed for next? Eating up all of the natto?

Moved to Sapporo from Tokyo during the summer just gone, and I honestly prefer having to put up with all of this cold weather and snow than the sticky humid Tokyo summers...

Well, damn.... There goes my NYE's plans of cracking open a dozen cans of Strong Zero next to Hachiko....

34 years old, Hokkaido resident and hunter. The reason why you aren't getting many younger people getting into hunting is simple. The bureaucracy and expenses incurred to obtain a firearms license and the storing & transportation of the firearms and ammunition simply aren't appealing to most people who might be interested.

Could I do hunting if I didn't already have the money to cover all of the costs and a main source of income? Not a chance!

And how do they think that anime & manga got a foothold outside of Japan? These pirating sites helped (and still continues to help) to bring in new fans into what was once a very niche market.

In the UK we only had DBZ, Sailor Moon, Pokemon and a few other shows back in the late 90s/mid 2000s. And the anime that I was watching, I could only find on pirating websites. The anime community was very small when I joined it and I doubt that I would've stayed around if it wasn't for these sites that gave me access to anime.

You'll also find that there's a lot of manga and anime (especially the older stuff from the 80s and 90s) that can't be found online from an official source.

I was about to go to bed when Yoon declared a state of martial law. Utter lunacy, and a huge miscalculation on his part.... Was he hoping, that at the time that he did announce the martial law, that assembly members wouldn't of mobilised as quickly as they did? Was he hoping that Korean citizens wouldn't of mobilised outside the assembly building at such short notice on a very cold winter night? Well, they did and I have to commend those who acted quickly to preserve their freedoms.

The below freezing temperatures are there. But there needs to be precipitation for any snowcap to begin forming.

If the forecasts are correct, that should be this weekend.

https://www.mountain-forecast.com/peaks/Fuji-san/forecasts/3776

Great... Even more of Fatboy Kim's flaccid rockets polluting the ocean....

Same sex marriage should be legalised. Who's their love hurting? No one!

A same sex couple getting married has zero negative consequences on my own marriage to my wife and our family.

Snow on the peak is forecasted throughout the evening and the rest of tonight. Snow is also forecasted throughout the week, too.

Before I even clicked on the article, I guessed that the perpetrator would've been a man in the 40s-50s range....

Let me guess even more. He's single, still living with his parents and either unemployed/in a low paying job? And he's angry at women for his failures in life and as a man?

RIP to the poor young girl and I hope that he reserves the harshest of sentences for taking her life away.

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Sometimes cancer hits the right people.

Take a look at Shibuya Meltdown and you'll see that it's often the Japanese, and not the 'foreign visitors', that are causing a lot of the problems.

Are there drunken tourists? Yes. Are they the main cause of the anti social behaviour caused by excessive drinking in public? No!

Three things are guaranteed in Japanese politics.

Female representation is almost non-existent. The cabinet is made up of old men who are stuck in the Showa Era. The LDP will be in power.

There is zero creativity in Japanese politics - And this is why Japan will remain stuck in the rut that it's found itself in both politically and economically.

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China can go and pound sand.

Many of us still remember just how quickly and the huge amount of support that Taiwan gave to Japan in the aftermath of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake & tsunami. Between the ROC and the CCP, I know which of the two that I would rather trust as my ally.

The death of this traitor is of no loss to the world.

Hopefully his body gets thrown into whatever pit the Russians decide on throwing it into (I don't want to see our taxes being spent on bringing his body back to Japan)

What Israel likes to call a 'tragic mistake', is what any sane person would call yet another war crime committed by Israel and the IDF.

Hopefully the ICC does issue an arrested warrant for Netanyahu and that he is made to answer for his war crimes.

When my wife and myself got married, we asked our guests to simply contribute what they could to a donation box that we set up for a charity that was important to us.

Is that the norm in Japan? Nope. And a few of our guests were slightly taken back by the change of custom. But my wife and myself didn't have any monetary needs nor wants, only that we wanted our wedding day to be a day of celebration with our families and closest friends (without them having to worry about any financial burden).

For sure, Japan does have an issue with xenophobia. However, Joe should get his own house in order first.

At worst in Japan, you'll face discrimination and some discriminatory comments that might said to your face or behind your back.

David BrentToday  09:05 am JST

Not really bothered as a Brit.

I've seen the yen as strong as 116 to the pound, and as weak as 255.

Right now it is around 190, the same as it was when I first arrived here in 2005.

Another Brit here.

I can remember the Pound to Yen exchange rate fluctuating widely throughout the years, too. I remember it being as low as 110 yen to the pound in 2011 and as high as 195 yen to the pound in 2015. And then dropping to around 130 yen to the pound in 2016, before gradually building up again over the past few years.

What will you do, Russia? Send a rusty warship from Vladivostok to sail near Hokkaido and the Northern Territories?

I was shocked when I heard the news and felt numb briefly whilst processing the news.

Dragon Ball Z was the very first anime that I watched as a child, and was my gateway into the anime world - And, being truthfully honest, anime helped me to briefly escape from a few things whilst growing up.

Akira Toriyama's impact on the industry and the lives of those who enjoyed his works was astronomical and his name and legacy will always be known and respected. May you Rest in Peace, Akira Toriyama.

Within the hour of the first North Korean boot stepping onto South Korean territory, Pyongyang will be receiving a pounding beyond it's imagination and fatman will be cowering away in his bunker.

Thunderbird2Jan. 10  05:41 pm JST

What a despicable person... I've seen clips of him and wonder why some Yankee or other tough hasn't punched him in the face yet.

There's a wonderful video of him being decked by another foreigner in Osaka.

This has happened at a time when Boeing have asked the FAA to exempt the 737 Max 7 from having to pass certain safety regulations. They want it exempt (as they can't fix the faults), so that they can get it into the sky....

I prefer Haneda airport and haven't used Narita in almost a decade. Not since flights between Japan - UK became more prevalent at Haneda.

I swear that NK release these ridiculous statements knowing full well that it'll get them the attention that they crave.

Sunday’s drill could draw a furious response from North Korea, which has long bristled at U.S. training exercises with South Korea, calling them an invasion rehearsal and responding with missile tests.

I'll look forward to the alert on my phone acting as my morning alarm later on this week.

Israel had the right to defend itself from attack. What doesn't give Israel the right to do, though, is commit war crimes!

What makes this different from Russia bombing Ukrainian hospitals?

Israel can try and play dumb all they want, but that doesn't mean that everyone is dumb enough to believe their lies. Not when Israel’s own Digital Spokesperson appointed by Netanyahu himself literally admitted (on Twitter/X) to the IDF bombing the hospital and then quickly deleted it a few minutes later.

And it is absolutely disgusting how my own country - the British government - continues to condone the war crimes that are being committed by Israel with impunity. Makes me ashamed of being British, tbh.