Kawasaki comments

This is pathetic. Then again, I have only one thing to say here : I don't care what culture you come from, but if any man allows his wife to completely take over your paycheck, then you DESERVE to get on your knees and get your pathetic daily allowance like an 8 year old child... losers!!!

@realist - I think I know what line you're referring to. Unfortunately, from what I've read, that will not be a high-speed line. It will be fastER than what is currently available, but it will be just a regular train. Not Shinkansen speed, and certainly not MAGLEV-type stuff like the Chinese have. So even with the new line, the problem will remain - it will take a long time to get to the airport from Tokyo/Yokohama. They should just do a maglev deal like the Chinese did, it's pretty good...

Well at least one group of people is very happy about the Japanese policy on ganja : the Iranian guys standing around neighborhood streets of Tokyo pulling in 100million yen a year in cash in income...

In other news, it was reported that nobody wants to go to Alaska :)

Suzu1 - actually, your post is only partially correct. The new electronic registration system is actually a "pre-screening" mechanism, it's not the replacement of the paper form. So up until now, you could board a flight to the U.S. then fill out the paper form on the plane, and present it to the authorities in the U.S.

This new system, on the other hand - is basically an electronic Visa, which everyone will have to request - even all the 'friendly' European(and Japan, etc) countries' citizens.

So for instance, if John Smith from the UK wants to go to the US now, he has to register a lot of personal info on the ESTA web site, and then get 'approved' - some approvals are instant, some say 'pending' , and some say 'denied'. It is, in essence, an electronic Visa somewhat similiar to the system that Australia uses, but the US one is more invasive (as far as the personal info they request), from what I've heard. Of course, as always, the concern that most (intelligent) people have is so-called "mission creep". In other words, that the whole 'this is for your own good, the terrorists are out to get us' thing is an excuse, and in reality these databases/controls will slowly start being used to deny boarding to people who didn't pay child support, then people convicted of sexual offences, then people who haven't paid their tax bills, then eventually political protesters, so on and so forth. Though it seems like a far stretch - it can happen, and history clearly proves that.

In other news, tourism to the US is dropping every year...

I have a better solution for myself - I just use cash. Works every time...

It's time to start charging for people by total weight.. why the heck should a 120kg porker be able to carry 20kg for a total of 140kg and me, at 66kg - I got fined at Narita for going over my 20kg limit on a KLM flight, even though the total of me + the bag was well below 100kg? This is discrimination - if you're a fat porker, they're saying you have the right to pay less per kg than those who are smaller & lighter. Discrimination, pure and simple.

I haven't flown on a US airline in probably about 8 years, it looks like I'll avoid them like the plague if this is how bad they've gotten! Cold sandwiches in business? You've gotta be kidding me, those people pay ridiculous money for their tickets!

proxy - get used to it, the business of RFID is booming - they're inserting them everywhere, ID cards, Driver's Licenses, passports, your Suica & Pasmo card, there's talk of putting them in license plates on cars so you will be able to be tracked anywhere you are (once they set up RFID readers on the sides of the roads). It's not about 'security' for you, it's about control over you...