kaynide comments

making news for taking the concept to a whole other level, by removing the belt entirely and replacing it with a stream of flowing water.

then

The joy of receiving food and beverages on water is something that Japanese people have enjoyed for centuries.

...bit of an oxymoron, no?

I'm not in the Trump camp, but

“I feel it’s my moral obligation to inform you that on Nov. 8 this hall was the venue for one of the darkest, most negative and utterly destructive moments in the history of this country,"

...really? More destructive than, say, the Atomic Bomb? Agent Orange? The mass lynching of blacks in the early 1910-20s?

Such is business. If you can't entice customers, they should downsize.

For all their pros, trains will never be as convenient as a car. Top that with yearly car improvements (navigation, safety, efficiency, etc), and trains will just continue to become less and less so.

@Mark: honestly it is probably too little too late. If you can convince a generation of people that X is the status quo, it will be significantly harder to refute or change X without a significant surge from the population. Government in general does not want change that is not directly in its own interests.

So, no. Without significant strikes or civil unrest I can't fathom this happening.

(Eg. American Independence, civil rights, Magna Carta etc etc)

It's just like any business,game or situation really- Once given a set of rules on how to "play", people just game the system. Risk vs. Reward.

Think of it in another way- most of us probably speed right? That puts yourself and others on the road in some degree of danger, and if you don't speed too much you're probably not going to get caught. And if you do get caught, hundreds/thousands of others aren't...and the penalty is pretty minor so you'll probably do it again in the future.

...and then shuffling the workers around every 3-5 years so they have to learn new skills all over again, often in areas they have no interest in working in.

Why? Sure, the song and dance is to make workers well rounded, but the reality is if one keeps the worker skill level relatively low, they become easily replaceable.

Just saw it and would say it was certainly worth my time as a casual date movie. There was a good mix of emotions and a plot that fekt satisfying. That said, Oscar material? I'm not so. The movie wastes a bit (or tries to add comic relief?) by having the boy, when in the girl's body, grope himself every single morning, without fail.

Would have accepted it once, and there was even a part where he said he shouldn't for her sake... but he does anyway.

Basically took what could have been a funny 1 time gag and did it half a dozen times.

Throw in some upskirt shots and wa-lah, you throw away what otherwise could have been a pretty good flick to something I might be embarassed to watch with my parents.

..or it was Weiner's fault. Or maybe Republicans? Or the pre-election pollsters (who may happened to have polled where there were more Democrats?) Or a billion other reasons.

I don't like or hate either candidate, but Clinton should have accepted loss and left it at that. Trying to pass the blame only hurts her image, in my book...

Captain going down with the ship and what-have-you.

Cant really blame them when Abe promises away $8 Billion to the development of Myanmar...

Reminds me of my brother back in college days... he would always complain about having no money and being unarble to pay his bills, yet he was eating out almost everyday, and always had the latest nintendo or whatever.

On the one hand, it does sound like a "Well Japan could save money" situation, but really it's TOKYO that could save money, while other prefectures fork it up. Sure, they'll offer some money, but it's going to be local infrastructure etc that'

Sorry, but 3ish years is just not enough time for an All-Japan coordination-mobilization effort. Moreover, I would rather my local tax money be used on something else.

Sad to say, but I'm more in the "You made your bed, now sleep in it" camp.

...then again I do live in Podunk Shikoku :) so not likely we'd have to shoulder any events anyway.

They would be best served joining current systems (hulu, netflix etc)... lots of staff, lots of content. There are huge challenges for Japanese TV to get in in it...

They already have to twist arms to get people to pay for Japanese channels like NHK; the quality of Japanese TV compared to what else is already have available is generally bad; Finally the whole glacial pace at which J business moves, they only make it harder to get situatied the longer they discuss what to do.

Are there not Doll based yokai or other Japanese ghost stories featuring doll ghosts?

Not really related to the election, but:

There should be severe consequences to Russia or any sovereign nation that is compromising the privacy or the security of the United States of America.

...is such an incredibly ironic/profound thing to say, given what America has been caught doing to allies in recent years.

Other: Follow the money; all of it. How much was spent, on what and make the entire money trail public. None of the above hold those responsible for the whole thing accountable. In all likelihood the above options just make a "Shoganai, gotta spend more money on it!" situation so the fat cats must be loving it- they win regardless!

I say let Tokyo's people know everything, and let them immediately decide what to do about it. Aka tar and featherings, all around.

“Other town hunt them out to sea,” said Sangen. “It seems that if people can’t see when animals are killed then there is no controversy.

Not sure how she came to this conclusion; Sea Shepherd should be proof enough that "people" are opposed to killing whales/dolphins regardless of where... it just so happens the huge bloody mess that is Taiji pulls heartstrings a little easier because it is so graphic.

@Toshiko: Per google, the entire Kardashian family has a net worth of about 300 million; Madonna alone 800 million. Just an FYI.

The car example is a good one, and needs an answer. Does this means you must be licensed or something to sell/resell anything? What does this mean for bazaars that go on at preschools? What about those arts and crafts grandma makes for whatever festival that feature Mickey Mouse or Totoro? How would one even begin selling on ebay...?

I guess I am just not really sure I understand this...

Not to mention just about every brand they sell in the dept stores is available in a foreigner's home country, and likely cheaper.

People who can afford to visit Japan as tourists did not throw that money down to buy Tommy Hillfiger or Hermes.

Why the need to grow the economy at all? To what end does the Economy need to grow, if the population is shrinking? It's not like us worker bees actually see any of that increased money brought in.

Sounds like snobbery. At one time, I knew a co-worker in the states who bought coffee Monday and just kept using the cup for like a week for the image of buying it every day.

Her rose-colored glasses are from a world changed. Sure, 10-15 years ago, it was a world where the standard price for a cup of coffee was like a buck from 7-11. Then, seeing someone buy the expensive coffee was a kind of statement, perhaps.

Now? No- it's not unusual to find it as much as 500 yen for a coffee at some random cafe, so a coffee at Starbucks isn't all that out-there. As more people accept it/use it it becomes less special.

Personally, I've never had a bad experience at Starbucks, but then I rarely go.

@Yubaru: Appologies, I should have been more clear; What I meant about the credit card was not literally whether one was involved or not.

My meaning was more in line with what you said- they have everything they need to get some remuneration, I'm just curious why they don't charge something.

Yeah... once upon a time I complained to my boss about how a particular business partner always did XYZ to which I was unprepared to deal with. His reply "If they always do it, why aren't you prepared?"

Nobody to blame but the Japanese side of things if they don't collect a fee up front for cancellation. Why isn't there a credit card number involved? How about a no-show fee?

Again, if there are trends in business, and the business doesn't adapt, then it's on them.

Most people here have already stopped playing, or play in passing (as it was meant to be played).

I haven't seen anyone obsessing over it in weeks...just the occasional pedestrian with nothing else to do while walking.

...so I'd say I'm probably more tired of the news making a big deal about it than the actual people playing.

@Strangerland / ShibuyaJay

"They don't even realize that Japan is part of Asia." / "Asia ikitai na"

I've always gotten the impression that it's an inverse to how American's will refer to the USA as "America", as opposed to North America or The Americas. They know what America means, and that technically it includes more than the USA.

Same deal for Japanese. I feel they know that Japan is part of Asia, but when they say Asia it is implied China/Korea etc and NOT, say, Russia or the middle east.

...actually come to think of it I don't know any Americans who would say "I wanna go to Asia" and be referring to a trip to Russia.

It's too bad they don't have the contestants put down the name of a preschool/kindergarten. Wouldn't it be much more interesting and safe if the costumed "girls" were to visit a public place? Perhaps the winner's classroom?

I am assuming this is meant to be a short hour-visit or some such...so why not try to make as many people as possible happy and reduce possible unintended outcomes?

@Alistair: I am only guessing, but I would wager it is probably that there are many many generic matchmaking sites that readers wouldn't really know so the news is warning more against matchmaking sites in general as opposed to any specific one.

...or maybe because other apps have easier name recognition that readers can understand.

Anyway, all that said I certainly would think it should be easy to write "whom he met through TokyoCupid, a matchmaking site."

I appreciate what they're doing, but it's only going to play at 5 cinemas across the entire country, right? Why not tie it in to their museum and collaborate with a local cinema to play several movies over the course of a month or so?

If I were going to the museum it would be quite fitting to end the day watching one of their best flicks on the big screen.

At the end of the game, a character literally as a bomb shoved up their vagina.... yeah it's pretty horrific. Though to be fair it is only heavily implied by sound effects.

...also the director, Kojima is crazy and often has really really weird "artsy/wtf is he thinking" content in his games so....

Basically "We're not saying it's a vagina-bomb...but it's a vagina bomb..."

@Kazuaki: Respectfully, it's a known fact that the USA drafted the Japanese constitution.

After the initial draft, many Japanese scholars in fact wanted to make many changes are were simply "not allowed" by MacArthur and company. Some things they did budge on was more...mechanical stuff of government (eg. allowing two governing houses instead of one).

There really wasn't a lot of direct hands-on work by Japanese on the Japanese constitution; it was more "Yeah ok, we'll take that into account..."

Yeah...coming from the states where I can get a multi-hour novel for like...5 bucks.. the thought of paying what they're asking for a manga that I can burn through in what, 30 minutes? Just not worth the money.