KazHirai comments

The USA needs to secure its borders and have controlled immigration. This is Obama's "Katrina".

This is not the first map that a Chinese newspaper has published proposed nuke attacks on a country. Here is the one with the proposed bombing of the USA by nuclear missile-equipped submarines:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/31/inside-china-nuclear-submarines-capable-of-widespr/

Here is a link to another interesting article, pertinent to the OT:

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/78920b2e-99ba-11e3-91cd-00144feab7de.html

For some reason, I do not think Japan apologizing about past war behaviors/crimes will lead to China toning down its aggressive rhetoric and actions involving other countries in the area.

The show is wonderful. I found the books to be better, though. Go figure. ;)

The change of pace of the last two books vs. the first three throws you off a bit at first. I really liked the character development in books 4 and 5. I am looking forward to books 6 and 7.

I'd prefer the normal animation.

I see it in a different way. Back in the day, elite universities were elite due to their exclusive resources and libraries. Technology has leveled that playing field. Nowadays, a simple internet search will yield you scholastic articles and contacts to collaborate with from all over the world. Why get worked up about attending an "elite" university, when Google and Facebook can take care of all the enriching knowledge base and networking needs, respectively, to augment the possible shortcomings of going to a "lesser" university?

Nintendo 3DS

This does not sound like a positive long-term development. A Sino-Soviet block would polarize a US-Japan-maybe South Korea block. North Korea being the uncle with toys in the attic. I think the region is best served by less polarization, but with established nation-friends.

I don't have any issues with the masks. They serve a health purpose. (Kinda OT, but the woman in the center could wear a banana on her head as well as a mask and still be strikingly beautiful).

What is even more interesting is how healthy everyone looks. Imagine an impromptu photo of people coming out of the local WalMart in the US!

Yep - it was generally civil - with a bit of greed and argy-bargy by some locals hoarding mineral water, milk and bread in the days after. Neighbours were generally very helpful to us, offering their well-water, and so on. Not unique to Japan, however: having also lived a good part of my life in Australia I can tell you that people are very helpful and caring to their neighbours after the natural disasters we have too like floods and fire. Dunno where you are from but I'm a bit surprised it isn't the same there?

I'm surprised as there was no reported looting in Japan. In Australia, there has been reported looting.

http://www.nowpublic.com/environment/australia-floods-looting-ipswich-live-twitter-updates-2746556.html

Looting is common all over the world. Seemingly, in all but Japan and a few other nations.

I'm from the USA. I think that would explain my awe of the Japanese people's response to the triple tragedy they had 3/11/11.

I agree with Yubaru on letting societies/cultures be unique, as long as human rights are observed. (I know, every country/culture violates them to some degree).

I also want to say that I am in awe with how the Japanese people handled the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown. I am seriously considering moving to Japan due to this.