kobejim comments

This is hard for me to comprehend and is nothing more than child abuse

They are distressing infants on purpose, likely over and over again, for a contest.

The infants cannot consent.

Substitute 19 year, 40, 70 year olds and subject them to non-physical trauma until they wail in distress for others amusement and we would quite easily label this to be what it is, abuse bordering on torture.

To the infants this is the same, they have no idea why this is happening to them, they are taken away from parents by strangers and put into distress on purpose for other peoples amusement.

My god, how do the people in charge, the news reporters, taking the pictures, the parents not aware of this? We are in the 21st century are we not?

Shimazaki-san, you are exactly right you cannot have a democratic constitution forced on a people- that is an oxymoron. The Japanese constitution is illegitamate. Accepting fiction as truth is in other realms known as insanity. Maybe if we stop living so many lies, we can actually move towards solutions for what is! Na, that's just crazy talk - we are better off in lala land.

What countries did most of you become educated in? Totalitarian? Yes, it's normal in democracies for the government not to be able to forcibly detain individuals unless they have actually committed crimes. Pre-emptive detainment, especially for mental disorders is one of the most common form of abuse by police states. Be careful what you wish for out of ignorance and fear. Your suggested cure is far more damaging to society than an occasional abomination.

Diminishing returns on weakening. To some degree more liquidity has changed to inelastic demand. New investment to increase capacity relies on an increase in underlying demand, there continues to be a decrease in demand due to a lack of increase in wages, greater taxes, and declining population. Monetary policy has hit its limits in terms of its ability to stimulate growth in the absence of demand. Only through spending, government or personal, will demand increase creating the need for more capacity and investment. They must know this as they are far more educated than I so I imagine that they have different motivations than those stated for general propaganda consumption!

Well, likely the warnings are no longer that relevant. I don't know all the facts but the hunt should have been actively pursued after the first attack. Once a predator, like a bear, tiger, lion, etc becomes a man eater they often stay that way. If this bear is now dead, regular precautions are fine. I, along with millions of others, have hiked and camped in bear and mountain lion territory. 8 deaths in 40 years is not a good reason to abandon the outdoors. The street outside the house is statistically far more dangerous. Some perspective people!

Well, this speaks well for the police force that he would actually be arrested! I can't think of many around the world where he wouldn't have been let go with a wink and a smile.

Also, for racist reasons, Pearl Harbor, treatment of war prisoners; the US hated the Japanese. The American people considered them untrustworthy and cruel. Analyzing this on an intellectual level alone ignores the raw emotion of widespread hate... Wringing of hands came later.

The central banks know China has an uphill battle in stopping (slowing) the devaluation of the yuan. Likely, The BOJ are doing this in order to prevent even more dramatic rise in yen value. In order to prop up the yuan, China largely sells dollars which keeps dollars relatively flat, leaving the euro and yen as the remaining safe haven currencies with likely better valuation. There is no real great decision to make here for the BOJ or Abe. Sometimes you get the bear and sometimes, he gets you!

He made a movie about dolphin killing in Japan. The Japanese government did not need to take official ownership of it. By denying him entry, they did. And, they also unnecessarily publically limited freedom of speech

Netflix is great, especially if you have kids. I have the us version using ublock us ($5).

Yoko Ono is right, this is a public relations disaster for Japan. As for tradition and culture, slavery was/is a tradition, should we keep it around? Women's rights - in any culture's past, few to none. Children's rights? People not of nobility?

If any aspect of any peoples culture is abusive, violent, based on inequality and oppression - it has to go. Culture is the total way of life of a group of people, and past cultural practices are exactly what perpetuated the worst human behavior. Just because something is tradition or culture does not add weight to an argument over whether a practice or behavior is just or unjust.

When video's of men in boats (with hardhats?) stabbing dolphins (a beloved mammal) in blood red water, there is going to be a reaction - and for the most, part not very positive. In the west, we grow up with stories of dolphins saving humans from sharks. We held a boycott of tuna until they changed fishing practices in the industry - this is a losing battle for Japan.

In what other developed democratic nation could the Mayor of the second largest city explicitly and grossly justify and advocate the sexual abuse of women and not face immediate calls for his resignation?

Can this incident make it any clearer the sorry commitment Japan has towards women's rights and more pointedly, human rights?

There is no way to keep all these aggressive young men, trained to fight and kill, as well as hormonally charged, completely caged. You collect that many males of that age anywhere, and you can expect challenges.

As for me, I'm all for pulling the troops; it costs way too much money to keep them here. Of course, the Japanese may then need to deal with foreigners not likely to confine their soldiers to bases on strict curfews. The enemies Japan made in WW2 have not forgotten, nor will they forget. Sooner or later that piper will need to be paid. Japan needs those troops there a lot more than the US needs those troops there. Be careful what you wish for, someday you just may get it!

When I first read the story I was thinking just what many people were thinking - corrupt police, why didn't people get involved, etc. Of course that only lasted a few seconds...

Then I though about how powerful it is to be a Western foreigner in this country. 1st in just about every other country I've been to on the planet, if a foreigner jumped into this situation and pushed off a member of a gang/organized crime - they would have been likewise beaten or worse as a matter of course. In what country would a gang member bow at a foreigner after being pushed off? 2nd, for those of you who disparage the police and the way they treat foreigners, try making a report in NY, Sidney, London, just go ahead and see what type of respect you get from the police after being somewhat involved in an altercation which resulted in bloodshed between what I'm assuming is some type of gangland thing - you'd be very lucky if they didn't just blow you off and if you think the people would be hanging around for hours talking to cops to back up your story, you're living in a dream world.

Ken, in just about any city I know of if you did what you did, you'd still be in the hospital getting physical therapy for the long term wounds and possibly going for dialysis regularly. Once again, count yourself blessed you live in a country in which you can escape such harm and enjoy the fact you were allowed to feel like a superhero (who only exist in movies for good reason).