koiwaicoffee comments

The alert was, .. quite alarming. It was nothing like an advice to be careful with a satellite and more about the risk of a missile incoming. People in Japan are used to these alarms but in case of an earthquake they have been trained for it.

This was a brand new risk to be fearful of. So, the "J-alarm" serves nicely for Kishida's plan to double the army budget, isn't it?

Spend that money helping people, you egomaniac!

The question Japanese reporters should be perusing is: Who’d make a lot of money off lifting the ban?

A detailed list of politicians and company execs would be greatly appreciated.

Right there in the party is the elite of Japan, the ones that should be taxed the most. Will not happen.

Asiaman7,

I kind of agree with you. Specially because all these profits only benefit the top of the pyramid. The major part of Toyota workers and subcontractors will not see a penny of these record profits. You would think that with all the public tax breaks they get from the government they should be obliged to return back something to the society. Morally obliged at least.

This is just a reflection of what the world is these days, the rich are getting richer while the medium class is having a hard time to survive.

Ten richest men double their fortunes in pandemic:

https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/ten-richest-men-double-their-fortunes-pandemic-while-incomes-99-percent-humanity#

Some time ago, a Japanese guy working at a Toyota factory in Nagoya told me about his work conditions and they could only be described as modern slavery.

Over 1 trillion yen will be used to give 70,000 yen each to low-income households exempt from paying income and resident taxes.

That’s Japan’s hidden poverty no one talks about. There’s a lot of people that wouldn’t be able to survive if they had to pay taxes.

That’s 1 trillion yen giveaway money that will not change their economic position in any way.

All airlines have increased their fares in an abusive way. The governments could do something about it. Flying is not a civil right, but these days it's something only wealthy people in Japan can do.

Fuji Oil has set itself the goal of removing child labor from its supply chain by 2030 

Why not by tomorrow? Does it take 7 years? And how is this a "goal" and not a "commitment"?

Be ready for the media covering it all day long on Halloween. Sure, they will show mostly drunk people wasted and a few misbehaving gaijin, not the fun side of the party.

On another hot-button issue, the prime minister said there are still "various opinions in the public" over permitting separate surnames for married couples and called for more discussions to win "broad" support for the issue.

But when a Japanese woman marry to a foreigner all of the sudden they permit separate surnames. Why is so, Japan?

Is it 2023 or 1823 here?

Indeed. I'd think that someone living in another country would have a wider view of things.

Are the naysayers saying so because they are deep into a religion? Probably Christian? Why all the hate on how others decide to live? I'm curious.

Traveling overseas from Japan has become completely unaffordable. The same tickets with departure from Europe instead of Japan, are up to 70% cheaper.

Yes it is, prices have doubled since late 2021. I wonder how all these Chinese tourists can afford plane tickets when Japanese salaries cannot.

I just don’t understand why the public and the Consumer Affairs Agency aren’t complaining about it.

Maybe they also get a piece of the cake?

Tax cuts for households. How much Kishida? Care to share?

Corporate tax breaks??? WHY?

In Japan, the revised Specified Commercial Transactions Law, which was enacted in June 2021,

In contrast, the European Union, under the 2002 Digital Services Act,

19 years. That alone speaks volumes about this issue.

Jon Stewart is too much straight about facts for Apple to handle it.

What happens to people that works on holidays and weekends? they get an special pass?

In some areas and during certain periods, there has been an impact on the lives of local residents due to inbound tourists, such as bad manners,

Let's insult foreigners, we just want their money anyway.

The more I live in Japan the more I despise their business ethics.

To be ready to defend your country and loved ones cannot possibly be regarded as underdeveloped

To have to do so is very much underdeveloped. Puts the advancement of humanity back to Neanderthal level.

Mandatory enlistment in the Japanese forces has been in discussions for quite some time

Oh boy, that would be so regretful. It would send Japan 200 years back in all senses of human evolution. I'm shocked every time a Korean student tells me he has to go back to do 2 years of enforced army training.

Out of curiosity, those complaining about a suspended sentence, what is the problem? Do you think the only punishment for something that matters is jail? That kind of thinking is what has led America to incarcerate more of its people even than China.

A strong sentence with jail would prevent others in the elite to take advantage and be corrupt. Suspended sentences, which is always the case for these, actually encourage corruption.

In Japan, a suspended sentence is essentially the end of your life as you knew it. You suddenly become mostly unemployable, and often a social pariah on top of it. 

Want to bet that nothing will happen to these execs? They will keep with life as usual, same jobs, same money. They will be praised by Japan Inc acolytes.

Toyota Crown, the car for the wealthy salaryman.

Just highlighting some very good comments here. This article is such a PR pamphlet for the masses.

Prior to the bubble bursting, these investment types had ZERO interest in having foreigners involved in business in Japan. Following the bubble bursting, they wanted them, but only on their terms,

It has not changed much to this day.

3,500 rich people living onsite, sending their 2.1 children to the British school. Meanwhile, 20,000 (mostly young women) contract workers barely scraping by and commuting for a couple of hours from far flung parts of Saitama/Tochigi, etc. Now repeat this process all over Tokyo in other mega development projects and you can see dystopia staring us in the face. But never mind, a lot of money to be made by Mori and co.

Right so, these mega-projects only benefit the rich.

This is all about the fact that it’s a large, organic event that the people decided they wanted to get together and make happen rather than something that was officially sanctioned. If the powers that be were smart, they could make some money from it, make it safe and clean etc, but instead they’d rather crush it

Very much. They gather up to a million people for summer fireworks and everything is pretty well organized.

Why not a single Japanese is able to complain or protest about this??? It's borderline inmoral having so many people on the verge of poverty.

we (gaijin) are guests in Japan...behave like a guest...

When you have been here for 20 years you create ties to people and places, you grow a family and you become a part of the society you are living in, in spite of whatever the Japanese government wants to say about it.

Quite hypocritical. There are literally thousands of establishments where these services are traded daily. Most if not all ruled by Yakuza.

I wonder if to regulate these is not possible because a conflict of interests between the LPD and local mafias. Or an understanding between both.

@u_s__reamer

Nationalism and freedoms don't mix.*

Well said.

If however, you (or your children) were born with Japanese citizenship and another citizenship, you can effectively keep both. Yes you are requested to make a decision as to which one you will keep by the time you are an adult, but in that case, you just tell the Japanese government you will keep your Japanese citizenship.

This is quite the situation for most of people that grew up in Japan with parents of different nationalities.

I'm sure that when they go through customs entering Japan they can see they have two passports. So where are they, legally speaking?

Not Suginami, but my own city. Plenty of examples like that.

Would love to hear specifically how you have witnessed first-hand Suginami Ward wasting resident tax.

For example, replacing all of the traffic lights even when the "old" ones were already replaced 5 years before.

Apart from the program inefficiency, I see a lot of local and corporate hands trying to grab a piece of a cake that is not theirs.