kokuryu comments

Posted in: Man gets 17 yrs for fatally abusing girlfriend's 2 daughters See in context

Based on the average "long" sentence given to anyone in Japan for murder, he got nearly twice the standard term. So, yes, in the eyes of the Japanese, he got what he deserved.

While some have pointed out that historically, the Japanese legal system is based on German, French and US laws, and most of the most recent laws are based on US laws, you have to remember that Japan is another society, culture, etc. They have taken 3 outside legal systems and melded them together as one to work with their society.

As for the death penalty, what the Japanese has done is just about all but rule out ever using the death penalty, and instead, under the Western laws influences, have come up with their own scale and measure for meting out punishment.

Trying to avoid the older "eye for an eye" type tactics have lead to a Japan that stands above other countries in the "civilized" handling of many cases that would in the past have drawn immediate death penalties. I think in many ways the lack of death penalties in Japan, and the more willingness to use some of the more human sides of "why" things were done is actually much closer to meting out true Justice than blindly saying "kill then all".

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Posted in: Cop arrested for breaking into female cop’s apartment in Chiba See in context

Um, you havent been to Florida yet mindovermatter. You would swiftly change your mind here. The cops are here are so corrupt its not even funny. It seems like at least once a month there is yet another FBI sting and they haul away more cops for doing illegal things. They even arrested the sheriff too - and I thought he was one of the good guys after dealing with him personally for a police matter. You just cant tell.

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Posted in: What are your favorite movies that deal with the destruction of the world? See in context

Quite frankly I have liked them all over time. And thanks to whoever mentioned the Planet of the Apes - I had thoroughly forgotten that that was one of the basic premises behind that.

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Posted in: Sony hopes online service will build brand loyalty See in context

This is a good idea, BUT instead of locking everything into just their brand alone, they need to branch out and accept other brands into their world as well in order to become the one and only stop for everyone. Otherwise it will be the forever "us" versus "them" mentality walled garden approach, which will eventually fail. Good luck to them - lets see how this pans out.

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Posted in: Man arrested after stabbing eldest son during fight See in context

Good wakeup call for the son. Maybe he will leave the house now and try to live on his own. Hopefully the father will get off lightly.

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Posted in: Do you see a clash of civilizations coming between the Islamic and Western worlds? See in context

Is not the clash already here? It has just been getting worse and worse as time goes on.

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Posted in: Yukie Nakama's new TV drama suffers low rating See in context

Has anyone actually watched "Untouchable"? The problem is not her acting - she does as superb job as usual, as does many of the other people in the drama. The real problem is the script itself - there is no DRAMA in the drama - thats why the rating are so low. Me, personally, I have liked everything else she has done since Itazura na Kiss onward - I have seen both the dramas and movies, and even the anime she had a voice roll in - nearly everything she has done. And quite frankly, this show here lacks drama and suspense. They gave away everything in the opening, had zero character development, very little action, no drama, no suspense. You cannot blame an actor or actress for bad script writing. I cannot believe the absolute venom that so many people are pouring out at her. Is this how the Japanese go about doing character assassinations of public figures they want to remove from the limelight? Blame them for the mistakes of others just because they are public? The should blame the production company that is making this series and demand the script writers go back to school.

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Posted in: What do you think of electronic book readers like Kindle and how big do you think the e-book market will get? See in context

I was skeptical for a long time about eBook readers, until I saw a Sony eBook reader on display in a store. I found it very easy to use and not hard on the eyes at all. Then I did some shopping around, and found a lot of things I did NOT like with most of the eBook readers out there. And then came Amazon's infamous move of removing the eBooks and notes from readers. I vowed to NOT get a Kindle or anything tethered to some store like that. Luckily, a brand new eBook reader, the ezReader Pro, came out on the market. It supports just about every format out there, allows you to put your eBooks into an archive file like a .zip or .rar file to keep from cluttering things up, lets you put in a 16Gb memory card, and much much more. I bought one of those - and have not looked back yet. This eBook reader is the best - for me - that I found out there.

eBooks will definitely take over - eventually. My complaints? No Zoom function for reading Manga on it. The words are too small to read when viewing manga. And you can't select the font for Adobe's reader to use. Most of the time you are stuck with the embedded font, which is not necessarily suitable for easy reading. Aside from that, I have read about 10 books on my ezReader Pro so far, and am looking forward to when I have to travel. No more need to carry a physical book - I just plop it on the memory card and go.

You have to experience it first hand before you get hooked on it. And once you get hooked on it - I feel sorry for book stores... If they dont embrace an electronic future, they are going to vanish...

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Posted in: Japan studies noisier hybrid cars to protect blind See in context

Noise pollution is the second half of pollution that needs to be gotten rid of. Vehicles account for the large majority of that pollution. Noise pollution itself account for over 3% of all deaths, worldwide. Quieter vehicles will produce a less stressful society overall and save people's lives.

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Posted in: 8-year-old boy dies after fall from 4th-floor Saitama school balcony See in context

Yeah, it sounds more like he was messing around and fell. Definitely all to common - but actually for some reason I always have had this image that Japanese kids were less prone to doing that than kids anywhere else in the world - but maybe not - maybe climbing is one of those "boys must climb things" in genetics everywhere.

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Posted in: Ex-cop arrested over rape in underground passageway See in context

usaexpat, the "I don't remember anything" could also mean that he was high on drugs at the time and really does NOT remember anything. Just a little bit more to tarnish his name with in the end... But part of the problem is this may just go away unless he confesses, because it is his work against her word. She says he did it, he says he does not remember doing it - which way does the court system itself swing? Is there enough evidence to prosecute him? Or will he get away with a fine and warning just because he used to be a policeman?

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Posted in: Police officers accused of running check on Obama See in context

LastBestHope - it does the exact OPPOSITE of what you claim.

Executive Order 13489: Presidential Records - Restores the wording of Executive Order 12667, and revokes the Bush administration replacement Executive Order 13233.

Which means that now you can request these records. Previously, under Bush's administration, all of these records were top secret, un-reachable and up to the discretion of the President if they were to EVER become available.

Now, it is up to a court of law to make this information available. I quote directly from it: "This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person."

It does NOT block any personal information such as his academic record (publically available), previous travel history (publically available), his birth certificate (publically available), so on and so forth.

This is just more FUD from the Republican fear machine.

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Posted in: Clawing back tenant rights See in context

Quite frankly I dont see much of a difference between what happens in Japan versus what happens here in the US. Very minor differences. I have been through these same scenarios, with slightly different names for the fees, here in the US. I have NEVER gotten ANY security deposit back - EVER - even after fulling cleaning and re-painting a place to have it look BETTER than when I originally moved in. As a matter of fact, two of the places I moved from CHARGED ME MORE after I moved out.

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Posted in: Why do Asian pop stars have a hard time succeeding in the U.S. market? See in context

One reason and one reason only: they refuse to put their songs on the US iTunes. That's it. I buy a ton of JPOP all the time, but usually end up having to buy the original discs and rip them, or using a bunch of proxy servers and iTunes to buy it from iTunes Japan.

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Posted in: How would you evaluate U.S. President Barack Obama's first 100 days in office? See in context

I think he's doing a great job so far - he has done more good for the US in his first 100 days than GWB did during all his YEARS in the White House. And he still has a majority of 4 years left to go of his term. The US will be fully on the right track once again at the end of his first term. The people in Congress keep trying to stop him from doing his job. The next election should tell them what the American people really feel - and that is do you job and work with him, or we will replace you. It is too bad we cant vote right now - I would love to replace all my representatives today.

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Posted in: 93-year-old man 1st person to be certified as survivor of both A-bombings See in context

Makes you wonder if repeated exposure to high levels of radiation makes you immune to detrimental effects?

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Posted in: Do you believe in life after death? See in context

Been there - Been Dead. Seen it. Came back. I'm in no hurry to be dead again since nearly everyone I know is still alive.

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Posted in: Which side is more disdainful of the other: Vegetarians or non-vegetarians? See in context

Nearly every vegetarian that I have met get super violent and start physically attacking me if I even ask them a simple question or even try to talk to them about what they do to avoid the problems associated with not having things like cow's milk. And in any forums, they do nothing but troll and flame everyone as soon as they say one word that is NOT vegetarian - they SAY they want to hear from people who are not vegetarians, but in reality all they do is jump up and down and scream and make noises and act violently. From their actions, I think that the vegetarian diet makes them mentally unstable.

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Posted in: Nintendo DSi portable videogame player to hit U.S. in April See in context

Yeah but you cant play GBA games anymore, nor any of the co-operative DS / GBA game combos, nor use any of the GBA plugins anymore. I will pass on this and wait for the next generation to come out. My DS works perfectly fine with all the game I love and use.

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Posted in: Grace Park hones her skills on 'Battlestar Galactica' See in context

She is my favorite actress in the new Battlestar Galactica. I only recently started watching the show - it has really blown me away, it is so good.

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Posted in: Blackmail on an institutional scale See in context

The actual US unemployment rate is MUCH higher. The "unemployments" statistics that are SHOWN on TV are ONLY the current number of people able to receive unemployment. That figure is at roughly 9.5% at the moment. The total number of people that are STILL unemployed even AFTER collecting unemployment is double that - so 19%, and THEN you have the people that could NOT collect unemployment, and you are over 20% already.

Now, these figures are also tempered by these other factors: (1) Only include people we have worked - does not include people who are going into the work force for the first time or who have never worked (2) Excludes anyone under 21 and over 65

The number of people between the ages of 21 and 65 who normally NEVER work is over 45%. Add to that the 20% plus that is UNEMPLOYED and WANT to work, you have over 65% of the employable adult population OUT OF WORK.

THAT is the TRUE figure of the American job market. 36% of those who WANT to work are OUT OF WORK. THAT IS HUGE!

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Posted in: Microsoft to open chain of retail stores See in context

They USED to have Microsoft mini-stores in many stores here in the US many years ago. They worked great because people could see demos of just about anything. But then they decided to stop paying the people for doing the work - and the mini-stores vanished overnight.

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Posted in: Ai Iijima died of pneumonia; no foul play, say police See in context

Sounds like the police suspected foul play or drugs and did not know what to do when they could not find anything at all. At least this is good in a way - her name is cleared and people can properly mourn her.

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Posted in: You called? See in context

I'm one of those people who can hear the pet rings and dog whistles and stuff like that. But I have hearing gaps in the so-called "human" range, so I am blessed on one end, but it goes with its own curse. But I seriously doubt that the 6000 Hz signal can be "heard by everyone" since the vast majority of hearing problems and hearing losses by humans is in the 3000 Hz to 6000 Hz range.

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Posted in: Dating in Tokyo is pretty easy—if you’re not looking for a single guy See in context

Amazing... So, are there single men and women in Japan older than the age of 16? It seems like everyone get married immediately - is this true?

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Posted in: High school boy commits suicide in Saitama park after argument with father See in context

Sounds like he was being bullied by his dad... But wow that is one weak argument for killing yourself. I almost feel that his dad did it and we are looking at a possible murder and not a suicide.

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Posted in: Honda pulls team out of motorcycle racing See in context

Wow, that's huge news! I am sure a lot of racing fans will be sorely dissapointed! Honda should be focusing on the motorcyle end of things and pushing their sales worldwide instead of ducking and hiding...

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Posted in: Fuji TV to broadcast drama on choosing marriage partners by blood type See in context

Interesting... I will have to see if I can watch this show. It will definitely provide some interesting information on how Japanese women think.

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Posted in: Porn industry enjoys good sales despite recession See in context

Hah - the US porn industry needs to take lessons from the Japanese porn industry. The US porn industry asked for federal funds from the TARP program here.

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Posted in: Life is a Big Issue See in context

Drinking and Gambling. That is it in a nutshell. Well, I wish him all the best. If he can ignore those two bad callings, then maybe he might have a great future once again!

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