kokuryu comments

Well if they were a "significant" source of SPAM worldwide, I have not seen my spam drop even 1%... I wonder if we will ever see a TRUE significant SPAM operation shut down that will all of a sudden drop our SPAM by 50% overnight.

It is about time I saw something that mentioned how bad it was to follow these early eduction things and how bad the current teaching methods are. The early teaching methods need to be interactive, informative, and done by the parents.

I like JPOP and JROCK and listen to it all the time. Probably half my iTunes collection is JPOP and JROCK. They need to market them more worldwide - there is a vast audience that will appreciate them.

Why spend $30? There are a thousand programs out there to copy DVDs to your hard drive, and none of them keep the CCS with the file. As a matter of fact, the majority of the direct download to own video has NO DRM or other copy protection on the videos at all. DRM is an old, archaic way of thinking that is swiftly being phased out.

They should leave in the OEM seats that come with the plane from the manufacturers - everyone can sit in those seats very comfortably - they are larger than the seats that they put in "First Class".

Anyways, I always end up purchasing a second seat if I fly coach, and if I fly First Class, the seats are normally the right size for me. I just have really wide hips that dont scrunch into those tiny seats they put in back.

No, the US does not need to have military bases anywhere in Japan, however the current agreements in place require the US to defend Japan against certain military attacks. If Japan feels it is up to the task to once again defend it's own shores, then they should tell the US to please leave.

because they were no shoes.

Okay, let me get this straight... Japanese take off their shoes before committing suicide?

Overall, Japan's society is crumbling from the inside outward. The forces of change being exerted by the younger people in Japan are running into a wall of opposition by the older people living in Japan. A new Japanese society and a new Japanese language are both evolving and wanting to be born. This change has been noted by the officials and people in power in Japan, and they have attempted to clamp down on it, similar to the past mass executions done in order to control the tide of society and people in Japan, where whole towns just vanished overnight, rather than that the new age is causing spot people to vanish out of the blue. This void is noticed by society on a subliminal level, as the corruption of police and officials reaches new heights, and the general xenophobia that exists against all non-Japanese ethnic groups combines to make an era where "Japanese citizens do no crimes" and everything is scapegoated to anyone non-Japanese that happens to be in the area. This heightened sense of being able to "get away" with anything because they are Japanese, coupled with the heightened "useless people" syndrome where anyone with disabilities, who fails at anything, or otherwise is not generally liked by the "popular" crowd is automatically "useless" and deserves to die or be killed, has spawned a new era in Japan where it is slowing becoming acceptable to actually kill off those people feel are "useless" or "unwanted" - which could be anyone, because each person has their own list of who is "useless" and "unwanted". This backpressure created by the government is now feeding upon society itself and the corrupted infrastructure that currently supports it. It is something that cannot be sustained, and will probably overflow into full scale mass deaths around the country before something has to fail and fall. The current power structure has to end abruptly - either through it's own destruction, or by mass resignations, followed by a purge of all corrupted officials everywhere in Japan, and new leadership has to arise from the youngest generation in Japan to fill the void. The current Japanese language has to also be allowed to evolve to it's fullest, which will create a new blended language that will probably become a fad language that could itself evolve into a universal language that everyone in the world can use.

But I doubt very much that this positive outcome will happen - absolute power corrupts absolutely, and those in power do not want nor desire any change unless it gives them more power - and Japan is a society that inherently worships such power and power structures, which will give rise to it's ultimate downfall.

There are detailed in-depth studies on this done by organizations without political agendas that show that in reality the more violent the game is, the more stress is relieved in the people who play it, and the less likely they are to resort to any sort of violent tendencies while in public - and in most cases would even go out of their way to avoid violence at all costs. These people end up being healthier physically and psychologically than anyone else, as well as being socially fit too, as they have other people they can talk to / relate to both in the game (if it is connected by the net) and outside the game.

And they definitely found that people who were denied and restricted access to video games were less focused and much more violent than any other people out there, to the point where several of their test subjects committed robberies and murders while being part of their control groups.

There was zero violence reported from the control group that played the games all the time.

Score 1 for all heavy game players.

This stealing underwear, off a live human, in broad daylight, is just the type of behavior that's GOING ON ALL THE TIME in this country.

You have GOT to be kidding me? THIS happens all the time? What are the police doing? This is one of those crimes that makes zero sense to me... He could have purchased them at a store, bought them used on eBay, or maybe even have found some girl that didnt care and would even give it to him free of charge.

Is the dress made out of woven threads of actual gold? How in the world is it that costly? I guess it is just the name of Yumi Katsura that is driving this craze...

But that being said, for a designer that has billion yen wedding dresses, her website is infected with malware... Pretty bad...

But there are a lot of VERY NICE wedding gowns there... I am actually impressed by the wide variety shown for the wedding gowns. Most of the gowns seem to be in the $4k to $10k range, and you can find them used for under $1k

Nobody in the US is buying BluRay players, yet. The price is still way too high. On the other hand, about 30% of people that I know has an HD DVD player - including myself. I only know ONE person with anything that can play back a BluRay disc - and they have a PS3 for their kid, and are not buying any BluRay discs for viewing.

If the price hold true and a stand-alone BluRay player can be purchased for $150 in the US, then it will start to gain some traction. But until the price drop below the magic $100 mark, it will be slow to gain acceptance - the prices for the discs are still 2x or more that of normal DVDs - so nobody wants them.

Wow, that is so sad... Sounds like it was just a robbery too... There was no reason for them to kill her just to get some cash...

Oh, hey, I just remembered - isnt Gunma that place where a rash of stabbing have happened lately? 18 yr old stabbing a 9 yr old, somebody stabbing 7 to death in a post office, a Brazillian guy stabbing his girlfriend to death, and much more... Sounds like some sort of knifing epidemic in Gunma, and she is the latest victim.

I was wondering how the XBox fared in Japan... I guess not too well. I like it - it's great developing games for it. That's the only reason I have for owning it anyways - only a handful of games that I like on it.

Cold green tea with honey is what I like to drink. If not that, then I like lab-produced plain cold water (PURE and SmartWater brands).

I am guessing she just felt relaxed and fell asleep in the hot springs. Other family members should have gone in with her, but I guess they never thought about that...

Amazing... well, I guess he was too blinded and could not see that life continues onward with or without him, and doing this probably hurt his family and friends more than her. I am sure in her mind she is now doubly convinced she made the right choice to break up with him.

Interesting... I have had direct connect service here in the US all the time - did not realize it was not available elsewhere. It's a nice price for the basic service too - less than half what I pay...

Can anyone confirm that this works as advertised? I would like to get one too, but at almost $300 USD I dont want to try something new only to have it NOT work.

This is one strange story. They make it sound like the kid committed suicide, then make it sound like the mother killed him. You dont know which way to think.... But it all sounds suspicious to me.

I agree with usaexpat - this does fit very good culturally with Japanese, as least by both of our observations. You could never get anything going like that here in the US. The medical staff here is all overworked everywhere - they dont have free time to do something preventative like this. And those that can come to you (emergency personelle) are usually surly and very unfriendly - I even had a friend that was threated to be forcibly removed from his home and hospitialized against his will if he called for emergency services again. Huge difference in culture and attitude - I think many in the US could fare a lot better by taking lessons from the Japanese.

Anyone ever figure out how tall they are? I was sort of wondering if they play "beach" volleyball indoors - only one of them seems to sort of have a tan, the rest look like they have been indoors all the time.

Amazing... I am surprised they dont use nitroglycerine and blow the whole house up while they are at it...

I agree with several other people here that they need to start addressing the "why" of suicides in Japan and come up with some way to combat it rather than making scapegoats out of everything. It seems to be the "way" to do things - ignore the real problem, find a scapegoat and hang the scapegoat out to dry. But I tell you what - eventually there are no more scapegoats to use, and then you have to think. I think using these bath salts is reaching that point - just like the company said - what can they do to prevent it - they have to list what not to mix it with to prevent accidents, but that does not stop those that are intent on taking their lives. Something else has to be done so they never reach that point in the first place - for all people all over.