ksteer comments

"The incident occurred in the Sea of Japan, therefore Japan is responsible....no wait.. its the east sea..."

Do you even think before you write things? How is Japan responsible for the ship capsizing. Sure they have a duty to respond to the distress call, but even that is a legal framework requiring them to

Anyone blaming the JOC needs to think this through a little more. Even if you accept that the JOC bribed (which all OC's do), the final decision was up to the IOC. The only think you can fault the JOC for doing is pushing their bid more than other Olympic Committees did. Everyone knew at the beginning of the bidding process that Tokyo was going to be an extremely hot Olympics, the IOC decided to just ignore that though. Now they are making these inane decisions to randomly switch the venues.

Was Sapporo even consulted about this? The IOC and the JOC don't suddenly get the determine that there will be a race in Sapporo.

If the event does get moved, it will at least alleviate traffic a bit in Tokyo... Marathons are a scourge for anyone not participating...

It's going to weaken though, as the sea is too cold around Japan for it to maintain its strength.

I wouldn't bet on that. Generally you're correct, but this time the sea around Japan isn't any cooler. On top of that, the depth of water that is still quite hot is significantly more than this time. In other words, the winds and waves from the typhoon usually pull cold water to the surface of the ocean which reduce the typhoons strength. But it seems that in this case, the cool water is too deep to be affected which means its just circulating hot water.

In other words, it's so big that the typhoon is feeding itself!

Can anyone shed any light on how this 'cashless' 3%/5% discount works?

Is it something you have to sign up for somewhere (if so where)?

Do you just get an immediate automatic 3/5% discount on the price, or get some kind of points back? (in which case, is it some kind of centralized government points, or the existing card points? )

I have a Suica card, a J-Debit card and a prepaid visa card... none of which have any kind of points scheme.

Do I just use them as usual and pay 3/5% less? I can't find any clear info on how it all works.

PS/ It's the first I've heard of these 20,000 yen vouchers as well. Seems like the hometown-tax thing in that it mainly benefits people who have enough spare cash lying around to make large one-time payments in order to get a bigger benefit down the line.

Pretty simple really.

Food related costs are taxed at 8%.

https://cashless.go.jp/consumer/

When using cashless, the discount is only implemented by stores that have the Cashless mark and only if your payment method also supports it.

The discount can be implemented in two ways:

A point system→ you get points after the fact through your respective point system. (think reimbursement)

I.E if I use Rakuten to pay, I'll get the discount as an additional 2% ~ 5% Rakuten points

On site discount → The store just deducts a certain amount (usually 2%) from the tax.

Chain stores = 2% discount

Mom and Pop stores = 5% discount (up to)

The thing is, these stores have to register with the government in order to get this discount, so not all stores have this discount applied to them.

In regards to you, Suica has a points system. You can use the points to charge your Suica card.

Prepaid visa cards aren't applicable to the points system.

The J-Debit card is only applicable if the bank that backs the card has registered. *It seems most of them have. But you can check it here: https://cashless.go.jp/consumer/non-bin-settlement-company-typeA.html

Note: To get points back you can only use the service that the store has registered. I.E even if they accept LINE Pay, if the Cashless poster doesn't say they registered it, you won't get points back.

Kesteer good post. You managed to outline everything that's wrong with the current system. Well done.

Trying to take a neutral stance on it. I think that actually understanding the law is a reasonable necessity before drawing parallels to other criminal cases... I agree the system should be fixed. But it is what it is unfortunately.

Ah yes, the amount of people who again fail to read the article or understand the law rear their ugly heads...

What, no detainment? What a double standard!

So uh...interesting to note that the article says nothing about these guys being arrested or facing any sort of legal consequences whatsoever. I thought the Ghosn case was supposed to represent a newfound interest by prosecutors in harshly dealing with financial corruption like this but I guess not. Surprise surprise!

Who are you going to arrest? The Deputy Mayor already passed away in March of last year.

Accepting the gifts provided by the Deputy Mayor is not illegal in itself. The act of using public funds to give them gifts, is though. A bribe would ensue that a service was performed in exchange for the money but this isn't the case. And generally speaking, as long as it is approved by the city financial officers offering incentives for a company to do business somewhere isn't a crime.

The difference between the Ghosn case is that he stole money from Nissan. Not received a gift from Nissan.

As long as the people receiving the money properly reported it to the tax agency then there is a legal footing to take any action against them.

In the case of the gifted money, the Deputy Mayor likely committed a crime, but he's dead. No going after him.

The tax investigation also discovered that the former deputy mayor, Eiji Moriyama, who died at age 90 in March this year, received 300 million yen from a local construction company that was hired for projects at the Takahama plant as a commission for his role in awarding them part of the work.

^ This is illegal. This falls under the legal definition of bribery and I have no doubt the tax officials will be going after the construction company for this.

A simple way to put it. Governments can't actually bribe people. Bribery can technically only be committed by private entities (people who want decisions made) → Governments (people who make decisions). It doesn't work the other way around. But there are other laws for governments and government officials such as public funds misuse etc.

Another case of corruption involving corporations and government payoffs. This really is a corrupt little country run on brown paper bags full of cash.

Lets not be selective here. In every country in the world, construction = bribery. The US, Britain, Australia, Canada are notorious for it.

They don't much credit because they've struggled to get a mid-sized passenger jet off the ground, literally, with endless failed tests and aborted take-offs, delaying deliveries by six years.

And in those six years they've somehow managed to make the most fuel efficient and best performing regional jet in the world. It's almost as if taking your time can actually lead to high quality products. It's absolutely mind-boggling I know. Just don't let your head explode.

It has everything to do with a brand that is past it's prime, bad marketing strategies, bad quality products, and mismanagement. The fashion world is competitive and Forever 21 just hasn't been able to slug it out. Lets not forget that the brand is potentially filing for Chapter 11 in it's home country... -eyeroll-

Well yeah. Given all the death, destruction and mayhem drones have caused across globe at road crossings, I can see why the government wasted no time clamping down on that particular freedom. (Did they really?)

Do I really have to explain how a drone, that has a malfunction and falls into one of the busiest road crossings in the world, is inevitably going to injure someone? Common sense... Seems the majority of people continue to lack that..

It is a good idea and may help parents, but 5 strollers at each station doesn't seem like much of an initiative nor does it seem like it will have much of an impact.

It's a trial. Its not meant to have an impact. It's meant to judge whether people are interested in it or not. If a demand seems to be there, they will increase the amount of strollers.

Uhhh . . . Space is not "owned" by any country, which means you cannot have a defensive space force be ausevtheir is no territory to be defended.

Are you honestly naive enough to think that countries won't start claiming asteroids with resources on them, or the moon once the technology lets them? Just like the ocean isn't "owned" by anyone but land is.

On top of that, defending the things you do own up there is pretty important. Japan doesn't own space obviously, but it does own many important pieces of infrastructure.

I mean, Akita already has some of the countries highest gas prices... As far as I know it hasn't really jumped all that much here...

Go foreigners! Pull Japan kicking and screaming in to the modern world!

Huh? This guy is Japanese...

@ Samit Basu

Nope. The Korean government had nothing to do with the boycott, which is strictly voluntary by public.

Boycotts were supported by local legislature, which in turn gets it's instructions from the national government. It had everything to do with the Korean government

Good. The WTO is where this should be addressed, not in the streets of Seoul and Tokyo..

While I agree with the premise, this a non-starter at the WTO. This is purely a national matter and doesn't go against WTO rules at all... I fail to see how SK can even begin to be so confused to something that they are trying to rely on... boggles my mind.

Scottish judges said it was unlawful but last week English judges said it wasn't unlawful.

English judges never said anything of the sort, they refused to hear the complaint stating it wasn't a matter for the courts to decide. That doesn't mean it is lawful, it's just like abstaining from a vote. It means they gave no decision whether it was or not.

Isn't it unlawful for the government to refuse to carry out the will of the people as expressed in referendums?

If it's a binding referendum then yes. But this was a non-binding referendum, i.e its a survey

That's what they like to tell you because it's an easy excuse to do nothing and keep unsightly cables overhead like it's 1950. And when you ask them how emergency vehicles are supposed to get through when a major earthquake brings those concrete poles down across the roads and live wires cut through wood-framed houses, they tell you you don't understand because you're not Japanese.

Putting aside your lack of common sense, the biggest reason is maintenance costs. In a country that has as many natural disasters as Japan, a relatively small earthquake can induce soil liquification and damage underground cables. On top of that, the small size of the streets means any repairs to these underground systems will effectively cut off access to said street. The other option is burying them under buildings but how are you going to go burying these cables under preexisting buildings without incurring exorbitant tunneling costs?

Whether you like it or not, the old neighborhoods that have existed for many decades with overground infrastructure can't just be easily changed to underground infrastructure. Especially in a country like Japan. Clearly you don't understand...

Japan is the only advanced country not to bury overhead cables

Japan is also the only advanced country to experience as many earthquakes as it does. And either way, new subdivisions in large cities generally do have buried infrastructure. The issue again, comes down to not being able to update old areas so that they could handle buried infrastructure.

On top of that, concrete poles are cheap.

... And when you ask them how emergency vehicles are supposed to get through when a major earthquake brings those concrete poles down across the roads..

In the same way that they'd get through when those steel light poles topple down onto the road...

I am still wondering why nobody called 110 to report an emergency situation. They guy was apparently stuck there for 20 minutes... plenty of time to notify the station and in turn the train driver. It is not an isolated area.... people were just watching and waiting?

He was stuck at the intersection for about 20 minutes. He entered the crossing and was stuck on the tracks for apparently less than 2.

Why the driver didn’t jump out and booked it? Once the crossing guards came down and I couldn’t move in either direction, I would have jumped out and dealt with it all later.

He did. Though it was a bit late. It seems like he was hit by the train/truck/whatever after he got out. He was actually found under the train.

Sorry why is this some sort of an event for these people? I am feeling rather uncomfortable seeing them pile up and film it.

Because people like trains? And seeing a train line come back to operation after such a large accident is a pretty rare event?

Very very poor form Japan, disgraceful and shameful.

Except this has nothing to do with Japan. All Japan can be even remotely guilty of is creating a system that has potential to be abused. It's already illegal to do the things that the company did to these trainees.

However, the only way the state can fix these issues is to remove the trainee program entirely and then no-one would be happy right? If you're going to go work somewhere else, you need to know what you're signing in your contract, and you need to also do your due diligence when choosing a company.

I feel for these Vietnamese if the allegations are proven to be true, but it's also not really something that you can blame Japan for.

The very basic rail crossings a re simply not enough for lines which carry high speed express trains and the Shinkansen's. Otherwise the trains need to reduce speeds at them.

This has absolutely nothing to do with speed of the trains. I guarantee that the laws regarding train speeds are some of the most strict and safe things that exist.

Trains passing this level crossing are typically travelling around 120 kph.

Trains that run on this line can run at a maximum of 120 kph. However this was right outside a station, I guarantee it was only running at around 80 kph or less since its the law when passing through a station with no split grades. (The train was on the same line that's next to the platform)

Sorry for the surviving members who will most likely have to pay damages. 

Train companies only go after surviving family members if the accident was something preventable (like a premeditated suicide) This was just that; an accident. It's what insurance is for.

Landing half of everyone coming to Japan at Narita reeks of a scam meant to feed hundreds of thousands of visitors into the train system with their wallets open rather than connect to a flight to Sendai or Tottori or wherever their final destination is. And if their final destination is Tokyo, Narita is basically halfway to Hokkaido.

How is it a scam? Its a private business. You don't HAVE to fly to Narita. You choose to do it based on what airline you're choosing etc. There are very few large airports in the world that have good access, by nature of them being airports. Even Haneda isn't particularly great.

I get envelopes every month telling me I am in arrears. I am not joining that money pit scam!

That's a good way to get arrested and then deported... You do realize you are required by law to join it.

Keis are unsafe at almost any speed, which is why you can't buy them in most developed countries. If you're driving a kei at 30 to 40kmh and crash with someone coming the other way at the same speed, the damage to the kei will still be very very severe. Yes they can be nice economic little cars with some decent spec but how much do you value the lives of you and your family?

I own a normal sized vehicle but I also ride a motorcycle. Kei's, just like motorcycles aren't inherently unsafe devices. They are however less safe than say a 4 ton piece of steel and aluminum. Yes if you drive into someone head on even going 30/40kmh then the damage is going to be pretty severe. It won't kill you though. And the damage wouldn't be particularly less severe with a normal sized car.

No matter what you're driving, you'll never be 100% safe. Unless everyone is driving around in tanks... Due to how physics work, the couple here would likely have been killed even if they were driving a prius and the other vehicle would've also been mangled. The only difference in this case is that since they were driving a kei, the normal sized vehicle didn't suffer as much damage as it could've.

TL;DR, even if they had been driving a normal car, the outcome wouldn't have changed, in fact it'd likely be even more severe for everyone involved.

I mean, if anyone wants to actually see how they could've potentially missed some old lady sitting in the front seat. Here is a video that shows the damage. https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/videonews/nnn?a=20190826-00000344-nnn-soci

Not making excuses but people make mistakes, and there probably wasn't much of a body left of that woman.

It doesn't state specifically, but one would assume that the death vehicle was a kei. Perhaps the gov't should really be doing something about the (lack of) safety of these death wagons.

The car where the occupants died was a kei. It was hit by a normal sized vehicle, so the damage is pretty severe. The kei also isn't really intended to go on highways. Wonder why speed limits are so low in Japan? You have kei cars to thank for that. But people don't drive the speed limit because its way too slow so when an accident like this happens the weaker car (the kei) gets demolished.

They aren't inherently unsafe if everyone followed the speed limits...

Like the poster above mentioned, I don't understand how it could've already been going 280 km/hr. if it had just left the station.

I guess reading comprehension class is in session again.

The Tokyo-bound Hayabusa No. 46 train screeched to an emergency stop in a tunnel at 10:15 a.m. after leaving Sendai station in Miyagi Prefecture at 10:07 a.m.

The train had been running for 9 minutes already before stopping. That's why it was going 280km/hr already.

A bullet train hurtling along at 280 kilometers per hour ran for 40 seconds with one of its doors completely open on Wednesday, its operator said.

In other words, the train took 40 seconds to stop once the door being open was detected.

This is exactly what happened.

The door had been unlocked (via the "door cock" above the door) by the cleaner. He never actually opened the door in question, so he forgot to lock again it before leaving.

Once the train got up to speed, the vibrations eventually caused the door to open, and that is when the alert appeared.

E7 series trains can detect when a "door cock" has not been closed prior to departure; however, this was an E5 series train, and it was not equipped with such a system. I guess they will be retrofitted following this incident.

Thank you for actually explaining it. You beat me to it.

what’s still surprising is that all major politicians, PM included, are also big on Yakuza’s payroll. Otherwise the Japanese Mafia would have been eradicated decades ago.

And your proof for this is? You clearly don't know much about the Yakuza if you think that's how things came to be. Japanese police realized that it's better to have a group that can control the petty thieves and stop foreign crime syndicates influence than not. Its a mutual toleration. Try and wipe out the Yakuza and watch the triads gallantly stride into Japan. The only people who can control criminals are criminals. The Yakuza provides this balance and the police leave them alone. That is, until it becomes something that affects normal citizens.

This is just too complex to have a lot of vehicles flying around at low altitude without dramatic outcomes. The infrastructure and its associated technology needed to do that are just not there, and what we have now is just primitive. I mean getting to have autonomous vehicles moving on a 2D plane is turning to be already a nightmare to get right, let alone by adding a third dimension.

On bright side, if this was ever to become common place, going to work would be a whole new thrill! That would sure be dramatic, not knowing if you'll actually arrive, or crash into the ground in a burning mess. Oh the joys

After 10 ,20 years of build up, cost overruns it turns out that for just one is millions of dollars and just last week (Department of defence) the Pentagon admitted spare parts are a problem as they haven't created a supply chain that can service theses aircraft. So if you buy one its fly time is severely limited. They admitted that a fleet of these is likely to be grounded 90% of the time due to servicing.

Unfortunate too, Japan had a promising start with the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries X-2... Shame that they caved to a product with well known faults all around..

Ah yes... again very typically Korean. Instead of actually putting forward any constructive effort to fix the faults that Japan claims SK has with regards to trust and the white list, SK resorts to threatening the bi-lateral security agreement. That's really going to make the whole thing better.

They really can't seem to get it through their heads... they aren't entitled to that White list, addressing the reasons that they are being removed, instead of wasting Japan's time again, and perhaps this whole thing would get resolved... At least it would put a pause on the whole process..

I figured this when she sacked her coach. That relationship was a little more than average coach/player relationship. For which I don't know, but it clearly wasn't a mutual feeling. That awkwardness leads to getting rid of the issue. Probably was the correct move, but getting over that is difficult, couple with not winning a lot etc and this happens. Tennis, as much as golf, is a very mental game and if you're out of it, you won't win. Unfortunately, Osaka seems to be the type that is weak mentally. Quick to blame herself etc etc.. I said it before, but I honestly think winning the U.S Open was a fluke caused by a perfect storm of things. Until she gets the mental aspect down, she won't be #1 again anytime soon.

The addition of the war criminals was deliberate. It was callous and completely uncalled for. The situation is delicate given one's beliefs. However, private visits should be encouraged over wild spectacles that are clearly designed to feed the minority racists.

As much as I usually disagree with your points regarding Japan - SK relations. This is something I completely agree with. You're absolutely correct in stating they were added deliberately. However, that's slightly redundant now. They can't be removed due to the common interpretation of Shintoism by the current clergy. No use in beating a dead horse.

I also agree that private visits should be encouraged, however the prime minister and other high levels of office holders still have an individual right to visit the Shrine and pay respects. Due to their importance though, they're always going to be followed by cameras, which is ultimately what makes it a spectacle. People interpret things in ways that fit their beliefs. The right wingers are going to see these visits as support for their cause, and the people who want to continue hating on Japan over this are going to see it as supporting the return to imperialism. Then there are the people who see it for what it is, a religious practice that is as much a personal thing as is going to the bathroom.

There are going to be Japanese Prime Ministers who avoid going there. Then there will be ones that go there out of religious views and respect. I hardly think it's a simple matter though and the morality of it likely weighs on their minds. There isn't any win-win here. It's all a catch 22 with regards to Yasukuni, the sooner people understand that, the better.