Kutan comments

Every angle I saw, it was out.

And that’s the problem, you are looking at an angle. You must look from above the ball to see if there is any green between the ball and the line, that is the correct way. In this case there was clearly no green between = still in play.

@yoshisan88

Thank you. It’s quite clear the first shot missed/misfired. It looks like some other guy collapses from it however (or maybe just duck away?). Anyway, Abe-san just completely freezes on the spot and looks towards the shooter. He seemed unprepared for these kind of events. I hope they give politicians better training and better security from now on.

RIP Abe-san.

I don’t get it. Why is it that almost all other countries are maskless, but in Japan we should wear them? Look at those YouTube videos where people walk around in a city (e.g. Paris) and try to count the people with masks. Heck, look at the videos from 2020 and still there are countless of people without masks. Do you even look beyond the borders of Japan? What’s so different between France and Japan?

You'd think that at the first sign of water ingress the captain would have pointed her towards the rocky shore at least... (?)

Apparently the engine failed. Not sure in which sequence things happened, but all I can say is that I took that tour in July 2019 (on their “Kazu III” boat) and when returning we were very far away from the shore.

Why people eat this stuff is beyone me. It's disgusting.

...he said while gobbling down that Snickers and Coke.

Found the temporarily distressed billionaire. Yeah ,generations of wealth and accumulation of capital had nothing to do with it. Neither did leveraging that capital to access publicly funded patents and research, overuse public lands and publicly funded infrastructure and educational resources; all that means nothing. 

With your logic only individuals from already rich families will be rich. What about self-made millionaires or entrepreneurs?

That’s a puzzling statement sir, what is it about your thinking that makes you poor!

e.g. Increased income = increased spending (being stuck in the rat race). Believing that you can save enough money to get rich. Never investing a dime. Having a general negative attitude and continue to blame others (the government/the rich) for your own misfortune.

That was honestly the most boring and ‘mottainai’ ceremony I’ve ever seen.

China is the sugar daddy and thus untouchable for these Europeans.

Yep, Norwegians are very careful with China after they got pissed about the Peace Price of 2010 (Liu Xiaobo) and refused to buy Norwegian salmon for 8 years straight (it’s a bigger deal than it sounds). Because of this, Norway wouldn’t meet with Dalia Lama when he visited, and they had to send the king to China to make them happy again.

Really? exactly what did the gov do that was so great? can you answer concretely?

Exactly. That is the point. They didn’t do anything. And people and businesses certainly didn’t do much either. Packed trains and business (almost) as usual, but still total deaths are down. According to some people here, this would lead to an inevitable disaster, but did it really?

Fewer Japanese died during a Pandemic. I wonder if any other country can make the same claim?

Same thing in Norway.

A little disappointing, he and his family have been invisible for the best part of a year, in total contrast to his father and mother.

Well, he has been doing more than you think. It is just not covered as COVID, Trump, and other disasters has taken the spotlight. Although he could not go out much due to the pandemic, you can check the Kunaicho website schedule to see what he has been up to. Just before the pandemic really hit, they went visiting a center for people with disabilities. Kako-sama went to a conference supporting mothers who have kids with hearing disabilities. After the pandemic really hit hard, they have been doing online meetings with hospitals/Red Cross from Hokkaido, Fukushima, Okinawa etc. They also did an online meeting encouraging the victims of the Kumamoto flood.

He has a a lot of duties to attend such as embassy officials coming/leaving office, awards, politics, and symposiums (probably much more than this as there is a lot of "official duties" in his schedule). Moreover, he is the head of Shinto and his schedule is packed with ceremonies.

There is a reason the previous Emperor had to throw in the towel.

Maybe the passenger was acting violently or erratically

He didn’t ask him politely to stop, but rather demanding it. The driver got scared and stopped at a shoulder.

I think the first thing that would come to most people’s mind (especially taxi drivers) is that the passenger suddenly got sick.

A former PM was murdered there back in 1931 by riight wing military leaders.The feeling is the spot is haunted.

So it’s basically a 事故物件 (jiko bukken). Kind of understand him then.

I see them having an absolute normal life

Either you don't live in Japan, or you haven't been out much. Business as usual here in Japan.

Meanwhile Denmark is to cull all farmed mink in the entire country (some 17 million). What a year indeed...

50,000 dollars for a 15-day stay? What was this, an Aman resort?

As the hotel is apparently located in Hamajimacho, I am pretty sure it is Amanemu. The other hotel in that area capable of such a bill is slightly outside of Hamajimacho.

Tell the younger Japanese to watch YouTube videos about Norwegian Salmon farming. I guarantee they will never eat again.

Yes, unfortunately it is going in the wrong direction. Salmon used to be healthier and rich in oils, now it’s becoming more similar to chicken after being fed soy their whole life. Not to mention the salmon louse problem and the fact that the salmon way too often escapes the farms and destroy the natural salmon population.

I own 3 companies in Japan and I have to pay “ residence “ tax on my offices, every month. Never heard something that stupid. That is for the privilege of paying office rent, Including tax, so we can work to pay corporate tax, and tax on salaries. And personal taxes.

If you indeed own 3 companies you should know how to reduce your tax by now.

Why is Japanese news always full of WWII news?

Indeed. Full of it lately. When you look at the comment section, you will understand why though.

Corona sure brings out the crazy in people. Lots of these cases unfortunately. Worst case I’ve heard so far was a woman in Norway who spat a random baby in its mouth while saying “Corona Corona”.

Let us not forget Hotels as well that charge per head rather than per room.

This is perfectly normal.

"The hotels, restaurants and souvenir shops expanded business, perhaps too much, since inbound tourism was bringing in so much money," said Nobuhiro Doi, president of major regional lender Bank of Kyoto.

This. There are guest houses literally everywhere here. Everyone jumped on the trend just like they did some years ago when Machiya (traditional town houses) restoration was the trend. There are some seriously dodgy Chinese developers here which buy out tons of old houses in just a couple of years and rebuild them into guest houses (they run them or try to sell them to Chinese investors). Chinese taxi companies also expand, again having a huge pool of luxury vehicles in no-time.

I am also concerned by all the low quality souvenir shops popping up everywhere selling cheap junk trying to make a fortune on tourists. I wish Kyoto could focus more on high-end tourists. They built some good hotels here lately (Aman, Park Hyatt), but they need to stop washing out the culture with cheap gimmicky crap aimed at Chinese mass tourism (e.g. “you can dress as legendary Ninja!” and then they give you a black hood and a plastic sword to pose with. Sigh). /rant

A wage tax is like a penalty for having a job.

Exactly. This is why the middle class (the employees) will always be the most taxed and one of the large reasons the rich gets richer.

You are not going to get anything it's all going to go to industrial companies that SUPRISINGLY are linked to the LDP.

I understand what you’re saying, but most, if not all, companies we partner with have received huge money support without too much hassle. These are all small businesses. The government needs to reconsider this “drop in sales” requirement though, as this does not apply to new business which does not have any sales yet. The local office here tried very hard to help us (had a long Zoom meeting) saying that we only needed a tiny amount of income (in December), basically anything, to qualify. However having started up in December we have absolutely none, and will thus receive 0 JPY.

By the way, there is something called 給付金 which is a flat out payment you can use as you wish, and 助成金 which will cover your expenses for various things (new business ideas, creating new websites, keeping your employees etc). I must say they are generous enough towards businesses at least.

You will need to tighten your belt and live frugally during the lockdown.

For business startups it is not that easy. If you lose your entire income for up to a year, it doesn’t matter how much you metaphorically tighten your belt. For instance, companies which started up in late 2019 with no income in December get no support, a terrible “loophole” which I hope they address soon. The taxes keep coming though, everything OK in that department!

Look what they did to Singapore Hong Kong, Guam, PI, Vietnam etc.

Forgot to add Taiwan to your list?

The timeline starts in the middle of the Pacific War, only when the US finally became involved.

No, it should start as far back as the the power balance in Asia before and after the opium wars and when Perry forced Japan to open. Japan had to either join the race or become colonised. Unfortunately that meant that she too had to expand throughout Asia. Looking at WW2 without background and context is stupid at best.

Adding that I did not only mean the Tokyo trial (e.g. Yamashita went to US Supreme Court in the end).

Revenge driven trials were common unfortunately.

It amazes me how the winners of wars get to choose who are the war criminals.

It all started with the insane Tokyo trial. Just by looking at General Yamashitas trial, it doesn’t take many brain cells to realise that it wasn’t a fair trial. I do think they should remove the “war criminals” and enshrine them elsewhere however, just to see what China and Korea will come up with next.

@Cricky and @bokuda haven’t read many books since middle school I guess?