KyushuKris comments

Caffeine can mess with you. I'll never forget the day I was bored at work and sank six strong coffees from the Italian cafe downstairs (they were free for me) Not bring a coffee drinker at all until that point- I literally tripped out, had a full on panic attack and had to leave work early. I was so spun out the boss asked me if I needed an ambulance.

Old people should have the wisdom to know when their time is up, and the courage to take measures appropriately, that's the hard truth of it.

Good! Bye bye! Immigrants take note and choose another country to try your luck at.

Ohara, you have nailed it there. Not sure what the optimal solution is - but I think something along the lines of after a number of complaints and warnings being processed there should be sound recorders installed, and (if proven to be over a certain level) the owner must have the dog professionally trained (with a certificate to prove it) or face a substantial fine. This happens three times then the dog gets put up for adoption or terminated, - sorry if that's too cruel for those hipsters reading this who just finished their Yoshinoya gyu-don for lunch. I like dogs, but what can you do? It's shallow to say 'move' - but when someone has bought a house and they are there for life that's not an option. At that point the dog is just collateral damage in society vs a panhead who shouldn't own pets.

The neighbour should have taken it up with the owner. If he did and got no satisfaction (apparently the owners had received an anonymous note complaining about the noise), he should have taken it to the authorities. What he should emphatically not have done is taken it up with the poor dog.

Oh rubbish. Cops won't lift a finger. They can't do anything besides a little slap on the wrist, and as I told you, I know that type of owner and they just don't give a toss. My own neighbour is the same. Leaves the poor bugger tied up to a post, never walks it, same food every day, and as soon as someone is in the vicinity she acts like the dog is her precious baby. The dog was probably better off dead with such a dumb owner, sorry. Some people are stupider than their own pets , and this is what happens. I have zero sympathy for this owner.

I'm not saying the guy didn't go too far, but at the end of the day it's the dog owners fault. All the hypocrites on here tapping out their comments about how they love animals inbetween licking the animal grease from the BigMac they had off their fingers can go sit on it and swivel. Forget the lack of communication, this is lack of brain cells- on the owners part. The dog is collateral damage, I'll bet the owner was a total panhead who had zero respect for his neighbours. Probably doesn't even care that his dog is gone. I know the type.

I think the guy has huge talent as a musician but music is what he should stick to. His acting is horrendous, he was far too unthreatening and feminine looking to act that part in 'Unbroken' and his delivery was just poor. I partly blame the weak script, but at the end of the day any actor worth his salt could have made lemons into lemonade with that role.

Hulu is worth the cheap subscription and I use it for studying Japanese a lot. They have The Walking Dead and Hannibal. Still no Game of Thrones though-- what a drag...If NetFlix get's that one, hmmmm....might have to do the dirty on Hulu and switch.

'Stupid parents! Why are Japanese so inattentive to their children...typical Japanese?' -- 'Poor angel, RIP you careless mother may you ROT IN HELL!!' -- 'Why doesn't Japan have ultrasonic-super-radar-alarmed-Delorians that can go back to the future AND make certain that this kind of accident never happens-- I mean, isn't it 2015 already? Is that too much to ask'

Let's all wait for the comments from the perfect and accident-free members of the JapanToday crowd to appear-- Because I'm SURE the mother didn't think her kid was in the back-seat hidden from the mirror, or playing in the garden and ran onto the tarmac- no, no, not possible! The mother was a deadbeat who was in such a hurry she ran over her kid intentionally to get to her joshikai on time, right?

Ugh. I've gotta say, for some reason the JapanToday commenter's are some of the most annoying, patronizing, and unrealistic people on the planet. Every time there's an accident with some little kid without fail some moron is going to chime in and say it's all the parents fault. Do these people even have kids? Do you know how hard it is to keep your eye on a child 24/7? I'll tell you how hard, damn near impossible. Short of cutting their legs off, what can you do? There will always be the occasional time when you have to take your eyes off them for a second while you check your a Google Map or take a call from the office that comes in suddenly while you're biting into a hotdog. There's just so many factors. But no, according to the JT lot it's 99% the parents fault every time- forgot that kids can dash off in the blink of an eye or stumble down a ditch because they have no balance. All I read on this stupid site is 'bad parents' 'those parents should never have been allowed to have children' 'burn in hell you terrible parents etc' It seems like everyone simply spews their initial emotion on here without giving it any proper forethought- the sign of a definite lack of maturity or experience. Kids are small and wild, sometimes they get killed. It's NOT always the parents fault, sometimes it's just bad luck- plain and simple.

Come on, we all knew it was going to suck. Stick to what you do best Japan, manga- not movies. They may have done it justice if they'd collaborated with a Hollywood producer, but instead they said 'No, despite our awful track record with CG and screenwriting I think we'll take a shot at this' Ah what a drag, I love that manga.

Aso Taro may have said 'old people should die of terminal illness' or that may have been taken out of context but even if it's true it's not like people can just commit suicide and people should be allowed to live as long as they can. My solution would be to have a national 'draft' where young people are forced to spend 6 months of their lives looking after the old- like it or lump it. Of course not everybody could be a great caretaker, but people would be assigned jobs respective to their personality-- however all positions would be for the benefit of the elderly, cleaning their house, walking their dog, assistance with shopping, etc. People might scoff at the idea, but it is viable if done right. The other option is just to let them rot. As a person that lives in the countryside surrounded by the old, I can see how miserable they are and incapable of simple tasks, they really need young people's help but pride often gets in the way. If young people were able to carry out tasks for them, they wouldn't be as 'in the way' as people think, as we could also ask them in exchange to limit their time in the cities.

Wow, breaking news

I love Japan but the government here can't be trusted as far as you can throw them. It's amazing they haven't firewalled the net yet.

Keep poking a stick at the neighborhood dog and it's going to bite you eventually. Saying that, I can't help the sinking feeling that this is what the Chinese wanted all along. They're not so dumb that they couldn't have seen this coming. I wonder what grand scheme they have brewing.

Stephen Knight at Jul. 02, 2015 - 06:19PM JST Japan's problem is certainly not overpopulation. It's poorly distributed population.

Well, considering Japan is mostly mountainous there's little choice in that matter. The rest of the available land is used for farming.

I'm from Fukuoka. Got busted around 2007 drink-driving with a 0.25 alcohol rating. No excuses but I felt completely sober at the time, walked in a perfect straight line. Didn't even think if fail the breathalyser. It was about 3 hours after having about a pint and a half of beer. The punishment was severe- I lost my license, had to pay 200,000 yen, and was not even applicable to take a driving test until 2 years later. Jesus Christ that was harsh, even the prosecutor was like 'if this had been any other prefecture in Japan you'd have probably gotten off with a slap on the wrist' 7 years ago the legal-limit was about 0.75.