lomae comments

We had My Number forced onto us and have to pay taxes like everybody else, yet we cannot vote in local elections. The government picks and chooses what it likes, but not necessarily what is right.

Because foreigners have experience outside of this bubble, so our thinking won't match what the locals have been brought up on.

Thankfully she survived!

There were about 6 fire engines and a fire helipcoter hovering around near the Tamagawa river this morning. I thought maybe someone had fallen in...

I can't speak for those people that are allowed to legally carry, but for me being born and growing up half of my life in Europe and the States, for ME, I feel safer and better to have a firearm, has nothing to do with fear or living in a bad area, it's none of the above. I live in a very affluent area with one of the lowest crime rates in this country and many people do own a firearm. 

I have zero problems towards anyone that has a fear or dislikes firearms, I just won't tolerate anyone scolding me or trying to convince ME that I am wrong, I am not wrong, it's just my choice to own a firearm and collect and to own hunting rifles, it's my business if I want to go camping and take my kids with me and the 2nd amendment gives me that right.

Right. What if we scale up the numbers? What if the US government gave out handguns to every citizen (you know, because it's their right to carry) so that not 3 million, but 320 million had guns? You think murders wouldn't increase? Or would they decrease because now everyone can defend themselves.

So will we get an extra holiday in April?

Is it any surprise? Go to practically any bar or izakaya here and you can't taste the food and drinks due to the amount of smoke. This over time results in various forms of cancer appearing at higher rates.

These exist already in several European countries. It worked pretty well when I was traveling around there in summer, but sometimes people slowed down the system as they put their passport in the scanner the wrong way around, took it out, put in in the wrong way again, took it out, etc. Overall it was a pretty smooth experience though.

From my experience, Japanese are very well mannered, except when drunk or on a train. These together results in the worst manners.

The biggest issue for me is people not offering their seat to pregnant ladies. I've seen couples before sat together (female pregnant and showing her badge) and another pregnant lady stood infront of them... yet the guy doesn't offer her a seat.

He's got 17 years to regret his decision. I'm not sure what would be an apporiate time for his rehabilitation, but personally think 17 years is too long for this when compared to other crimes (murder, etc) that receive lesser sentences.

Can't anything be taken seriously here?

This is suggesting you put a pillow on your head to protect you from a nuclear bomb, I don't think anyone would take it seriously.

This isn't limited to Japan. And their own advertisements say it is 'uselessly useful'.

http://www.mcdfrork.com/

The report says

"...attacker tricks the user into reinstalling a key".

So until updates land, if we all avoid reinstalling keys or connecting to WiFi we don't know, we should be good.

While I can't say I agree with his opinion on Taiwan, I certainly feel China has earned more and more respect in these past 5 years and are making great advances to become to worlds No.1 superpower (economical not militaristic). Even in 'high-tech' Japan, you can see that China has already overtaken Japan in many ways.

Tokyo is safe in the sense I wouldn't worry about any female acquaintance getting raped or violently attacked, but pretty much every woman I know here has suffered some form of sexual assault (mostly on the train). Women in the workplace here are treated below men, and in general the female population in Japan are treated (and often consider themselves) as baby makers who retire at home after their first child. While healthcare is pretty good here, sexual education is a joke.

It is actually illegal to leave kids under 12 years old unsupervised in Japan, not that anybody would notice.

Do all the kids have to be under 12? Or if one is 12 and another is say, 6, would it be ok? (I don't have kids, I'm just curious about the law).

If this became the norm, Japan would be back.

Perhaps, but the old guys running companies never change their ways.

J police 'chooses' to use little force cause they can. In all fairness to us police, the criminals they're facing everyday are of a different calibre i.e being armed/tough/firm isn't an option. US cops would have a field day in japan & most other countries

Exactly. The opinion in the article is completely backwards. The reason police don't need to use lethal force here is because they are not at risk of getting shot themselves.

If this is for unskilled labour like manual work, english teaching, cleaning, etc. I am against it. High skilled, academic, and professional is fine though

This gave me a giggle.

I've met people who told me things like they are a "Coordinator of Language" and a "Native language Director". Right. You teach English.

Just like the guy cleaning the toilet is a 'Dispatcher of hazardous materials'.

I don't visit fast food places like this to eat, but actually their coffee is pretty good compared to other mainstream coffee places.

..the picture just says it all. You can be as deceitful as you like. Just learn to bow real low and apologize when you are caught. Standard operating procedure in Japan.

That's exactly what I thought on seeing the photo. I think we've lived here too long haha.

lomaeToday; *The driver of the van is dead.. he wont be pulled in for suspicion of negligent driving resulting in his own death.

Right. Not sure how I missed that.

The cognitive ability of those who are 60+ varies massively. I don't think a limit is required, but additional testing should be mandatory from 60. However, I don't think it will be an issue in 10+ years when driver less cars are the norm.

I think most people work too many hours in this country. Teachers are no exception.

well I read this twice and seems that the truck driver who actually hit the "stopped" vehicle is at fault.

I think the fact that the suspect stopped on the expressway is the reason he was arrested on suspicion of negligent driving. The driver of the van will also be pulled in for suspicion of negligent driving resulting in death I would imagine.

So how does this work with a local court ruling something over the government? Couldn't they just override it?

Both nations refusing to shut the Kim Jong Un regime down. The regime that they created. They really need to get serious if they honestly want to ensure no military response.

How are they supposed to shut down the regime? If they shout their mouth and cause issues like the US and Japan have been doing, they will just become another country that NK threatens. I think both China and Russia are playing it smarter here.

Because 1st world living standards isn't about needs, it is about wants. Seriously unless you are claiming that people should only be allowed to own "needs" and that "wants" should be prohibited there really is no point to the statement/question: I don't see any reason why a citizen need one/why does any civilian need one. From my view it is nothing more than a euphemism for saying: "I just don't approve of this therefore you shouldn't be allowed own the product/purchase a service".

True. Just as some people want to steal, want to rape, etc, but I'm sure you'd agree these things are unacceptable in any society. My belief is that giving people an easy way to mass murder others is also unacceptable. Which I hope you would agree on.

If the only acceptable cost to being able to own a product, enjoy a service, enjoy a cultural activity, engage in a recreational behavior, etc. is zero injured and or dead we are all going to live very boring lives. It can't be zero. Plus you also have the issue of diminishing returns.

That's obviously not the case and the point clearly missed you. Cars kill people. Alcohol kills people. I don't want people to die by these means either, but they do. But they are not designed with the purpose of specifically causing harm to others.

Unless you live in the cities I previously mentioned, your chances of getting shot are extremely low. I don’t live in those cities with high crime, so I never experienced violence of any kind, on the other hand, you live in a city like South Chicago or Compton, the chances of you encountering violence is going up 10 fold.

Exactly. Let's get the guns off the streets then these places won't be renowned for their gun crime and common citizens wouldn't need to carry them around in defense. Just imagine for a second, a place where nobody had a gun. There wouldn't be these high levels of gun crimes and mass murders by maniacs armed with semi-automatic guns. I'm not against guns, I just don't seen any reason why normal citizens need one. If there was a way to program all guns by technology that they were physically unable to be shot at humans, then I think your arguments would hold much more weight and 'taking your guns from you' would be unreasonable. But the fact remains that they are advanced murder devices and even one life lost be one is a mistake we could prevent.

And these people who murder with their guns are not a 'well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state'. Neither are you when you go hunting. The interpretation of the 2nd commandment needs rethinking for a developed society with the well being of everyone under consideration. I understand you like guns and everyone has their own fetishes, but the fact remains that guns in the hands of the wrong people cause unprecedented damage to life and society so something needs to be done to help prevent that.

But many of us can’t understand why some people are afreaid of guns, want to demonize them, comment on them, but know nothing about them. I’m not trying to persuade gun haters into seeing everything from my point of view, but equally, I can’t see as a gun enthusiast the lefts argument which I find very weak.

I don't think people are necessarily afraid of guns. They are afriad of getting shot. Holding a gun in your hand doesn't change this. Guns are made to hurt/kill things. That is their purpose and they are very effective at doing so. The problem is not the fact that they are able to hurt/kill thing- they don't kill without a person holding the trigger. The problem lies in the fact that people can get hold of them relatively easily and use them for that exact purpose.

Principals do very little except waffle on about pointless rubbish at meetings and attend myriads of pointless events and meetings, they barely ever defend their staff and they never criticize the board of education as most of them work there and get indoctrinated into a system that only seems to care about its appearances and not the actual education of students.

I'd say this is arguably the same with most heads of companies. It's not unique to Japan either.