Japan Today

louisferdinandc comments

Posted in: 'Assassin's Creed' makers defend 'creative liberties' over black samurai character See in context

We consider this petition an important precedent for the defense of the rights of fictional characters to be accurately portrayed according to their perceived ethnic origins.

Mario and Luigi

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Posted in: U.S. House passes Republican bill to sanction International Criminal Court over Israel See in context

“Israel launched an air and ground offensive in Gaza last October, vowing to destroy Hamas after militants attack southern Israel on Oct. 7”.

It also invaded and occupied Gaza several times since 1948 and 1967, when it forcibly expelled the Palestinians from their land killing in the process 1% of the population (imagine how much is 1% of the US population); and all before militants attacked on October 7th, with the most recent air and ground offensives killing, among others, 1,000 (2008-9), 100 (2012), 2,251 (2014), and 256 (2021) Palestinians, mostly civilians, and detaining without due process over 5,000 people from the strip, including children as young as 12.

It also has imposed a total land, air and sea blockade to Gaza since 2007, also controlling its electricity, fuel and water. It has now destroyed most if not all hospitals, schools, universities, mosques, churches, even cemeteries, and killed 130 journalists and tens of thousands of civilians.

And the ICC is saying that maybe, maybe it went too far. Maybe.

Apparently not for the US.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Posted in: Holes poked in mesh screen barrier at popular Mount Fuji viewing spot See in context

The audacity of comparing the issues of Venice, a city that sees almost 7 times more tourists every year than the entire Japan, with the problems of a glorified parking lot in front of a Lawson in Fujikawaguchiko.

-3 ( +5 / -8 )

Posted in: Australia to ban doxxing after pro-Palestinian activists publish info about hundreds of Jews See in context

« Pro-Palestinian activists distributed a nearly-900 page transcript that leaked from a private WhatsApp formed last year by Jewish writers, artists, musicians and academics »

“This chat demonstrated extremely organised moves to punish Palestinian activists and their allies,”

You can’t win: if you publish the chat without the names, you are spreading unsubstantiated rumors and thus you are antisemitic; if you publish the chat with the actual names, you are doxing and thus antisemitic.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

Posted in: Israel unveils tunnels underneath Gaza City headquarters of U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees See in context

Aside from the fact that the IDF would not bomb the whole Tel Aviv and kill 27,000 israeli citizens if a couple or even a hundred Hamas operatives were hiding in tunnels underground the city, I have direct experience of tunnels under UNESCO headquarters in Paris and the UN compounds in New York and Bangkok, and yes they all have multicolored buttons among other strong evidence of wrongdoing like the smell of kebab and sophisticated elevators that move when one of the colored buttons are pushed.

Seriously what else do people need to condemn the massacre of civilians?

4 ( +9 / -5 )

Posted in: Israel pounds central Gaza, as thousands of Palestinians try to escape See in context

Israel does not care at all about civilians, and the main reason is that Israel thinks no Palestinian is a civilian (nor a human, but that’s another story), because no Israeli is a civilian and they assume that applies to everyone else.

Military service is compulsory for the vaste majority of Israelis when they turn 18. Men have to serve 32 months and women 24. After this, most of them can be called up to reserve units until the age of 40, or even older, in case of national emergency. In times of war, they fight alongside the regular troops. 

So almost nobody between 18 and at least 40 in Israel is a simple civilian: unless they object to military service- a true act of courage and conscience- they have already contributed or will contribute actively for at least two years of their life to the perpetuation of the occupation and apartheid, guns in hand. The entire Israeli society is a heavily armed domination machine. 

But thousands of Palestinian real civilians have been killed already, of which most were either not old enough or not even born the last time an election was held and Hamas was elected. If we would honestly go by the dictionary and legal definitions, there’s nothing complex about the situation: Israel is continuing its tradition of indiscriminate terrorism against a civilian population and invoking a right to self-defense that it does not have as it is a military occupying force in a territory without army.

2 ( +11 / -9 )

Posted in: Man arrested over murder of parents in Chiba Prefecture See in context

Please, please stop writing ‘unemployed’ every time next to the name as if it was an explanation (but never the job in the first line when they have one). Unemployment is NOT an explanation, and very often is the result of taking care of elderly parents and not some form of parasitism as many like to imply so that their conscience and the honor of hard working Japanese is safe.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Posted in: Israel declares war; goes after Hamas fighters and bombards Gaza See in context

It’s so comfortable to call rockets from Gaza to Israel ´terrorism’ and air strikes and land invasions from Israel to Gaza ‘targeted executions’ and ‘defense’. Truth is, if both countries had an army it would be a war, but it isn’t. It is a conflict with disproportionate means and casualties and Palestinian civilians dying at over ten times the rate of Israeli, stuck between a powerful occupation army and idiot extremists that flourish in desperation, rage and poverty.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/10/07/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-maps.html

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Posted in: Centenarians in Japan hit record 92,139; women account for 88% See in context

I am sure people 100 and above strongly contribute to the progressive and global views of Japanese society, remembering their 20s when Japan was so close to foreigners like Germans and Italians and many very active interactions with most Asian neighbors…

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

Posted in: Man arrested for killing 87-year-old ailing mother See in context

Maybe newspapers can finally stop stigmatizing the unemployment status, which is inevitably indicated in the first line of these news as if it was an explanation, at least when it appears very clear that taking care of the mother was the guy’s main occupation and reason for the dramatic situation.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Posted in: Man, daughter found dead in apparent murder-suicide See in context

Trapped, if he was unemployed it would have been written on the first line as usual. Retired is the most likely status, or the current job would have been mentioned in the second or third paragraph. Which is also why we can assume the daughter had some disability, or her job (or lack thereof) would have been indicated as well for sure. We need to use a Sherlock Holmes approach to understand what actually might have happened based on the information included or not in the article and on the usual writing standards and omissions of the journal.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Portrayals of duality: 'Hafu' in the media and popular culture See in context

I think aside from using or not hafu, it would be great not to use race / biracial / racially mixed / etc.

People can have mixed heritage, different cultural backgrounds and physical appearances, but not different races.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Posted in: 30-year-old man arrested over murder of grandmother See in context

Please stop, stop writing «unemployed » in the first line as a nudging explanation but never ever

« doctor » or « teacher » the same way. We know literally NOTHING about the family and their relationships, please stop using unemployment as an easy way out from doing some actual journalism and explain what happened.

0 ( +5 / -5 )

Posted in: Over 140 Japan-born foreign minors to get special permission to stay See in context

Nobody is talking about citizenship in the article. Just the basic human right of being treated as anyone else and access healthcare, education, without discrimination and fear of being deported - to a country one might not know the language nor culture of - as a minor born and raised in Japan. Yes there’s only 33 countries giving citizenship by birth, but over 180 countries allowing legal residency of minors born in the country until 18 (when usually one can then ask for citizenship based on having spent over 10 years in the education system, for instance).

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Posted in: Over 140 Japan-born foreign minors to get special permission to stay See in context

Convention on the rights of children (minors of 18):

States Parties shall respect and ensure the rights set forth in the present Convention to each child within their jurisdiction without discrimination of any kind, irrespective of the child's or his or her parent's or legal guardian's race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status.

Japan is part of the convention and still tries to pass the partial respect of a basic human right for a kind gesture, and “this time only” as the Justice Minister says.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: Smart girls don’t marry? Japan rushes to erase stigma for women in science See in context

« The country is on a mission to close the gap. »

No it isn’t.

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

Posted in: 45-year-old man arrested for fatally stabbing father after being yelled at See in context

And one more time the magic words from the first paragraph, “unemployed” is the only explanation everyone needs to be happy with their own life. Doesn’t matter the actual story behind, he’s 45 and unemployed and that’s enough for Japan.

Japan Today please stop writing the occupation status only when the person committing a crime is unemployed. Some actual journalism would be welcome.

-6 ( +8 / -14 )

Posted in: Man arrested over murder of common-law wife See in context

And it’s always ‘unemployed’ that is announced from the beginning as if it explained everything, never ‘salaryman’ or ‘engineer’. When the person has a job is either mentioning vaguely much later in the article or not at all. But those unemployed people, oh that is why…

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Posted in: Do you think Japan is more politically stable than the United States? See in context

It’s not stable, it’s fossilized.

-3 ( +15 / -18 )

Posted in: Japan orders ex-lawmaker YouTuber GaaSyy to return passport See in context

He never showed up in the parliament or in Japan because going to prison for a YouTube video would be very stupid, but exactly what would happen to him if he comes back. Smart to stay there.

-7 ( +5 / -12 )

Posted in: Microsoft adds AI tools to Office apps like Outlook, Word See in context

It would be great if they could focus on making sure the basic functions of Office softwares actually work instead of adding AI to something that doesn’t have I.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Posted in: YouTuber-turned-lawmaker expelled for missing Diet sessions See in context

“In December, Japanese police asked GaaSyy to undergo voluntary questioning on suspicion of defamation and extortion in connection with his YouTube posts, according to investigative sources.

The police searched several locations linked to him over the allegations in January.”

Maybe those criticizing his refusal to come back in person are not familiar with how fast he will be put in prison when he does.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Posted in: 1 in 4 still to wear masks in Japan despite eased COVID rules: survey See in context

It gives me infinite sadness that many Japanese continue to act like there isn’t a rest of the world outside that is actually living in 2023, without masks and surprisingly alive. 195+ countries, and maybe 3 still wearing masks. And when Japanese are in one of those 195+ countries, they absolutely do NOT wear a mask. Traveled to 12 places from Japan this year, not once I have seen a Japanese wearing a mask until asked to do so inside the flight coming back to Narita. But here, the show goes on.

-3 ( +15 / -18 )

Posted in: When the new mask guidelines kick in, what should you expect? See in context

Meanwhile, literally everywhere else in the world (okay except China)…

Nobody has been wearing masks for over a year, including none of the Japanese traveling abroad. Who is this pantomime for?

8 ( +15 / -7 )

Posted in: WHO fires Japanese director in Asia, accused of racist misconduct See in context

The funny thing is that he’s probably still convinced that Japan did better than those countries he looked at from above, while it’s simply not true.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries

And it was virtually impossible to get tested in Japan for at least the first year of pandemic unless you were coughing your soul out, while other East and South East Asia nations were tracking (and counting) cases carefully. But we had Abenomasks and a superior culture, nothing could beat our pure country.

0 ( +9 / -9 )

Posted in: Cabinet approves proposals for Japan immigration law changes See in context

« a new supervisory system in which individuals are temporarily allowed to take part in socioeconomic activities under the care of nominated supporters or supervisors »

Basically you can choose between deportation or slavery. Welcome to Japan.

-8 ( +1 / -9 )

Posted in: Olive oil in coffee? New Starbucks line a curiosity in Italy See in context

“I’m not a big coffee fan, that’s why I like to try drinks like this.”

Exactly, on one side, coffee and on the other side, drinks like this. Not coffee.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: J.League looking at switching to autumn-spring season See in context

A change in the youth football calendar in line with the J League calendar would dramatically change the destiny of many young players, as currently due to the Relative Age Effect over 80% of the players in the youth squads are born between April and August, while players born January-March are virtually non existent.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: J.League looking at switching to autumn-spring season See in context

It would be interesting to know how the youth football calendars would then adapt (or not) to the new schedule, as high school tournaments are still extremely important and the age cutoff and league timeframe coincide with the schools April-March year.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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