majimekun comments

@Elvensilvan You're right! I agree with you 100%. Now if someone could write something that could end my current constipation, I could leave my WiFi equipped toilet. Thanks. (oh I think it's comiiiiiiing!!)

Patrick Smash : Honestly, what sort of culture believes it is okay for everyone to despise someone else's culture?

Well, it looks like most of you haven't been long enougn in Japan, because otherwise you would know that :

the vee sign is viewed as a mere smile enhancement gesture with no meaning at all slurping is done for lowering the temperature of the noodles in the mouth

Is it me or the site can't be viewed on iPhones/iPads since it's Flash only?? Doesn't look cool to me.

Maybe the father wanted to see another Korean drama ...

Here is another photo that illustrates the event in a much better way : http://cache.20minutes.fr/photos/2012/02/09/japanese-college-students-watch-diaporama.jpg

Immigration is a very bad idea because qualified workers don't really want to work in Japan after the Fukushima event and the prospect of even bigger earthquakes occuring within the next decades. Which means that only uneducated/unqualified people would accept to work in Japan. And as a European, I know how bad it would look after a decade or two. Most people who thumbdown anti-immigration comments here do so because they have no idea how it is to live in a country where the culture is going into the drain little by little. I think it's important to protect cultures that have managed to remain quite intact over the centuries. A world with countries all looking alike would be a very sad world don't you think?

I think that japanese humour is mostly visual, which is why they can come up with very funny CMs.

The problem is that TV reflects the culture of a country. Which is the reason why I've never encountered swear words on japanese TV and I'm really happy about that. Just going outside in France is a real pain. People use these words instinctively for any purpose, friends even call themselves "b a s t a r d s" ... I just hate it. It feels like being surrounded by agressivity all day long and I don't like to be shown even more agressivity at home in front of my TV. It feels so good when I'm in Japan. Being far away from the agressivity of my home country is the most pleasurable thing ever. Just for that, Japan is heaven on earth.

Yeah, I've never seen a stone age country able to steal a state of the art piece of technology from the country that spend trillions of dollars on military research. Some people really lack humility :)

tkoind : I agree with you that everything converge toward conflicts.

And you forget a few other points that could have negative impacts :

Putin again in power in 2012 (the guy has too much testosterone going on ) Probably a republican as a US president in 2012 (a mormon maybe??) A new leader in China in 2012 Maybe Marine Le Pen (right wing) as president in France in 2012 A young dictator in North Korea, willing to show who is really in charge North african countries way too unstable and prone to destabilization from extremists Europe voting more and more for right wing groups

One thing I often hear from people is the fact that Iran can't be allowed to have nukes because it can't be trusted.

My comment to this is : what country can be trusted?

Look at the US. GW Bush, president of a so called "trustable country" was the first to put in place "pre-emptive wars". Note that the guy was a christian.

Now that a mormon might get the keys of the oval office, I'm not too happy with the prospect of having another US president with holy ideals leading to som kind of holy pre-emptive strikes or whatever.

That's why I think that Iran has every right to own nukes, because it's not less trustable than the US or any other country.

denuclearize the whole world OR allow Iran to own nukes

Double standards from western countries create too many problems.

Plasticmonkey is totally right.

Well, in Japan, I've often seen mothers riding their bicycle with two kids and not breaking before a crossing. Everytime I see that (and I see it quite often), I'm left speechless and feel like running after them in order to slap them on the face. They literally cross the road or even turn without paying attention to cars

It's true that most japanese seem to be in a mental bubble when they ride their bike or just walk. They never pay attention to their environment.

The heiwaboke syndrom at its best.

Maybe it's only me but I don't see anything nearly sexual in the japanese lolita style. It's not even childish to my eyes. The reason being that these clothes are so from the past that my brain fails to associate them with childhood. If kids did wear such things on a daily basis, I would, but it's not the case at all. Even modern dolls don't wear that stuff.

Collective amnesia isn't a "Japan only" issue since most of the religious people in the world have forgiven or are simply ignoring the wrongdoings of their own religion. The ones who are not victim of this amnesia are atheists. Actually, the ones who make a clear separation between religions and sects are also victims of amnesia since every religion started as a sect : one person implanting beliefs in others' minds.

I think people should pay great attention to the news during the coming months/years because it could save their life someday. The worldwide instability will obviously end badly and you better anticipate where you want to be when it happens.

She said: おなかに赤ちゃんができましたー！

Is this really common Japanese? I mean, why adding "おなかに" when "赤ちゃんができました"would suffice since it's obvious that a baby always starts in the belly?

Way too many political weird changes for 2012. Another "president" for North Korea, another one for the US, same goes for the French, then the macho Putin back into his presidential job in Russia, ... added to this the muslims and their charia taking over the whole arabic world, plus the climate change, plus the financial crisis and the possible explosion of the euro zone. The whole thing is a perfect receipe for mass instabilty leading to more conflicts in my opinion.

Well, all the reactions above is what make me sick in the actual human society. People always marvel at tiny lazy steps when much more could be done. I'm sorry to insist but these guy should have gotten a real salary paid by the city. I don't see what's so difficult about it.

The "it's better than nothing" attitude is what's killing our human society, it's what make things never happen in the end. Same thing happens with global warming, financial crisis, etc. We can't radically solve problems because people are happy enough with tiny steps.

A radical mentality change needs to happen everywhere in the world ... otherwise, we are doomed.

Am I the only one person here who finds the concept stupid as hell??

Using homeless people without paying them is what I call exploitation Do these homeless speak English?? (not all tourists are japanese you know)

Nearly one in five American women have been victims of rape or attempted rape

I guess the part in bold explains the high figure. In the US, merely chatting up a girl is considered as an "attempted rape". Over there, they get angry just for being called "girl" instead of "woman".

Something worth reading regarding the F35 : Trillion-Dollar Jet Has Thirteen Expensive New Flaws http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/12/joint-strike-fighter-13-flaws/

Well, there are some homeless people who insult bypassers out of frustration from time to time. Maybe this one did so and got a shower for free as a reward.

Apparently, this kind of accident is far from being uncommon : http://www.gizmag.com/the-worlds-most-expensive-automobile-accident-not/20727/

Well, call me captain obvious but Mixi is for interacting with people you don't know when Facebook is for interacting with people you already know.

It's much easier to search for new people on Mixi than on Facebook.

And personally, I prefer to interact with the non-westernized japanese which are mostly on Mixi.

The communities on Mixi are pretty cool too. I even got jobs offers there!

Most of you guys aren't Japanese, so it's normal that you prefer K-dramas instead of the J-dramas which are tailored to the japanese audience. Just like K-pop, K-dramas are more western-like in my opinion (more yelling, more violence, etc).

Personally, I prefer J-dramas and J-pop all the way because there is that little something that you don't find in any other country. What I like with japanese TV is that I never feel the agressivity that I find in any other foreign TV.

And I don't think it's racist to try to preserve your cultural difference.

I don't want a world where everything looks/sounds the same in every country. That would be a nightmare.

I don't get why someone would be offended by fascinated stares. Personally, I love it. I always wand more of it. It's just never enough!

Deplore : other companies don't own/sell as much of your personal informations as Google does.