maninjapan79 comments

Smartacus, these arent national teams and there no restrictions on how many foreign players you can field in super rugby. The Japanese domestic league does have restrictions however. In saying that a few of the foreign players actually are Japanese now so less 'foreign' players than you think. The Japanese national team has a few players originally from outside of Japan. It's not as easy as getting your passport and your in the team though. There are certain criteria to meet before you can play for a national team, especially if they've played for another country previously.

Going to be basically the Japanese national team with a few extras. Considering the amount of money they have to throw around in the local league, they should be able to attract some decent names. Regular international competition should attract more people to the game too! Might be the whipping boys at first, but gotta start somewhere. And how good is it going to be having regular games in Tokyo ( assuming that's where it will be). Better get cracking on a stadium though......

Both the guy being caught and the yakuza organization say he's left the organization and committed the crime on his own accord as current laws would mean trouble for his superiors. The police are happy to go along with this cause its easier than taking on the whole organization. Media go along with it so they don't face any retribution for it either.... Once they are out of prison they lay low for a while then right back into it

smithinjapan < What do you mean does anyone go for the cars?? I do... and if I get bored I just pull out my latest copy of Playboy and read some of the ever stimulating articles......

If I was a betting man, I'd be putting money on him to 'miraculously' win at least the minimum number of bouts in the next tourney though.

If they promoted him too quickly, that's the board's mistake right? Shouldn't they have to step down?

photos from 'her'all boys high school days....

Not quite sure what the message is though..... Drive a new Auris and you too can look and feel like a woman???

Also, I haven't seen any references to the information but the alleged bullies names, photos and home addresses are all over the internet (in Japanese)

The mother of one of the alleged bullies (chairperson of the PTA) has indeed strongly protested any accusation of her son bullying. She contends that they were just playing and there was no bullying. She is openly acussing the public and the media of ruining her son's life for no good reason.....

JDB, pretty sure you need to reread that. It says meaningful games in the final weeks. For the last 10 years the games of the last few weeks were relatively meaningless as they were already out of contention of any playoff spots.....

bookowls, you are one of the lucky ones then. While I agree many places are happy to accommodate, I have had places outright refuse to do it and on more than one occasion take my request for No bubbles literally, bringing back the beer minus the head, no extra beer.

I've heard that the way the Japanese beer is poured comes from the Germans whose beer's naturally have a larger head than English / American beers. They have ever since (mistakenly) equated a good beer with a big head, despite their major beers being more suited to an English style pour. Interesting that the author never made mention of this. German beer glasses, however are made with this in mind. So a pint still has a pint of beer in it.

ironchef, hardly a genetic mutation...... They simply bred two existing strains of wheat to create a new strain with specific characteristics. That 'natural' strain of Durum that you are so worried they tampered with is itself created in exactly the same way from different strains of emmer wheat. And if you look at anything we eat , meat, grains vegetables, they have all be selectively bred and grown to create the best strains and breeds for our consumption.

It is all smoke and mirrors to appease the public and take away whatever little support Woodford had to win back his job.

Come on, there couldn't have been anything in it. If Konishiki had put any amount of strength or agression into it they would be interviewing the guy from a hospital bed. ....... Whod be dumb enough to yell at the wifee of a guy who could eat you for breakfast!! They should counter sue the guy for verbal assault and emotional distress. There is no evidence he was right about the dog crap anyway

No offense all you people who offer the opinion that the apology is meaningless. Pretty sure the only person who gets to make that decision is the actual person being apologized to......

Travis, I kind of understand where you are coming from. But it is a little bit different in this case. While it may not be the same government that commited the atrocites, they still have the authority to offer an apology on behalf of the government actions of the past. If that was how it worked, governments would get away with all sorts of crap. Just blame it on the predecessor.... oh wait........

Gurukun, there have been massive amounts of donations made. The problem is however its not getting to them due to all the red tape. There will just as many people there next week who will still need help though so there will come the time when peoples volunteer efforts will be required. I dont blame people for wanting to do things right now though. I am one of them. But the reality is, as you correctly pointed out. Anyone can collect money then just pocket it. (And this IS happening unfortunately). There are enough established channels to make donations. If someone really wants to help, help out an established donation channel (red cross etc), sign up for volunteer efforts and just be ready for when your needed. Volunteers will be needed for a long time to come.

I reckon a lot of you need to open your minds a little wider......

debucho, way off the mark there. Its more like using racing car drivers in a road safety campaign, or rockstars in drink driving campaigns, (sound familiar???)

And I don't know about you, but a pornstar has got a much better chance of convincing me to cover up than some grumpy old politician....

Zenny, Illegal for using the film without permission right? If the act of filming alone was illegal they should have been arrested on the spot.

Hermoine, the animals don't 'lay on the street, alive but cut open for all the little children to see'....... that's a fair exaggeration there I't doesn't necessarily make it better, nor am I defending it, but its all done in secret away from the public eye

Zenny 11, they were filming on public property, what they were doing at the time was perfectly legal (to the best of my understanding of the law, correct me if I'm wrong). The Japanese guy was also filming the film crew anyway, and I didnt see any of the activists get shirty with him about it......

Anyway, its not the dolphin meat being sold for $10 a pound thats keeping these guys in their jobs, its the 100's of thousands of dollars being paid for the live ones buy aquariums all around the world that are lining these guys pockets.....

funny.... sounds like another suicide to me.......

shufu, while your point may be valid in relation to mental disabilities, It looks like this service is dealing mainly with the physically disabled.

As for the girls, though I believe you have a point. Makes a very good argument for this to be regulated. Although with all the shady operators in the more legitimate fields of health and related services I wouldnt hold out too much hope for that.

In regards to medication..... possibly in more extreme cases of mental disabilities, but medical castration is a pretty extreme measure.... why not through in a few sessions of electro shock therapy or a labotomy for good measure.

@ Mr Dog, intended pun with the 'Yankees' call there??

Wakarimasen, and all the others that dont have the minimum functioning capability to do a little legwork........

the Anti-Prostitution Law of 1956 states that "No person may either do prostitution or become the customer of it,"

So what is classed as prostitution in Japan?

Japanese law defines prostitution as "intercourse with an unspecified person in exchange for payment,"

Therefore, providing the service is exactly what is printed here it is not, repeat, NOT, prositution and fully legal. Case closed........

People with disabilities should have the right to choose to have as free and dignified a life as anyone else as they please. If that requires a guide dog so that they can eat out at their favourite restaurant fine, If it requires assistance in satisfying their sexual needs then that is just as fine. How can it not be?? Its not as if they have a lot of other choices to satisfy themselves either. Mr Dog, providing the service is carried out the way it is written here (and for the prices he charges, its pretty obvious the girls arent doing much more than what is exactly written here) If that's the service I recieved at a delihel I'd be asking for my money back. There are regular delihel that accept disabled customers. However in regards to this particular story, this guy ONLY services disabled customers. If it is just a front for a regular delihel service, then that changes things, but you have no proof that it is anything but that. For all you who make out disabled people who use these services to be nothing more than depraved, sinful, sex addicts how about you do what was suggested earlier and spend a little time with these people, who knows, you might just learn a little something.......

keiko tokyo. While I would love for them to all get together to work out a deal, Australia were as much to blame this time as Japan has been in the past. They were one of the few (perhaps the only country) to shoot down the idea of a compromise at the most recent IWC meeting.....

Eyeblack. Wrong Wrong and Wrong!!!!!! A number of whale species were very close to extinsion due to over fishing of them. It was only due to efforts by a number of countries to reduce the number of whales being caught that we still have whales. Limited, controlled catches are a different matter, to which I do not completely disagree. They are against all whaling and last time I checked norwiegans, russians and icelanders are also white.... The reason why they dont have high profile clashes with them is because they catch whales close to home. Not in the middle of a whale sanctuary 1000's of km's away

As long as Japan refuse to move their whaling activities to closer waters there is no way in the world they can use the whole 'part of our culture' incident. the fact that they could still catch enough whales at a much cheaper cost to them in coastal waters and yet they refuse to. They are either just being stubborn and not wanting to be seen as giving into international pressure, or somebody stands to lose a lot of money by moving the whaling activities to coastal waters.......

Looks like we have ourselves an international controversy here judging by the attacks on the mans bowing technique.. If he cops this from his own people I dread what the Japanese are going to think. I can see the headlines now...... Obama disses emporer with incorrect bowing technique!! Shame on you Obama!!!!! Im sure it ranks right up there with Bush's wink at the queen! And as for the moron who believes the hand shake is the only appropriate form of greeting, who gives you the right to say which culture's greetings are appropriate!?? 'shake my hand and look me in the eye'. good on ya buddy!!

"spudman at 01:05 PM JST - 14th November

Goofed up with this. Next time either just shake hands or just bow. Doing both makes you look like a doofus. Oh and watch out for the right wingnuts saying you shouldn't kowtow to inferior nations i.e everyone else."

Try again spudman..... nobody bows and shakes hands huh.........