mark_in_japan comments

TPOJ, I am as shocked as you are but I have to admit he got it right this time (not that the entrance exam driven system is going to change anytime soon).

Chronological ages: 24 and 25; Mental ages: around 12.

In any other country the headline would read "illegal immigrants" and not "foreigners". This tells you a lot about Japanese attitudes towards non-Japanese (this is nothing new, I know).

I wonder what the h**l he is thinking pledging that kind of money when the Japanese economy is in the state it is and Japan already has a higher proportion of debt to GDP than any other advanced nation.

If Japan, a country with the second largest economy in the world, would start building proper apartment buildings instead of tissue paper and tinketoy boxes, people wouldn't have to put up with their neighbor's noise as much as they do.

I couldn't disagree more with bakabaka. Japan is generally very low-key in international relations. The Chinese like to bully and threaten and so get a lot more attention.

Totally idiotic. Economists get lots of things wrong but this is one they have gotten right: this does almost nothing to stimulate the economy but helps increase national debt, which is already staggeringly huge in Japan proportional to its GDP. Instead they should cut taxes and eliminate the pork subsidies handed out to the construction industry in cahoots with the transportation industry. Oh, and forget about raising the consumption tax if you expect consumer spending to recover at all.

"Japan has long boasted a system of lifetime employment at major companies, but that has unraveled this year amid the financial crisis."

Could they try to be accurate, at least? That "system" started unravelling at least 10 years ago. It really hasn't been an issue in the current economic crisis.

"Watanabe said F1 was a good way to attract young people."

Maybe he should be more worried about keeping the young people he is cutting loose daily. Toyota should follow Honda's lead and use the millions of dollars they would save from scuttling their F1 program to keep more people employed.

Likewise with alcohol: numbs you to the fact that you are being worked to death, letting you forget about that minor detail of your life for a little while (nevermind such inconsequential side-effects like cirrhosis of the liver, wife-beating, and drunken driving deaths). Of course it is sanctioned by the government.

Considering all the special deals mega-developers like Mori get from the government at the expense of the taxpayer it should be free.

Cops can't be bothered to do a proper investigation of a rape case so what would you expect them to do with this lot? You don't find these kinds of idiots running amok without restraint in the US, that's for sure.

Holy crap. I don't think I will ever have any kind of insecurity about any aspect of my body after reading this article.

Convince the Prince to leave the Imperial Household with her and live a more normal life. Unfortunately, that would be impossible in Japan and they probably want to live here.

Umm...Isn't not having a sufficient volume of business a "proper reason"? You can't blame the companies for not having foreseen the financial meltdown. Probably there are some bad eggs amongst them using it as an excuse but I'll wager that most of these companies can't afford to hire additional workers because of the poor business climate, which has no prospect of improving much any time soon.

Some stupid fans have brought this upon themselves and I think it's a good move. The tradition is that cushions are thrown when a Yokozuna is upset. However, too many people throw the cushions when they aren't supposed to, for any upset. Also, incredibly, more than once I have seen people throw cushions when a Yokozuna wins--a clear insult--because they thought the other wrestler should have won.

It's good to see an American city actually doing something positive at the consumer level. It would be good if major cities in Japan did the same. I believe that in Japan most bags end up getting incinerated which in theory is better for the environment (high enough temperatures are supposed to avoid release of harmful chemicals like dioxin). In practice, however, it seems many incinerators do not do what they are supposed to.