MarkX comments

I know that plastic is bad for the environment but I must say I do hate paper straws. They stick to your lips, and become soggy, but why not try the new biodegradable plastic straws that Starbucks is going to use!

Also what the hell is Trump talking about paper straws exploding? The man is an idiot!

Good to see the people of Shizuoka thinking outside the box and turning a loss into a win. Maybe more places will do this and it will help both the vacant building owners to make money and bring more tourists to different areas. I just hope the tourists who use these places act respectively and not make a nuisance like some have.

While I'm far from an ice hockey fan, I'm definitely keen to watch this game! Sounds like a lot of feeling in it. Hope to catch some of the tournament if all the games are as physical!

This incident took place after the game during the handshake line, it had nothing to do with ice hockey! One of the Turkmenistan players sucker punched the Hong Kong Player.

So obviously this woman has mental issues, and that is why she did not know what to do when her father died. Why arrest her when she really needs mental care. Also, why didn't the relative that called the police go over themselves and see what had happened? Family in Japan can be really strange sometimes!

So basically he didn't fall flat on his face and cause an international incident with Trump and for this his approval rises 5%! People are so fickle and shallow.

I said to some of my students, if Ishiba was smart he wouldn't have visited the US at all as it had seemed Trump had kind of forgotten about Japan, but by going he reminded him of the bases and military spending!

The only people who trust Musk and the people who wear red hats are have drank the Kool-Aid! The rest of the population know and now fear him as he is a real danger to US democracy!

In many cases it is because many of these hospitals have been milking the insurance system and the patients, making them return multiple times for useless visits and rehabilitation. Or only giving a small amount of medicine, so as to make the patient return time and again to receive it!

It is not just kids that are addicted to their Switches and other games, but adults as well. I think it is an unhealthy situation.

I'm not a gambler, so maybe I don't know the intricacies of it, but I cannot imagine someone constantly betting and always losing! The laws of probability just don't match. Also, the amount of money and the number of bets were so huge for such a short period of time, all of these things complicate the story. I am not saying Ohtani had anything to do with it, but it kind of defies belief.

The ministry suspects that wholesalers and farmers are hoarding rice in anticipation of further price increases

Greed at its best. This has nothing to do with weather or other factors, just pure greed, and if there is one group of farmers who don't need any more help it is rice farmers who are protected and coddled by the government and JA. Time to allow more imports, but I doubt that will ever happen.

It seems a little funny that a school operating in Japan would not have at least one staff member that could communicate in Japanese with the parents of students. As for the course work, for the fees that Harrow and other schools charge, in some cases over 10 million yen per year, they should provide the tutoring necessary to help the struggling student. This article seems to be more of an advertisement for international schools in Japan!

Mr. Nakamura, are you sure they want to keep working, or they have to keep working due to the almost nonexistent pensions they will receive? Some are lucky enough to have had public servant jobs that will pay out better, but many who use the national pension system will receive an amount that is not livable!

In Shirakawa, Gifu Prefecture, the amount of snowfall reached 129 centimeters in the 48 hours

I really can't imagine that much snow in such a short period of time. Having to clear it would be so difficult. I remember in 2014 we got a record 62 cm in 24 hours and it almost killed me having to shovel it all! Then it got cold and froze and the roads were treacherous for weeks.

I bet some Nissan people wish Ghosn was still running the company now, and maybe they wouldn't be in the situation they are now!

If this had been proposed by Biden, it might have gotten more traction as a way to clean up the area, get rid of all the Hamas tunnels, start to rebuild and then resettle the people. The problem with Trumps proposal is that once the people were out, he would turn the land over to Jared Kushner to build luxury condos on the seaside.

I do agree with some posters above how derelict the rich Arab nations are when it comes to helping the people of Gaza. Saudi Arabia could fund a total rebuild, but we never hear a peep from them. No they are just sports washing all their money with LIV and the World Cup.

I've been here for 32 years and have never once seen anything like that, nor even heard of them. Must be a thing in big cities down south! Why not just put the stuff in the garbage? I know some people check to see if you have separated your trach correctly, but they still wouldn't know whose trash, would they.

Eons ago when I was a university student, I had a job at good old K-Mart as a stock clerk. I remember on Halloween night we had to start to put away the unsold Halloween candy, and there was also lots of breakage, bags dropped and opened etc. We put all the candy into a box, as it couldn't be sold or returned. I said to the manager why don't we put it in the entrance and let people take some for free as they leave. His response, "if we do that, then they will just wait for free stuff and not buy anything". We workers could take what we wanted and then destroyed the rest. I will always remember what he said!

So Bass, you are ok with Trump unilaterally breaking a trade deal that he himself forced on the other two countries only a couple of years ago. So then you will have no problem with Ontario shutting off the electricity to Michigan, Wisconsin, and New York states? Hey, it is only an agreement and we have to stop all those guns and drugs that flow into Canada from the US, right?

I'm sorry, but 300 million is a rounding error for a company the size of Dentsu. It should have been 10 times more. Also, the suspended sentence for 4 years is also too light a sentence. But this is Japan and corporate crime pays, with little or no punishment.

Charge them a fee to enter, make money from it, don't sit and gripe about it! They will come anyway, why not profit from it.

I feel that Shukan Bunshu has done the same as a victim who claims someone did something to them, only to retract it. The damage is done. Now maybe this official did set up other "meeting" with so called "talents" but they didn't this time and it is what got the ball rolling against Fuji!

Someone mentioned before, can Fuji go after Nakai for all the damages they have incurred? I'd be looking for my pound of flesh from him.

Maybe Mr. Cotton is worried that once Trump is gone, maybe a democrat might revoke his special security detail. Even though I doubt they would do such a petty and childish thing. Notice he never mentioned Dr. Fauci though. I guess he is still enemy number 1 for republicans.

Is it the industrial type of farming that is causing all these cases of bird flu? Did bird flu occur before but we didn't know about it? For a while, officials were trying to blame migrating birds, but I think that is a bit foolish. Whatever the cause, it is making things more expensive, with no relief in sight.

He has the concept for a peace plan! It will be coming with his health care plan any day now! But first we invade Greenland!

I've said this for a while, I know there has been a subsidy for gas, but the yen has remained low but fairly stable at a range of Y155-158, and oil has also stayed in a stable range, so why the big increases? Also, how can Iwate sell gas so cheap? They are next door to us and we are paying Y188/l?

A lot of this is due to JA's failure, and incompetence and greed. Almost all agriculture is controlled by the bemouth and they decided what and when can be planted so as to ensure the highest prices! But that does not benefit the consumer! It is time to get rid of JA, let farmers produce what they want and help out the customer.

And when you've got places all over Japan like Tottori that have breathtaking nature but depressing and shabby old shopping areas, with many shops shuttered, it's not encouraging for international visitors to hang around there.

This exactly! The area I live in has some remarkable scenery and natural beauty! But it is spread out, and there is no good public transportation, so you'll need a car, or taxi, which is pricey and not so convenient. Also, there are just not the facilities that foreign tourists want. The hotels are old, from the bubble era but have never really been updated. The newer hotels are all business type, which are pretty small and budget minded. Finally a lot of places don't have menus of staff who can communicate in other languages leading to a lot of problems.

So don't talk about funneling people to local areas they are not equipped or ready for these tourists. Thus Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto are in such demand!

The fallout from Johnny's just continues to pervade the Japanese entertainment industry. I guess so many people in and out saw what Johnny was able to get away with and the industry turned a blind eye to it, that they too thought they could get away with the same thing.

That’s the inflation for you. Narrative pushed for 30+ years that it is a good thing.

Weiwei, exactly, we kept hearing deflation is bad, people put off buying goods, the economy stagnates. Well, I think people were buying, traveling and things were humming along much better than they are now. For the poster who said that Tokyo hotel rates are cheap compared to other international cities, most of the places you mentioned, the remuneration is much higher so even the locals can still enjoy their own countries!

They haven't sold enough tickets but there is a lottery to get into some pavilions? Why don't they just sell different types of tickets. Access to all things or just into the site. They could make a lot more money and people would pay more to full access.