Matthew Harding comments

Matthew HardingFEB. 04, 2016 - 08:17PM JST I imagine there will be no debris left after they hit it with some anti air missiles. Everything will just evaporate so to speak.

Shooting down a jettisoned stage of a rocket falling from the sky with a surface to air missile is a bit more of a challenge that hitting a duck with a 20-gauge. This is why the U.S military has not bothered to pursue the ABM system purposed for defending the West Coast of the U.S. - about a reliable as an NYC street corner Rolex.

Sorry if I messed up the quote thing, I'm still getting the hang of this website formatting. But Jeff, is it really fair to compare Aegis anti missile defense technology with a shotgun? One is a sophisticated tracking system which has is capable of hitting multiple missiles in mid air approaching from multiple locations, whereas a shotgun is more of a "spray and pray" if you will. If anything is going to hit that dud North Korea is putting up in the sky, my money would be on the Aegis equipped ships and the aircrafts. Isn't it better than just watching it fall on your country anyway?

I imagine there will be no debris left after they hit it with some anti air missiles. Everything will just evaporate so to speak.

Yea pulling out the lighter is definitely taking it too far here. There should be more options available to teachers to deal with disruptive kids, though. I've seen teachers get very mean and cruel verbally since they can't get physical, and I personally think that can be worse than what this teacher did. The 生気 of the students will bring the worst out of a teacher for sure! As a teacher, I've always considered having to deal with bad kids my own karma for when I was a disruptive young boy myself.

Toshiki-San, would you prefer he said もったいない? :-)

Interestingly there are several different ways to write that in Kanji.

I couldn't agree more that it is in its current state wasteful. But I see the Olympics as a big chance to make something happen in Japan. Shaking up the old and ushering in a new era. Combined with the business chances TPP will open up, the timing could give the Japanese economy a great stimulus. Is: 新世界への初一歩 too long?

Ratting out your own brother??? Disgusting. I hope the brother AND the father give this 12 boy a good beating.

I don't think he would have necessarily ended more lives were it a gun instead of a knife. The guy was clearly an amateur especially compared to other rampages of similar nature (attacks on schools/public places). If he had a gun and didn't know how to fire it, not even one person might have been hit. Had he known what he was doing with that knife, there would be several more casualties than just himself.

It would be great until you saw those large Chinese ships coming to claim them based on some "ancient" map or something like that.

you couldnt pay me to fly in one of those, planes take many years and billions$ in R&D just to make a product thats safe. Id prefer to fly in a Russian plane before a Chinese built one.

Exactly! There is "made in China" and then there is **MADE ** in China.

No way I would ever hop on a Chinese plane to go anywhere, even China!

I hope this fish Karpeles does some hard time in the slammer. Seems like a real weasel.

It seems that both sides of this argument are talking past eachother. I believe this is because of the difference of opinion on what makes this decision legitimate. If the Okinawans want independence so badly as some on this board seem to claim, they are going to have to fight for it. Nobody is going to give you the power to make any decisions. The world just doesn't work like that. Even democracy in its purest form is a thinly concealed veil of what is the truest point in nature: the strong and powerful will always control the weak. Right and fair has nothing to do with it. Of course there have always been cases in history where the weak stood up to oppression such as Ghandhi or Martin Luther King Jr. And even they did not go without great conflict, sacrifice, and fighting (albeit nonviolently). The difference is that it was a large group of people standing in unison with a "voice" saying no more. In Okinawa it seems there is a division in the voice, not a unison.

Although I'm not Japanese I have lived herefor about seven years. I recently went back home to America after being away for about 3 or 4 years. I must agree thatI even had reverse culture shock at the noticeably worse customer service, noticeably larger portion sizes, and noticeably less safe feeling.

That being said, there are many good things I had missed about America that I couldn't experience in Japan: the more direct, honest, friendly people. The taste of a real cheeseburger with all the works. The feeling of getting a good value for your money when you go grocery shopping, especially vegetables and fruits.

Many karaoke places also don't allow students or children. Anyway, I never was a fan of "study groups". It seems the productivity will start to drop off after 5 people or so. To each their own, though.

What a sad way to go for such a young guy. It makes me wonder if he had a history of mental problems or if it was the stress of his job / life. Not many details to go on here. In any event my condolences to his family and friends.

Rest in Peace. A true legend

He raises a good point about the need for assent from more than just the direct area it is built. A nuclear power plant's influence encompasses a much greater area and should require more consideration of the opinions of all those potentially affected by its devastating destructive potential.

I remember my first year here I had heard from my boss how safe and honest all Japanese were. I went to a Manga cafe and left my bag with my scooter. Imagine my surprise when I returned and it was missing! And even though they had cameras in an around the building I was told my scooter was not in range of the camera. Mind you I parked next to the entrance. you could say I was naive or stupid to be so trusting. But hey, at least don't go around making up some BS for the next newbie to get lulled into a false sense of security! Crime happens anywhere where there is a motive and an opportunity

For anyone in the LDP to call these men meiwaku is the pot calling the kettle black. Abe has single-handedly reignited tensions with China and Korea, set up obstacles to free speech, and created Japan as a target for IS in less than a year. The LDP are complete crap.

And who here doesn't think that the 2020 Olympics just became a new point of interest for IS and other terrorists?

Does anyone actually believe the IS will safely return Goto? Does the IS actually believe their requests would be met? They are about as reasonable as a swarm of wasps. I just hope some drone strikes can hit the nest.

I need a way to start making side money playing poker again. Wages are getting lower and lower as an English teacher here in Japan. Please pass this new law!

I thought Shinzo Abe said economy is his number one priority. I don't see how this policy will help the economy. Also, the details of how he will use the money are too vague. It's like when all that money was earmarked for relief after Fukushima, but somehow ended up in the hands of enterprising contractors.