maxjapank comments

Cheers to you, Naomi! Love to see you back!

Sending a gambling addict, I think its fair to say anyone going as far as stealing is an addict, to prison is not going to remedy the situation. Japanese prisons cost the taxpayer a fortune but do not do rehabilitation. It would be better to punish him with community service, forced counselling, and ban him on all gambling sites.

This is the unfortunate situation of addicts. As an alcoholic, I was told numerous times that I had three roads I could take - seek help, go to prison, or end up dead. Only one of those roads leads to rehabilitation because the desire to overcome the addiction has to be from the person. Sometimes it has to be hitting a "bottom" when the addict feels life is so low that they finally have the desire to start going up. It took me fearing I was going to die before I finally sought the help I needed. I was either going to end up dead or in prison, and I didn't want that to happen.

Hopefully, being in prison will be Ono's "bottom". Maybe when he's out or while he's there, he will begin to seek help. Honestly, best wished to him.

For those saying it is harsh, its important to note that a 16 month sentence in Japan usually doesn’t involve any actual prison time. Sentences under three years are generally suspended, meaning that he is free to go and will only be incarcerated if he re-offends during the period of the sentence.

He was already under a suspended sentence for stealing. So now that he has stolen again, he will go to prison.

O no!

Japan = "Work long, not hard." This seems to also apply to a lack of sleep. Not getting enough sleep reduces performance. Reduced performance means more time to get things done. It's a vicious cycle.

okay

It's always the extremists who cause the harm of others. Israeli extremists. Pakistani extremists. I'm getting tired of it all.

It's rough. My wife's family raises fresh-water fish in the mountains. They do have security cameras installed, but they are not the clearest. And right now, our grandparents and a dog live there to help keep watch. But being in the mountains, it's really secluded. With everyone becoming older, neighbors are becoming fewer. So it becomes harder to protect what you have.

They kind of need to revamp the education system, not just for students but for teachers. While testing is important, there is too much revolving on scores and not enough focus on creativity and using learned knowledge. Labor output from teachers is hampered by unnecessary red tape, unproductive meetings, and again, too much emphasis on useless scores.

I never knew this. Tragic. And yet, history seems to repeat itself around the world in similar ways. I'm really tired of humans wanting to harm other humans. I dream of a one world, star federation. Just think how much we could progress if we all worked together.

It's 100% discrimination and shouldn't be tolerated. We cannot shut doors to an entire nationality / race because of a few bad apples. It's unacceptable.

Good. The first one to clamp down on is cycling on the road on the wrong side. You are naturally looking right when pulling out on to a 2~3 lane main road as that's where the vehicles are coming from... Only to almost have a cyclist smash in to your near-side as as you pull out. And they seem to think you're in the wrong.

You are. While you are correct about cyclists riding on the right side of the road, there are many times when cyclists are riding on sidewalks which doesn't have a wrong or right side. If you are only looking right when pulling out and not looking left as well, then you are liable to hit not only cyclists, but pedestrians as well. I cannot count the many times drivers are only focused on looking to the right while ignoring everything to their left. Be more careful, please.

I still won't buy Nissan. They've been too shady for my taste.

I'm supportive of gender identity, pronouns, etc. However you wish to live your life is fine with me. But I'm afraid I lean on the side of using a multi-purpose restroom for now if necessary. There is no reason to make so many others feel uncomfortable in such a private setting.

Unpopular opinion I guess, but I am firmly committed to not prolonging my life if I am a burden to my spouse or child. I don't mean taking my life. I just mean not prolonging it by taking medicine to keep me going. As long as I can semi-care for myself, I will do my best to live happily and be productive.

Just the Japanese higher-ups wanting to keep Nissan purely Japanese, even though Nissan would've gone bankrupt without the support of Ghosn and Renault. Any non-Japanese person needs to think twice about accepting a position of "power" in a Japanese company.

Did she want sincere apologies from her harassers or monetary compensation from them?

Can she not want both? According to her - three colleagues pressed her to the ground, forced apart her legs and each repeatedly pressed their crotches against her. Sounds like a pretty clear case of sexual assault.

It's about time. Any other person in the world would've been sitting in prison years ago.

You might not love him, but Biden has proven to be the best choice for getting things done.

Always late to the show.

Does doing a handshake like above make Biden seem more powerful than Kishida? Or is it just a better photo-worthy picture. I've always paid more attention to this kind of thing ever since Trump would consistently try to pull other presidents and prime ministers into him, and then got rebuffed by Justin Trudeau.

To be honest, if the clothing for cool biz is acceptable attire during the campaign, then it should be acceptable year round. It's time to allow everyone to wear clothing based on their own body temperature.

It's unfortunately in the Japanese mindset to work long hours over working efficient hours. Many of these teachers, even with club practices could be out the door by 6 p.m. But they think doing so would look bad in the eyes of their fellow colleagues. Thus, they stay longer. It has taken a heavy hand from those in power at my school to force teachers to take days off and go home on time. Not doing so can actually result in a heavy financial penalty for schools these days.

To be honest, if you've lived somewhere long enough and pay taxes, why wouldn't you want a say in how your taxes are being spent, at least in regards to locally spent money?

The Japanese government, which supported Kasai’s nomination for the role, declined to comment.

As the proverb says, "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

Come on now you "marriage is between a man and a woman" posters. It wasn't that long ago that interracial marriages were frowned upon or denied. If two people love each other and wish to make a commitment to each other, then let them do so. Let them have equal rights the same as anyone else in such a marriage commitment.

Media surveys show public support for legalization of same-sex marriage has increased in recent years to more than 60%.

This is great to see. I also see much hope in the younger generations as they are generally more open and accepting than the older generations. As much as some wish to inhibit change with their "woke" politics rhetoric, the fact is that the younger generations are already awake.

High schools in Japan, especially senior high schools are like a military prison. A lot needs to be done to change them into schools but I doubt it will ever happen.

I've never thought of my school as a military prison. But some of the rules are a bit old-fashioned, and I've sort of boiled it down to two reasons.

First and foremost is the fear of society making a negative judgement of the school. Complaints to schools about students behavior and looks are more common than you think. And when a negative image of the school persists, it does affect recruitment of students, especially for private schools.

Second, I find that many of my fellow teachers never grew out of their old school life. They liked the rigid life of high school so much that they became teachers themselves. And unfortunately they seem a little naive about the real world outside of high school.

My school just began allowing students to wear school uniforms based on their own body temperatures. There are still regulations about how to wear things, but it is really up to them when to wear summer, winter, and in-between uniforms. Sadly, we teachers still must wear neckties and long sleeves, except during the CoolBiz term. It can be unpleasantly hot some days.

Wow! Biden goaded the Republicans into publicly cheering for and supporting to not touch Social Security and Medicare on national television. That was something to watch!