melonade comments

Posted in: Japan, U.S. to share online fingerprint database See in context

all this means is a process that has been hidden (yet happening) for 13 years is now an official 'agreement'.

and it's not immigration fingerprints, it's the criminal database that is being shared. two quite different systems, both fairly lacking as far as organization and competence goes.

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Posted in: Morale booster See in context

Great pic. Just about all the bases covered here..

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Posted in: Erika Sawajiri says divorce finalized after 3 1/2 years See in context

sawajiri = sakai - bust.

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Posted in: Miley Cyrus smokes a joint at MTV Europe awards See in context

I hope she passed to the left..

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Posted in: 4 nightclub operators arrested for allowing dancing See in context

isn't it only after 1am? two friends of mine were locked up for a couple of weeks a few years back because of this insanely dumb and very old law. they managed to keep their clubs after paying a relatively hefty fine, but it was a shitty xmas for them nonetheless.

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Posted in: British 'drug mule' faces 10 years' jail after acquittal overturned See in context

@knowitall: if the figure you posted is not a typo then I would say the salary men at the nikkei shinbun need to put down the pipe!

@frungy: when detained in japan, your rights and your reality become two very different things.

@japan today: the lead detective didn't share this story with the media when it was going down? it wasn't newsworthy? what's the backstory here?

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Posted in: Tokyo pledges 'model' drug-free Games See in context

The Japanese government is completely deluded with regards to anything drug-related. This article is propaganda personified..

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Posted in: Man arrested for driving offense commits suicide at Chiba police station See in context

Why can you be held for 10 days with no charges filed? That seems excessive, especially for driving without a license. The maximum time you can be held without charges in the U.S. is one day.

Daiyo kangoku - the 'Substitute prison system': technically you can be held for a period of up to 23 days before being charged. Within 3 days of being arrested you are taken to a prosecutor and then to the judge, who almost always grants the initial 10 day extension. Within the next 10 days you are constantly interrogated by both the investigating detectives and the prosecutor before eventually being taken back to the judge who extends detention for another 10 days. This is the process, but for complex crimes people can be held in detention for months.

Lots of stuff on the web about the injustice that this system perpetuates. Amnesty International have been calling strongly for its reform for years.

http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/japan-end-abusive-detention-system-after-murder-conviction-quashed-2012-11-

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Posted in: Woodstock star Richie Havens dead at 72 See in context

freedom...

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Posted in: Assistant judge fired for taking upskirt film See in context

the upskirt thing is very strange, and the fact that it is primarily a characteristic of japanese fetishism even more so. in my days of living in japan keitais were designed so that you couldn't disable the 'click' sound that the camera would make - I was led to believe that this was to deter this kind of perverted behavior. has this changed?

no jail time for this dude? I'd dare to say that the only thing he'll have learned is to be more careful in his future photographic endeavors.

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Posted in: Noriko Sakai makes first television appearance since drugs scandal See in context

everyone should have the right to redemption. we are only human, after all..

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Posted in: Expat bands from all over Britain enjoy firm following in Tokyo See in context

Good on all of these guys for their tenacity. To be pitted against the monster that is the commercial pop scene in Japan, it's obviously their love for making and playing music together that keeps them going. There is a bunch more talent in and around Tokyo that will likely never be heard, if only articles like this could be published more than once or twice a year..

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Posted in: Suicide jumpers disrupt train services at Gotanda, Shinjuku See in context

it really disturbs me how this story always references how many commuters were 'affected'. a girl just killed herself, get a damn taxi..

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Posted in: Retrial of Nepali man convicted in 1997 murder case to begin Oct 29 See in context

just how ridiculous is the japanese judicial system?

read on..

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Posted in: Gov't adds 17 drugs to controlled substances list See in context

In most people's experience, the worst thing that happens is getting arrested and that ruining their lives.

on the money..

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Posted in: Gov't adds 17 drugs to controlled substances list See in context

mushrooms were available until 2002 (world cup). "legal drug" was all over central tokyo until '06/'07. there be a lot of catch up going on here. just don't expect it to make sense: subtract logic/reality from the mix and you'll be A-ok!!

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Posted in: Yamaguchi man steals 896 library books See in context

japan is a wonderful country. japanese people are at the center of my heart. the japanese penal code however: needs some serious revision.

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Posted in: 16-year-old Japanese boy faces lengthy jail term in Bali over possession of marijuana See in context

he was busted.. with a joint?? all you 'people' that want him to do time are completely deluded. it's weed people. weed!! weed is a substance that is in many countries prohibited, for whatever reason (do your homework if you will). if you are one of the people that think this young lad doing time in an indonesian prison is a good thing, you need to seriously wake up. ridiculous penalties for out of date, irrelevant, and destructive drug laws destroy lives way more than the harmful exploration of substances. some people really need to broaden their experience in life. that or or just shut their mouths..

*and just in case you're wondering: I know what I'm talking about..

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Posted in: Russell Brand deported from Japan leaving Katy Perry behind See in context

russell has been clean and sober for over 8 years, getting that way helped him to attain the fame and success he's being hated for all the way through this comments thread. even if you don't appreciate his humour, look up the video where he improvises a shakespearian backstory for 5 minutes and then try to tell me he is talentless.

anyone who knows anything about japan's arbitrary approach to immigration procedures knows that there is no transparency, or even any sort of common approach amongst agency officials with regards to carrying out "policy". basically, any one of you could be turned away at the discretion of the attending officer, regardless of your status.

btw, didn't whitney houston tour a few months back? just sayin..

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Posted in: Trial of Lindsay Ann Hawker murder suspect Ichihashi to start July 4 See in context

smartacus - He won't be charged with murder at all.

rest assured, you are incorrect. he was originally held on suspicion that he abandoned a body, pending investigation. after investigators established enough evidence he was charged with Lyndsay's rape and murder. this guys is going down..

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Posted in: Philippines confirms fugitive stripper Minako Komukai arrived in Manila See in context

network of jp and foreign dealers caught but this chick makes the news because she's hot, famous, and her number was on their cell phones.

I know which story would be more interesting to me. where are the photos and names of the alleged network of dealers?

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Posted in: Man in possession of marijuana locks himself in car in Ginza See in context

If law enforcement agencies request you do something, you are legally required to comply.

that's incorrect: there must be justifiable cause for j-cops to ask for personal identification or do any kind of search. look it up..

In all of my experiences in Japan (a cumulative 22 years), I've always found the J-Police to be friendly, courteous, extremely polite, and professional

glad you didn't add 'competent' to that list of positive attributes.

as for the us vs. japan argument, in some (us) states 30 grams or less is classed as a misdemeanor. that means more time for the accused to get his life back on track, and less law enforcement and judicial resources completely wasted.

the 4:20 thing is funny as hell..

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Posted in: Things Japanese girls do that make guys go, 'Huh?' See in context

wow. as clueless as (my perception of) j-blokes are, that list was pretty on the ball.

I wanna read the next one, where j-gals complain about their douchebag male counterparts. a 'no holds barred' version would possibly be the JT read of the year..

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Posted in: Fukuoka cop arrested for filming up woman's skirt See in context

these are the people that are policing your neighborhood..

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Posted in: Death and the expat See in context

there are many ways to die in japan. worms or dust categorize but one type of death..

during my time in tokyo, the only actual death I experienced, apart from that of my father, was having a friend unceremoniously hit by a bus. It was more than enough.

It's true that life in japan, as it is as an expat in any number of countries, is somewhat blessed by a kind of 'peter pan' syndrome, where the end is rarely in sight, and hardly relevant. the longer I stayed there, the more I was reminded of the story of the girl that finds paradise at the bottom of the ocean, enjoying all of it's pleasures for the longest time before finally resurfacing and finding that her old life had passed her by.

I loved living in japan, but am happy that (after 10 years) I was able to/lived to move on..

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Posted in: Drunken man arrested after man falls to death off train platform See in context

it's interesting that someone who's intoxicated recklessness caused the death of an innocent bystander, is protected by the law, merely because of the type of drug that they chose.

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Posted in: Taiji mayor defends dolphin hunts See in context

a well written article..

also, the uyoku comment above is valid. while their hearts may very well be in the right place, the methods they use to communicate their ideas are archaic and ineffective, to say the least.

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Posted in: Lindsay Hawker's accused killer appears determined to fight murder charge See in context

given that the three vital components necessary for any chance of redemption within the japanese justice system are: disclosure, remorse, and admission of guilt, I'd say he's pretty much tying his own noose..

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Posted in: Kobayashi leaves jail after hot dog contest fracas See in context

lets imagine for a second that he was an NJ resident and had done this in Japan. if so, he would have been subjected to the japanese judicial process, locked up for 3 odd weeks and subsequently deported.

regardless of this admittedly ridiculous hypothetical comparison, it's an interesting dichotomy, don't you think?

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Posted in: Anti-whaling activist Pete Bethune gets suspended prison term See in context

@timor

What a let down. So the net result is this guy goes free after having an extended holiday at the expense of the Japanese taxpayer.

that makes no sense whatsoever. holiday in a japanese detention centre?

Wonder what his views will be when he gets back to the Land of the Long White Shroud?

wonder away. I can only speculate, but even so I'm confident that he'll be passionately pursuing his goal of completing the memoir of his experiences that will help to expose the draconian nature of the japanese justice system, that same one that is internationally recognized (by the UN Committee against Torture amongst others) as continuing to perpetuate violations of human rights.

please google "Japan’s substitute prison system shocks the world" for the PDF document

now it's your turn. go on, say something predictable like 'he did the crime, he should do the time"..

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