Michael Grant comments

Sad, if true. "dumped in a pit to be buried without a coffin..." That sounds about par for NK...

ANd in other news: "Halloween revelers turn Shibuya into garbage dump" http://www.japantoday.com/category/kuchikomi/view/halloween-revelers-turn-shibuya-into-garbage-dump

"“I see that Turkey is continuing in its role of aggression against Syria and its very dangerous role in the region,” Bouthaina Shaaban said in an interview with the AP." -- STFU Syria! They're doing your dirty work for you!

"Engrish" happens, because most Japanese people don't care about getting it right. It's as if they're afraid of becoming too "gaijin" or something. That is the only explanation that makes sense: they just don't CARE about getting English right...

Hitachi has developed technology to control the fluctuations on the grid when feeding in electricity from solar energy sources, so the utilities' claim is largely B.S. Where there is a will, there is a way.

"Japan urges S Korea to put a sock in it....News at Eleven!"

Giving it away is fine! Stuffing it down our throats is another!

Speak softly, and carry an iron bar...or, so they say...

Just marking time until cuddly robots become available...!

HonestDictator: They have 84% of the oil reserves in the UK. I'd say that's a plus!

We should give Putin an "exclusive" tour of Yoyogi Park - he can have it all to himself.....the mosquitos can keep him company!

"More than half of Chinese see war with Japan"... That says more about the Chinese' mentality than anything to do with Japan.

Here's a hint: if it says "Then, this message was emailed from India to France, and delivered via robot to the receiver..." it ain't telepathy! So they were "able to send a simple mental message from one person to another without any contact between the two.." Uh! Email, wires, electricity...technology is doing all the work and is a form of "extended" contact!!

THIS is what passes for "scientific research" at Harvard these days?!

From their reactions, it sounds like these fathers-in-law have a few hang ups about women...pretty pathetic.

It's about time! I can't believe they haven't been hit by a slew of lawsuits! Time after time they've been proven to have hidden information or downplayed it severely...and, as for the low wages they're paying....what a bunch of criminals!

The value of human life goes down, down, down. Down, down, down. Down, down down. The value of human life goes down, down, down, when will it stop??!

This is guy is psycho. I don't care how much money he has, he cannot possibly take "care" of all these children! He's building a cult, plain and simple.

Attendance should be mandatory for all those sexist oafs in the Diet. They should be made to sit, gagged if need be, and listen to every lecture until they learn something about women's right to equality.

Thanks for that translation Toshiko-san. I heard the same on the news. Unfortunately, it's going to be all that harder to prove that STAP is real now that Sasai-san is gone...

YES! Mirai-san, you nailed it! The little monster should have been hospitalized after the baseball bat incident! That would have given the parents time to find a place that WOULD take her!

Babymetal: All I see are babies, and no metal...what a crappy excuse for a band...

With the mental health system the way it is (non-existent as far as I can tell), where was the father supposed to put this little psychopath? Do they HAVE mental hospitals in Japan? Has anyone seen one? I haven't. No doubt if there is one, it is prohibitively expensive...so what is one to do?

After a little research, I found there are apparently 344,000 hospital beds for mental patients in Japan!

Source: (www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2014/07/07/editorials/solution-mental-patients/) According to a 2011 survey by the ministry, 323,000 people were registered as inpatients at Japanese mental hospitals. Some 200,000 of them had been hospitalized for more than one year. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development says that this number is conspicuously high among its 34 industrialized member countries. In addition, some 65,000 mental patients had been hospitalized for more than 10 years.

So there DOES appear to be places to put such people here in Japan. Question: Why didn't the father put her in one?

An utterly meaningless gesture.

Like we don't have enough condos already! What a waste...

I'm so happy to hear good news on a story like this for a change! Get on with your life, Sakura-chan, and never, never, never get in a car with a stranger again!

When androids can actually learn by themselves, THEN I'll be impressed. These are no more than glorified toasters dressed up as humans...every word, every movement has to be pre-programmed...Sorry, I'm not impressed.

"Google profit jumps as revenue climbs" Well, that's no great trick, try increasing profit while revenue tanks...now THAT's an accomplishment!

Good point @JeffLee! We consumers too often forget how important we are to the country's economy...without us, the economy is dust!

Also teach your kids to watch for other kids talking to strangers! All it takes is a few words to "check things out"!

The only thing she is guilty of is bad taste, but you can't arrest people for that!