MichaelJP comments

Has anyone seen that porn clip where they placed some sort of one-way glass cubicle in Shibuya or Shinjuku, and filmed the couple getting it on while the crowds wandered by totally oblivious?

This story is relevant to my interests.

I have worked extensively for almost a decade with Indian outsource developers as well as onshore developers here in Tokyo, and if Chairman Vijay Mukhi ever reads these comments, I would urge he seriously takes into the consideration the following advice:

India's reputation for high-quality IT professionals was made by the extremely talented "old-school" developers who came onto the scene prior to the dominance of firms like Infosys and Wipro.

That reputation is now being squandered by the increasing numbers of disastrously incompetent, poorly-trained outsource staff that have been flooding projects in recent years. Please, place more focus back on education and quality. India is trusted far more than possible competitors like China, so don't let a few big companies destroy that trust and reputation by chasing large profits regardless of the longer-term damage. Once reputation is lost, it is very hard to regain.

a woman wearing nothing but a dog collar, crawling on all fours while her man pretended to whip her

My life is so dull :( .

Traders and cocaine... in Roppongi... I am shocked!! I'd love to see some random blood testing on the trading floors of the major investment banks here in Tokyo. You can bet many traders would suddenly decide it was time to relocate.

BTW: The "someone put it in my pocket" excuse probably also wouldn't work to well when going through customs either.

"extraordinary contentment"

Isn't that decadence?

I could handle a bit of decadence

Is it ok to import the English version into Japan? And are there any good first-aid courses run in English in Tokyo?

(Sometimes Japanese Customs get a bit edgy when you purchase overseas medical stuff.)

What a sad situation to be in. Its a pity that a tiny fraction of the money thrown away on useless construction work couldn't be diverted to training a new generation of skilled investigative officers, giving them access to state-of-the art equipment, and generally boosting their numbers and prestige. I'm guessing the police force is currently riddled with yakuza plants and cult infiltrators like Om Shin.

So what is the advice if you actually get arrested? Don't sign anything and don't say a word till a lawyer is present? If non-payment of the NHK fee ever becomes a crime, this knowledge could come in handy.

At last! Space Battleship Yamato ready to launch!

The issue of 65+ year old retirees working is different to that in other countries where the elderly are forced to work just to pay the bills. In Japan, the elderly often have valuable skills and can still contribute significantly despite not needing to actually work. This can be very fulfilling and provide a powerful sense of belonging, even if they work limited hours.

The fundamental difference between Japan and the so called "modern" Western societies is that there is a far greater satisfaction gained from contributing to the general social good, rather than an "every man for himself" attitude and culture of entitlement that permeates modern American and Chinese societies.

hokkaidokarin, you are correct that most single mothers in Japan have a very difficult life, and it is very sad to see.

But...

You are completely wrong about your interpretation of Japanese society and you need to look beyond your (possibly Western) prejudices. Having children is not the only goal in life for people these days, and Japanese females are well ahead of their Western counterparts in this respect. If you think breeding is the only path to a fullfiling life, then you are still living in the 50's or have succumbed to some primitive religious meme.

Women here choose not to be married and/or not to have children because they don't want to be married and they don't want children. They enjoy their life as it is, and your implication that there is something missing in their life if they stay childless is a rather outdated attitude.

No. Japan should not become a nation of breeders like the U.S. and other, closer neighbors. Japan shouldn't worry about a falling birthrate, and instead focus on quality over quantity: look at getting the most out of a diminishing population through efficiency programs, advanced medical research into healthy lifespan extension, and high-quality, science-based education of the nation's youth.

The world has more than enough people as it is.

That's actually pretty good for a G-SHOCK, although "Riseman" seems more like a Japanese translation for Viagra.

After paying the copyright royalties, we should all feel obliged to download music without paying. Or better, just not listen to the jpop crap that passes for music and spend our money on good live bands.

These "digital content protection laws" represent a failing in the justice system and its inability to adapt to pivotal technological change. Why should companies in the music and movie industries, with their outdated business models and practices, be artificially protected?

This is why I refuse to clean the toilet.

I'm thinking the civil service IT admins just did a simple grep of the logs and counted the number of distinct http requests. There could be many per page view. However, how much time and money did they waste restoring and analyzing all the logs from nine months of backups just for this? Now that is the real waste! And why did it take 9 months to find?

This really can't end well. The amount of vindictive hatred and overt intimidation spewing from the Chinese people does not bode well for the peace and stability of the region. Olympic boycott or not, things are too far along at this point to stop the innevitable slide into military conflict.

Complex mortgage-backed securities and credit derivatives traders. Who else could get away with such a level of corporate and economic devastation and still walk away with multi-million dollar compensation packages and bank accounts bulging with cash after a few, brief years of mega-bonuses. Those guys are geniuses.

The management at WILLCOM must be insane. What next? IBM's mainframe z/OS on a digital rectal probe? Only Apple could pull that off.

Be thankful you weren't in the U.S. Struggling against an office would get you an immediate Tasering and probable charges of assault.

available only for Windows 2000 or above. Macintosh users can use it as a USB memory without encryption

Warning!! -- any company lacking the technical skills to implement a cross-platform encryption utility should not be trusted with encryption at all. Getting encryption right is far from easy, so don't buy this product for the encryption functionality. Its just a gimmick.

Sounds harder than trying to chat up women. At least Western bosses are far more approachable and open to conversation... up until the week before they have to dismiss you due to massive financial losses, and only then do you get the cold treatment no doubt borne of embaressment and shame.

Wow indeed. This is a welcome change.

I see someone spent a few minutes experimenting with different fonts in MS Word. Probably the CEO just learned how to use a PC and no one had the guts to criticize his "brilliant" font selection effort. Next month we might see it underlined.