Mickelicious comments

I wonder what they talk about during the meet and greets. 

Entomology and its etymology.

Government happily spending vast sums of our taxes to clamp down on what frankly sounds like more of an urban myth than a serious business model.

But there have been a number of cases

How many cases?

where travelers purchase massive amounts of tax-free items

Define massive.

and resell them for profit at tax-inclusive prices before departing Japan

To whom? This makes absolutely zero commercial sense.

according to the sources.

what sources?

This proposed profligacy sounds more like an amakudari scheme for customs officials or the like, managed by that huge staffing agency.

Instant landfill.

Rate of small firms in Japan hiking wages rises to 63% in FY2024

Surely that's ratio?

Born for each other?

this product was designed with taipa (“time performance“) in mind

Mindless, low value input to fuel mindless, low value output?

Heck ya! I’ll dig through that in a sec!

Toyota have really pushed the exterior design envelope with the new Prius.

It's a pity the interior doesn't match the sophistication of the body.

Hugh Grant plays a low life, über sleazy Cockney journalist in The Gentlemen.

A heartfelt performance, obviously.

Mmmkay

It's a sacrosanct privilege that should be respected by all.

Diplomatic properties are sacrosanct, too, and any violation of that should be punished with the full weight of the international community. No ifs, ands, or buts.

Read "we condone bullying by our inaction."

Exhibitor's incompetence rescued by thief's.

Ginza tonight, boys!

I'm sure it has an interesting ingredients list, but who cares? Right?

Dozens of angry Israeli settlers 

Words can be very powerful. Is the inference that these entitled, protected, frequently murderous pirates have a valid grievance?

How about some further context, that in the same West Bank, Palestinians of all ages are subject to draconian military law, while 'settlers,' merely answer to wrist-slapping civil courts. Here's a video of an 8 year-old (yes, eight years old) being dragged from his house for the temerity of throwing a stone at a heavily armoured army jeep:

https://www.btselem.org/hebrew/video/20240309_soldiers_took_8-year-old_palestinian_from_his_house_in_qabatiya#full

Google Maps gives cycling routes in Tokyo, but is hit-and-miss outside of it.

Recently when pedalling out in the sticks on car navigation, it kept suggesting 'faster' but longer routes : |

US foolishly continues to pay the piper without understanding how the world has moved away from support of Israel.

...and NATO and G8 and...

Unlocked? I know TIJ, but really?

Felt it here in central Tokyo. A long one.

British police generally don't identify suspects by name.

'British' refers to England, Scotland and Wales, as in the official country name the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The partisan Royal Ulster Constabulary was replaced by the Police Service of Northern Ireland in 2001.

To describe the latter as 'British' is inaccurate, and dismisses the fact that Irish identity holds equal legitimacy to British identity in a region where the Irish identity Sinn Féin (whose voters favour Irish Unity over continued Union with Britain) is the largest political party.

The author's LinkedIn profile describes them as a business and economy writer, so I'll cut them some slack.

Will it be Japanese design, Italian engine and British gearbox?

Makes a lot of sense even if the Maglev goes pear shaped, there's always the Shink.

The current offices are getting quite old, and hardly conducive to a company of TMC's status.

All things to all men statement, with deference to higher authority salving wounds.

Perhaps pre-emptive spanking might relieve their tensions.

2 million yen comp for that? Jesus wept. Japanese justice that tight its butt squeaks.

Cop suspended for three months for multiple thefts?

Classy, Tokyo Police, classy.

US blows you up (by proxy, so it's not their fault, right?) then hands you a Band Aid.

Do this elsewhere in the OECD and you're fined a hefty percentage of company earnings. These practices and the piss-poor penalties prevent Japanese companies from knowing how to compete in global markets.

Standard operating procedure: force your suppliers to become 'black kigyo' so that you can be Snow White. The same sleight of hand happens inside organisations between contract workers and seishain. There's a lot of Tatemae out there.

Go plot to blow up a subway station in somebody else’s country instead.

What a clever boy! You tell 'em.

His association with al-Qaida will always be a black mark against him.

"Bin Laden was, though, a product of a monumental miscalculation by western security agencies. Throughout the 80s he was armed by the CIA and funded by the Saudis to wage jihad against the Russian occupation of Afghanistan. Al-Qaida, literally "the database", was originally the computer file of the thousands of mujahideen who were recruited and trained with help from the CIA to defeat the Russians. Inexplicably, and with disastrous consequences, it never appears to have occurred to Washington that once Russia was out of the way, Bin Laden's organisation would turn its attention to the west."

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/jul/08/july7.development