Mikanojo comments

i see so many scared people afraid to act, afraid to speak up. With such lame excuses as what it they are wrong? what if they alienate themselves from their neighbors by filing a report? What if you do nothing and the child DIES you scared little sheep?

Why not just report the suspicious noise to the police and let them investigate it?

So many seem willing to do absolutely NOTHING and let a child possibly be beaten than to risk being wrong and embarrassing themselves.

What if i was wrong? If i filed a complaint and it was later found to not be child abuse, i could hold mai head up with no shame, knowing that i erred on the side of protecting a child. I honestly would hope that there is NEVER any more child abuse, but since there is I rather be too cautious than to do nothing.

What if the neighbors found out i filed the complaint? Then that would make me what exactly? A whistle-blower? a concerned citizen? What a hidoi thing to be labeled as ne? To be labeled as being someone who cares more about others than about their own stupid pride?

If like so many others here i made excuses and chose to do NOTHING and then it turned out to be child abuse - i would hang mai head in guilt for LETTING IT GO ON SO LONG WHILE I CRINGED IN FEAR OF EMBARRASSMENT AND DID NOTHING.

@bass4funk: What i called visual beauty and sex appeal you called visual stimulation.. we agree with each other on that point, but i would say that the men who gave the award are acting purposefully. We all have sexual urges and they come to us at the strangest moments, but part of becoming an adult is learning to make good choices versus consequences about our actions BEFORE we commit to them. Generally speaking you are correct that men are more visually stimulated (and buy the most porn) and women are generally more emotionally stimulated (and so we buy the steamy romance books) ~^_^~ The only thing i found perverse was the sexist remark made by another commenter that this award was "just another thing to put women in their place".

Perversion is semantic to a point - do not misunderstand - some comments / words/ acts will always be vulgar and inappropriate, but this award is really just a polite way of saying the women have sexy legs. Again it is much more an example of where a man's mind will wander. This is a socially acceptable way to give a woman a sexual compliment in a society that is driven by sex and in denial of it at the same time.

a child's toy that amuses is NOT a useless thing at all. As m5c32 pointed out it is also a proof of concept.. the 1 wheeled balance act that is precise enough to work even on a wire? That is not a segway patent infringement, that is a BIG step beyond.

@retaliator: Their hair color and black outfits are all color coordinated to compliment each other AND also the color of the award.

@Monkeyz: "Just another thing to keep women in their place"?? If your see a woman's place as providing visual beauty then I suppose you could say that was what happened here? Awards like 'best legs' are really just compliments about a woman's sexual appeal. It really says more about where the average man's mind will focus than it says anything about a woman's place in society.

I live here in USA now and when the news channels speak of heightened UK terrorist threats and warnings about travel, it hurts the USA economy. What happens is that people travel less. It the USA travel industry first, then has a lesser but still noticeable effect on the tourism trade in the countries that Americans are asked to either avoid or be extra careful in. How any of that can actually HELP the Obama administration is some thing that only a fiction writer could dream of.

From a political perspective it would be FAR better to report that the terrorist threat was lessened and that the current administration was responsible for making the world safer ne?

I have no wish to feel paranoid, but there is nothing wrong with being aware of potential terrorist threats, and if there is reason to think that the threat is greater in one place than another then i am very happy that we have the warning system in place. The terror warning system has become as common here now as the air quality report or the weather report and that is a GOOD thing. That means that we are learning to cope with the threat, instead of giving in to fear and jumping at shadows.

With so much to enjoy and see and do inside, there is maybe not much need to look outside at all. It sounds wonderful.. i wish i could move there. I am no fan of Osaka really for a few reasons.. maybe Frasers will make more of these places farther north?

This does not sound so bad really.. the small screen optimal viewing distance is 65cm.. so you hold it in your hands just like you would hold a watchman or your blackberry or keitai now yes?

The larger screen has an optimal distance of 90cm.. this is just about as far as most of us sit from our monitor screens now if they are sitting on desktops.. so this would b perfect for that! The trouble is the price.. which hopefully can come down some day.

@elbudamexicano: Did you know that the average hot water temperature setting for a water heater is between 120 and 125 degrees F (about 50 degrees C)? If you were to suddenly get splashed with water that hot then it would hurt and scald you.. but what is being written about in the article is a gradual warming up to that heat.. if we allow ourselves time then we can become comfy with the hot water.. and even tho it will make our whole body bright red when we get out.. it was not painful when we were in the water ne? With the laptops, the heat slowly increases.. and we can become accustomed to it, especially if our concentration is on what we are doing with the laptop and not how warm it is slowly becoming.

So.. a neu way to get a very old and once common skin problem. Oki so sitting something that is very warm on your lap for long periods of time (even if it is not painfully warm) can and will affect your skin.. oki thank you for telling us that.

If a child is crying chronically then it is not just a trivial thing.. it is a clue that too many people choose to overlook. Before i was adopted i was not allowed to be heard crying. While i am certain that thought excited 1 of the regular commenters in this thread it should be a sign to the others that something very wrong was happening - but we are taught to keep such things hidden.

Some people always ask so where was your father when you were being beaten or locked in the furoba? Otousan was busy working hard to provide us with our apartment and food and clothes.. he took business trips that kept him away for weeks and when he does come home you hide such things from otousan, you do not wish to upset your chichi do you? Just because you were such an awful child? You never speak of it at school or to friends.. scars from being beaten are shameful to be seen, so you hide them. It was not until i was finally sick and in hospital in mai 16th year that someone there examined me and decided that the old scars and mai silence were signs of abuse - it was a horrible year and it finally ended in the destruction of mai family - for that I was blamed, and me being adopted and brought to live in USA.

But oh no no, do not speak of it! Say it is nothing, pretend it is just a "crybaby" ne? How SICK is the commenter who wishes to blame the child for crying "9 times out of 10" - If a child is crying in a home and nobody is answering the door then the police need to be called because they have the authority to enter property.

Do not give social workers more 'power' but instead give them better connection.. better connection with police and better connection with courts and better connection with hospitals and with schools and with the media so that what is and is not abuse becomes better understood and people become aware of the proper way they SHOULD react to child abuse when they suspect it.

As people become more aware and better educated there will be some false accusations (but it will NEVER be mass hysteria) then let the people who are trained to know child abuse decide if the report is real or not.

Oh good grief ~>_<~ For the sake of literacy and what i thought was obvious, Kitagawa~san is a SHE, Miura~san is a HE and they are both wearing unisex loose shirts that do not show off either of their bodies because they are not trying to use sex as a selling point in this picture.. instead they are expressing comfort, as if to say they enjoy the soup and are happy to be working together.. and on a more subtle level - (which if you cannot tell boy from girl then you most likely missed this) - the big thicker shirts convey a sense of a cold day when most people wear thicker clothes.. and what warms us up on a cold day? A nice hot bowl of Knorr soup does!

Disillusioned made a point of saying that we should NOT recommend 'Memoirs Of A Geisha' and i completely agree with him - it was a horrible collection of twisted misinformation and it was even sued by the source who the author used for that reason. But if someone is interested in what that source really had said and is interested in the older culture of Nihon then Geisha, A Life by Mineko Iwasaki (ISBN: 0743444329) is a WONDERFUL book to read.

@ islandview: Gomen.. did you mean to write "two Japanese women"?? Miura~san is very much a man and quite sekushi.. call him kawaii if you wish but make no mistake that is all male under that sweet smile ~^_^~

This criminal is a perfect example of a psycho-sexual addiction. A teacher, an educated, adult man, involved in his community as a teacher, a good job with fair pay, but his disorder was stronger than his sense, he risked his job and his freedom just to peep at little girls using the potty. As someone else pointed out he could have just looked at internet porn for free, but his addiction apparently was not fulfilled by just online images, apparently he wanted his own, he wanted to know the children in the pictures, children he would see every day while he worked as their teacher at the school. This pervert needs help for his mental illness, but society needs to be protected FROM him while he receives that treatment. He needs to be in prison and he needs to be treated for his addiction.

Predictive software is not neu-tech at all. Predictive software that actually could learn instead of simply remember choices is a step in the right direction. Some fones do get better at predicting your text with practice.. and it would be nice if mai voda could tell me where mai favorite style of restaurant is located in a city i have not visited before.. but when it can take the separate data, from net searches and texting and the other 'hard' sensors they mention in the article (location, motion, voice patterns, temperature) - when mai fone can suddenly guess that i am sick and needing help or lost or hungry and make the necessary call for me then you can start calling your fone a mind reader.

What a twisted chikan! It seems very strange that a construction worker would be carrying scissors unless maybe he is a construction paper worker? He saw a 20yr old woman sleeping on the train and he took the opportunity to use the scissors to make 3 cuts in her pants.. it does not say the pattern only that 3 cuts were made approximately 10cm each.. i wonder if the 3 cuts were in the shape of |_|.. cutting a flap to play pi-pingutomu?

Actually they are making robots to do EVERYTHING including social service work like counter help at 7-11 AND hazardous materials handling AND microsurgery AND factory assembly work AND farming.. the list only grows bigger and bigger with time. The idea of outsourcing or importing labor is simply wrong on many levels. It certainly has done wonders to the USA economy ne? Even though robos do cost much money initially, once the infrastructure is created then productivity soon MORE than pays for their cost and maintenance. They do not take holidays off or maternity or bereavement leave, they do not need a wage, only a maintenance budget, Retraining is as easy as updating software, they DO get sick some times in a way - but they can literally be repaired, replaced or re-manufactured with NO labor issues. While it certainly is a scary idea for workers to be replaced by machines, from the view of a company it is easy to see why they would be an attractive option.

The dress is in need of a belt or at least a pin to bring it in at her waistline.. maybe what we are witnessing in the picture is a 'wardrobe' malfunction. If that is true then it would also explain why she is holding her hand 2 her chest in that gesture that to me appears as insecurity.. but it could just as easily also be a gesture that is connected to her emotions involved in the song she is singing.

Sailor Mars sells biiru now? I am guessing that will help sales ne?

California and its droughts and the waste of drinking water really have nothing at all to do with this picture. Droughts are most often in places where there is NOT an effective means set up to irrigate or allow for the creation or transporting of drinking water.

Nihon is SURROUNDED by water, and there are several desalinization plants built to supply clean water for drinking and irrigation is not really an issue ANYWHERE in Nihon because that part of the Earth gets a LOT of rain, seasonal tsunami and monsoon and in the north there is much snow.

So can we please stop arguing about if the person in the image is wasting water? In fact they are performing a necessary function of cooling down what is very often hot asphalt. It is GOOD for the people, the local wildlife and even the environment to cool down the artificial heat radiating asphalt. We should THANK that person.

What i DO keep thinking about is that it is so strange, since we all have the internet literally at our fingertips, that matters like the definition of the term 'molestation' and 'child' and the laws regarding age of consent in Nihon must be explained again and again to just 1 commenter who continually in this thread and others, makes excuses, makes bold incorrect statements, offers conjecture, all with the obvious intention of changing attention away from sexual crimes involving any underage child. The law is the law and the truth is the truth - and that commenter has a apparent agenda to excuse sexual crimes against children and the reasons behind that agenda are becoming equally plain for those of us who follow the threads.

The attack is the crime, the age if the victim is what defines the crime as child abuse, as well as child molestation, which IS a different criminal offense than simply molestation - look it up. And the age of sexual consent is 13 in Japan; this child in the article is 9 or 10 - so the argument of consent IS valid, and the laws regarding child sexual molestation DO apply: The national age of consent in Japan is 13 as specified by the Japanese Penal Code Articles 176 and 177. However, prefectures can have ordinances that prohibit sexual activities with any minor under 18.

'Indecency through compulsion', Art. 176 Penal Code 'A person who, through violence or intimidation, commits an indecent act upon a male or female person of not less than thirteen (13) years of age shall be punished with imprisonment at forced labour for not less than six months nor more than seven years. The same shall apply to a person who commits an indecent act upon a male or female person under thirteen (13) years of age.'.

‘Rape’, Art. 177 Penal Code 'A person who, through violence or intimidation, has sexual intercourse with a female person of not less than thirteen (13) years of age commits the crime of rape and shall be punished with imprisonment at forced labour for a limited term of not less than two years. 'The same shall apply to a person who has sexual intercourse with a 'female person under thirteen (13) years of age'.

Soft lavender, teal and maroon.. such beautiful colors the machines have!

The article is about sexual molestation. Molestation is UNWANTED and inappropriate physical contact. In this article the act involves a child who cannot legally give their consent, so the act is NOT consensual - NON-consensual touching IS molestation.

@ dolphingirl: you said "you seem to be okay with people who are different from the norm living in such a way as to not upset people who are ignorant and bigoted."

If the alternative is living in such a way as to intentionally upset people who are ignorant and bigoted - then no.. i would rather NOT upset and anger them. What good does it do to intentionally create needless controversy about what in truth is a very simple, basic human trait?

Homosexuality would not BE an issue if there was not so many homosexual people busy MAKING it an issue.

I am not saying to hide yourself or feel ashamed, i am saying that your sexuality SHOULD NOT be an issue for ANYONE else except YOU and the person you LOVE. Why make a public display of it? Why create that label and create that box and then put yourself in it - if in fact that is what you are trying NOT to do?

Just be you. Just live an honest life and be honest to yourself and your loved ones and do not worry about what the other people think. If you are too far off of what society finds appropriate then you will be in prison - beyond that fair warning, just live your life as a life and not as a public spectacle to frighten and confuse and anger others.

Show the truth and harmlessness and beauty of who you are and how you live by BEING true and harmless and beautiful - not by attacking people whose only crime is ignorance and fear of the unknown - we ALL suffer from some form of that.

@ dolphingirl: what i have a problem with is how so often it seems that these transvestites in the gay pride parades BECOME the stereotype for the public perception of what a gay person is like. They make a spectacle of themselves and get the media attention - and spread a misconception.

What i believe is that the best way to put stereotypes behind us as a society is to REMOVE them. All i am saying is that fetishes like cross-dressing are NOT the same as the sexual orientation of homosexuality and that if the fetishists and cross-dressing entertainers want their own parade then good luck to them!

I would not crash their parade.. i am lesbian, not a cross-dresser - so i would not belong there.

As far as being labeled and 'put in a box'... by choosing to hold public parades you are drawing attention to your sexuality and MAKING it a label, MAKING it a public issue, and CREATING that box that the public lets you PUT YOURSELF in.

I have no shame in letting people know that i am lesbian, but that is only 1 small part of the whole of me. Being lesbian is nothing to have a 'diversity' parade about. It is just a matter of who i am sleeping with and whose business is that to anyone else? Of all the things that a person would wish to be known for, i honestly just do not see 'sleeps with another woman' as being a parade-worthy thing.

@ MistWizard.. there is no excuse in mai mind at all for ANY molesters. no matter who the attacker is OR who they are attacking. If the groper had been a teenage girl and the victim an elderly man it would not make ANY difference to me - the criminal act of molestation is a physical and emotional violation and it is absolutely INEXCUSABLE.

If you cannot control yourself enough in public to keep from grabbing strangers then you do not belong in public - you belong in therapy, kept locked away.

Groper.. is a common term for a sexual predator who physically gropes strangers when given opportunity - but the legal term for 'groping' is molestation and that is the crime that this person in the article is charged with, a single episode of 'groping' a child. While it is true that many molesters choose their victims carefully, they are not all so capable of that - this person in the article is charged with molesting a child, it was an attack of opportunity as far as the article tells us - but we honestly do not know if the man had stalked / targeted the child before the actual crime was committed.

The only differences when the victim of molestation is a very young child (as they are in this article) is that the most common defenses that the molesters claim (enticement, consensual act) cannot be used - and it should also be said that such young victims are not capable of fending off or effectively fighting back, which is one of the main reasons that many molesters target children. It says very much about the character of the molester in that they choose the most helpless innocent they can find as their victim.

@ dolphingirl.. now that you recognize that the 2 transvestites in the photo are most likely NOT gay, and agree with me that they are NOT realistic representations of gay people.. then can you not also see that they are only adding to the confusion that straight people often have about gays / lesbians? And the media is equally at fault for focusing so often on these clowns - it sells magazines and makes spectacles for the news program.. but they are NOT what being gay is.. not at all. Let them act like that in the transvestite parade or the fetish follies ne? They really do not help the gay / lesbian people in the community at all with those stupid displays that only confuse the ignorant and spread a FALSE stereotype.

@ Dewashita.. no they are not brave. They are hiding behind costumes and makeup and false pretense, just playing gay for the day to shock and get attention. When those idiotic costumes come off they can always claim it was only a joke and it seems obvious to me that it IS only a joke for them. Consider how brave the others are.. the ones who show you their own faces.

@ dolphingirl: i do not really think it is a matter of supporting 'diversity' at all. It is really the question of supporting or allowing others to have their freedoms to live and act as they do - and speaking for mai self - those freedoms and rights end where the laws begin. Some laws have not been written yet.. that is why homosexual marriage is not allowed every where yet. Those changes ARE coming. But public indecency laws have not really changed so much. Those 2 men in the picture with their exaggerated flamboyant costumes and intentionally unkempt appearance, their unshaven armpits and makeup applied like they were circus clowns - they are NOT really very realistic representations of gay people now are they? NO.. they are just attention seekers dressed to shock people. I see those 2 men and i feel insulted. Imagine an ethnic pride parade.. where all of the Nihonjin people were marching.. and then you see 2 gaijin, wearing silly samurai costumes, with wigs on, and painted faces in caricature, with slanted eyebrows and big front teeth - that would be exactly the kind of mocking that i see in the photo. So please do not confuse them with homosexuals? Please do not confuse homosexuality with a fetish or with a lifestyle choice? They are not the same things at all.

@ dolphingirl.. how do you think that a lesbian becomes a lesbian or how do you think a lesbian SHOULD think? I do not support gay-bashing OR straight-bashing, which is what you are doing to Gurukun.. it is not enough that he is willing to have a drink with someone who is gay.. you feel that he needs to be willing to do what else with them instead?

"Openmindedness" should not ever be an excuse - to blindly accept unhealthy deviant behavior, or to excuse public indecency, or to simply swallow what ever silly philosophy that comes to you. EVERYONE makes choices in their lives every day about what they are willing to accept in their lives and what they will NOT accept. I am not lesbian because of any of the stereotypical reasons that you see on terebi shows - i was not molested by men or abused by mai otousan, i was not ever confused about if i was a boy trapped in a girl's body.. i was in every way a typical girl i think, and i had dreams of growing up and getting married.. i had the 'man of mai dreams' and boyfriends and crushes.. it was not about some perverted lust or some traumatic incident or gender confusion at all! What made ME a lesbian was falling in love with someone who also fell in love with me.. and that beautiful loving person just also happens to be another girl. I was always taught that sex was meant to be an act of intimate love GIVEN to someone you love.. not an act of selfish lust that you TAKE from someone else, or an act of abuse and domination, like rape or bdsm. So i never was part of the whoring scene, never was part of the naitokurabu scene, i was too busy learning how to cook well and make a clean attractive house and a clean attractive ME for mai future aruji.. who knew that he would actually be a she? ~^_^~