Mike Dashler comments

Every athletes in their home countries do start the event in the same time, then we compare the results at the end. It would be possible for marathon.

Don't think that would work. They could all start at the same time, but it couldn't be made fair if they are running in different locations. Sure they run the same distance, but elevation changes in the race, altitude, wind speed and direction all come into play. The only way they run the same race is if they are in the same location.

What is the definition of domestic violence (DV) and how many claims of DV turned out not to be true? My Japanese spouse and I separated almost a year ago. As I was packing my bags to leave, she asked where I was going and I wouldn't tell her. She said that not telling her was DV. I never touched her or even raised my voice, but she made a DV claim against me. I even had a witness there watching me pack my bags to make sure that she didn't get out of hand because she had several times before.

This reminds me of "Kim Jong Un Looking at Things". The only thing I am missing is our PM being surrounded by people taking notes.

I thought the exact same thing. People taking notes, clapping, and crying to be in the presence of Dear Leader.

It took six months for the boy to recover from his injuries, but 19 months for this monster to be arrested? How does this make any sense?

Give it a rest and let the Olympics go. Continuing to throw taxpayer money at this is such a terrible waste. This article should be in the Crime section. This Olympics has nothing to do with sports. It's just about money and saving face.

Turkey is a country as corrupt as they come. Turkey knows that Ghosn threw a bunch of money at the airline folks to help him get through the country. The court is upset that they haven't been paid off like everyone else, and now they are prosecuting them just trying to get their piece of the pie.

I definitely see how someone who is having suicidal thoughts or is on the edge could be led to go through with it if someone they idolized did. I still think the media should report it. However, I think the media needs to be responsible with what they report. Anytime a suicide is reported, the media should include a paragraph about the many ways people who are struggling with suicidal thoughts can get help.

The poor driver has to live with this now. 

What about the poor lady who was hit and left for dead on the side of the road? This is tragic for both parties, but why empathize only with the driver who couldn't even be bothered to stop and see what he had hit? The accident is forgivable, but leaving the woman there to die is definitely not.

Depression is a serious motional sickness. It's not easy to live with this fate. I hope these poor souls may find peace where they are now.

@Mike Stone, well said. Most concise and sympathetic comment on here.

Why is this in the politics section and not in sports? Oh right, the only valid reason to say that the Olympics will go on next year is politics.

I think my favorite episode with him was definitely a Festivus for the rest of us! RIP

My 8-year old daughter went to school in Musashimuriyama up until October 2019. She was walking home from school one day when a man in a white box van pulled up next to her. He said that it was hot outside and that she should get in so that he could give her a ride home. Fortunately she sensed the danger, started screaming, and ran into the nearest 7-11. We filed a police report, but were told that since he didn't try to force her into the van, that they couldn't do anything about it and weren't going to investigate it. This incident and one other led us to putting our daughter in a different school. I wonder if this is the same guy. If it is, I can't help but blame the police for not taking more action in my daughter's case.

If they want to earn their own income, why don't they cover their own security costs? I'm not Canadian, but if I were, I would definitely be upset about $650K of my tax dollars being spend protecting three people who are not giving back to society. I can think of so many better ways to put tax dollars to use.

Perhaps he was driving directly into the sunrise (since it was 7am) and couldn't see her and the dog.  Still no excuse for leaving the scene and not attempting to render aid.  The fact that he returned proves that he knew he hit something and should have immediately stopped.

Not blaming the victim here, but if she was getting calls and messages repeatedly, why didn't she just block his number?  If she wasn't responding to any of his messages, this definitely seems like a case of harassment or stalking.  However, phrases like "I won't forgive you," don't sound very threatening.

It's been 20 months since it was determined that he could be held criminally responsible.  What on earth could make this process take so long?

It seems that nearly every day we have a story about a pedestrian being injured or killed in a crosswalk.  What is the solution?  I propose to stop allowing cars to move at the same time as pedestrians/bikers.  Stop all vehicular traffic and let all four (or more) crosswalks be green at the same time.  After enough time has passed, stop all pedestrians/bikers and then let the vehicles go.  We will still have problems with cars and people/bikers running their lights, but the number of incidents should drop, and it should be easy to determine who is at fault in each incident with the proper video surveillance.

The way everyone complains about Japanese drivers and people running red lights makes me wonder what other countries you have lived in.  I do agree that people not stopping and running red lights is a bad thing, but this problem is hardly unique to Japan.  The driving here is much better than South Korea, Eastern Europe, Turkey and the middle east, and of course better than the USA.

Odd that the headline is "Nadal," but the picture is Djokovic.

That sounds like the "victim" was bullying the attacker/defender for no reason! You don't blatantly make fun of a stranger because you don't know what they're capable of doing or how they're going to react! Lesson learned, I hope!

Seems more to me like we are only hearing one side of the story. I will reserve judgement until we hear what "the victim" has to say. Unfortunately, there will not be a follow up story, so we will never know.

Very sad story.  Hope the boy recovers.

I hope we can all agree that this is a good thing. The people of North Korea have suffered tremendously at the hands of the Kim dynasty. Any goodwill that the outside world can offer them helps to debunk the propaganda they are continuously fed that every other country wants to conquer and enslave them.

Wow! Amazing story.  Hope he fully recovers and is able to get back out there again!

What a shame.  If Tokyo had been hit harder instead of Chiba, the government would have brought in every possibly resource to have power restored within a few days.

It seems that so many of the women's matches are lasting under an hour or just over an hour.  Is it time to have the women also start playing best of 5 sets?

Great to see Naomi winning again!  Ganbatte!

Could definitely use more information before saying this is the fault of the driver, or due to his advanced age. This happened at 11:30PM.  What were the lighting conditions like? If the road wasn't well lit, was the guy in the road wearing dark clothes? Was the crosswalk on a straight patch of street, or was it in or just around a curve?

I almost hit someone once who was passed out drunk in the street close to midnight. It was not well lit, not in a crosswalk, and was just as I came around a tight curve on a narrow two-lane road. The guy was dressed in dark jeans and a black shirt. I couldn't stop in time, but was able to swerve around him. Lucky for both of us that there was no oncoming traffic. Had I blinked, sneezed, or been even the slightest bit distracted, I wouldn't have seen him in time.  As it was, I thought he was a dead animal until I got past him. I used my car to block him from traffic while I woke him up and then carried him to the sidewalk.  He was incoherent and bleeding from his fall. I called the police to assist him, but was terrified as a gaijin that they would assume I hit him with my car, or got in a fight with him or something. Luckily that wasn't the case for me. 

So while I understand perhaps not seeing someone laying in the road in the middle of the night, I still find it hard to believe that anyone could not realize that they hit something.

TIL: No rainy season in Hokkaido??? Why did i choose to live in Tokyo again?

Perhaps because Tokyo doesn't have six months of snow?  I lived in Aomori for four years before moving down to Tokyo.  As an avid golfer, I definitely appreciate the nearly year-round opportunities to golf in the Kanto region.

I agree with most of the comments above, but in my opinion, there is one critical piece of information missing in this article...what was Miwa's Mother doing after she was taken from her?  Was she fighting each and every day to get her back?  Did she get on her feet, and then start fighting for the return of her daughter? She was taken away because her Mother needed to find a place to live away from her partners including Miwa's Father and she remained in government custody for 8 years.  Yes, the system in Japan of taking care of foster children is terrible, but the Mother seems to be the root cause of the issues for Miwa.

If the Emperor is nothing more than a figure head, what is the purpose of him visiting any foreign country? He can't negotiate or agree to any deals, treaties, etc. What purpose would his trip serve other than to spend taxpayer dollars?