MilesTeg comments

obladiToday  07:26 am JST

There is no question that Japan is changing the way baseball is played.

Really? How so? How has it changed MLB?

Desert TortoiseToday  12:31 pm JST

The idea is to get the owners to rent their buildings or sell them so they are occupied instead of being abandoned and boarded up. Empty buildings attract vandals, squatters and become a source of problems for the police and emergency services.

Exactly. Akiya's (abandoned homes) are a major problem in the countryside. If you can't sell or rent it then you have either have to live in it or demolish it. You can try to give it away but often the terrible conditions of the house means it would cost a lot of money to make it livable. So you can't even give them away unless they're in satisfactory condition which is rare. It's often the offspring that are left to deal with it and they don't want to move back to the countryside. Maybe the best option is to sell it a very low price or give it away as soon as the house becomes abandoned. That way at least it should be in fairly okay condition...maybe.

rainydayToday  03:06 pm JST

You didn't list any pitchers. If you watch MLB, you'd know that their best players were not on the roster especially pitchers. The WBC doesn't mean all that much to MLB players but it means everything to Japanese players and Japanese. The same way that the world cup/championship of basketball and hockey mean little to NBA and NHL players.

Its true that several top American MLB pitchers didn't join Team USA. Its also true that the reason they didn't is because they couldn't be insured for it, not because they didn't want to.

As for the lineup, as I said its literally entirely made up of all stars. Yup, there are some names like Judge missing from it but its still an all-star lineup anyway you look at it.

Pitching is just as important as batting. Some would say more.

It's not just insurance. The regular season starts on March 30th. About a week away. Many players and teams don't want to risk injury so close to the start of the season. The WBC is the same as the WC for basketball and hockey. An exciting tournament but not with the best players in the world.

rainydayToday  02:06 pm JST

The Japanese roster is full of Japanese superstars while the US not.

This is just stupid nonsense. Literally every guy in the US team's starting lineup today was an MLB all-star:

Mookie Betts (6 time all star, 2018 AL MVP)

Mike Trout (10 time all star, 3 time AL MVP)

Paul Goldschmidt (7 time all star, 2022 NL MVP)

Nolan Arenado (7 time all star)

 Kyle Schwarber (2 time all star, NL home run leader 2022)

Trea Turner (2 time all star, NL batting champ 2021)

J.T. Realmuto (3 time all star)

 Cedric Mullins (2021 all star, 30-30 club member)

Tim Anderson (2 time all star, AL batting champion 2019)

You didn't list any pitchers. If you watch MLB, you'd know that their best players were not on the roster especially pitchers. The WBC doesn't mean all that much to MLB players but it means everything to Japanese players and Japanese. The same way that the world cup/championship of basketball and hockey mean little to NBA and NHL players.

buchailldanaToday  12:47 pm JST

Amazing how the Us goes on about being the best at Baseball, Basketball and Hockey but never seem to win much.

I suppose they have their American football.

Anyway well done Japan but as people pointed out, the commentators are awful.

The US have won plenty of Olympic golds for basketball; the Dream Teams. When their best players can play, they're always the favorites. Basketball world cup's schedule conflicts with the NBA's regular season and it's just not that revered among US players.

The US are one of the best teams but not the best in hockey.

If more US superstars could play in the WBC, it would be far more interesting. MLB spring training starts February 24th and the WBC just doesn't carry the same importance for US players. The Japanese roster is full of Japanese superstars while the US not. Japan was favored to win and they did as they should have. Congrats to them.

So their offshoot groups are still thwarting the authorities by not reporting their activities. Doesn't sound like a cult that has changed or even feels contrite for what they did.

I can't believe that they still receive donations and have at least 1,280 members.

When you overproduce and saturate the market, the result is often a poor product. Combine that with a Woke- Forced-Diversity agenda and the need to cut costs by hiring poor, inexperienced writers and directors, then you get the current state of Marvel, DC, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings. They refuse to listen to fans and completely alter the IP's lore and try to bank off established names cause they know that if they created their own original stories and characters, nobody would pay a penny.

LoveJapanToday  04:52 pm JST

MilesTegToday 02:29 pm JST

Ultra privileged, narcissist born with a silver spoon crying about how hard her life is. Book sounds like some good kindling to start a fire.

Take a look in the mirror before you start throwing judgements and criticisms around willy nilly Miles.\

That she comes from an ultra-privileged background with a silver spoon is not a judgement. It's actuality.

She was arrested and convicted for a DUI, then drove on a suspended license and was charged with reckless driving not even a year later. The next month after that, she was arrested for driving 75mph in a 35mph zone without her headlights off and refused to enter an alcohol education program. She attempted to appeal by starting an online petition and even asked the state governor for a pardon when she was clearly guilty. She was arrested for cocaine possession, lied, and said it wasn't her bag when it was. She tried to copyright the expressions 'that's hot' and 'loves it' when they're vernacular.

Calling her narcissistic isn't a judgement.

Now she wants sympathy when all that happened to her was self-inflicted; nobody's fault but her own.

I look in the mirror everyday, I've never drank and drove. Never been convicted of a crime and gone to prison or tried to copyright common expressions as my own.

What's wrong with criticizing a public figure who deserves the criticism. I'm sure you have.

Ultra privileged, narcissist born with a silver spoon crying about how hard her life is. Book sounds like some good kindling to start a fire.

Kind of on the fence on this one. It's true that TOS shocked people with some of their diction and storylines back in the 60's but the use of the F-word in particular from Jean Luc sounds out of place as he never uttered them before. Other characters in Picard have swore but not him...until now. I'd prefer that ST avoid modern cuss words as it brings the show to close to home for me. I prefer it when 'their world' is different from ours and not the same as ours.

u_s__reamerToday  01:01 pm JST

Did you watch To Leslie or like the 'in the name of diversity argument' is this 'the hype for Riseborough argument' created by a small group of actors?

I did watch "To Leslie" as soon as it became "available", perhaps even before that "small group of actors" who came to the same conclusion: the best acting on screen seen in a very long time. I haven't yet seen Michelle Yeoh's performance, hence the "?". I can't comment further, other than to say that since last year the Oscar folk have been under pressure to show they are hip to "Diversity", which was prominently showcased this year, a fact that takes nothing away from deserving recipients. After all, as a self-serving award, an Oscar means a meal ticket and a career boost more than anything else.

It's gotten to the point where 'woke' makes us question if someone was truly deserving or was chosen to be politically correct. That's why actually watching performances is the only way to judge for ourselves without forgetting that in the end, there is a lot of subjectivity as it's art.

Indeed an Oscar win can boost a career but it's interesting to note that many Oscar winners, especially supporting actors, initially benefited from winning: Lou Gossett Jr, Timothy Hutton, Cuba Gooding, Tatum O'Neal, Mira Sorvino, Patricia Arquette, etc. Not to say that they are bad actors but the buzz from their Oscar win quickly faded because....maybe....they're just mediocre?

u_s__reamerToday  09:00 am JST

For Hollywood Hugh Grant donned his best British Oscar Wilde while Andrea Riseborough was overlooked by the cameras and came away empty-handed (in the name of "diversity"?).

bearandrodentToday  10:48 am JST

Just imagine what would have happened if Everything Everywhere didn’t win after all the hype in the media. I honestly didn’t have a doubt in my mind that they were going to win big.

There were 10 nominated for best picture. Did you watch all of them to determine which one you felt deserved to win?

Did you watch To Leslie or like the 'in the name of diversity argument' is this 'the hype for Riseborough argument' created by a small group of actors?

To say that a film or actor won undeservedly because of media attention and that another deserved to win without having watched all the films doesn't make any sense.

Sh1mon M4sadaToday  12:53 pm JST

30 WHO staffers submitted written complaints about him

*..*.or, 30 WHO staffers were solicited for dirt on him, whilst hundreds if not thousands others refused to risk their own reputation dabbling in politics. It means nothing as far as the WHO is concerned.

It's utterly irrelevant to keep focusing on Tedros and his medical background

ah, now you want to play the relevance card. The smell of hypocrisy....

You're saying those 30 were coerced into making false statements and that thousands of others were also asked to do so yet refused????

Relevance card?? It is irrelevant to continue to focus on Tedros and his medical background as they're unrelated to Kasai's behavior or the actions taken by WHO.

What you wrote doesn't make any sense.

takabin3650Today  12:16 pm JST

@MilesTeg

First, Dr. Tedros is not qualified for the position. He covered up 3 cholera upbreaks in his home country. Perhaps he did not know that 90% of cholera victims will survive with rehydration therapy (rehydration salts). For severe cases, IV and electrolytes will help. He ignored the possibility that the Wuhan Lab was responsible for the outbreak (the virus shows every indication that it was genetically engineered). Next, the Philippines are very different from East Asia culturally and genetically. Also, MDs and PhDs in the clinical field are often seen as somewhat arrogant; however, this has to do with the heavy responsibilities of their respective positions. If they make a mistake, they can lose their license. Unless there is clear evidence of abusive and racist behavior, judgement should be withheld. If you can understand Japanese and watch Japanese TV news, this is not a major issue. It will be a major issue, if and when, evidence is shown.

30 WHO staffers submitted written complaints about him. There is plenty of evidence and was plenty of time for those complaints to be investigated. Nothing has been determined to the contrary therefore they are legitimate complaints. Just the sheer number of complaints also indicates that there's a pattern of behavior.

It's utterly irrelevant to keep focusing on Tedros and his medical background. He didn't file a complaint against him and he's functioning in an administrative role here. Nor is Tedros acting on his own arbitrarily. WHO as an organization has made the decisions based on the evidence presented. Everything you wrote is irrelevant to this situation and is a poor attempt to deflect from the actual behavior and incidents and make unrelated excuses.

takabin3650Today  09:47 am JST

*A lot of comments are being made without knowing the situation. Quite frankly, some comments are consistent with a clear bias against Japanese and very unfair. Conclusions should not be made unless the facts are revealed. First, Tedros is not a MD; he is an epidemiologist. An epidemiologist's strengths are biostatistics; however, he is not qualified for his role as one needs to understand the medical aspects of the job. He did not proactively investigate the Covid-19 virus possibility that it leaked from a China laboratory. This virus clearly deviates from the H5N1 influenza virus which disappeared because it killed its hosts and the myxoma virus in Australia which decreased its virulence against rabbits due to selection. I have worked on both sides of the Pacific as a laboratory director in a specialty including a 150 people clinical microbiology laboratory. It was very easy to work with the Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese licensed laboratory scientists. We focused exclusively on patient care with limited non-business interactions. We discussed and I made the decision. It is very possible that Dr. Kasai had difficulty working in the Manila environment. In my laboratory, the staff (female) from the South China country felt that I was distant and not friendly. When one is interacting exclusively with physicians on patient care, there is little time for social time. Japanese do not use first names (bottom name in Japanese) unless you know them from childhood or in-laws. My brother-in-law and cousin are the only two people that I use first name. In my current consulting career, my clients that come to Japan from S. Korea and I get along very well. Perhaps this is a cultural difference and conclusions based on negative feelings about Japan and Japanese should be avoided. If it is proven that he made racist comments, the dismissal is very justified. We should be fair and wait for what happened.*

There are hundreds of Japanese working in international situations yet they don't display this kind of behavior. If there was a bias against Japanese as you claim, there would be more such incidents wouldn't there.

Your example of Japanese not using first names to address people as being misunderstood is irrelevant. He did a lot more than just that. Racist, abusive, and unethical behavior were cited by WHO.

These incidents started happening 2- 3 years ago. He was relieved of his duties and replaced last year. More than enough time has passed. There's no need to wait any longer to find out what happened.

Typical dumb sabre-rattling right on cue. It won't change anything even if they have a 'woman' saying it. I mean do they think people will take N. Korea more seriously if a woman says it. They should be worrying and doing something about their brainwashed citizens starving.

JeffLeeToday  06:59 am JST

Made in Japan Fenders can be just as good or even better than made in the USA Fenders.

That's certainly true for the body, neck, fretboard and frets. However, the MIJ's usually have inferior electrics, bridges and tuners, which is intentional, given Fender's marketing.

Still, no one is stopping an owner from swapping out the parts. I did that with the original Chinese pickups, replacing them with the "TexMex" series.

Well....you get what you pay for and they need to cut corners somewhere to bring the price down a little. There is a drop-off but I don't think it's huge. Even cheaper tuners generally keep the guitar in tune...generally. Same for bridges. Where I think a huge difference is is in the pickups. Nothing affects the tone more than the pickups so upgrading can have a huge impact. Luckily there are a lot of great manufacturers and they're affordable. I'm sure you noticed a big difference with the TexMex's.

As it sounds spacious, it'll be nice to be able to walk around without worrying about bumping into or knocking down instruments inside your typical cramped store. Made in Japan Fenders can be just as good or even better than made in the USA Fenders. Their quality is underrated as are most made in Japan guitars.

"The Japanese government, viewing ethnic Koreans as outsiders, welcomed the program and helped arrange for people to travel to North Korea."

Not surprisingly they also push extreme right wing and xenophobic agendas. Hey! You can also buy 'spiritual' vaccines and blessings to combat COVID for a mere 40,000yen.

But they're loaded. They built a university campus in the Chiba countryside not too far from place. It's empty because the gov't won't recognize them as an educational institution. I go fishing around there sometimes and it's one of the weirdest things I've ever seen.

Good riddance to bad trash.

AntiquesavingToday  09:16 pm JST

MilesTeg

Today 08:11 pm JST

JT is the pretender not the heir that was going to be Michel who tragically died.

Justin was mommy's boy not daddy's he is an art teacher and has no business being PM, he spends 90% of his time apologising.

His father I knew since I was a child, PET parents and my father's parents were close friends.

This is just another JT liberal "look look over there" move, to try and take away focus on the failing economy.

Who many interest rates increases in 12 months 7 soon 8 even CBC can no longer pretend everything is ok.

People going from $1,500 a month mortgage payment to over $4000.

You live in TMR how is that 40% property tax going down with the residents?

Instead of the economy he worries about TikTok

I didn't say that I still live there. I live in Japan. If I did live in Canada, I sure wouldn't come to a Japan Today site where the majority live in Japan presuming to be in touch with what's currently happening in the country. It would make no sense to comment on international coverage on a Japanese site if I'm in Canada as they merely cut & past with permission from international media sources. I'd be reading and commenting on local news sources which would have more in depth analysis.

The BOC raised interest rates to 4.5% in Dec 2022 and 75% of mortgages are fixed. I never take what you write at face value for good reason.

The notion that this decision to ban TikTok from gov't smartphones somehow distracts from other activities is ridiculous. It takes less than a minute to delete an app and there was no parliamentary debate needed to make the decision. In fact the conservative party opposition recommended extending the ban.

I'd give it a go as at least it's based on an original premise and not the reboot/sequel/marvel trash but not expecting anything mind-blowing. I mean this is the director who gave us the latest version of Charlie's Angels.

TrevorPeaceToday  06:01 pm JST

@MilesTeg, the reaction to Trudeau is understandable; he's a follower, not a leader, and his position is entirely due to his father's place in Canadian history. I met and corresponded with his father, and Justin just isn't of the same calibre.

I'm from Town of Mount Royal (TMR) in Montreal where he started his political career. He was first elected in TMR so it's his home riding and I met him several times after he retired when walking through Connaught Park where his official rose garden was. He was always gracious and spent time talking to people. I think it unfair to compare Justin to his father who was a political giant but I digress.

This article isn't about Justin Trudeau. It's about the Canadian government's decision to block the use of TikTok on gov't smartphones which both the US gov't and the EU has done. That's the crux of the matter.

Fighto!Today  07:15 pm JST

Just say "NO" to drugs!

It's as simple as that. No way I'm putting any of that nonsense in my body.

Stick to the good stuff that's perfectly legal : sake, whiskey, beer, wine, shochu...and the rest!

Meth is highly addictive and utterly destroys the mind and body. It's a powerful drug. Best to avoid it. But making sweeping statements against all drugs is hypocritical. How many railing against all illegal drugs drink alcohol which has been proven to be as deleterious or worse than some illegal drugs. But because it's 'legal' it's okay to endorse. Alcohol is involved in severe addiction (ever heard of AA), violence and abuse, physical and mental illnesses, and has destroyed many lives.

The US gov't and the EU have done the same but when Canada does it, Trudeau is blamed. Hilarious.

ianToday  09:24 pm JST

MilesTegToday  02:40 pm JST

All the negative votes show how uneducated Japanese are about animal rights. Just another way to make money.

this was your mature comment by the way, the one I first commented on. Seems you're very secure about the votes

The overwhelming majority of post on this thread are opposed to these cafes with valid arguments. Yet there's no counterargument based on valid arguments just lots of down votes. It's an obvious fact on this thread and nothing to do with maturity or questionable security. Identical to your previous desperate attempt to change the topic huh.

ianToday  09:00 pm JST

That they are growing in popularity and have now extended to wild animals with no public outcry or opposition means that the vast majority don't care or see nothing wrong with it. That's a fact

That's not a fact. That's just a generalization with no basis.

It's plain it should be obvious to one who claims to be educated.

Immature accusation? Insecurities?

Lol. Desperate to change the topic huh

The topic of this thread is about animal cafes. What statements have you made about the topic. Zero. You're desperate to change the topic with the all too typical and immature 'woke' accusation of racism with no justification based on your own little insecurities. So who's desperate to change the topic huh.

The article itself mentions their popularity. If there was opposition and outcry, they would be decreasing in popularity not increasing in popularity and now extending to wild animals. It's basic logic not a generalization.

ianToday  05:41 pm JST

Maybe it's just the truth without sugar coating anything and not be worried about people's feelings all the time.

Just generalizing obviously is not truth. And of course if you're racist you're not worried about people's feelings

That they are growing in popularity and have now extended to wild animals with no public outcry or opposition means that the vast majority don't care or see nothing wrong with it. That's a fact. What's wrong is wrong and being worried about people's sensitivity equals to no change which is all too often what happens in Japan. Throwing around immature accusations of racism is all too easy and the approach of those who have no real stance on the subject except their own insecurities.

The owners were caught with only 0.7grams??!! I guess they got busted just before closing.

ianToday  02:56 pm JST

MilesTegToday  02:40 pm JST

All the negative votes show how uneducated Japanese are about animal rights. Just another way to make money.

Maybe they're about generalization and racism

Maybe it's just the truth without sugar coating anything and not be worried about people's feelings all the time.